It was time to leave the safety of our Christian retreat,
using the Satnav to take us towards the nearest gas station while we still had
fumes left to travel on! It nearly
caught us out, trying to take us under a bridge with 11’2” clearance…. But we
saw it coming and averted disaster.
When we first entered Kentucky we stopped at a Visitors Centre on
the highway. I hoarded pamphlets and
maps etc. and it became apparent that Kentucky is the equine capital of the
states. I used to class myself as quite
‘horsey’ having ridden often when I was younger and worked at stables and even
a ranch during my time in Australia. So,
I felt it would be nice to stop by Kentucky Horse Park on our way through the
State, for old times’ sake, as we travelled West towards Louisville. On arrival at the park we looked at some of
the statues and memorials to some of the racing greats bred in Kentucky.
On arrival in the reception area we discovered that it would not be a
cheap addition to our day to see the whole park! As this attraction had very much been an
afterthought it was not worthy of us parting with so much of our cash. We must have looked strapped for cash, or
they overheard us, but a gentleman approached us and explained that he and his
wife had seen all they wanted to at the park that day. He handed us two yellow stickers that would
get us into a museum on the outer perimeter of the park, no questions
asked. How lovely of them and how
perfect our timing was! We offered to
give the man some cash in return for the tickets but he refused. We could choose to feel like a charity case….
Or just enjoy the fact that we had struck lucky from a stranger’s generosity,
so that’s what we did. Mind you, the American
Saddlebred Museum does not feature in our ‘best-of’ list of museums we’ve been
lucky to encounter on our travels. I had
to find out what saddlebred meant – it’s specifically an American horse bred to
have strange gaits – which for those of you still confused means that instead
of just the normal horse gaits of walk, trot, canter and gallop, they do these
weird steps where their legs move in bizarre timings and angles and use these
gaits in competition. It’s really
strange and, dare I say it, pretty pointless if you ask me?! So maybe the generous gentleman knew he
wasn’t really missing much by not stepping foot (or whatever gait he chose)
through the doors. But I made the most
of having a play about on the exhibits:
 |
| The fun you can have with a green screen! |
So, we left Kentucky horse
park only a few dollar’s lighter after a shot glass purchase and having seen
not a single LIVE horse!
This was a great example of a ‘winging it’ day where we had
no set plan for which campsite we were heading to and we struck lucky. As we neared Louisville along interstate 64
each junction had signage for accommodation, as well as gas, restaurants and
attractions. We just plumped for one
near Shelbyville at random, pulled up and $20 later we had a plot for the night
right next to a scenic lake. Leaving Si
o cook dinner, I took myself for a sunset walk along the banks to stretch my
legs after being cooped up in the RV for much of the day.
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