I had just finished my workout at the Planet Fitness in Lexington, Kentucky and walked back into the locker room to get my things and head out and face the day. When I walked around the corner, I found Bill Thomas sitting in his wheelchair directly in front of my locker. He was waiting for me. Although we had never met before, there is no doubt in my mind that he was waiting for me. He looked up when I walked over and asked me how I was. I told him I was doing well and asked him the same question. “Every day I wake up is a good day, a blessed day” he responded. He offered me a granola bar, but I declined. I was in kind of a rush, but for some reason I felt like what Bill had to say was something worth listening to. Over the years, I’ve learned to trust my instincts and that day, as usual, they served me well. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at me and told me this story:
It was Sunday, May 5th, 2013 and he was just waking up. At 57 years old, he had his aches and pains, but nothing out of the ordinary. He figured he’d get up, make some breakfast, have a shower and maybe watch his favorite church programs on TV. He sat on the edge of his bed and pictured his quiet Sunday morning unfolding as it always had. He went to stand up and begin his day when everything went blurry and lost its shape. He closed his eyes and tried to shake it off but when he opened them again nothing had changed. He went to sit back down and collapsed.
Old Friends Farm is a wonderful place. Opened in 2003 by a man named Michael Blowen, it is a beautiful farm where old thoroughbred race horses can live out their golden years. It’s a place where you can hear about the storied careers of these magnificent horses and get up close and personal with them. Carrots seem to be their favorite snack and our guide carried a big bucket of them with him on our tour. While some of the older ones needed them shredded a bit more they all knew it was carrot time when we came to their paddock. Some would walk over and some would gracefully run to meet us. While you did have to pay attention and not turn your back except to a select few as they might nip you, the majority of the horses there were sweet and gentle. Everyone, old and young, myself included really loved having these horses eat carrots out of our hands. It was a real treat and put a smile on everyone’s faces.
The “new” Kentucky State Capitol Building was built in 1910 at a cost of just over a million dollars. Designed by Frank Mills Andrews in the Beaux-Arts style, the beautiful Capitol sits high above Kentucky’s capital city of Frankfort. All three branches of the Kentucky government are housed within the Capitol building. The Capitol features a magnificent rotunda and some wonderful statues and artwork throughout. Entrance and tours are free. I hope you enjoy my photos of the Kentucky State Capitol…
Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a great week out there wherever you are. It’s been a chilly, rainy week of catching up with old friends for me. The weather has gone from hot and sunny to cold and rainy and has finally leveled out a bit to somewhere in between this week. I’ve spent most of the week in Louisville and really enjoyed it there. It was a cool city with a lot to offer and a lot more on the way. I’ve had some good food, sipped some wonderful bourbons, and slept inside for 6 days in a row. I haven’t done a lot of work or a lot of travelling this week, but it’s been a fun one and great to catch up with my friends.
When last we met, I was off for one last day in Kentucky’s capital city of Frankfort. It was another busy and interesting day this lovely city. I started the day with a visit to their local history museum: The Capital City Museum. It was a really interesting little museum packed with local artifacts that told the history of the city from its origins to present day. The people working there were really friendly and I enjoyed talking with them before, during and after my visit.
From there, I headed off to the Buffalo Trace distillery, just outside of downtown. I signed up for the National Historic Landmark tour which only runs once a day and I was really excited about it…
Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a great week wherever you are. I apologize for my weekly newsletter not coming out last week, there was some sort of technical glitch which hopefully has been sorted out. Be sure you go to my Blog page (HERE) so you can catch up on what you missed. I’ve had a wonderful first week here in Kentucky full of friendly people, horse racing, history and bourbon. Indian summer has come with a vengeance and it has been hot and sunny all week, but it is supposed to cool down here by the weekend - something which I am really looking forward to. Enough summer already, bring on the fall. It is great to be in a new state with new focus and new things to think about, and it would have been hard to imagine a better way to spend my first week in the Bluegrass State than the week I’ve just had.
I love covered bridges as I think they hark back to a different time in this country. Because people always ask, covered bridges are covered to protect the main structure of the bridge from the weather. It is far less expensive to replace a roof than the bridge itself. Covered bridges really came into their own in the second decade of the eighteen hundreds, and at one time over 400 could be found all over Kentucky. Today, only 13 remain with three of them in Fleming County. Goddard Bridge is beautiful, and with the Goddard United Methodist church behind it, makes for some cool photos. Ringo’s Mill Bridge was built right after the Civil War, and while it’s not open to vehicular traffic anymore it’s still in pretty good shape. When I visited, they were preparing it for a wedding over the weekend which would probably be really pretty. The Grange City Bridge is also closed to traffic, but sits quietly off to the side where it has for over a hundred years. I enjoyed tracking down these three old bridges and taking these photos. I hope you enjoy them too
Ohio. The Buckeye State. A state it seems most people know very little about other than it’s out there in the middle somewhere. I’ve spent much of the summer in Ohio and come away with an intensely different opinion of it than I went in with. It’s a transition state – it connects the east to the west, the Great Lakes to the interior, the Midwest to Appalachia. It’s also a state steeped in history. In the years following the Civil War, it was the third most populous state in the country. During that time, seven of our presidents came out of Ohio, making them second only to Virginia in that regard. Besides presidents, Ohio has given us many legendary Americans. William Tecumseh Sherman, George Armstrong Custer, Thomas Edison, Neil Armstrong, Toni Morrison, Steven Spielberg, Jesse Owens and Cy Young are just a few Ohioans who come to mind who grew up to leave their mark on the country and the world. In the past, when someone told me they were from Ohio, it just passes out of my mind as somewhere in generic Middle America. I didn’t have strong feelings about it one way or the other so I would quickly move past it and forget it. I’m here to tell you I had the wrong idea about Ohio. After six solid weeks of traveling around the state I can tell you it’s a fascinating, welcoming, diverse state with tons to offer and a generally agreeable climate to offer it in. In my travels, I’ve come to think of it as “The Deep South of the Midwest” – a hidden gem and a crossroads which shouldn’t be overlooked.
It’s been a fairly quiet week out here on the road this week. The weather has warmed back up again and the shorts and T-shirts are back on. Halloween stores are still popping up though, and the live haunted houses that have proliferated in recent years are starting to open. I have seen the borders on the leaves in some trees starting to take on some color as well. As for me, I’ve made my way down the far western edge of Ohio and am writing to you today from Covington in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I finished my 2nd Ohio podcast this week (find it HERE), and will be wrapping up my final posts about the Buckeye State in the next few days. I’ve also been doing some planning and trying to figure out where the next few weeks will take me as I begin my journey through the Bluegrass State.
After the end of the Civil War, many of Toledo’s wealthiest residents began moving out of downtown and building houses “out in the woods”. This area developed over the next 50 years into the West End neighborhood, now called the Old West End. While it has ebbed and flowed over the years like most old neighborhoods, today it stands as one of the largest collections of intact Late Victorian Era homes in the country. It is a remarkable architectural gem, a living museum and a friendly and welcoming place for a visit. While I was walking around taking photos for this post, I met two long-time residents, Jim and Carol Kutsche, who you will see pictured at the bottom in front of their beautiful home. We sat on their porch for the better part of an hour talking about Toledo and the Old West End. The first day I visited the weather wasn’t in my favor, and the second the light was being difficult, but these photos still came out okay. It was too remarkable a neighborhood to pass by though, and I think you will definitely agree that many of these houses are real gems, even some which are in severe disrepair. If you are in Toledo, you must make time for a stroll around the beautiful Old West End.
The Ohio State Reformatory was built in Mansfield, Ohio starting in 1886. Designed by Levi Scofield, the reformatory is a combination of three different architectural styles: Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne. The prison opened its doors in 1896 to 150 inmates, but at its peak it housed 5,235. It closed permanently in 1990 and was slated for demolition before the producers of the film The Shawshank Redemption decided it would be the perfect setting for their film. I love Shawshank and remember reading the novella it’s based on long before the movie came out. It is one of the very few movies which lives up to the book it was based on in my opinion. While all of the outdoor scenes were filmed on location at the Ohio State Reformatory, many of the inside scenes, including the cell-block, were built as a set in a warehouse in Mansfield. The OSR has also been the filming location for other movies like Tango and Cash and Air Force One - the pictures of Lenin and Stalin you see below were placed for the gulag scenes in the latter. I loved visiting this prison for its actual history and for its Hollywood history. I hope you enjoy these photos from my visit.
Fall has definitely arrived here in Northern Ohio and I couldn’t be happier to see it. I am definitely a warm person and summer is always tough. When the weather gets cooler, I get cooler and I feel more comfortable and happier. I feel like I can wear nicer clothes because I’m not sweating through them and I become happier with how I am presenting myself. Shadow Catcher will be happier too. Although she handled really well through the summer, cooler weather is easier to deal with if you’re a van. I visited my first pumpkin farm of the season this week, just on general principle, and it definitely made me smile. The good apples will be out soon, and fresh cider is already in the stores. Soon, the leaves will start to change and I’m looking forward to the color changes and the photographic opportunities that come with it. I all but missed out on fall last year, so I’m really looking forward to it this year.
After we last met, I set off from Akron and headed south into Amish Country in Holmes County (see photos from the day HERE). On the way, I stopped by Nickajack Farms who were beginning their Fall Fest. I loved walking among the pumpkins and seeing all the Halloween stuff around. I bought a delicious fried pie and then got back on the road…
Holmes County, Ohio is home to over 10% of the world’s Amish population. The first Amish settlers arrived in the region in 1809 along Sugar and Walnut creeks, and today the area is home to over 35,000 members of the Amish community. Holmes County is also home to a large Mennonite population, who are similar to the Amish in their religious beliefs, but socially are more accepting of modern conveniences like cars and electricity. This area is mostly agricultural, but there are some small to medium sized towns as well. Visiting Amish Country in Ohio was similar to my experience doing so in Pennsylvania. There is great curiosity about the Amish which brings many visitors to the area, but in reality the Amish are busy working on their farms and would probably prefer to be left to their work. This leaves other people scrambling to scoop up those tourist dollars with things like the World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock (or Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park in Pennsylvania - nothing is more Amish than a good roller coaster) and can create a Disney-like atmosphere. You can definitely get some wonderful bread and cheese in these regions and also some delicious baked goods. I also really enjoyed visiting the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Millersburg. There is a fascinating Cyclorama there which tells the entire history of the Amish and Mennonite religions and how they evolved over time. They also have a wonderful video which explains the key differences between the Amish and the Mennonites. Both point out that in many ways the Amish and Mennonites are like anyone else - they have marital issues and rebellious teenagers too. But they also point out that because their lives are simple with all of their basic needs met, they don’t long for material goods and are more likely to feel satisfied than those of us who live in a modern world of mass consumerism. I can certainly agree with that...
