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Monday, April 26
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I took the first two pictures shortly after leaving the wedding venue (about 7 AM Central Time) as we headed east on I-40 on a hazy Monday morning.
Each of our family members left shortly after us. Mark, Diane and Hannah took Heze and Kayla to the Nashville Airport where they would fly to Denver, Colorado, for their honeymoon. They rented a car and took a scenic drive home during the next week.
After Mark, Diane, and Hannah dropped them off at the airport, they enjoyed a two-hour golf cart tour of Nashville, then went to the airport for their flight back to Maine. Josiah and Lydia headed to their homes in Pennsylvania in a rented pickup truck.
One of the reasons we decided to add another day to this trip was so we had time to see the place where Jere, Ian and Cerwin plan to go hog hunting in early September.
Because I was focused on helping Cerwin follow the GPS and locate Loshbough Hunting Lodge in the back country near Crossville, Tennessee, I forgot to take any pictures.
The lodge was closed, which means they were probably out hunting. It is fun for me to know where they will be going for Ian’s graduation gift.
We had a unique experience after leaving the lodge when following the GPS toward a state park that is supposed to be 20 miles away. The GPS took us down a mountain road where we approached a fork in the road where neither road looked passable. 🙂 You know the saying, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” We decided to not take either. As we worked our way back to the main road, we decided to head toward Kentucky where I wanted to drive through horse country around Lexington. That way we had plenty of time to explore those back roads.
By the time we got to Kentucky – on I75 North – I was checking out which exit I wanted to take to get to see some horse farms, so I googled “horse farms” near Lexington, KY. Cerwin gets a bit nervous when I do this – knowing that we may get on some unusual roads, but he was okay with it since we had plenty of time.
We did come upon an unusual way to cross the Kentucky River – on RT 169 – as we headed west to Nicholasville we were surprised to come upon a ferry! We had seen a sign “ferry open” sign shortly after getting off of I-75, but didn’t think it would involve us. Cerwin doesn’t like surprises on the road, but quickly realized that this probably wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes as the ferry was coming toward us.
As we watched, we noticed that it was guided by cables.
Before long, we and another driver (you can see the corner of his yellow truck to the left) went across while two vehicles approached from the west and waited for us. What way to cross the river. Much more interesting that a bridge.
After we got home, I googled this ferry to find its name and history. That was an interesting find.
The Valley View Ferry has transported vehicles between Madison County (Richmond, KY) and Jessamine County (Nicholasville, KY) since 1780 – well before KY joined the union in 1792. The scenery is gorgeous and the price is right – FREE! It provides passage over the Kentucky River in rural central Kentucky and is regarded as the commonwealth’s oldest continually operating business.
John Craig, a Virginia veteran of the Revolutionary War, acquired land in the area in 1780 through a military warrant. In 1785, the Virginia General Assembly granted Craig “a perpetual and irrevocable” franchise to operate a ferry. History tells us that Daniel Boone, Henry Clay, James Madison and Ulysses S. Grant used this ferry.
The ferry remained a privately owned business for more than 200 years, passing through the hands of seven successive families until 1991. It was then purchased jointly by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Madison and Jessamine counties for $60,000.
The rudderless ferry is guided by cables stretching between four 55-foot towers. The current boat, named the “John Craig” after the franchise’s original owner, dates to 1996. The vessel it replaced sustained heavy damage after sinking under the weight of a heavy snowfall and then as a result of salvage efforts. The entire ferry site was renovated in 1998, when authorities replaced the four towers and their cables. Two years later, the ferry authority received a federal grant allowing an upgrade of the barge. The new vessel, longer than its predecessor by ten feet, enables the ferry to carry three cars instead of two.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet funds the ferry as a free service. On average it transports 250 cars a day.
It didn’t take long until we were in horse and cattle country with lots of dark fences.
After getting around Lexington, we headed northeast toward the room we had reserved at the Comfort Inn near Morehead, KY.
After checking in, we headed toward Morehead to find a restaurant. Reno’s Roadhouse seemed like a good choice since the others in the area were restaurants we recognized. We had never been to a Reno’s. I discovered that there are only three in the country. Two in Kentucky and one in Virginia.
We weren’t very hungry – and didn’t want leftovers – so Cerwin ordered filet medallions (a 6 oz. steak filet cut into three pieces), mac and cheese and coleslaw. I ordered long grain rice and grilled asparagus because I planned to have some of Cerwin’s steak. I am not usually a steak person, but this was delicious. Cerwin thought it was the best steak he ever tasted – at least for a long time.
That was a great way to end our day.