Horse Farms -- Lexington, KY

 

Kentucky River

 

Entering Lexington.  We only had 150 miles to travel today, so we decided to drive around the west end of Lexington, and drive down Old Frankfort Pike, a Historic Scenic Byway which has a number of Thoroughbred Farms along the road.  You start the drive with one of the most famous horses of all time...

 

Yes, Secretariat.  American Triple Crown winner, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three of its constituent races.  What follows are just a few of the pictures we got along the route.

We continued our way to the Cracker Barrel in Florence, KY.  Unlike the other Cracker Barrel we have stayed out so far, this one is in a more congested area...right near a Hospital.  Since our arrival around 2 pm, we have heard/seen at least a dozen ambulances, a couple of fire trucks, and a few police cars...all with sirens blazing.  

So this is our 5th of 7 nights of our trip, and 5 of them have been overnights at Cracker Barrel.  We have had dinner each night, followed with eating the dinner biscuits with our coffee the next morning, which was our breakfast.  So, what have I had to eat???  It has been the same thing each night...the Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd's Pie.  Pot roast and gravy with carrots, peas, onions, celery, and mashed potatoes. Topped with a hashbrown casserole crust and sour cream. Served with Biscuits.  Marcia had fish the first two nights, then saw what I was having and had the Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd's Pie the past three times.  It is so good...

Tomorrow we see Ryan and Kaelyn and meet the three kids they are fostering. 
 

 

Cracker Barrel, Corbin, KY

 

Some Cracker Barrels this is what you see as you pull into the Parking Lot...the back of the store.  This store is very well kept, although I can tell it is not one of the newer Cracker Barrels.  I did a search and found out it is Cracker Barrel #8, opened in 1971, in Corbin KY.  Today we must have seen a dozen Cracker Barrels along our route.  Lebanon TN, the headquarters for Cracker Barrel, is around 100 to 150 miles from any spot we were driving along I-75 today.  This corridor is one of the first areas they focused on as they started opening new stores after the first one opened in 1969.

 

We faced a good amount of traffic today, but the traffic was much heavier headed south.  We had just a couple of minor construction areas, and for the most part the drivers all acted reasonable today.

As spring nears, some of the Redbud or Dogwood trees are starting to bloom.  Don't know which one it is, don't care to know...I just know they look nice.  Another couple of weeks and this area is going to look very pretty.

 

Tomorrow...off to another Cracker Barrel, this one will be close to Cincinnati, where my youngest lives with his family.

 

Marcia and Gerry - Nearly 55 Years of Friendship

 Memories fade, but Friendship Lives on Forever...

Gerry was having a hard day, but we were able to have a half hour visit with her.  91 this year, her age is catching up to her.  Well, it is catching up with all us one way or another.

We had a good, but short visit.  Fought the Atlanta traffic until we were a dozen miles north along I-75 when it did thin out just a bit.  We stopped at another Cracker Barrel, this one in Cartersville, GA.  We have nearly 500 miles to get to my son's place outside Cincinnati, and two days of driving to get there by Wednesday morning...so we just shut her down and are staying here.

 

 

 

Drive Into Georgia

 

After staying at a great Rest Area, we left for Georgia around 9 am.  We are now at a Cracker Barrel in Newnan Georgia, less than an hour away from Gerry, Marcia's friend of over 50 years, who we try and see at least once each year.  First, about this GREAT Rest Area....

Those who know us real well know that I was working as a Public Library Director in Pine Bluff Arkansas...Marcia was a widow of about 8 years living in Palm Harbor Florida.  We met over the computer playing a War Game.  Our two Alliances merged, we started communicating, one thing led to another and we married in 2011.  For the first year she spent about half her time in Pine Bluff, the other half in Palm Harbor.  I would travel the 870 miles, spend three days (two nights) and go back.  600 miles from Pine Bluff was the Quincy Rest Area, mile marker 161.  I would leave Pine Bluff around 2 pm, sometimes 4 pm, and this was a great stop to rest for a few hours.  Here is a over-head view via Google Maps.

 

This view sort of shows the rest area, but I will explain why it is so nice.  The parking along the bottom is for Trucks and RVs.  Above that is a raised area, which circles around the bathroom, with parking on both sides of the road.  This is for vehicles.  Although our van is a RV, we had no problem staying the night in this upper elevated area.  It is pretty quiet for a rest area, we were so tired...we both slept well.

 

 

This left us around 220 miles to go...the first 80 or so were on various two lane county roads and state roads until we got to US-27...then we had four lanes or more the rest of the way.  Should have taken more photos of it, but I was mesmerized by all this very back country, hicksville, can you hear the theme from Deliverance?  

 

Once we got onto a four lane road, all was well.  We got gas, ate breakfast, and got to Cracker Barrel around 2 pm.  This our second time at this Cracker Barrel, and we are in no hurry tomorrow since our visit with Gerry is around noon.

 

 

Florida Visits Done, Headed to Georgia Saturday

We left our Condo at 4:11 pm Wednesday, 11 minutes past the ETA I have given Marcia earlier in the day...so all was well.  We drove a little over an hour to a Cracker Barrel we have stayed at before, and it was a good meal and quiet night.  Thursday we were on the road by 8, and pulled into her brother's house at 11 am.  Had a great visit, had lunch, dinner, a good night's sleep and up in the house again by 9 for coffee and breakfast, and we hit the road by 11.

Spring Break has brought out many crazy drivers, and experienced three episodes of D.A.Ds...Dumb A$$ Drivers!  Around 3:30 Granddaughter called and suggested we meet at a restaurant...we said sure.  The place was called Backwoods Crossing in Tallahassee, and it was good.  We love those two kids...her too, and missed seeing Chris, her husband who had to work.

After dinner we decided to drive on to a Flying J to empty our tanks, and then another 30 miles to a great rest area.  Tomorrow we turn north and will be in Georgia for couple of days.  All is going well. 

Under 100 Hours and Counting Down -- 2026 Trip

 

It is that time again, and I am not talking about March Madness (Go HOGS!), I am talking about our departure from Florida all the way to California for the 15th year in a row.  We leave this coming week, probably Wednesday, no later than Thursday morning.

Sandy took this picture of Mama last Thursday (19th)...

That dog is named "Tank", one of the few dogs that Indy does not get along with...Tank loves people, but is a Dog hater...especially in his territory.  Tank was owned by Matt, a fellow resident there at the Independent Living Home.  Unfortunately and surprisingly, Matt passed away about 6 weeks ago.  Tank is still there, and may have a forever home there...not sure yet.  Anyway, Mama turns 96 in April, and we always try to be there for it.  We missed a few, like when we lost our motorhome (Jayco Melbourne) in a storage area fire back in 2014, and Ryan's Graduation in 2019, and Ryan and Kaelyn's wedding celebration (Covid restrictions did not allow their wedding day celebration in 2020) in 2021.  We still made it out to California each year, but missed Mom's birthday.  

The map above only shows the first leg of our trip.  After Atlanta, we head up to Cincinnati to visit Ryan, Kaelyn and family.  I think the last time we have seen Ryan and Kaelyn was in July 2022 when they came out to California where we were already at.  There family is now a family of five...they are fostering three girls, sisters, and only time will tell where this will lead.  They just (like last weekend) moved into a home they bought which will now house the five of them very comfortably.  Looking forward to seeing them and meeting the girls.

It is Spring here in Central Florida along the Gulf Coast.  The Eagle's finally got together and there are baby Eagle eggs in the nest...perhaps baby Eagles.  It takes 35-40 days from laying eggs to hatching.  I have seen them in the nest for about a month to six weeks now. 

The picture above and below show an Eagle tending to something in the nest

 

Here, the other Eagle is on constant guard, or hunting for food.

 

I also got a LOT of pictures of Osprey, and they definitely have young ones in their nests...I can hear the little chirping sounds very clearly...over the next month they will get louder and louder.

As always, we will try and do a daily or every-other day blog as we travel.  It is nearly time for us to Fly Away...errr...Drive Away