July 30-Aug 1

We have this leg of our trip down to a science, since it is our fourth time to Frankfort, KY.  We stayed at the same RV Park but this time we scored a site on the river, setting up was easy and very comfortable.  Being in Frankfort, KY, we are only 7 miles from the Buffalo Trace distillery, Walter’s Valhalla.  If we could have set up camp in the distillery parking lot, he probably would have.  Anyways, only 1 hour in town and we were walking through the doors of Buffalo Trace.  The property is beautiful there, but the real gem is the retail store.  Walter grabbed a basket and made a b-line for the Blanton’s and Wellers shelves.  With 4 bottles in the basket we browsed the merchandise, not sure how but a few shirts made their way into the basket as well.  First mission accomplished.  The distillery put in a restaurant since our last visit.  We ordered a two turkey and bacon burnt end sandwiches, one old fashion and a bourdon/lemonade.  Perfect.

That night we were able to enjoy a campfire and figure out our plans for the next day.

We made reservations to do a tour at the Bardstown Distillery at noon so of course that allowed enough time to head back over to the Buffalo Trace retail store.  Buffalo Trace has a purchasing rule that you can only purchase 1 bottle of a single allocated bourbon per day.  (We each purchased one bottle of Blanton’s, one bottle of Wellers both days) That’s right we now have 8 bottles of bourbon that will be going home with us.

The Bardstown tour gave you a Napa Valley feel.  They are young distillery compared to most as they only started distilling in 2016.  They have a good product, will be interesting how their product matures in a few years.  They also had a restaurant (a little higher end) we enjoyed a great meal finished with chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and a tart cherry sauce. Did I mention 2 bottles of their bourbon went home with us as well. Makes 10 bottles now.  Since the Heaven Hill Distillery is just across the highway we needed to stop at there store to see what they might have. Score two more bottles, and even 12 now. 

We kind of laid back our last day in Frankfurt, we tried to do something not bourdon oriented and maybe get a little education, so what did we find but Daniel Boones burial site.  I hear that there are mixed theories about how his remains made it to Kentucky, either way it was a impressive headstone (both Daniel and his wife Rebecca are buried there) that looks over the Kentucky river and capital building.

Aug 2-4

Gatlinburg was next, right there by the Smokey Mountain National Park.  This was our 10^th National Park this trip.  Come to find out that the Smokey Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park in the US.  The traffic to get into the park was certainly a reflection of that. 

There are two Titanic museums, one in Branson, MO but fortunately for us the second one was in Pigeon Forge just a short drive from Gatlinburg.  The museum was a immersive, interactive experience of the 1912 maiden voyage, featuring authentic artifacts, replica grand staircase and personal stories of passengers and crew.  Glad we were able to do a tour.

On our last day in Gatlinburg, we just walked around town and soaked up the atmosphere.  Stopped in a few shops to sample some mead and hard cider, had lunch and then headed back to the rv before a brewing thunderstorm made its way to town.  We will be heading toward our last stop of this trip.  Concord, NC to visit daughter #2 and family before we pull in the driveway at home.  Hard to believe our almost 5-month adventure is coming to an end.  Trip recap coming soon