ButtonwoodBay Sebring, FL,

I see this didn't post when I posted it so will make an attempt to rewrite it. We left Campbellsville, KY Tues. morning after a nice 10 day visit with our fiends Mary & Paul and also seeing my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin in Louisville. This was the last leg of our 1 1/2 year long oddessy around the good old USA and living in the motor home full time. In keeping with our mission to avoid interstates we drove south and picked up US 27 north of Chattanooga Tenn. and drove 27 all the way to Sebring except for 100 miles or so in southern GA. The first night we stayed in west of Atlanta near the Ga state line. The second night we stayed in western FL near the Suwanee River. We arrived back in Buttonwood Bay around 2PM on Thur. where we were meet by daughter Terri. She seemed especially glad to see us after being gone for so long. We are so glad that she now feels that way after going through a period in her earlier life when she didn't care if she saw us or not.

Churchhill Downs

Sat. morning we drove to Louisville where we spent until mid afternoon on Sun. Visiting my cousin Barbara, Uncle Gerald and Aunt Frieda Wheeler. after arriving Sat. morning we went to the Kentucky Derby Museum located at Churchill Downs. I really enjoyed it especially the guided tour out to the winners circle. On Sun. we took a driving tour through Old Louisville. Old Louisville is filled with streets full of grand old brick mansions as well as large brick houses and apartment buildings. Both Nancy and I like to look at the old houses as we tour the country. The architecture and construction is different in every region for instance in Louisiana, MO they were nearly all wood and here in Kentucky the construction is nearly all brick.

Makers Mark Distilery

Yesterday we drove north about 25 miles to Loretto, KY for a tour of the Makers Mark Bourbon distillery. It is set in the rolling hills just outside Loretto. The distillery dates back to the 1805 when it was established as a water powered gristmill distillery, it is also a National Historic Landmark. Also on the grounds is the Quart House believed to be the oldest remaining whiskey retail store. This is where the distillery used to sell bourbon the surrounding neighbors. If you notice the road is lower than the store. This is so the people could purchase their whiskey without leaving the seat of the horse drawn wagon. The Makers Mark brand was started in 1953 when Bill Samuel's a 6th. generation distiller decided to burn the old family recipe and start with his own recipe. His wife developed the distinctive bottle that is used and the process for hand dipping in hot red wax that forms the seal on the final product. By law bourbon has to at least 50% corn and aged in new barrels that can be used only one time for bourbon aging. The barrels are made from locally grown white oak and flash burned on the inside. This burning process is what gives the bourbon its color over the six year aging process. The flavor come from the oak barrel during the same process. There are still 8 of the original wooden citrus vats in use as well as an additional 20 newer stainless steel vats. Each vat holds 9600 gallons of corn, hard red winter wheat, barley, yeast and water. After this mixture ferments for four days they then draw off about 18-20 53 gallon barrels of alcohol that is then put through the distilling process that produces a clear 180 proof liquid that is put in the oak barrels to age for 6 years before it is bottled for resale as Maker Mark Bourbon.

Oct. 11th. Campbellsville, KY

We left Edwardsville, ILL yesterday morning around 9:30 AM. In keeping with our goal to avoid the interstate system we went south on ILL Rte 4 To Lebonon where we turned east on US 50 driving across the flat fertile farm lands of western ILL these turned to more the rolling but still good farm lands of eastern ILL and western IND. At Loogootee, IND we turned south on US 231 driving through the rolling hills that were sometimes farmed and sometime wooded. Shortly after crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky we turned east on US 60 driving through the fertile river bottom farm lands that turned to wooded rolling hills after leaving the river bottom. At Garfield we turned right onto KY 86 a very narrow two lane road that wound through the hills to Elizabethtown. After crossing I-65 we then drove on KY 210 arriving at Campbellsville around 7PM EST. On the drive across ILL and IND we saw very little harvesting taking place but we did note that about 1/2 of the corn was flat on the ground so when they do start harvest it is going to be at a very slow pace. In southern IND and into Kentucky we did see corn being harvested. There was some soybean harvest taking place all along the route but we also saw many fields that were still completely green.
In the wooded areas the trees are starting to change color with the most color being in Kentucky. In MO and ILL they are expecting a lot of color because they have had a lot of rain this summer.

Daniel Boone House Defiance, MO

We were driving north on St. Rd 47 after crossing the Missouri River north of Washington toward our friend Ardath's house, I spotted this sign that said Daniel Boone house 2 miles right on 94. I told Nancy lets drive over there and take a quick picture. Well after 2miles there was another sign that said 1 1/2 miles to the right guess what another sign any way after driving about 15 miles through the beautiful Femme Osage valley and surrounding wooded hills we arrived at The Daniel Boone House. You don't just drive up and take a picture you have to pay $6 a person for a guided tour. I might add that it was $12 well spent. When Daniel Boone was in his 60's he left Kentucky to explore the vast land to the west for the Federal Government. He was given 640 acres to homestead for his efforts. His son Todd came west a short time later but wasn't given a homestead so he purchased 540 acres near where his fathers land was. They erected a large 3 story limestone house on Todd's land in which Daniel Boone lived the remaining 20 years of his life so this is the house that he died in. Todd and his wife also raised their 14 children at this location. A lot of this house is original but some parts have been replaced or added over the years. The square holes on either side of the windows on the main floor were where they stuck their rifles out in case if an Indian attack.

Louisiana, MO

Fri. we went to historic Louisiana, MO on the banks of the Mississippi River. Louisiana has a lot of big grand old houses. The kind of house that if one were younger it would be really interesting to try to restore to its original grand state. While there we also toured the Whittle Shortline Railroad hand crafted wooden toy train factory. As the name implies they make wooden toy trains as well as Volvo trucks, UPS trucks and Fed-ex trucks. They are also starting to make several different multi tiered wooden puzzles that that they cut with a laser cutter. Later in the afternoon we drove across the river to Pleasant Hill Ill. to my cousin Gail & Chris Ball's house. In the evening we went to Kampsville Ill. and ate catfish at a restaurant on the banks of the Illinois River.
The trees here are just starting to show a little bit of color change, once in a while you will see one that the top has turned a bright red. With all of the moisture they have had this summer they are expecting to have a lot of color in a week or two.
They are harvesting corn and soybeans in the fields in the Mississippi river bottoms. Seeing the combines out in the fields still gets this old farm boy/seed corn salesman excited. It just makes me want to pull over and go ride on the combine to see how it is doing.

Bowling Green, MO.

After spending the last two weeks in Omaha cleaning out a house and getting it ready to put on the market we are finally on the road again. Yesterday morning we left the KOA Kampground at Gretna, NE heading south on hi-way 5o after crossing into Kansas we turned east at Seneca KS on US 36. we continued east on 36 crossing the Missouri River at St. Joe . driving east across MO on 36 we saw many fields of corn and soy beans but very little harvest activity has occurred yet. Just west of Hannibal, MO we turned south on us 61 and stopped at the Lazy C campground at Bowling Green, MO. We are about 12 miles west of the Mississippi River that is the boundary between Mo. and Ill. We have enjoyed not driving the interstate since leaving ND and have decided that we will go all the way to Sebring without using the interstate system.Today we drove to Pleasant Hill, Ill. where we visited my 99 year old aunt Inez and 3 of my cousins. Aunt Inez is another of my amazing relatives she is the only living aunt or uncle on my fathers side. She has lived at her home in Pleasant Hill until this last spring when she fell and broke her arm and had to go to the nursing home in Pitsfield, Ill. To look at her you would swear she wasn't a day over 75 and her mind is so sharp that she puts us younger people to shame the way she can tell you all about when different people were born, things about the family and her life.