The Final Stop on our Trip, Bluegrass Country

We picked up three more states!

We are just concluding the final leg of this 4 month Dream of a Lifetime Trip – in a repair shop, of course.   Only a half hour from Hilton Head.  Yup, it’s always something with our homes on wheels, but it’s just part of this incredible adventure ….

OUR OVERNIGHT HOME AT THE SERVICE CENTER

After we Lake Michigan, we spent the next week at the Monaco Service Center, then a coach renovation shop, both in Indiana.  Windshield was replaced and lights upgraded.  We then headed south to Kentucky, the equestrian epicenter (not chic like Aiken, but very horsey). 

Yup, he's a Clydesdale.


Love, love, loved Kentucky!  We spent two weeks exploring incredible Bluegrass country.     

We camped for the first week at the 1200 acre Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, clearly a horse lover’s dream. 

The foliage everywhere was stunning.

And, of course, went to the races at Keeneland, the most beautiful racetrack in the country with limestone grandstands in a tree shaded setting. 

The place was so crowded, parking was almost a block’s walk. Of course, I decided to look for a spot up front where the important people park. One of the parking guys said, What are you looking for Miss?  I said, A parking spot up front. He said, I can give you one of those for $10.  I quickly stuck it in his hand, he removed the rope from the from the inner circle section and directed me to my space for 'the stakes horsemen' as he smiled and said, ‘Enjoy your time at the races, Miss.  

Yup, this is the place.

Wore my ‘Kentucky derby’ hat instead of the cowgirl one, was a good choice.  Many Kentuckians told me they liked my hat as we enjoyed the excitement together.  I bought my binoculars with me, like I used to in the olden days.  What a joke since you felt they were next to you on all the close up screens!

Hard to believe but I picked the winner of the first race and made $8.40 for my $2 bet [on a budget to buy the Petoskey lot]!  His name was So Vain. 

Loved the race track experience. I watched these beautiful thoroughbreds being prep’d to race, they tie a gag around their mouth I guess so they won’t bite their tongues.  I watched them parade before us before the race, then in the winners circle.

We drove endless miles on two of America’s most scenic byways, Old Franklin Pike and Paris Pike, along the Bluegrass Parkway, and the non-stop country back roads, all tucked under canopies of century-old trees, now all autumn hues.  

Farm after farm was rolling jade hills dotted with mares and foals. 

In Lexington, the fences are white.  In the neighboring town of Georgetown, they are black.  This is so uniform that it must be a regulated development standard.  



And, the more historic homes have centuries old rock walls that go on forever.

Most farms are named after their Derby winning studs and wanna Bs.  One farm, obviously with open-minded owners, named their farm ‘Never Know ‘.

We spent the last week 10 miles north in Georgetown, KY to be closer to the charming historical towns – Georgetown, Paris, Midland, Frankfort.  Endless history, 1850s!.    

FRANKFORT, CAPITOL BLDG.

DOWNTOWN FRANKFORT FROM AFAR

We had our very own park all to ourselves where the kids played each day, at the historic Candome Place, the 1800s home of the Sisters of Visitation.  

The rest of our private yard at Candome Center

GEORGETOWN CITY HALL

DOME OF CITY HALL

Have never seen brick pillars before ... very nice.

GEORGETOWN COLLEGE

GEORGETOWN FLAMING TREE

A BAPTIST CHURCH, GEORGETOWN

GEORGETOWN MANSION, 1850s

DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN

DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN FROM DRIVER'S SEAT

ANOTHER DOWNTOWN HISTORIC MANSION

GEORGETOWN MANSION, FRONT IS LIMESTONE, SIDE IS BRICK

THIS SAYS FOUNDED 1821, GEORGETOWN

MIDLAND, JUST WEST OF GEORGETOWN

DOWNTOWN MIDLAND

MIDLAND, TRAIN TRACKS THROUGH DOWNTOWN

MIDLAND, ABANDONED TRAIN STATION

CASTLE ON THE WAY TO FRANKFURT

Loved this town called Paris just a half hour East of Georgetown.  Has black fences since it is in Georgetown vicinity!

PARIS, ENDLESS ROLLING HILLS

DOWNTOWN PARIS FROM DRIVER'S SEAT

PARIS, BAPTIST CHURCH.

Kentucky is plumb full of Baptist churches, every few corners, and Government Buildings

PARIS CITY HALL

PARIS DERBY WINNER

PARIS, PARKED NEXT TO THIS CAR AT THE GROCERY STORE

PARIS, ENTRANCE TO CEMETERY .... WOULD LIKE MY ASHES TO GO HERE ...

EPILOGUE

This trip from South Carolina to Tennessee music country, New Mexico, up through Colorado and Wyoming to Montana, East through North Dakota, a brief stop in Canada, Minnesota, then south through Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennesse, NC then back to Hilton Head was about 7,000 miles through 16 states and five national parks, including the granddaddy of them all, incredible Glacier National Park. We have now been to every state except seven.   We visited  about 50 more place in our bible, 1000 Places to See Before You Die,  including Chattanooga & Rock City, historic Franklin, Graceland, Beale Street jazz scene, Civil Rights Museum, Belle Meade, the Grand Old Opry and The Hermitage, in Tennesse, to name a few;  Route 66,  Santa Fe, Santa Fe Opera House, Taos, in New Mexico; Colorado Springs (my favorite US city),  and The Garden of the Gods, the amazing Broadmoor Hotel there,  Great Sand Dunes National Park in Alamosa, Pikes Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, all in Colorado Jackson Hole and Teton in Wyoming; Yellowstone and Glacier in Montana; the amazing International Peace Garden in ND and Canada;  Michigan Lakes area – Mackinac Island, Little Traverse Bay Area.  And, finally, horse country Kentucky.

We met new friends, Vicki in Colorado Springs, Ruth Ann and Jim Newberry who, standing on my car, jettisoned me through my bathroom window when I was locked out,  Dick Havaere who made me feel so welcome at Hearthside Grove, and old ones who visited with me along the way.  And …   The kids became very bestest friends.  

They now play about three times a day, pee where the other pees and walk through life together.

AND THEY HANG OUT AT HOME TOGETHER

I ended my eight month battle with my bank over three of my properties by reinstating two and in short sale for the third.  I became spiritually more aware via continued study in The Course in Miracles. And, found a new summer home and learned over and over again that our country is amazingly beautiful and its peoples are loving and generous. 

I have been dreaming of taking this trip for much of my adult life.  Never thought I would do it in the company of dogs, but life unfolds as it does and you go with the flow.  We couldn’t have made it without the guidance of our friend and neighbor at Hilton Head, Ed Knott, who was our travel guide, remote mechanic and spiritual advisor.  There’s always something happening as you and your house rattle down the road, so one must have access to remote ministry and mechanics. 

This adventure would not have been the same without you, either.  It could have been a bit lonely on the road for four months, but I knew you were with me.  Sharing this blog with you was so cathartic, as I took photos for you to see and found words to describe our experiences.  Thanks for coming along!

 LOVE, THE O'SULLIVANS