Northern Indiana

Thursday we moved to Elkhart. We have enjoyed touring Amish country -- Shipshewana, Nappanee, Howe, Goshen, Wakarusa and Middlebury.

Also toured some RV manufacturing facilities. Lots of brands are made in this area.

We have an appointment to get the RV aligned tomorrow at Mor/ryde. It should only take the day.

Brown County Indiana

Well, the leaves are starting to turn but there are not many pretty colors. It has been very dry in this area so most of the leaves are turning brown and falling. This tree in the Hoosier National Forest has started to turn orange.

It started raining late yesterday morning and has continued to rain since. Mostly light rain but occassional downpours.

We just got out the rainjackets and continued to sightsee and shop.

We drove through Brown County State Park. It is a big, beautiful park. There are lots of amenities -- dining lodge, cabins, swimming pool and many campsites.


Nashville, Indiana has been a designated Artist Colony since 1907. The town is filled with shops and studios. Of course there are tourist-trap craft shops but there are also nice paintings, pottery, woodworking and stained glass. Many artists will do custom work.

There is also the Little Nashville Opry (John Anderson is appearing this weekend) and the Brown County Playhouse (presenting Plaza Suite this weekend).

Lots to do in this area. Look at the Brown County website for more information.

Leaving the Rally

The Teton Rally ended last night after dinner. This morning we headed northwest. This is the bridge over the Ohio River leaving Louisville, Kentucky.

We are headed toward Nashville, Indiana to spend a few days in Brown County.

We found a nice campsite at The Last Resort Campground in Gnaw Bone, Indiana. It is only a few miles to the shops in Nashville.

We're headed in to scope out the shopping and dining!

Teton Rally 9/21

Thought you might like to see a view of the campground in Renfro Valley. Since the Rally activities keep us busy most of the time, we don't care if we have shade and spacious sites. We are just happy to have full hook-ups with 50amps.

There are 77 Tetons in the campground. As you can see there are many sizes and tow vehicle options -- from pick-ups to full semi tractors. Some with 44' Tetons tow with a Volvo, Freightliner or Peterbilt. Then they pull a car for transportation when they arrive!! Makes a long train!

Renfro Valley

We are settled into Renfro Valley for a week of the Teton Rally and musical entertainment.

It's nice to meet up with friends both new & old. There are 77 Teton RV's in the campground from 1987 to 2007 models.

We have had two nights of entertainment. Country music on Monday and Bluegrass pickin' last night. Also had a tour of Berea College yesterday. Fascinating place.

Posing with a Derby Winner

Before heading south, we drove around to see the horse farms around Winchester and Paris. We saw the Horse Training Farm and Claiborne Horse Farm.

This photo was taken with Monarchos, winner of the 2001 Kentucky Derby. We were allowed to pet him while visiting the Claiborne Stud Farm. He has brought in over $8 million in stud fees since winning the race. He is a beautiful horse.

Claiborne Farm is also where you will find the grave of the great Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown winner (and considered by many to be the greatest race horse of all time).

Fall-like Weather

It's only days before Fall is official but we have enjoyed the cool, crisp, sunny mornings. We awoke to 46 degrees this morning. It's actually nice to wear jeans again.

We will move to Renfro Valley this afternoon. The Teton Rally starts tomorrow and lasts for a week. We have heard rumors that we will not have cell nor internet service. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, if you don't hear anything from us for a week you can just guess that we are having a good time at the rally.

Yearling Auction

Today we attended the Keenland Yearling Sale in Versailles.

It was a new experience and we were awed at the beautiful thoroughbreds that sold for $1,000 to $1,000,000.




Notice that all the clocks are Rolex. The important times posted on the bidding floor are Sydney, Tokyo, Lexington, London and Dubai.



We spent the day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. (Oh, we only spent a few bucks for lunch and tipping the valets in the restroom!!)

Bourbon Trail continues

This photo is at Woodford Reserve in Versailles, KY.

It was a good tour to start out the day.

That was followed by Four Roses Distillery and Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg and Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort.

Walt's Bourbon Trail Passport is now full -- stamped by all seven distilleries. Oh, he has built up his supply of bourbon in the process!!

We have move over in the Lexington area to finish out our time before heading to Renfro Valley on Sunday.

Enjoying the beautiful scenery - horse farms, tobacco fields and green blugrass.

Cooler Weather

Today is our first day to have the windows open. It was in the mid-70's today and looks like it will be a cool evening.

We visited the Gen. George Patton, Jr Museum on the edge of Fort Knox. We did not have to check in to the base as the parking was just off the highway. The museum was much larger than it looked from the outside. We spent a long time touring the museum -- many tanks & military vehicles from the Patton Era (1917-1945). Pictured is General Patton's mobile office.

We also could see the Fort Knox United States Gold Bullion Depository from the road. Tours are no longer offered of that facility.


In Hodgenville, we toured the Lincoln Museum. It was very nice for a small town museum.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace

Today we went to Hodgenville, KY. It is the site of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

We visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site.

The large memorial building is reached by climbing 56 steps = the number of years in Lincoln's life.

Inside the memorial building is a replica of the Lincoln cabin. Some of the building was constructed from the original pieces of the Lincoln cabin. It measures approximately 16' X 18'.


At the base of the memorial building is the Sinking Springs. The water looked so clear.

We have decided to stay in the area for another day and visit the Lincoln Museum in Hodgenville tomorrow.

Continuing the Bourbon Trail

This is Heaven Hill Distillers Visitor Center in Bardwtown, KY.

We had a great tour guide here and enjoyed a warehouse tour in the misty rain.

After our tour finished, it started to pour.

We drove to Loretto for a visit to Maker's Mark Distillery. No photos as it continued to rain throughout the tour.

At the end of the tour I even got to dip a bottle in the trademark red wax!

Starting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Today we started the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Our first visit was to the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont. The grounds were pretty even with the drought that Kentucky has been experiencing.

The tour consisted of a film and talk at the Outpost Store then a self-guided tour of the grounds.

The last stop was in the house where we could taste two of their premium brands. Since I don't care for bourbon, Walt usually gets a taste and a half.


The bronze statue is Master Distiller Emeritus Booker Noe, grandson of Jim Beam. His son is the current Master Distiller.

Then we drove to Bardstown for lunch at the Tavern. It was a great meal in a quaint little tavern / Bed & Breakfast.

Then we headed to Maker's Mark only to discover that we were on Eastern Time -- guess we'll have to return to the trail tomorrow!

Bowling Green

Yesterday we drove to Bowling Green to spend a few days. It was only a two hour drive so we had time in the afternoon to visit the National Corvette Museum. It was a great museum and much bigger than it appeared from the outside. We enjoyed seeing the large collection of Corvettes and the information about the evolution from 1953 to present day engineering, design & production.

Today we took the early tour at the GM Assembly Plant. All Corvettes and Cadillac XLRs are manufactured here. The XLR line was closed this week but we did get to see several sitting on the production floor. The tour was excellent. The cars move through the line at about one every three minutes. Their average production is 8 finished Corvettes per hour. The plant works only one shift of 8-10 hours per day.

We were surprised to learn that the most popular color is Black with Red interior. The least popular is the convertible White with Red interior but they will always offer it because the 1953 Corvettes were ALL White with Red interior.

About one in eight along the assembly line were Z06 Corvettes.

Some of the Corvettes we saw were for international shipment - they have amber turn signal & marker lights.

LBL Nature Center

Yesterday we drove the length of Land Between the Lakes.

Today we drove to Cadiz to the antique shops then stopped at the LBL Nature Center on the way back.

The Nature Center is rehabilitating most of the birds & animals there but some are permanent residents. It was a really nice nature center.

Kentucky Dam

Today we went to Kentucky Dam. We had been there in 1987 and remembered standing at the visitor area for several hours watching the barge traffic.

How 9/11/2001 has changed our lives -- a new bridge is being built to remove traffic from the dam and the visitor center is closed to the public. We could only view the locks from our drive over the dam.