McGaffs On The Fly

Unfortunately, most of the distilleries were closed for tours or tastings on our drive. They were kind enough to keep the retail shops open for us, and it seems they raised their prices to offset the loss of $$ from the tours…nice gesture but no thank you.

We were able to get a tour and tasting from a very small batch distillery we found way back in the woods. The owner of Glenn’s Creek Distilling, OCD David Meier, spent about 45 minutes with with Joanie and I educating us on the ins and outs of running a small distillery and competing against the “big guys”. We did make a purchase here, made sense to us that small batch runs would cost more and taste better…great sell Dave.

Next stop…we don’t know but let you know when we get there. Five days to Brett time!

One last short 5+ mile hike at Mammoth Cave National Park then back to the campground to take it easy for the day. Just like most of our hikes, we plan for one thing and get another…this one was billed as a short 3 mile hike. Either way we got what we wanted, not too tough and pretty scenic…heck, they didn’t even paint the trees.

Today we left our campground without a plan other than move northeast and catch up with the Bourbon Trail. Since we left a little late and forgot about the whole time zone thing, I guess we’ll get in as many Distilleries that we can tomorrow…I have faith in us that we can do it.

We landed in Frankfort, no Donald the capital of Kentucky is not Lexington, and we will base here while we explore the area. Raining heavy now, hope that repair of the roof holds!

Ever since we were unable to go into Jewel Cave in South Dakota, Joanie has had on her list visiting Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I mean what other way do you get over not being able to go into the worlds third longest cave system, you set you sites higher and actually step into the worlds longest cave system. For Joanie this was completion of her cave fantasy, for me it was…check, that’s off the list. I mean it was pretty cool, actually 54 degrees, and there were some great stories about mummies…but…check.

Unfortunately we were unable to get a site at the National Park, you know that whole flying by the pants thing, but we did find a great rv Park in Cave City. Our original plan was to stay a night and move on but after a relaxing evening actually sitting in some shade we most likely will stay a few nights.

If only we could find another cave, what are the chances of that in Cave City?

With a destination of Mammoth Cave National Park (stamp time for Joanie), we took a casual 3 hour drive East through Nashville then due north. Since it was our off day on quads and our on day for muffin tops, we decided to stop along the way and complete a full cycle; Joanie took down some fried chicken with fried green tomatoes and Marco took down a heaping platter of fried gizzards. For those of you who happen to end up east of Nashville at exit 192 on I40…on mid-belly workout day…we highly recommend The Loveless Cafe. Be sure to get extra biscuits, no chewing required, they melt in your mouth.

Some of the things we’ve learned along the way on our two escapes are, well, really what we haven’t learned. We really want to “boon-dock” and have the ability to really go off the grid. Now keep in mind for Joanie and I that is barely being able to to see the city lights…baby steps but we will get there.

A couple of things I have done to prepare us for actually getting to the next level are adding a “soft start” to our AC unit and purchasing a generator. I must have AC, laugh if you must…tonight is the moment of truth.

Which takes us to…Harvest Host. For the reasonable price of $79 per year, you can stay at thousands of wineries, farms, breweries, etc at no cost at all. Only thing, right, most require you to boon-dock.

We pulled into a great Winery called Bluegrass Vineyard in Smiths Grove, KY and are currently sitting in their driveway enjoying the mooing of cows, baaa’s of sheep and purring of my new generator. We’ll let you know how the AC runs tonight, wine does make me sweat.

PS…free parking only cost us $40 in wine.

Taking a nice hike today on the Cub Creek Trail in the Natchez Trace State Park, I found that it is certainly not CO, or MT, or SD, or NM…but it is Tennessee. Probably more like Texas than any of the others, pretty flat but marshy in a lot of areas. I think there were probably a lot of Eagle Scout badges earned on these trails, plenty of bridges and walkways created with timber.

Turns out we were not as Far East as we had planned so the suggested local visits of Franklin, etc, will be visited on the way home after “Brett time”.

Tonight we also took the full plunge into redneck camping; after shopping at Walmart we have a potpourri of brats, grilled potatoes, mushrooms and onions…and the nice scent of smoked clothes for a wonderful sleep splendor. Bad news though, unless you are a raccoon…weenie down!

Driving day – Looking for that elusive temperature anywhere below “Hades room temperature”, we drove 325 miles east until we could actually turn the fan speed down to medium. We landed in this beautiful park and immediately fell in love…with the weather. As we set up, the temperature was a cool 85 with a nice breeze off the lake.

Our plan is to stay a couple of days and drive to recommended cities before escaping north; Leipers Fork, Jackson, Franklin…

Hopefully the weather stays reasonable, we may extend if so…other than no internet it’s perfect.

After several days off from any exercise at all, unless you consider trash eating strenuous, we decided to take a nice little hike into the woods. As mentioned yesterday, I told Joan if she was going to get her precious stamp then she had to earn the privilege to display it. Simple, she spoke to Ranger Marge and she gave us a nice 3.5 “less than difficult” hike with simple instructions to follow.

We decided that, yes that 3.5 average walk would have been great…we decided that after our “more than difficult” 8 mile hike half way around the mountain. Did you know that the colors on the trees actually mean something, well they do?! Little tip for you diabetic kids out there, always take extra snacks…you may need them.

Great news, we got to see some cool stuff…stuff Ranger Marge didn’t even mention.

As we ponder our next location we came to the conclusion we must get away from the heat. That is OK since our plan is to not have a plan. Where is it 75 degrees between us and Brett…help?

I guess when you fly by the seat of your pants you don’t always get to do big kid stuff. What are the chances that in Hot Springs over Labor Day weekend that you couldn’t get a last minute massage, or scrub, or foot massage, or facial…pretty darn good as we found out, nada for Marco and Joanie.

Good news was that for a low price of $20 per person, plus tax, we could sit in 4 different temperature enhanced pools. Ok, we took the bait…not bad but still not a massage!

Hot Springs is really a great city, just wish we could have seen Babe Ruth and/or Al Capone…rumor is that they hung around these parts. Bet they got massages.

Best part of the day was going to lunch with my beautiful niece and her family. Just a few years ago I couldn’t have done this, but thanks to technology and the grace of God we were able to connect. She is my oldest brother Bernie’s daughter, Bernie passed in 1985 and it is such a nice thing to have part of him back. I know he would be so proud of the lady Samme is today.

Enough for tonight, tomorrow to the National Park to get Joan’s book stamped…I’ll make sure she earns it with a nice hike.

What a day to start our next adventure. FOREVER, the weather has been hot and dry…not so much the forecast when we shoved off. We pondered whether we should wait a day and spend another day with Baby Fi, since Joanie retired not really much on our agenda.

So I asked my buddy Noah, nice guy big boat big beard, what he thought. He told me we should take off…”I don’t think the heavy stuffs gonna come down for quite a while.” Short story long, we made our 8 hour trip to Hot Springs in almost 9 1/2 hours.

We made it safely, little Al’s a “mudder” so he took every puddle and splash like a champ…he can’t wait for the next leg. Thanks, mom, for the prayers to start our trip…

Heading to see our baby girl, many stops along the way.

First stop, Hot Springs, AR…

Leaving Friday.

“No Joanie, let me open that window!”