Friday May 3
Big Red and I loaded up and were at Keenland track before 7 AM. Early morning at the track to me is magical. There are not as many horses as normal as many are up at Churchhill Downs for the lesser races at the Kentucky Derby. The great part here is not only that you get full access to the track but the people are really, really, nice. Jockeys, trainerss, grooms, everyone seems glad to talk to you. These are just a few of the pictures I took. I take more pictures here than any other one place in the world.
I met Paul and Jim, of out of gas fame, and Jim's wife Astrid at the track kitchen for breakfast. These two guys are a hoot. We swapped lies and stories for about an hour and then it was time for them to go play golf and me to head north. Paul is very considerate. He always asks what is the lowest round a pro has played and if he likes the pro he won't beat the score. Sure hope I run into these two again. They are a lot of fun.
I had planned to stay in Lexington at least until Saturday and maybe until Sunday, but the weather guessers said that there was a 70% chance of rain for the next three days. I did not want to get stuck there that long so I sent a call for recommendations of where to go in Indiana. Nashville, IN came back as number one as it is an artsy craftsy place. Unfortunately there was a college graduation in the area and all the hotels were full. So, we decided to head to northern Indiana and visit the the Amish and have some drinking fun. But, the weather guessers said that at 3 PM I would run into rain headed north so I threw a dart and came up with Greensburg, IN as where I would be when the rain started.
So, we headed north. We started on a fairly busy four lane, moved to nice two lane with no traffic, to great small winding roads. The weather was great and made for a great ride.
Big Red and I loaded up and were at Keenland track before 7 AM. Early morning at the track to me is magical. There are not as many horses as normal as many are up at Churchhill Downs for the lesser races at the Kentucky Derby. The great part here is not only that you get full access to the track but the people are really, really, nice. Jockeys, trainerss, grooms, everyone seems glad to talk to you. These are just a few of the pictures I took. I take more pictures here than any other one place in the world.
is she praying or sleeping
I met Paul and Jim, of out of gas fame, and Jim's wife Astrid at the track kitchen for breakfast. These two guys are a hoot. We swapped lies and stories for about an hour and then it was time for them to go play golf and me to head north. Paul is very considerate. He always asks what is the lowest round a pro has played and if he likes the pro he won't beat the score. Sure hope I run into these two again. They are a lot of fun.
I had planned to stay in Lexington at least until Saturday and maybe until Sunday, but the weather guessers said that there was a 70% chance of rain for the next three days. I did not want to get stuck there that long so I sent a call for recommendations of where to go in Indiana. Nashville, IN came back as number one as it is an artsy craftsy place. Unfortunately there was a college graduation in the area and all the hotels were full. So, we decided to head to northern Indiana and visit the the Amish and have some drinking fun. But, the weather guessers said that at 3 PM I would run into rain headed north so I threw a dart and came up with Greensburg, IN as where I would be when the rain started.
So, we headed north. We started on a fairly busy four lane, moved to nice two lane with no traffic, to great small winding roads. The weather was great and made for a great ride.
greensburg, in. claim to fame is this tree
proof that spring is not here
Saturday May 5
I had planned on two nights in Greensburg based on the weather guesser saying there was a 70% chance of rain. When it changed to 0% I decided one was enough and so Big Red and I saddled up and headed north. There was no agenda except move north. The former professor at Hoosierville University and good friend Don Cunningham had given me several suggestions, but it was raining, so we scratched those. He did say we could not leave the state until we had a fried pork tenderloin sandwich, the national dish of Indiana. Former Hoosier Steve Truax said we should check out the Dunesburg museum in Auburn if we went that way. That was put on the maybe list. As we started out it was like a winter day, overcast, cool and windy and had that winter feel even though it is May. These are the types of days that turn out to be the best and today was no exception.
Mid-westerners like big buildings in their small towns. They are wonderful examples of 1800's architecture. Many of them are old and abandoned like the library. There is something about beautiful old buildings that stir the soul of many people. Maybe it is that as we age we are afraid that we will be like those old buildings, just remembered, if we are lucky, but not relevant any more.
the old library
Riding along highway 38 we ran into another closed road with no detour instructions. Just a blocked road. Big Red and I said the heck with this, got into four wheel drive and took off across the countryside to get around this thing.
Further down the road we ran into yard sale after yard sale. Almost every yard was a yard sale. When we rolled into Pendleton we found that this is an annual event. The town was also celebrating with a street fair. We parked and walked around to check it out.
what's a roka?
We stepped into the local gucci coffee shop to get a coffee. Nice little place and I was studying the art on the wall when the artist, John Slivy, walked up. He explained these were paintings of pictures of what used to be a "poor house" and it's residents in the next county. The poor houses were established in the 1800's for the poor and usually were a large building and about 20 acres for farming vegetables These later became homes for the mentally ill. His paintings are of these people and each person has a story that he shared with me. It is fantastic when you meet the artist and they tell you about their work, instead of just guessing.
Next we met Kristi Clouse at her booth where she was selling items to raise money for her son Van and promote cancer awareness week. Van is suffering from brain cancer but is fighting it with great courage and the encouragement of many.
I loved the t-shirts and bought several. You too can support the cause and get a great t-shirt online. http://www.vanthemangreen.com/journal/
van the man
In Ellwood we came across a few other two wheel enthusiasts
Now it is time to find one of those fried pork sandwiches and Joe's Diner looked just like the place. Let me say, it is not a plate I have to sample again.
Now it was time for a decision. Auburn and the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg museum, yes or no. There is plenty of time to drop in to this little museum and make it to Goshen, our now chosen overnight, in time to see the Kentucky Derby. I was mistaken. There are eight museums in Auburn, including a truck and aviation museum. Who figured in this small town there would be so much. The museum was fantastic!!! I got a personal tour of most of the cars until I ran out of time. It is one of the best auto museums I have been to and could have spent a couple of more hours there, but the Derby was calling. If you are ever in this part of the world I highly recommend this museum and think the others are probably well worth a look.
By now the sun had come out and it was now like a sunny winter day and made a great day for the rest of the ride.
The only restaurant that serves adult beverages in Goshen required me to walk (no scooting with alcohol) by the Walmart. Most of you know my opinion of Walmart so we will not go into that here, however I have always admitted that they have a great business model. If they do not cater to their employees they do try to accommodate their customers. You know, extra large bags of chips, great discounts on overly sweet drinks.......oh, that's right we weren't going there. Anyway, this is Amish country and they have covered parking for their horses.
Sunday May 5
Since the rain had run us out of Kentucky we are just wandering. I know there is a tulip festival in Holland, Mi. so we head in that direction. There are countdown signs "Michigan line 7 mi", "Michigan line 2" making me think there is something big going to happen when we get there. There was not. Spring is very late in this part of the country and most of the trees have just the buds of leaves starting to come out. Still has that winter feel. We made our way over towards Lake Michigan.
Outside Marcellus, Mi. we came across this VFW. Most VFW's I have seen just have an old rusted dead tank or cannon. These guys had a memorial that would look proud in a Federal exhibit. VFW's members are dying off in big numbers, but these guys either have a big benefactor or are really dedicated to the past.
This town not only saved their old courthouse but turned one of the older buildings into a jail and built a new one and tied them all together. Not the best look to me.
In some sleepy little town I stopped to take some pictures and parked Big Red at the curb. As I take the picture, I watched him fall over. What the heck?!! I had set the center stand on the only hole in the curb that was full of soft dirt! Damn! I tried to pick him up but was unsuccessful, so I started to take the bags off. A young guy came running from across the street to help. He said he heard the crash from inside the house in his room. As we were setting Big Red back up the police showed up. News travels fast in a little town. During this process I did something to my arm, so we thanked everyone and went down the street to a safe place to park. An examination of Big Red showed he had some scratches and a reflector had be ripped off, all probably caused by my unsuccessful first attempt to lift him. The inside of my arm just ahead of the elbow was swollen and a little distorted. There was only pain in certain positions and fortunately it was not the riding position.
Big Red was ready to ride, but I decided we needed a plan in case the arm got worse. Hotels in Holland were ridiculously high but a search turned up a great hotel at a reasonable price in Muskgen, Mi. It was a bit of a ride, but we would head that way and see how it went. Riding with the arm was not a big deal as long as I kept it in the right position. Holland was full of people and traffic for the tulip festival but not as bad as I expected. We got to Muskgen about 3 PM and negotiated a great rate with the hotel. It is 9 stories, the highest building in town, sitting all by itself on the water. If I have to lay up a couple of days this is the place.
The front desk printed out the directions to the Doc-in-a-box and off we roared. This not one of those modern, sterile places. This is a well worn little office in a small strip mall. The staff was extremely friendly and prompt. I was a little surprised when I saw them using a typewriter The young girl working the machine, one finger at a time, sort of like texting, said when she got hired she had never even seen a typewriter before. The wait was short and they took me back to (and this is an over statement), a simple exam room. They had a modern thermometer and pulse taker, but everything else was out of the '60's. I told the nurse I probably liked that as the doctor is probably not the type to "over" doctor. She said the whole staffed loved him because he was that type of doctor. It was not long before I met Dr. Bill Kirchhaine, MD. He was average height, gray haired, 65 year old doctor and everything the nurse said he was. He quickly looked at my arm, turned, twisted and poked and announced you have a torn muscle. No big deal, you have three more and in fact insurance won't even pay to repair it. "How do I know this, I did the same thing this winter shoveling snow". "Three to four weeks and you will be good as new unless you are an Olympic weight lifter." That was it. Then we started talking about the fact that he was born and raised in St. Pete where I live. His father was born on Cedar Key where his grandfather was a doctor. You from Florida will realize how rare this is. Cedar Key today has a very small population in the low hundreds. It may have been bigger when the Doc's dad lived there but it was just small fishing village. Later his grandfather moved inland to Chiefland. I told the doc Cedar Key has changed but Chiefland has not....except for the Walmart. No pills, though they were offered, and I went across the street and got a couple bottles of wine and headed back to the hotel. Sitting on my 8th floor balcony drinking wine watching the sun go down over Lake Michigan was all the medicine I needed today.
Since the rain had run us out of Kentucky we are just wandering. I know there is a tulip festival in Holland, Mi. so we head in that direction. There are countdown signs "Michigan line 7 mi", "Michigan line 2" making me think there is something big going to happen when we get there. There was not. Spring is very late in this part of the country and most of the trees have just the buds of leaves starting to come out. Still has that winter feel. We made our way over towards Lake Michigan.
this is a nesting swan that i caught out of the corner of my eye and did a u-turn to investigate
Outside Marcellus, Mi. we came across this VFW. Most VFW's I have seen just have an old rusted dead tank or cannon. These guys had a memorial that would look proud in a Federal exhibit. VFW's members are dying off in big numbers, but these guys either have a big benefactor or are really dedicated to the past.
This town not only saved their old courthouse but turned one of the older buildings into a jail and built a new one and tied them all together. Not the best look to me.
In some sleepy little town I stopped to take some pictures and parked Big Red at the curb. As I take the picture, I watched him fall over. What the heck?!! I had set the center stand on the only hole in the curb that was full of soft dirt! Damn! I tried to pick him up but was unsuccessful, so I started to take the bags off. A young guy came running from across the street to help. He said he heard the crash from inside the house in his room. As we were setting Big Red back up the police showed up. News travels fast in a little town. During this process I did something to my arm, so we thanked everyone and went down the street to a safe place to park. An examination of Big Red showed he had some scratches and a reflector had be ripped off, all probably caused by my unsuccessful first attempt to lift him. The inside of my arm just ahead of the elbow was swollen and a little distorted. There was only pain in certain positions and fortunately it was not the riding position.
Big Red was ready to ride, but I decided we needed a plan in case the arm got worse. Hotels in Holland were ridiculously high but a search turned up a great hotel at a reasonable price in Muskgen, Mi. It was a bit of a ride, but we would head that way and see how it went. Riding with the arm was not a big deal as long as I kept it in the right position. Holland was full of people and traffic for the tulip festival but not as bad as I expected. We got to Muskgen about 3 PM and negotiated a great rate with the hotel. It is 9 stories, the highest building in town, sitting all by itself on the water. If I have to lay up a couple of days this is the place.
The front desk printed out the directions to the Doc-in-a-box and off we roared. This not one of those modern, sterile places. This is a well worn little office in a small strip mall. The staff was extremely friendly and prompt. I was a little surprised when I saw them using a typewriter The young girl working the machine, one finger at a time, sort of like texting, said when she got hired she had never even seen a typewriter before. The wait was short and they took me back to (and this is an over statement), a simple exam room. They had a modern thermometer and pulse taker, but everything else was out of the '60's. I told the nurse I probably liked that as the doctor is probably not the type to "over" doctor. She said the whole staffed loved him because he was that type of doctor. It was not long before I met Dr. Bill Kirchhaine, MD. He was average height, gray haired, 65 year old doctor and everything the nurse said he was. He quickly looked at my arm, turned, twisted and poked and announced you have a torn muscle. No big deal, you have three more and in fact insurance won't even pay to repair it. "How do I know this, I did the same thing this winter shoveling snow". "Three to four weeks and you will be good as new unless you are an Olympic weight lifter." That was it. Then we started talking about the fact that he was born and raised in St. Pete where I live. His father was born on Cedar Key where his grandfather was a doctor. You from Florida will realize how rare this is. Cedar Key today has a very small population in the low hundreds. It may have been bigger when the Doc's dad lived there but it was just small fishing village. Later his grandfather moved inland to Chiefland. I told the doc Cedar Key has changed but Chiefland has not....except for the Walmart. No pills, though they were offered, and I went across the street and got a couple bottles of wine and headed back to the hotel. Sitting on my 8th floor balcony drinking wine watching the sun go down over Lake Michigan was all the medicine I needed today.
