Monday and Tuesday ...

Marie and I at Rabbit Hash

Well most of Sunday was an on again, off again day of riding in the rain. When it finally let up in Fairmont, WV, I continued south on Route 19. The road was in terrible condition from the storms over the weekend and half of West Virginia's gravel driveways had seemed to have washed across the two lane highway, making the ride treacherous. At one point I came to the town of Monongah, where I had to pass under a railroad trestle. Apparently the day before, this portion of the road had been unpassable but by the time I got there, a slick layer of muddy water about a couple inches thick remained, making the ride through a sure mess of my bike, as well as a dicey proposition. I got through, stopped for a break and threw on my jacket back on because I could feel a difference in the air and knew more rain was coming. I was correct. From West Virginia's 19, I ran US 50, then US 32 in towards Cincinnati. What a great choice that was.

Although I got rained on sporadically throughout the day, the four lane highway was a far better ride than the interstate with plenty of gas stations and nice rest areas along the way. I would highly recommend this to running a freeway any day. Unfortunately, I did have to jump on the Interstate to bypass Cincinnati and make my way to Florence, KY to meet up with my past fellow RJ Martin employee, Marie and her husband Dave. I managed to get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, in all my rain gear, as the temperature climbed to about 85F-degrees in

Dave & I pegged!

sunshine. By the time I was able to get off the highway, I felt like I was in a sauna!

Marie and Dave were awesome hosts for the evening. Marie put together a meal I would have been proud of! We feasted, then they loaded me up for a drive to the infamous Rabbit Hash, a town where a dog is mayor and the bikers flock to on the weekends. And I could see why. The road there was a two wheel dream (unfortunately we all wouldn't fit on my bike so we made the trek in their Subaru) and the town was charming. Unfortunately the mayor had the day off, but we perused the newly rebuilt general store and the small town's property (there really isn't alot) before heading off the Big Bone State Park in search of Bison. Unfortunately, the weather was stifling and apparently the beasts had decided to shelter somewhere shady and out of human site. We had a pleasant walk, though, before returning to their home and spending the rest of the evening chatting and communing with the three fur babies in the family room. I had a wonderful time and it was nice to see them both.

Loved this sign on KY 127

Tuesday morning greeted me with 72F degree, 90 percent humidity as I packed up the bike to venture on. I had chosen to run 127 south through Kentucky and Tennessee and to my pleasant surprise, this is the highway that led to Marie and Dave's housing track! So I did not have far to go to hit my stride. Route 127 and Route 42 run together for a ways and I didn't notice when the two split. I was following the river, then started passing some very scenic views of locks, a large lake and it was all really nice for awhile. Then I started noticing a lot of big rigs on the highway. A business associate and riding buddy, Jim Martin, had informed me that 127 was an awesome riding road, so when I soon found myself passing large factories of US
Stainless, Dow Corning, and US Gypsum to name a few, in the town of Carrolton, which I didn't remember seeing along my intended route, it was time for a map check. And that's when I realized I had temporarily misplaced myself. Because, on a motorcycle trip, you are never lost if you are having fun! I back tracked about a half mile and caught route 227 heading east. And that's when I realized that my routing mistake would reward me with one of the best riding opportunities of the day. Route 227 was a motorcyclist's dream road. Twisty, turning with fantastic vistas on many turns, I was greatly rewarded for my error with this one road. It eventually dumped me back onto 127. Yeah, thanks to my "Old Skool GPS"!!

Route 127 was a great choice for the ride south. Every time there was a bypass, I skipped it and

Tasting the products with Lee

rode through the small towns the bypass, well, bypassed. And enjoyed looking at the beautiful and historic homes and down town districts. After all, riding the two lane isn't always about the destination, much of the purpose of getting off the interstate is to explore this fantastic country we live in and all she has to offer. It is seeing everything we don't normally get to see as we hurry through our day to day lives. 

Along Route 127 is the Buffalo Trace Distillery, one of my intended destinations. I stopped to take a tour and check out the place where one of my favorite adult beverages is made. The tour lasts about an hour, and takes you through one of their small batch bottling rooms where people are literally hand bottling and sealing the product! Lee, our guide, explained the distilling process and we got to see a warehouse as well. The tour I was on does not take you to see the large vats. The distillery has several tours and all the other ones must be signed up for in advance. Since I wasn't sure when exactly I would be there and didn't want to have to pin

Lee explains the evaporation process in the barrels

myself down to any rigid scheduling on the trip, I chose the smaller tour. It was still fun and informative. The waiting area where you line up for the tour had glass cases full of many different artifacts from the history of the distillery. They were able to stay in business through prohibition as they were one of four distilleries authorized by the government to continue distilling for "medicinal" purposes... yup, at one time, distilled spirits were considered medicine! Buffalo Trace was bottled under several different labels over the years, which is why you won't recall seeing the product many years ago. One of the interesting parts of the tour was when Lee gave a visual on how much liquor evaporates in the barrels the longer they are aged. In the photograph, the top left is nearly full whereas the bottom right represents 18 years in a barrel. Top right is 8, bottom left is 10. He says they like to

say that the angels take a cut of it! Oh, and because I didn't have lunch before visiting the distillery, believe it or not, I passed on the spirits, other than to try a small sip of their mash #1, which is the whiskey before it goes into the barrels, and boy was that nasty!!

I had the great fortune of a 85F degree day all day Tuesday (finally!) and had to stop to hydrate several times, much more pleasant than stopping because of rain. No complaints on my part. I found a little BBQ joint on 127 for lunch, skipped the craft beer  and opted for water, before making my way towards the Tennessee border. The riding was fantastic and I had a great day, finishing up in Crossville, TN.

Here are some more photos of the day... next stop is Look Out Mountain! Peace all. ~ Bobbi

On my misplaced route along the Ohio River ... not such a bad place to be lost!

One of my many map check locations ... didn't have a city for reference so I continued on for awhile.

One of the many aging warehouses on the Buffalo Trace property ... notice the barrels in the windows?

Small batch bottling room ... our tour group was large so we had to keep moving.

Outside the general store at Rabbit Hash

Another building at Rabbit Hash ... I think they serve BBQ out of here but we were there late on a Sunday.