Kentucky (Part 1)

8/21/26 - We arrived in our RV park about 45 minutes south of Lexington, KY.

Our RV park is next to the Kentucky River (with a pretty waterfall on the opposite site) and has a Sasquatch theme

After extra time setting the RV up (our spot had quite a slope, requiring use of cinderblocks to raise the front enough), we packed overnight bags again and hit the road to drive about 2 hours to Bowling Green for our Kentucky half marathon. Near Bowling Green, we drove by a large Corvette assembly plant.

8/22/26 - Our smallest half marathon yet! Pat and I tied for 2nd place! Small print: there were only three of us so that also means we came in last! In total, there were 8 people at the event...everyone else doing a 5 or 10K.

But 13.1 miles is still reason to celebrate with ice cream from Jersey cows!

8/23/26 - On the way back to the RV, we visited Mammoth Cave National Park. We took a 4-hour tour through 4 miles of the appropriately-named cave system: Mammoth Cave is the most extensive cave system in the world, with more than 400 miles of surveyed passageways.

It wasn't the most interesting or pretty cave we have been in, but the passageways we walked through were HUGE

Our tour through the cave had 80 people!! Most interesting person: the millennial that walked on the balls of her hiking shoes the entire 4 miles!

8/25/26 - We toured a Toyota Manufacturing Plant just north of Lexington.

Another mammoth!! 9 million square feet (156 football fields), 10,000 employees, making 2000 vehicles per day!

We couldn't take pictures during our tram-tour but the visitor center had videos of most departments

We saw lots of robotics, but plenty of people still working on the "magic carpet" assembly lines. The plant makes an ENTIRE car (including stamping the rolled steel, an 8-hour paint and cure process, and injection molding of 1500 different plastic parts) in 19 hours! And different from our careers in manufacturing, the plant was extremely clean.

8/26/26 - A day by the RV before we spend time with 1) Jerry and Lori Harmann in Louisville, 2) family and friends near Frankfort, and 3) AZ friends in Lexington.