Lexington, Kentucky

We are now in the Bluegrass section of Kentucky where many of the famous large horse ranches are located. In fact, we are staying at one, called the Kentucky Horse Park.

Kentucky Horse Park Sign

Parked in the Kentucky Horse Park

One of the most famous racing horses who won the triple crown in 1917 

is buried here in the park. He  was called Man o' War.

Man o' War Plaque 

Walkway leading up the burial place of Man 'o War

Man o' War Statute

There are other tribute statutes in the park for other famous horses. 

And, a number of retired famous horses are living out 

their retirement years here in the park.

Statute tribute to Secretariat

Be-A-Bono, 2004 World Champion Quarter Horse

Funny Side, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness

Cigar, American winner of 16 straight starts between 1994 and 1996,

with life-time earnings near $10,000,000.

A mock-up of the forty pounds of roses laid over the Kentucky Derby winner each year.

Horses and riders are seen all over the 1,224 acre horse farm

(and horses always have the right-of-way)

Part of the Kentucky Horse Park

Beautiful Lilacs in the Park

Downtown Lexington, Kentucky

Tim, this one is for you. You could cut your grass in 

less than 5 minutes with this monster.

There is so much grass in this Park, they have 

to use these huge grass cutters.

They even have some larger than this.

We are due to get rain again tonight and tomorrow. Temperature is in the high 70s right now. We have had rain off and on for the four days that we have been here. 

Moving on to West Virginia tomorrow.

Wishing all of the mothers in the world a

VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Enjoy your life!

St. Louis, Missouri and Louisville, Kentucky

John and Marijean joined us in St. Louis, Missouri on Wednesday (May 1). Saw their new motorhome for the first time. Beautiful!

That night, we first went to the top of the Hyatt in downtown St. Louis for drinks and to get a view of the city from up high. Then, we went out to eat at a great restaurant in downtown St. Louis called Lombardos on Market Street.

Before we leave St. Louis, we have a few more pictures from that great city taken the day before they joined us.

One of the courtrooms in the old Courthouse

St. Louis is home to the Courthouse where the famous Dred Scott case originated. This case was a precursor to the Civil War. The US Supreme Court held in that case that, among other things, Mr. and Mrs. Scott, as African-Amerians, were not citizens of the United States, and thus could not bring a lawsuit to determine their status as free blacks.

Ceiling in the old Courthouse

The old Courthouse with the St. Louis Arch in the background

One last close-up of the St. Louis Arch

Last time, we posted pictures of the Arch taken on the other side of the Mississippi River. There is a park there that was the idea of Malcolm W. Martin, a long-time lawyer in St. Louis (now deceased). 

Jerry (and Chanti) sitting with the statute of Malcolm W. Martin

The walkway to the left is part of the Malcolm M. Martin project.

We waited for the sun to go down to take some pictures from the walkway.

The St. Louis Arch as taken from the Malcolm W. Martin walkway.

On Thursday (May 2), John and Marijean, and Jerry and I, traveled to the KOA in Louisville South, Kentucky, to be here for the 139th Kentucky Derby. 

It is a good thing that we went to Churchill Downs on Saturday because it rained all day on Sunday, the day of the Derby. (For the record, the horse Orb won the Kentucky Derby.) The event on the day before the Derby is called The Oaks. Our friends, Marlene and Paul, from Charlotte, North Carolina, are avid horse horse racing fans and came to attend the races. 

Only Marijean, Jerry and I went to Churchill Downs on Saturday as John did not want to go with us. Actually, we intended to visit the Derby Museum, but it was closed (even though Jerry had called earlier to check to see whether it was open for the day). That's when we decided to go in to see at least one race. Because we didn't have box or general admission seats, we found a place against the fence near the tracks on the in-field.

Churchill Downs Entrance

Taken from our viewpoint at the fence.

That evening, we met Marlene and Paul at the Cattleman's Road House for dinner. Jerry, Marlene, John and Marijean go way back to 1965-66. It was so much fun catching up with them again.

John, Marijean, Mary, Jerry, Marlene and Paul

Picture taken outside of the restaurant.

John and Marijean left the park this morning. Jerry and I will leave tomorrow for Lexington, Kentucky. 

Have a great week ahead, everyone!

Owensville and St. Louis, Missouri

Spent nearly a week in an isolated park near Owensville, Missouri, called Lost Valley Lake Resort.

Lake Valley Lake Resort entrance sign

Did I mention that we were isolated?

Not only were we isolated, but we barely had cell coverage and no internet unless we drove over to the Club House. 

The Lost Valley Lake with a couple of fisherman hanging out.

Beautiful clouds and countryside in the area.

But then the rains came -- and the cold temperatures -- and we froze for three days. Had to dig out the portable heater again to try to keep warm.

On Thursday, April 25, we drove about 90 miles to the St. Louis, Missouri area. We are actually staying in the Cahokia RV Parque that is right across the Mississippi River on the Illinois side.  

St. Louis is known for its famous 630-foot Arch historically marking the "Gateway to the West." Obviously, we loved taking all kinds of pictures of the Arch.

 The Arch as seen through the flowers in the surrounding park.

A close-up of the Arch

Another view

 I didn't realize that one can actually go up to the top of the arch, which is what we did on Monday.

We had to duck through a small opening to get into the tram

that slowly took us up to the top of the Arch. Each little room

seats five people.  Very tight quarters. Coming back down,

though, went very fast.

There are very tiny windows at the top of the Arch

that allow visitors to take pictures through them.

This is the view looking over the Mississippi River.

This is the view looking towards downtown St. Louis,

showing the famous old Courthouse in the center.

The park setting near the Arch

This is a view of the Eads Bridge built in 1874.

It was the first cantilevered bridge built.

We took this picture from the Illinois side of the 

Mississippi River after the rains stopped.

This man-made geyser goes off three times a day

and reaches over 600 feet in the air.

One last picture of the Arch.

The weather is now getting into the 80s. We are tracking our friends, John and Marijean, who left California a few days ago in their motorhome and will be joining us in this park on Wednesday. So looking forward to seeing them again. 

Live the life you love!

Branson, Missouri

First of all, we grieve with our nation over the senseless tragedy in Boston on Monday. We watched the interfaith service on television this morning and thought it was wonderful.

We think that it was Lanny from Grand Isle who said "everyone has to do Branson once." We did not know what he meant then, but we do now. Branson appears to us as a mini-Vegas, but without the gambling. There are 350 eating places and 30 theaters with over 100 shows. At least 25% of the shows are "tribute" shows -- such as a "tribute" to Neil Diamond, Elvis, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, the Eagles, Abba, etc. There are also lots of comedy and gospel music shows. At this point in our life, we have seen enough of those shows.

We are staying at the Treasure Lake Resort. It is huge, with 573 RV parking sites. In fact, it took us 40 minutes of driving around the place in our vehicle to find "just the right spot." You'd think that we would be staying for a month instead of only four days.

Parked at the Treasure Lake Resort in Branson, Missouri

Branson has only about 6,000 people, but with the tourists that must flock to this area, who knows how many people come here during the summer time. The town is built on hills, and that part is nice.

We found a relatively new area down by the waterfront (Lake Taneycomo) and spent an afternoon walking around the place.

Restaurant on the waterfront in Branson, MO

 Newly developed shopping center on the waterfront in Branson, MO

More of the waterfront

Other than that, we experienced another severe thunderstorm yesterday and last night. Just prior to the storm, the temperature was 83 degrees. Today it is 44 degrees and is expected to get down to 29 degrees tonight. Once, we have to bring out the portable heater from down below. Needless to say, there were lots of tornado watch and flood warnings again. Both of us are very tired today as we were up half the night with Chanti who doesn't exactly embrace these thunderstorms.

This was some of the fog we drove through to get here on Monday.

We are pulling out of here tomorrow and heading to another place still in Missouri. So far, the weather report predicts no rain or wind, which is a good thing.

Enjoy the life you love!

Ruston, Louisiana, Lake Catherine State Park near Hot Springs, and Little Rock, Arkansas

After leaving Baton Rouge, we spent our last three days in Louisiana at the Lincoln Parish Park near Ruston, Louisiana.

We parked right along the water.

This park has lots of walking trails around the lake.

Then, on Tuesday (April 9), we finally left Louisiana after spending nearly 9 weeks off and on in that state. When we started this trip, if someone would have said that we would spend 9 weeks in Louisiana, we would have said "no way." Goes to show what we know. Louisiana is a beautiful state and we really enjoyed our time exploring all it has to offer.

On to Arkansas! 

Taken out of the RV window as we crossed over into Arkansas.

Parked at Lake Catherine State Park

near Hot Springs, Arkansas.

When we arrived, the weather was beautiful -- in the low 70s. But that turned on us as a major storm moved from the Central States to the East. At the time the storm started on Wednesday (April 10), the temperature was 83 degrees with high humidity. It wasn't long before our NOAA radio and the park host warned us of possible tornadoes heading our way. And, yes, tornadoes touched down in Arkansas and Mississippi, damaging over 75 homes and killing at least one person. This is what my weather map on my cell phone looked like.

Within one hour, the temperature dropped from 83 degrees to 48 degrees, and went down to 39 later that night. We had just put away our portable heater for the spring, but had to pull it back out again. Luckily, we survived another weather incident.

Since the storm, the temperatures have stayed in the low 60s during the day time and in the high 30s at night.

On one of the days, we drove into Hot Springs to check out the place. Bill Clinton once lived in Hot Springs as shown by the local sign in town.

Hot Springs is known for, yes, its hot springs! Believe us, the water is hot and springs up from the earth. Years ago, 65,000 people a year would come to Hot Springs for the hot baths. The bath houses still line the street. 

Steam from the hot springs.

Hot spring water falls

The town also created long walkways for the people

to stroll on after coming out of the hot spring bath houses.

Continuation of the walkway.

Street showing the line of bath houses, 

one after another. Today, because of more knowledge

on healthy living, fewer than 6,000 people now

frequent the bath houses each year.

The locals fill their jugs with free artisan well water.

The Hotel Arlington in downtown Hot Springs.

Famous because Al Capone once stayed there.

There are long walking paths through the woods and water falls at the Lake Catherine State Park.

You first have to cross this swinging bridge.

Chanti did not like this bridge as it moved when

we were walking on it.

Water falls along the walking path

A bench on which to rest and enjoy the view

We left Lake Catherine State Park yesterday (Saturday) and drove 72 miles to Little Rock, Arkansas. Got a very nice place at the Riverside RV Park right on the Arkansas River.

Parked at the Riverside RV Park in Little Rock, Arkansas

We see downtown Little Rock from the front of our RV

And, this is the night time view of downtown Little Rock

Frankly, the main reason we wanted to come to Little Rock was to see the William J. Clinton Presidential Center. And that is what we did today.

To get to the Clinton Center, we walked across the 

Clinton Bridge (to the left of our RV on the above photo).

No need to drive to it as it was within walking distance

from the RV Park.

And this is the Clinton Center that you see 

as you exit the bridge.

Oval Office as it was when President Clinton occupied it.

Ready for dinner with Presidential plates?

View from the second floor of the Clinton Center,

looking towards downtown Little Rock.

Sun going down along the Arkansas River

and the walkway along the river.

On to Missouri tomorrow.

Have a great week ahead, everyone!