I believe it was the very next day, after returning home from Louisville, I get a text from my father about a ride the next weekend. I think I'm free, so why not. He texts back some crazy idea about visiting a Distillery and Mammoth Cave. I laugh it off, assuming it was some sort of snide remark because he wasn't invited on our previous trip.
The next day, the girlfriend is pestering me about what we're going to do next weekend, being a holiday and all. Gears start turning and a glaze comes over my eyes. Light Bulb. The next weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. Which means it's a 3 day weekend. Which means, perhaps my dad wasn't joking! And he wasn't!
My brother is in, my dad is in, I'm in, and eventually I convince the girlfriend to join us (sigh, women), and a plan is set in motion. I revisit AirBNB, and find a small house (!) to rent, this time, in downtown Lexington.
Because of how great a guy I am, I put my Make-A-Passenger-Backrest plan into fast forward, and the Friday before our trip I get it welded, painted, and installed.
Saturday morning we all meet up, and eventually head south. Being the only efficient option (outside of the interstate), we once again head down US-62. And being the obviously more enjoyable option, we once again cross the Ohio River on the Augusta Ferry. My brother, riding my dads newly acquired V-strom, decided to make the trip more entertaining by continuously dropping pieces off his bike. First it was a license plate bolt... not a big deal. Then it was the center stand... kind of a big deal. And finally he dropped one of his side boxes... definitely a big deal. Each part was easily dealt with on the road, but it was a bit comical. After the ferry is where the route changed from last week, still, small meandering roads took south until we rejoined US-62. Russell Cove road was our last long stretch, which took us through endless horse farms and rolling hills into downtown. We bee-lined it for the Visitors Center, and made it just before closing. With maps in hand and a new level of knowledge/confusion, we headed to the house.
The place was about 2 miles from the center of town, and, while comically small, served it's purpose exceptionally well. We walked back downtown, and began, what became a long and drawn out process, looking for dinner. One place after another seemed to have fancy food. Unnecessarily fancy. Like, why must every burger have 6 ingredients I've never heard of, and cost fifteen bucks? One place after another had us saying, does anything on this menu sound good? I guess we're just not fancy-food-eating types. Don't get me wrong, I'll try anything, and I'm sure most everything would've been great, but, well, you know... moving on.
We find a place, and end up ordering 4 flatbread pizzas and splitting them. We walked around a bit and visited a bar downtown before hopping the free trolly up to a brewery closer to our house. We ended up back home, and all crashed for the night fairly quickly.
The plan the next day was to ride to a distillery (Makers Mark is the right direction) and proceed to Mammoth Cave. First, we visited a breakfast place that came highly recommended. I hate being mister negative... but the food was, to me, just way to over the top again. So now we had a later start. We made it to Makers Mark, and took the distillery tour. It was enjoyable, but nothing particularly special about it (after taking the previous tours). In the end, if you buy a bottle, you can dip it in the signature red wax yourself. Unlike Jim Beam's do-it-yourself bottling feature, Makers offered a lesser expensive option, so I opted to give it a go. We all had a good time, but quickly realized we weren't going to make it to Mammoth Cave in time to see anything. Instead, we opt to zig-zag back to Lexington, while hitting every other distillery on the way. Most will be closed for the afternoon, but we no longer needed to take a tour, the distillery grounds are simply worth stopping to see. We headed to Heaven Hill first, as it's just up the street, and made it in time to get in, but too late for any tastings. A quick walk around the store, and glance around the campus, and we moved on. Next stop was Four Roses, followed by Wild Turkey.
Back in Lexington, and hoping not to revisit last nights finding-food-fiasco, we do a bit more research this time. I found the perfect place, a local bar and grill, highly recommended, and with normal food! It was a heck of a walk, but was to be well worth it! Until we got there, and they were closed on Sundays. As were several other places near by. We find an open bar, and learn that this is normal here, Lexington mostly shuts down on Sundays. Great. Eventually we find another dinner option, and got a good meal. We headed back to the bar for a round, and then walked back to the house.
The next morning we headed out early, but shortly after leaving town, we find a Waffle House! Holy-Moly-Big-Piles-Of-Normal-Amazing-Food!!! I'm not saying it's better food than any of the fancy stuff we had, but it sure hit the spot more so! Give me a giant waffle! And next to that, a pile of hashbrowns, and cover it with stuff! But not stuff like the previous meals; fancy masticated, drizzled, long words, unknown things, mystery stuff... stuff like, Chili! And Peppers! And Cheese and Onions! MMmmmmm down home, stick to your bones, buttery sugary chili-y goodness.
What the heck was I talking about?
Oh, so then we rode home. The end.
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Ride Planning Page
The next day, the girlfriend is pestering me about what we're going to do next weekend, being a holiday and all. Gears start turning and a glaze comes over my eyes. Light Bulb. The next weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. Which means it's a 3 day weekend. Which means, perhaps my dad wasn't joking! And he wasn't!
My brother is in, my dad is in, I'm in, and eventually I convince the girlfriend to join us (sigh, women), and a plan is set in motion. I revisit AirBNB, and find a small house (!) to rent, this time, in downtown Lexington.
Because of how great a guy I am, I put my Make-A-Passenger-Backrest plan into fast forward, and the Friday before our trip I get it welded, painted, and installed.
Saturday morning we all meet up, and eventually head south. Being the only efficient option (outside of the interstate), we once again head down US-62. And being the obviously more enjoyable option, we once again cross the Ohio River on the Augusta Ferry. My brother, riding my dads newly acquired V-strom, decided to make the trip more entertaining by continuously dropping pieces off his bike. First it was a license plate bolt... not a big deal. Then it was the center stand... kind of a big deal. And finally he dropped one of his side boxes... definitely a big deal. Each part was easily dealt with on the road, but it was a bit comical. After the ferry is where the route changed from last week, still, small meandering roads took south until we rejoined US-62. Russell Cove road was our last long stretch, which took us through endless horse farms and rolling hills into downtown. We bee-lined it for the Visitors Center, and made it just before closing. With maps in hand and a new level of knowledge/confusion, we headed to the house.
The place was about 2 miles from the center of town, and, while comically small, served it's purpose exceptionally well. We walked back downtown, and began, what became a long and drawn out process, looking for dinner. One place after another seemed to have fancy food. Unnecessarily fancy. Like, why must every burger have 6 ingredients I've never heard of, and cost fifteen bucks? One place after another had us saying, does anything on this menu sound good? I guess we're just not fancy-food-eating types. Don't get me wrong, I'll try anything, and I'm sure most everything would've been great, but, well, you know... moving on.
We find a place, and end up ordering 4 flatbread pizzas and splitting them. We walked around a bit and visited a bar downtown before hopping the free trolly up to a brewery closer to our house. We ended up back home, and all crashed for the night fairly quickly.
The plan the next day was to ride to a distillery (Makers Mark is the right direction) and proceed to Mammoth Cave. First, we visited a breakfast place that came highly recommended. I hate being mister negative... but the food was, to me, just way to over the top again. So now we had a later start. We made it to Makers Mark, and took the distillery tour. It was enjoyable, but nothing particularly special about it (after taking the previous tours). In the end, if you buy a bottle, you can dip it in the signature red wax yourself. Unlike Jim Beam's do-it-yourself bottling feature, Makers offered a lesser expensive option, so I opted to give it a go. We all had a good time, but quickly realized we weren't going to make it to Mammoth Cave in time to see anything. Instead, we opt to zig-zag back to Lexington, while hitting every other distillery on the way. Most will be closed for the afternoon, but we no longer needed to take a tour, the distillery grounds are simply worth stopping to see. We headed to Heaven Hill first, as it's just up the street, and made it in time to get in, but too late for any tastings. A quick walk around the store, and glance around the campus, and we moved on. Next stop was Four Roses, followed by Wild Turkey.
Back in Lexington, and hoping not to revisit last nights finding-food-fiasco, we do a bit more research this time. I found the perfect place, a local bar and grill, highly recommended, and with normal food! It was a heck of a walk, but was to be well worth it! Until we got there, and they were closed on Sundays. As were several other places near by. We find an open bar, and learn that this is normal here, Lexington mostly shuts down on Sundays. Great. Eventually we find another dinner option, and got a good meal. We headed back to the bar for a round, and then walked back to the house.
The next morning we headed out early, but shortly after leaving town, we find a Waffle House! Holy-Moly-Big-Piles-Of-Normal-Amazing-Food!!! I'm not saying it's better food than any of the fancy stuff we had, but it sure hit the spot more so! Give me a giant waffle! And next to that, a pile of hashbrowns, and cover it with stuff! But not stuff like the previous meals; fancy masticated, drizzled, long words, unknown things, mystery stuff... stuff like, Chili! And Peppers! And Cheese and Onions! MMmmmmm down home, stick to your bones, buttery sugary chili-y goodness.
What the heck was I talking about?
Oh, so then we rode home. The end.
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Ride Planning Page
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