We had the opportunity to catch up with Tracy (Kami's friend since middle school) and wondered over to the Kentucky Derby for Thursday afternoon races. Great experience to see how they operate without the massive crowds. Thursday night races are set up with Food Trucks and $2 domestic beer for the 8 race schedule. We were conservative and only bet $6 per race ($2 minimum so we bet three different ways each time). Won a few and let them ride so by the last race we ended up not winning any money. I guess I'm still a winner with $2 beers.
This is where the horses are brought before their race to allow spectators/betters to look at them to access their mood. This is also where the Jockeys mount the horse to go out to the track. According to Tracy, the horse that poops in this area would be the one to bet on. I guess that puts them in a better mood? I know that works for me!
Walking the horses around before the race. No pooping going on to get inside track (no pun intended) on who to bet on.
Rolling on to the track for final leg of walk to starting gate.
Can't go to Louisville without going to a distillery. Kentucky Bourbon trail consist of nine distillers that make up most of the bourbon consumed worldwide due to the limestone water supply (remember blog on Mammoth Caves). One of the oldest and well know distilleries we visited was Jim Beam. Like most famous distilleries and breweries, this was a massive compound.
This picture in front of the Jim Beam Horse statue shows one of the three large black buildings on the premise used for fermentation. I assumed these buildings were painted black but not the case. The black is actually a whiskey fungus (technical term is too long) that thrives near distilleries and uses ethanol (made from corn, also used in car gasolines) as a source of energy for growth on the building. Even some of the trees close by these buildings have black tree bark. Who would of thought?
There are two more fermentation buildings off to the right. This is the main area for tourist to come.
Harvest Hosts
We are part of Harvest Hosts which has a compilation of Wineries, Breweries, Farms, and Golf Courses that allow you to stay overnight. We stayed at two recently along our way from Louisville to St. Louis to break up the trip. First one was New Albany Golf Course in Indiana. Played a quick 9 holes and had nachos on their back patio that afternoon. It was NACHO FRIDAY. Kami and I always make nachos on Friday nights. Been a 2+ year tradition now.
So they say you will run into issues while traveling on the road and you need to learn to take adversity in stride We ran into our first one while at New Albany Golf Course with an ant infestation the next morning. It started with feeling something on my leg while in bed that I brushed away. I shortly got up to see ants running up and down our walls and as we walked into the other room they had done the same. I quickly moved the camper and Kami started vacuuming them up as I was wiping them off the walls. TWO HOURS later, after we got them under control, went on to our next stop, Countryside Orchard. There, we ran into a Walmart and got Terro ant poisoning to finish the rest off. Things worked out and happy that this was with Kami as others would have said, I'M OUT OF HERE!
Below are pictures of our stay at Countryside Orchard, Evansville Indiana (apple and peach orchard along with strawberries). The couple that owns it are our age and took it over in 2015. He was in IT and she was a school teacher. As an interesting FYI, solar companies are coming in and buying up farm land. You see small signs along the road stating to say no to solar. According to the couple, the ones that are selling are the children of parents that don't want to follow in their footsteps. Not sure what the couple will do but Kami and I feel they bit off more than they can chew trying to run the farm and may consider selling if the price is right.
A little R&R playing Cornhole as the terro poisoning does its job!!
😀
On to St. Louis............Big Cardinals fan.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Tracy (Kami's friend since middle school) and wondered over to the Kentucky Derby for Thursday afternoon races. Great experience to see how they operate without the massive crowds. Thursday night races are set up with Food Trucks and $2 domestic beer for the 8 race schedule. We were conservative and only bet $6 per race ($2 minimum so we bet three different ways each time). Won a few and let them ride so by the last race we ended up not winning any money. I guess I'm still a winner with $2 beers. 
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