Kentucky My Old Kentucy Home

May 2005

Rolling hills, green green grasses, and fragrant meadows of jasmine.  South Central Kentucky is rural with many family farms on acres and acres of land.  There is a vastness to this land that is populated by few. 

There is a Mennonite community around the countryside of Bailey's Point where we RVd for two weeks.  These folks do not use mechanized machinery and can be seen in horse and buggy as they get around the roads.  They farm with horse or mule to do the work that tractors do.  These are friendly folks who wave to you as you drive by.  At the local Wal-Mart, we saw a horse and buggy tied outside in the parking lot.  The men wear wide brim straw hats, long sleeved shirts and slacks or coveralls usually in brown or black.  The women where bonnets with full length dresses in brown or black with a white apron over the front of the dress.  Most of the men have long beards and the women long hair. 

There is a town called Scottsville that is a reminder of the 1950's.  The town is built around a town center square or plaza where parking is facing into the sidewalks.  Folks stop and talked to each other, and you see very few foreign cars anywhere in the area.  The public library has seven parking spaces in its parking lot.  There is still the old fashioned barber shop and shoe repair place.  They have a Sonic drive-in diner where each parking slot has a menu and you order your meal from the car and they bring it out on a tray for you to eat at your vehicle.

Our visit to this part of Kentucky has been very peaceful and a reminder of how America used to be.

 

tg

 

 

 

Tarpon Springs Florida

April 2005

 

Tarpon Springs is amazing.  It is just north of Tampa-St. Petersburg,but is a quaint town with much character.

My brother Frank lives there and on a visit with him and Mary, they took us downtown.  Downtown is a Greek town with wonderful bakeries and restaurants.  One side of Main Street is a waterway with sponge and fishing boats docked.  It is a working person's town with interesting shops for the tourists.

We had the greatest Greek food there.  Driving around, there are homes that are small and charming and then largest expensive homes all with lovely Live Oak trees galore.  There is beach access and lovely parks.

The most amazing thing we saw was a low income neighborhood that had been going quickly downhill as folks had jobs, but low income, unable to make repairs among probably many other things they needed, but had to forego for lack of money even though they have jobs and are working.  Tarpon Springs was able to get a grant from the government--prior to Bush--and this neighborhood is well along to being refurbished.  The houses that have been worked on have renovations that make them cozy homes with pastel painted outside, nice lawns and an overall sense of pride as the neighborhood moves towards being the kind of neighborhood everyone wants to have themselves. 

 

tg

 

Bailey's Point Recreational Area - Kentucky

May 2005

It feels like the 1950s.  Five loops of about 32 campsites around each loop makes for an intimate setting. The sites are arranged around a circle by a paved road with campsites on either side of the road.  The center of the circle is a grassy meadow with maples, oaks, black walnuts, and other hardwoods.

We are on a peninsula so Barren River Lake can be seen everywhere you go.  This is a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers project built in the 1960s to control flooding in the area.  The lake is 10,052 acres but from every vista looks like a large lake--not the massive waterway of 10,052 acres.  You can see across to the other shore which is covered by trees and coves.  Each of these coves leads to another section of the lake that cannot be seen from the shore you stand on.  When I look out at the lake, I immediately am reminded of the movie On Golden Pond.

Monday through Friday, there are only 6 or 8 of us on Loop A.  We become quite friendly and spend time each day talking to each other.  Two of the folks are farmers in the area.  One goes to hay his fields a couple of day s this past week and the other has a dairy farm.  The farmer who went to hay his field, told us he used to have a dairy farm and came quite close to being gored to death by his bull.  The bull had gotten loose and he went to secure him, but the bull charged him immediately.  He tried to make a run for it, but slipped in the mud being gored repeatedly in his upper legs.  With every ounce of strength he had, he hauled himself over the fence and that saved his life.

Another neighbor had the Cochlear implant which is a new device that actually restores hearing.  It is implanted on the scalp behind one ear with a battery pack attached to your belt like a cell phone.  This man had been completely deaf for a number of years and with the Cochlear implant, he has his hearing restored.  

Friday through Sunday the campground it full and it is quite wonderful.  This reminds me of my childhood in the 50s when neighborhoods were full of people outside their homes--sitting on front porches and talking to neighbors as they were on evening strolls.  Here families come on weekends.  Usually three or four sites are reserved by families and relatives--Grandma and grandpa, mom and dad, uncles and aunts, and many children and dogs.   Walking through the campground, we see folks sitting outside conversing, children playing outside, riding bikes, playing on the shores of the river.  Folks are cooking and eating outside.  At the end of the day, there are towels hanging out to dry from swimming or boating and folks sitting around the campfire.

I remember neighborhoods I lived in where Walter and I would go for walks and there would be no sign of life in the neighborhood.  There were houses and lawns, but seldom did we meet anyone on our walks.  So many of the houses in the neighborhood housed families that we had never ever seen or met in all the time we lived there.

Here there are people every where and very friendly--not just hello, but how are you, nice day, have you done this or have you done that.  It feels like a community should feel. 

tg

 

 

 

 

Florida Specialties

Florida is different than other states and not just their hanging chads!

Motorcycles.  If you want to kill yourself on a motorcycle this place is very accommodating.  It feels like the speed limit does not apply to motorcycles.  There is a road along side one perimeter of the rv park where the speed limit is 45 mph and routinely it appears motorcycles are zooming through in excess of 80 mph.  This usually occurs on Friday and Saturdays nights.  Other nights, they seem to keep it to about 70 mph while racing each other down the street.  The Sheriffs headquarters is about 1 mile away, and surprisingly the sounds of no mufflers and squealing from racing tires go unnoticed.  

In heavy traffic, it is very common to have a motorcycle go by you doing a wheeling.  For a motorist next to them, it is very scary because you do not know if they can maintain control at 55 plus mph driving on the rear wheel only.

This is a state that does not require helmets and, it is rare to see someone wearing a helmet.  As mentioned in an earlier blog, there are billboards everywhere to the tune of call us after your motorcycle accident.

Another interesting Florida thing . . .  When there is an accident, even minor fender benders, the police stop traffic completely, sometimes in both directions, until the accident is completely cleared up.  They do not often route traffic around the accident so you can plan on spending more than an hour at the most minor of accidents--and they have plenty of accidents here!  People are so used to this, that as soon as there is an accident stoppage, they get out of their vehicles and stand around or sit on their vehicles having a soda, snacks, and either talking with their neighbor or reading a book or magazine--they drive prepared.

I would estimate that each day we have been in the RV park, we hear fire engines and other emergency vehicles with sirens blaring heading to some emergency and this happens about 12 times a day.  I have never been in a place where the sirens are going so often that you begin to not notice them!

Florida is also different in a good way.  Southwest Florida, at least January through April, has the been weather we have ever experienced.  Sunny days in the 70s, low humidity, and a light breeze with evenings in the 60's.  There are tropical trees, plants and flowers everywhere.  It is really beautiful and then of course, the beach with silky white sand is spiritually fulfilling.

We are in a location where we can ride our bikes virtually everywhere we could want to go because there are broad sidewalks for bikers almost everywhere you go.

We have enjoyed this first winter here (although it seems like summer) and look forward to many more warm winters.

 

 

Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

On a glorious sunny April morning, we drove the truck, with our bikes, aboard to Sanibel Island.  Just past all the activity of shops and folks along the island, there is a long stretch of seemingly isolation.  This is the area set aside as a wildlife refuge at the end of Sanibel and just before entering Captiva Island.  The refuge is called Ding Darling.  What a name!!  It turns out, a very famous cartoonist whose nickname was Ding and whose last name was Darling was a leader in getting this area preserved as a National Wildlife Refuge.

We took an 8 mile loop through the refuge.  The bird life was truly spectacular.  There were volunteers along the route with telescopes where you could see whatever was spotted along the way.  We happened upon a volunteer who had a two week old hawk in sight.  I looked through the telescope, and to my surprise, saw an all white baby hawk with black eyes.  I did not realize baby hawks were all white.  This little one was squawking non stop for mama. I think she had a lot of hunting to do to keep this little one satisfied.

As we biked along, we saw a young raccoon come out of the bushes--apparently to cross the road--and came to a sudden stop when he saw us.  He ran back in the bushes and then popped out again.  Oh my, they are still there.  He took a quick retreat back to his concerned mama and papa, and we could here all kinds of scurrying going on in the bushes.  We rode on ahead a bit and when we looked, back, the whole family crossed the road.  It was quite a sight.

Along the road were ponds on one side and then the bay that leads to the Gulf of Mexico on the other side.  We saw a sea bird not too often spotted called Roseate Spoon-bill.  This bird is smaller than an egret with white body and pink wings.  It is most beautiful.  All along the route there were hundreds of sea birds of all different species in the pond area.  These ponds make great resting areas and feeding areas.

We also saw an unusual looking turtle--not sure as to its name, but the alligators were busy elsewhere and not seen that day. 

When I see National preserves and parks like this one, I cannot help but think how great an idea it was for people like Ding Darling and those in and out of government to fight to preserve land not only to preserve habitat for native animals and plants, but to have these places of such wonder for people to visit.

tg