I am jumping ahead in time to explain why the rest of my Bourbon Trail letters are a bit delayed. After we left E-town, we spent an entire week at a campground on the Ohio River in southern Indiana. We had no cell service, no WIFI and a beautiful view. We spent a lot of time relaxing and while I did start working on the next series of newsletters, I needed access to my notes online to finish up.
While sitting on the Ohio, I spent some time thinking back to Kentucky, which is just across the river, In between distilleries, we took a day to visit the birthplace of Abe Lincoln. While Illinois is the state usually associated with Lincoln, he was born in Kentucky and spent his childhood there.
One evening while we were in E-town, we did a historical tour that is done once a month. We had no idea that it was really a walking play that is enacted as you follow along. Very impressive. Because a young Lincoln spent time here while his presidential predecessor, James Buchanan was also in the area, they included a story of what it might have been like if the two had met in passing.
Another part of the play was a confrontation between Cary Nation and the tavern owner J.R Neighbors in the time leading up to Prohibition. We later had dinner at J.R. Neighbors. What an impressive smoked Old Fashioned they make so we are glad that Prohibition was repealed. But in keeping with the spirit of the times, there was also a downstairs speakeasy at the restaurant.
Kentucky is a puzzle, the sophistication of the cities and bars at the famous distilleries mingle with the Confederate flags. A town such as Elizabethtown is quintessentially Kentucky. We had dinner at the River’s Edge Winery and Bistro which is Black owned and was busy preparing to host a drag show the night we were there. We stopped in for a beer at Flywheel Brewing and also a drink at the Wicked Eyed Woman. The Impresario Pizza place is in a historic building and our waitress was comfortable enough to tell us about her “other half,” who is female and works at Heaven Hill. More on that in a later newsletter. We usually don’t go out to eat all that much when we are out in the RV. But we made Elizabethtown the exception. The saving grace from both a money and calorie perspective is that when we eat out, it is the only meal of the day. Another cool thing was that Kismet was welcome at all these places. Several times, she was actually able to go inside. We could not take her to any of the big distilleries, but you may remember she visited a small one earlier in the trip and another on our spring trip.
On the way to Indiana, we drove by Fort Knox. There was a building surrounded by fencing that is inside the compound also surrounded by fencing. Is that where the gold is stored?
So after all that, this week on the river was a dream . The campground is called Horseshoe Bend RV Park and it is in Leavenworth, Indiana. I would highly recommend it. We stayed the whole week because the weekly rate was such a great deal compared to the nightly.
What a story. Can't wait to hear more about Elizabethtown.The Abe Lincoln connection to Kentucky is something I always forget. So happy they appreciate him and respect him to have the monuments etc. Glad you had the reprieve too.