Kentucky and Indiana

Monday and Tuesday Sept. 29 & 30, Days 112 & 113 of trip.

We're camped in the woods of Kentucky, in General Butler State Resort Park. It's a beautiful large park situated in Carrollton, Kentucky. We're just 12 miles from Indiana (just across the Ohio River), so the last 2 days we've crisscrossed back and forth between the states quite a few times. 

Our first night here, Sunday night, we met a great couple, Bill and Sue, who live not too far from here. They love to travel and they know so many places to see and so many things to do. They've been a wealth of information and have made our time here so much richer with all their suggestions. Plus they've already given us advance information about the places we're heading next. Thanks so much, Bill and Sue, for sharing all your local knowledge with us!

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Yesterday morning, at their suggestion, we headed for the historic town of Madison, Indiana. On the way we stopped at an overlook over the Ohio River. 

Note the barges on the River...they go both directions, carrying supplies and goods both upriver and downriver. The Ohio River starts in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and empties into the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois, so there's quite a distance there for goods to be transported!

And right at the bottom of this photo, all those little white things are headstones. There's a large cemetery down there. We haven't investigated it yet, but we feel it must have graves in there that date back to the Civil War or longer. This area was very important in the Underground Railroad.

On our way to Indiana we crossed several bridges. I had to show you a picture of this one. I don't believe I've ever seen a purple bridge before. And it really was purple...that wasn't just the lighting!

This must be the land of colorful bridges, because the next one that took us across the Ohio River was aqua!

The town of Madison is just beautiful. The houses and buildings look just like they must have looked in the early 1900s. We spent most of the day there yesterday, and another hour or two today. 

The Lanier Mansion is a well known historical landmark:

Here's the County Courthouse with its shining copper cupola:

And a shot of Main Street that doesn't come anywhere near doing justice to its beauty:

Madison is located right on the banks of the Ohio River. 

Here's another barge hauling some sand:

There was a really nice music store on Main Street with a great name: Crawdaddy Music. We spent lots of time in there, and I came perilously close to buying a vintage dobro mandolin with a resonator top. It had such a sweet bell-like tone. But really...we're already hauling seven instruments as it is. Common sense prevailed (barely) and the mandolin is still in the shop if any of you want to zip up to Indiana and pick it up. (I'm talking to you, Russell Hardie, but I won't mention any names!)

Last night a neighboring campground couple, Vic and Judy, invited Curt and me over to their campfire to sing and play some songs. We had a wonderful time with a small group of people, cooking dinner over the fire, talking and singing & playing. I love how music brings people together. 

Today, September 30, is our oldest granddaughter Heidi's sixteenth birthday. Happy Birthday, Heidi!

We woke to a lovely mist hanging in the trees...felt like we were really in the Kentucky backwoods!

 

After a late breakfast and some camp chores, we ventured out in the opposite direction, still driving along the Ohio River. I never cease to be fascinated by the different barns we see as we travel. I've had several friends who are artists comment that they love the barn pictures as inspiration for paintings. So here are a few more for you!

In Kentucky there are many tobacco barns...you can see the tobacco leaves drying in the shade inside this one:

At Bill and Sue's suggestion, we found a pretty little winery in Switzerland County, Indiana, overlooking the Ohio River. 

Honda and Yamaha, the two shih-tzu guard dogs, are very effective at protecting the place...and begging for crackers!

Sharon did a wonderful job of helping us choose a delicious glass of wine...

...which we enjoyed, along with a delicious cheese plate, out on the deck overlooking the beautiful Ohio River:

Another couple, Karen and Barry, came out and joined us. We had a delightful visit with them on such a beautiful afternoon!

Once back at the State Park, we stopped in to see the General Butler Lodge (where the rich folks stay!). Magnificent views from the common room upstairs...

...and a little history about General Butler himself:

We're enjoying our stay here so much that we're stretching our original two-day stay to four days...but that's not unusual. We're finding that almost everyplace we go, we want to stay longer. There are so many wonderful places in this magnificent country, that we're realizing that this one trip probably isn't going to be enough for us. After we spend a few months in Rockport, Texas this winter, we may just have to do some more exploring next summer before we settle back down.

Ohio to Kentucky...Moving Southwest

Day 111 of trip, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014

We awoke this morning to find the lake wrapped in mist and pastel colors. What a different view than we've had for the past few days. The clouds above were also fascinating, with lots of contrails criss-crossing the sky. It was a great send-off view for us!

Before packing up, we drove back into beautiful Lancaster to attend the early service at Lancaster First United Methodistt Church. What a magnificent building!

The inside was just as amazing as the outside. And the music...piano, organ and choir, reminded us very much of our church back home in Kerrville.

The pastor delivered a very thought-provoking sermon on living generously. Both Curt and I were touched by his message.

Outside after the service, we noticed this amazing bell to the left of the church. I can't imagine hoisting that up and down from the tall bell tower shown in the first picture!

Back at camp we packed up and had a quick lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. PBJ? I can't remember the last time I had one of those. It's been years! And it was delicious, especially because of the habanero jelly that Ross and Lorna sent with us when we left their house. I was reminded of the sandwiches I made years ago when I was really skinny and trying to gain weight (can you imagine?). To fuel myself for a long day of hiking or rock climbing, I would make these fat and carb bombs of: one side of bread thickly slathered with butter and the other thickly slathered with peanut butter. Inside I layered sliced bananas, brown sugar, raisins, and chopped walnuts. They were delicious...and one of those would keep me going all day. I don't dare eat one now...I'd probably end up in the Cardiac Care Unit.

Last views of the lake:

After saying goodbye to some of our friends at the campground (and receiving a parting gift of fresh peaches, apples and bell peppers from one couple!) we headed southwest toward Kentucky. I spent most of our 3 1/2 hour drive writing yesterday's blog post (takes longer jouncing around in the truck). As I was proof reading it before posting it, I decided to add one more photo...and somehow (I have no idea how!) I deleted the entire post Bummer! Missed all that great scenery and endured all that eyestrain for...nada. So I closed my iPad and decided to enjoy the rest of the scenery. One thing I noticed was the display of clouds. Wow!!! Had to reopen the iPad and take photos of those!

As we neared Kentucky, we began to see a few more trees turning.

And soon we came to the bridge over the Ohio River! welcoming us into Kentucky:

Here's Cincinnati in the distance, off to the right of the bridge:

The moment we crossed into Kentucky, we noticed a difference in topography. While Ohio's terrain gently rises and falls, Kentucky definitely has hills. 

Now we're camped in another beautiful spot, nestled in the woods of Kentucky. Lots more bird calls around than there were on the lake, and with the acorns rocketing down from the trees way high above us, we definitely feel safer sitting under the awning of our trailer!

This is all new territory for us, so I'm sure we'll find some wonderful places to explore.

And for those of you who have asked about my brother Dale, I'm happy to report that the last I heard, this evening, he was doing much better. He's graduated to a soft diet, the antibiotics are working on the sepsis and pneumonia, he's talking more, and now they're talking about when to discharge him from the hospital. As my brother Steven said, "everyone is amazed at the change!" Thank you all for your prayers, but don't quit! He has a long battle to fight, and being a quadriplegic, the healing takes place much more slowly. We give thanks to God for the progress Dale has made; God surely answers prayer!