Will and Pam
alex katie robinson
yoga&beer
bourbon barrels
Lil Nis
Elena
Old UofL hospital
Minnie
Distillery
KentuckyHorsePark
Flight
Editor Note:
I usually write the blog as the days go on so I can recall the events of the day. As you read this you begin to understand how the events transpired.
7th Annual RV Adventure with Will and Pam June 14-
Ty and I arrived at the Kentucky Horsepark RV park on June 14 and my brother Will and his bride Pam showed up about an hour later. Yahoo! Our plans for this years’ adventure is to hit the Bourbon Trail (called the Bourbonucky Trail for all the bourbon distilleries in Kentucky), bakeries and Walmarts and of course the dead man stores. This will be a shorter trip than the usual month long but will take anything we can get with Will and Pam.
Happy Birthday To ME!
Yes, Jane has turned the big 70! And we celebrated in style…since we are in the heart of bourbon country what better place to celebrate. We did the day by going to James E Pepper distillery for a grand tour and tasting. Then lunch, ice cream and more distilleries – yahoo. Finished up the evening at the rodeo and that was really exciting. Two horses (the bucking horse and the rider/horse that retrieves the horse) collided with the retrieving horse actually going down, and rolling over the rider! Both did get up, but the rider was really shaken as we didn’t see him the rest of the night. Then a bull rider got knocked off (the term is bucked) and the bull ran over his shoulder – he got up but his shoulder was hanging down to his waist. No injuries occurred during the Mutton Bustin’ – this is the event that kids 5 under ride the sheep. That event always gets the crowd laughing.
Then the next day to more tasting in Lexington and then the evening at the Bear and Brew for dinner thanks to Amy and Scotty. Table had a bottle of chilled Prosecco waiting and a $200 dinner gift certificate. This place is only a local bar with pub food and we thought we could never go thru all of it. Problem solved when we all decided to drink Blantons. For those of you not familiar with this bourbon, it is made by Buffalo Trace, it is hard to get and can be expensive. So we did the damage on the $200 and wound up owing just a few more $S’s. And a BONUS as we finished off the bottle of Blantons is the tradition has it that if you take the last pour you are rewarded with the bottle and top (which is a horse). The horses on the top all have letters and they spell out BLANTONS and if you line up the horses, they look like they are all running a horse race from start to finish. I got an A – the horse is just getting his stride.
Next day, sans Ty as he is not feeling well, we hit the trail going to Buffalo Trace Distillery and snag ourselves a couple of Blantons and do the tour. Then we go to Frankfort which is the capital of KY and tour around there. End the day met up with my 3rd cousin (?) Alex and his bride Katie for some beer yoga and dinner afterwards. Thanks to Alex who also joined us at Buffalo Trace as he was able to get me another bottle of Blantons since you can only purchase one per person.
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever!
Ty started to run a slight fever and chills on June 12, but it was mainly at night and during the day he felt ok but not great, he went to Urgent Care which diagnosed that he had a virus and let the virus run the course. June 16 fevers were getting worse so back to Urgent Care. This time they did blood test to check for a tick virus. On the 18th, no word from Urgent Care, we packed up and went to Louisville – on the way the fever spiked so after we got into the campground Ty went to the University of Louisville Hospital and they admitted him. It was pretty touch and go for a while as his blood counts dropped considerably, his liver and kidneys were struggling, and his heart rate was 150 and blood pressure way up. First steps were to stabilize him, get the fever under control then figure out the cause. He got a lot of attention from a great team of doctors all the way from the on-floor staff, cardiologist, and infectious disease. By Saturday the 22nd Ty was finally coming around. Fever broke, blood counts started to rise, liver and kidneys began to function normally. However, during all this his heart went into afib and that took longer to normalize. Monday the 24th he was released from the hospital but will need a lot of rest. It has been confirmed that he got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Surprisingly very common in the Southeast as it is carried by the dog tick. It probably wasn’t from the one that got imbedded as the symptoms usually start anywhere from 2-14 days from the bite, and the imbedded one was April 22. However, at the campground in Natchez Trace and at Piney we were constantly picking off ticks and it wasn’t only after hikes cause we were pretty well covered and deeted up. It came from sitting around the campfire at night or just the daily activity of walking around. TICKS ARE NASTY and they are EVERYWHERE/
Amy flew in on Friday and has been on godsend. She started to keep a record of the minute by minute events, meds, drs, vitals so we could keep track. It was a lot to try and remember and I don’t know what I would have done without her!! I think it also helped her (and me) to stay calm and not fall to pieces because we were on top of it.
Jane Drives Wanda!
Ty and I hung around the RV camp in Louisville which basically was a parking lot (all gravel and asphalt tightly packed in) for the duration of Monday, then decided join my brother in Bardstown to try and salvage a little bit of the Bourbon Trail trip. I managed to pack everything up which is quite a lot but when two of you are doing it the task doesn’t seem so big. Inside which is my usual job is to houseclean, stow everything securely, made sure all windows and hatches are closed, wash the floors, then gather that stuff that is outside that goes inside. Now for the outside stuff, empty the holding tanks, empty the water, disconnect the electric – put all that stuff away. Secure the bikes, put away the mat, bring in the awnings. Back up the truck to attach Wanda and pull away!
It is my virgin trip, so unfortunate that I didn’t insist that I learn to drive Wanda (which is 30ft long!!) before I actually had to. Probably would have been a little less nerve wracking. Here we go, out of the campground and head to Bardstown. After I settled in and my palms stopped sweating, I was amazed how easy it was to pull, remember to make wide turns and give oneself plenty of stopping room. After Ty wore out his brake on the passenger side, he finally fell asleep for most of the trip. White Creek RV park was so much nicer place for Ty to start recovery. Shaded, grass and wide spots.
Bourbon Tour Continues
Will and Pam continued to hit the bourbon spots in Louisville while Ty was in hospital so I had a lot of catching up to do. Bardstown area has Four Roses, Makers Mark, and Jim Beam. We got tired of the 1 hour tours as it is hot here and we got the idea of how the stuff is made, so we have only been opting for the tasting part. For those of you who think all we do is drink, not so, as we) tour the area we are in always on the hunt for a bakery. In Bardstown the court house (built in 1814) is in the middle of town situated on a roundabout; we also went to the Proto-Catholic St Joseph Church. Interesting fact that there are more Catholic churches in this area than Baptist. As it turns out back in 1800’s there were 4 “areas” designated to have cathedrals and Bardstown was one of them. Shows you how much Catholic influence in the area. Still getting our religion on we visited the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani monastery. Nice video that chronicles life of a monk and we were able to view the afternoon prayer sect. I bought a fruitcake made by the monks that is supposed to be laden Straight Kentucky Bourbon – what else? Next, we rode our bikes in Berheim Forest and saw many interesting wooden sculptures created by the same artist, Thomas Dambo, who also created the wooden sculpture in Breckenridge. Unfortunately, Ty remains in Wanda sleeping and trying to get well.
Renfro Valley
Concluded the trip at Renfro Valley, I got to pack up and drive again. Told Ty that while he is in the passenger seat his job is to knit hats. He said he’ll pass on that. Renfro Valley claim to fame is a music hall which is dubbed the Grand Ole Opry of Kentucky. We saw Confederate Railroad which was mostly loud as oppose to good. Their big hit is “I Like My Women on the Trashy Side”. Not much else going on in Renfro Valley and it is so blasted hot that we pretty much just hung out in rigs with air conditioner on full blast. Was good for Ty as he is still trying to get some energy back. Oh Brother Will picked off a tick that he must have picked up just around his rig.
Déjà vu
Some of you might recall a couple of rv trips ago with my brother Will we came back to the rig after a day of bike riding and his rig had filled with water as he left the water running in toilet but closed up the tanks. We hauled all the stuff out of the living area and the storage places, disinfected everything, rented a shop vac to suck the water out of the carpeting and basically looked like white trash in this very nice RV Resort. Took 2 days to dry out.
So we come back Friday from a day touring and what do we see? Water pouring out of my brothers rig!!!! WHAT the …..Same routine as last time. I think Minnie (their rig) is nearing retirement.
Farewell
It is always sad to part ways with my brother and Pam. It always is such a comfortable trip. This year I am so thankful that they were with me when Ty took ill and have stayed for the duration of the planned 2 weeks. Once Amy arrived, they were at least able to get about and tell us all the wonderful bourbon places that we will have to come back to.
Next stop for us – Knoxville to pick up Ty (grandson) and to have some repairs done on Wanda. I get to drive again – yahoo I am actually loving it. Then after that week Lake Norman where Scotty, Amy, Ty, Tessa, Avery, Jaden, Lacie, and niece Colleen all will spend a week with Scotty’s dad and stepmom. Looking forward to it.
Which brings me to the somber point that we just don’t know about our own mortality, when our time is up.
Please hug and hold the one(s) you love, as you just don’t know.