June 18 Driving KY, IN, June 19 Louisville

June 18, Saturday  Driving, driving, driving...

Only 70 degrees this morning...ahhhhh.  Even a little chilly when I got out of the shower - nice change!  There is a bit of a breeze as well!

To celebrate the cooler weather, we have a nice relaxing breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon and an orange, plus coffee under the tall trees.

We travel into Kentucky and take the Audubon Parkway, which we thought would be scenic and slow, but it is 70mph limited access so folks are flying.  Nice scenery.  We end at Owensboro, where we stop at their library for a while.  Beth blogs, Greg reads and we catch up on computer stuff. Nice library and fast internet!

We continue east and cross the Ohio river into Indiana.   We are in the Hoosier National Forest and find a good campsite at Saddle Lake.

 It is more of a fishing lake than swimming and has about 10 free campsites, only three of which are occupied.  We relax and have cheese 'n' crackers and soup for dinner.  Quiet and nice breeze.  Took a total of 4 photos today!  All time low, I think!

June 19, Sunday  Happy Father's Day!

We wake early, have a quick breakfast of cereal and fruit,

and head back into Kentucky, to Louisville.  Our first stop, since it is rather early, is Cave Hill Cemetery - a Victorian era cemetery established in 1848.  It is a huge place with 17,000 graves and 25 miles of road.  We are given a map which highlights the most popular monuments and graves.  Muhammad Ali's is most recent - no headstone or monument yet, but lots of flowers and items left in tribute.

  There are some gorgeous fountains and monuments.

 One mausoleum has a picture of the Last Supper painted on it's rear window.
 Another well-known person buried here is Colonel Harlan Sanders of KFC fame.

 One section is also dedicated to civil war and other military soldiers - so beautiful and sad.

Then we head into town, find a parking place and visit the Louisville Slugger factory.  Fun place!

 They have a film "The Heart of the Game" which is mostly about great hitters in baseball (and the importance of the bat, of course).  They say that of all sports the most difficult thing to do is hit a baseball. We then take a 30 minute tour of the factory where they make 2-5,000 bats per day!  They started in 1884 and made bats by hand until 1980. It used to take 30 minutes to make one bat, and now it only takes 30 seconds!

The name Louisville Slugger came from the nickname of a Louisville player named Pete Browning, who was the first player they made bats for.   Many players have bats made specifically for them, 10-20 per season, for which the teams pay.  Lots of displays of famous players and their bats, all of which have their signatures.

 They use either ash or maple, mostly ash, from Pennsylvania and New York. 80% of the hitters in the Hall of Fame used Louisville Sluggers.  Maple is more brittle, breaks more easily but some players prefer it.  At the end of the tour we get small size Louisville Slugger bats - Greg gets a special edition black one which also says "Happy Father's Day".

From here, we walk a few blocks to the Muhammad Ali Center, where an escalator takes you to the 4th floor for an introductory film.

 Well done, it shows several sides of Ali, from the brash, young, vocal Casius Clay (presented as a "ring" personna, not his true personality)who was totally dedicated to being a champion from age 12 and worked very hard to accomplish his dreams, to the gentle soft-spoken humanitarian he grew into.  Part of the work at the Center is to encourage people, young and old, to work hard and follow their dreams.

The Olympic torch Ali carried.

Each floor has displays, videos and stories.  My favorite is how he got started in boxing.... his prized bicycle was stolen when he was 12 and he told the policeman he reported it to that he'd like to "whup" whoever stole it.  That policeman, Officer Joe Martin, happened to be a youth boxing coach and asked him  if he knew how to fight, and invited him to come work out.

  It was a difficult world for Ali, who won a gold medal for the US but was still refused seating in many restaurants in his country.  His conversion to Islam and his conscientious objection to the draft are covered , as well as his foreign humanitarian travel.

The final display on the 1st floor showed a collection of Leroy Neiman paintings, most of Ali.

From Louisville, we head north.  Before we cross the Ohio River again into Cincinnati, we stop at a Holiday Inn near the airport.  Our luxury to celebrate Father's Day AND Greg's birthday tomorrow and to watch the NBA final game!

We have a nice dinner at the Greyhound Tavern, recommended by the hotel desk person.  We had a Father's Day Buffet with some excellent shrimp, fish, chicken and more.  Beth especially liked the warm butterscotch bread pudding dessert!

The NBA game was a great one and our team, Cleveland, won.  We suspect they will still be celebrating when we get there in a few days!