2013 Bardstown Motorycle trip
Day 3
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August 24
This morning was a repeat of yesterday. Donna up first. Breakfast in the hotel. I was still full from supper last night so I just had one boiled egg.
 Yesterday was a day of revisitations. Today we will explore new places. There's not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is 66*. It will get warmer again today but the humidity is not expected to be as high. Donna is bundled in her jacket. T-shirt weather for me! The tour at the Barton Distillery in Bardstown doesn't start until 10am and it's only about 15 miles away so we dilly dallied for awhile. We cleaned the morning moisture off the bikes and enjoyed the perfect weather.
 The scenic Kentucky countryside. Lots of round hay bales and old barns full of drying tobacco. The moon is full but wasted in the daylight.
 The GPS led us to the Barton Distillery and we parked in the first lot we came to. The security guard came over and kindly advised us that parking for the tours was down the road near the gift shop. That saved us a lot of unnecessary walking.
 When I pulled into the parking lot my hitch rack scraped on the parking lot. Donna cringed. She doesn't like to hear anything on the bike scrape. I always chuckle at her for that.
 We were about 35 minutes early for the tour and this was a great place to wait. Shaded...cool temps...comfortable seats. Eventually the staff and other visitors started to file in. The tour they offer is the normal 'distillation process' tour so I'm just gonna show the highlights and things I liked.
 Their fermentation vats are outside so they don't make whiskey during the summer months. They were going to start again in a few days. They allow their workers to take a layoff during the summer. Our tour guide said a lot of their employees are farmers so this works out well for them.
 They obtain the water for their distillation from an on-site spring. Here is overflow water from that spring.
 Since they don't distill year round they bottle and distribute liquors and wines for other companies. This keeps them busy all year. I loved the mechanics of the bottling operation. The filled bottles are repackaged in the same boxes they arrived in.
 Their automated packaging was also fun to watch. Boxes stacked themselves onto pallets, then the pallets came down the line to this wrapping machine.
A wrapped pallet ready for shipping.
After the tour comes the free bourbon tasting.
My bourbon-tasting face.
Headed to Versailles on the Kentucky intrastate system.
 By now the temps had crept into the 80's but yesterday's humidity was nowhere to be found. Nice weather! We had talked about eating at a restaurant featured on Guy Fierri's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives". When we got to Versailles I radioed John and asked the name. Wallace Station. I found it with a GPS search and a course was set. As we rode out of Versailles into the country I was beginning to the think the GPS was leading us on a wild goose chase. The farther out we went the more worried I got. The train ride started at 2pm and we didn't have a lot of slop time to spend being lost.
When I had about given up hope the restaurant appeared. It was crowded so we parked where we could.
"Guy ate here."
 The food on the menu looked good but what didn't look good was the crowd. We found that it would be at least 20 minutes to get our food after we ordered, and the line to order was long and moving slow. Due to time constraints we decided to abandon Wallace Station for something quicker.
 Quicker ended up being a Goldwinger favorite...Dairy Queen. Donna told me we're gonna have to make a trip to Wallace Station sometime to try it out. Sounds good to me!
 After lunch we rode to the other side of Versailles to the Bluegrass Scenic Railroad and Museum. This railroad is at the end of a line owned by the R.J. Corman Company. Sadly, Mr. Corman died yesterday after a lengthy battle with cancer.
 We purchased our tickets and spent a few minutes in the gift shop. It didn't take long before we were allowed to board the train.
 Near the end of the eleven mile trip we were stopped by a fallen tree. The train crew worked on the tree for about 15 minutes with limited success. The conductor then asked for volunteers to help move the tree. Several of us got off and pushed the tree away from the tracks enough for the train to pass. (Manly grunting inserted here)
 The train ride stops at the Young's High Trestle. Passengers are allowed to disembark and take pictures. It's sad to see anything railroad-related abandoned. Especially something magnificent like this trestle built with manpower and basic tools. For over a hundred years trains rumbled across it as a symbol of prosperity. Now it is quiet...a victim of mergers and time. In the distance is the old Wild Turkey distillery. It too is now quiet since being replaced by a more modern facility up the road.
 Here is another picture of the trestle I found on the internet. The bridge was abandoned in 1985. The engineer said the trestle itself is still sound but due to foundation issues the bridge is limited to an 85-ton load. The bridge was purchased recently by a company who scrapped the rail and plans to use the bridge as a bungie-jumping platform.
Kings of the road. We talked to the engineer for awhile while people posed on the train and looked at the bridge. I noticed Donna had went back to the coach car so I made my way back, too. I don't have a lot of recollection of the trip back due to napping. When we visited the Woodford Reserve distillery in the fall of 2011 we stopped and explored some abandoned railroad cars near the distillery. Those cars are on this line. One of the cars that stood out to me was an olive drab flat car with triple-axle trucks. I found out on this tour those flat cars were made for the military to haul tanks.
Here is what is left of the spur that wound it's way down to the river and the Tyrone Generating Station. Due to the EPA nazis the coal-fired plant will probably join the trestle that overlooks it as a relic of history.
 After the train ride we made some souvenir purchases and headed back to the bikes. Someone was flying a large remote-controlled bi-plane nearby so we watched it for awhile. The weather is still awesome.
Headed back to the hotel. The radio communications has been working well this trip. We seemed to have worked the bugs out on our trip to Georgia. The only issue I still notice is at interstate speeds. There seems to be a lot of wind noise in John's microphone and he is hard to understand sometimes. I notice when I unmute my microphones I hear a lot of wind noise due to Donna's microphone since she sets higher and more in the wind. That might be John's issue, too. I'm pondering some solutions to mute the passenger microphone when the radio PTT is used. Sounds like a winter project.
You can tell the hotel is near by this large tower. It would look good in my front yard.
 Once back at the hotel we freshened up. Tonight we are eating at Mordecai's in town. John made reservations for 7pm. We formed up at the bikes around 6:30.
 Due to the short distance we went helmetless. It felt good given the nice weather. If it wasn't for safety concerns I'd go helmetless all the time.
We parked around the corner from the restaurant. We had a little time to kill before our 7pm reservations so we walked down the main street to a convenience store. John & Debby needed some cigarettes. Along the way we window-shopped the closed businesses.
A good reason to be closed.
I like this style of house. Two stories. 'T' shaped. I'd have a second story porch. I like the little additions. Lots of character.
This is how you spell 'good food' in Springfield, KY. Most of us had the buffet. Prime rib, shrimp, fish, frog legs, baked potato, green beens...mmmmmmmmmmmm. My only complaint is their sweet tea isn't very sweet. Donna had a couple peach daiquiris.
 When we got back to the bikes we found some lazy retard had wedged his Expedition between our bikes. Vandalism was considered but that's not our bag, baby. I needed one of those signs that say "If you screw like you park..." We couldn't figure out the purpose of the shoes wedged under the luggage rack.
 Springfield, KY. 20:19, mileage 68,829 - We made a quick fuel stop in preparation for the...sigh...trip home tomorrow.
 Back at the hotel we enjoyed the cooling night air. John sadly hitched his trailer. We hung out in the lounge and discussed a few more places to visit on our way home tomorrow. Today Monty and Stephanie rode from London to north of Lexington taking another meandering route through rural Kentucky. Tomorrow they are going to a horse park before heading home.
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