28. Apr, 2016

SUNDAY 14-09-08 

This morning we woke to a bright and breezy day, just right for a brisk walk to the showers. Behind the shower block is the swimming pool secured behind a low steel mesh fence. On approaching it this morning I thought to myself ‘That pool water looks lovely and clear’ so clear I felt the need to take a closer look, only to find it was so clear it was empty, not a drop on water in it, that’s why I could see the sides so easily, and to think I recently paid a lot of money at the opticians for an eye test and two new pairs of glasses. 

The shower block is really quite good and after a scrub up and breakfast we started preparing the vehicle for departure. All morning the wind had been getting stronger and quite blustery, but other than staying here another day we needed to bite the bullet and go. We popped over to the campground office to book out and use their modem facility which I’d spotted in the literature only this morning. I checked the internet bank statements to see how poor we were, The Chef checked her emails, and then it was time for the off. There was just one hold up on the way out as we had to dump all of our waste water along with quite a lot of other people who needed to do the same thing, and so we had to join the Pooh Queue. We were finally clear of the campground at about 12:00. 

We decided to make our way to Dayton along Highway 27 which runs parallel with Interstate 75 between Lexington and Cincinnati. We felt that by keeping to the Interstates too much we were missing the local scenery and a feel for how folk lived. The scenery as we moved north changed from the wealth and manicured homesteads of the Lexington horse fraternity to rather poor communities, with not much going for them. Just before a place called Falmouth we passed quite a few tobacco drying sheds, even managing to take pictures of one right beside the road. The tobacco in there must have been worth a lot of money, yet the owners felt confident in leaving it right there by the roadside hanging in the shed. There’s obviously more respect for the law here than back in the UK. 

As the afternoon progressed the wind got stronger and stronger until it reached gale force. It seems this was as a result of Hurricane ‘Ike’ which unexpectedly changed direction causing trees to crash down in the road, electrical power failures including traffic lights everywhere and our continual buffeting across the road. We even managed to eat a road works cone about the size of a dustbin. This is a nation that can put a man on the moon and send live TV pictures back and yet nearly 40 years later can’t design a large plastic cone that will stay upright in strong wind. Drivers were having to dodge them continually as the cones wanted to play ‘chicken’ with us as they rolled across the carriageways. Eventually the front of the RV claimed one and I had to pull in to the roadworks lane, stop, and reverse, in order to release it from under the front of the vehicle. We had hit another one earlier in such a way that it spun like mad and actually overtook us. Pulling back in to the line of fast moving traffic after the extrication was not fun. Driving attitudes over this East side are quite different from the West. 

Whilst passing around Cincinnati we came across yet more road works. They had torn up the road surface out near the wide central reservation. Within the working area there were two chemical toilet units for the workman, both of which had been blown over, one resting at an angle on the crash barrier and the other completely on its side. I just hope it hadn’t landed on the same side as the door with somebody still inside it. 

After about 5 hours on the road enduring other motorists, and fighting the wind, we arrived at the Wal-Mart Superstore, Huber Heights near Dayton. After shopping we settled down to a nice casserole prepared and cooked in the slow cooker yesterday. 

By late evening the wind thankfully had died down quite a lot. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Wright Patterson AFB where they have the world’s largest aircraft museum. 

LOCATION TONIGHT: Wal-Mart Super, 7680 Brandt Pike, Huber Heights, nr Dayton OH 45424 (GPS: N39.864293 W84.100564).

28. Apr, 2016

28. Apr, 2016

28. Apr, 2016

28. Apr, 2016

SATURDAY 13-09-08 

This morning the alarm went off early in order that we could get ready, decamp, and be on the road by 08:15, as we had a 7 mile drive to The Thoroughbred Center www.thethoroughbredcenter.com for our planned visit. If we’d had a tow car then we could have left the RV in situ and plumbed in, but instead the RV had to be our means of transport. We arrived in good time, ample time in fact as our tour guide for 09:00 was late, in fact didn’t turn up at all, and a replacement guide had to be found at very short notice, and so our visit, with 7 other guests on the shuttle bus started at 09:50.

We took a look at the horses being exercised around the track and got to talk to some of the jockey’s on their mounts before touring around the stable area and then to trainer Michael C. Cameron’s stable block. I was keen to speak to him as I had asked the guide ‘How do you train a horse – unlike an athlete they can’t understand what you’re trying to convey to them”, the guide couldn’t answer the question. 

Michael was a larger than life character and exceedingly interesting to listen to. He explained why horses were bred and trained in the Lexington, Kentucky area, it was to do to climate, soil etc. He had a real passion for his craft and was a mine of information, and training it seems, is done very much by repetition and rewards. Michael also introduced us to a two year old horse of his by the name of ‘Tellmeasecret’, a two year old which had just got its license for starting out of the stalls and had yet to race. We were with Michael quite a while and he was good enough to give up his time for us. He even pointed out neighboring properties and told us who they belonged to, and we’re talking serious, serious money. After Michael’s stable block we took a bit more of a look around before the tour ended. We did enjoy it I have to say, being up so close to such magnificent animals was quite memorable. 

We made our way back to the Kentucky Horse Park Campground and booked back in again as we’d only booked for one night yesterday. Today we opted for pitch number one after having had a tour of the vacant sites. This pitch is right on the edge of the campground, is quiet, and has a nice view over acres of mown fields which are part of the campground. I don’t think we’ve ever been in one so spacious. The rest of the day was spent lazing around followed by a barbecue on a new toy which allows us to cook food above my gas powered campfire. The food tasted just fine, but just like home it was the clearing up afterwards that was the nuisance. 

Tomorrow we plan to take a steady run up to Dayton, Ohio, about 150 miles north. This is where the Wright Brothers had their bicycle shop, and ended up building and flying airplanes. We’ll be travelling on a more minor road as we feel that travelling on the Interstates is convenient but we do miss so much of the local life. We won’t be hurrying to leave in the morning as checkout isn’t until 12:00 and we’ve nothing else to do other than complete the journey to Dayton via Cincinnati where we’ll be camping in a Wal-Mart car park again and you can’t really arrive at them too early in the day for an overnight park. 

LOCATION TONIGHT: Kentucky Horse Park Campground, 4089 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511 www.kyhorsepark.com