River Road Ride
The Biker is now working 45 to 50 hour weeks at Amazon, so we've fallen back into work mode. Get up, grab chow, do chores, feed the critters, and get The Biker out the door. In the middle of all of this, two anniversaries crept up on us.
Last week was our first year anniversary of owning the Otterbee. It feels like it was just yesterday when we zoomed up to Dallas on a hot September day to inspect her and bring her home. After recovering from threading a 30 foot RV down the I-35 corridor of hell, we began months of remodeling, and finally, our first camping experience in November. We headed to Livingston and the Escapees RV Boot Camp . Which was a pretty awesome birthday gift from The Biker, and worth every penny.
Our other anniversary? We've now been officially full timing for three months! People keep asking us what is the one thing we didn't expect one we started out. I think the biggest surprise is how quickly our animals adjusted to living in a much smaller space. Our oldest cat, Ormolu, has even figured out how to nap without being disturbed by the other animals. She has claimed one of the upper cabinets as her favorite nap spot - and then trained us humans to open the cabinet door whenever she wants in or out!
Last week, we decided to squeeze in a quick ride on one of The Biker's days off. We took the bridge across the river, cut over to Zorn, and the turned east onto River Road. The white building is the Louisville Water Tower, which began operating in 1860. Today it's a museum and an event center - and hard to miss!
River Road is a wonderful ride, with lots of greenery and views of the Ohio River. Shortly after we turned off of Zorn Road, we begin to pass several city parks. Maybe there is a road with more city parks on them, but I really can't think of one at the moment!
Here's fascinating reason behind the many parks along this road. This area is Indian Hills, a small city that has been swallowed up by Louisville.
The spaces of the original subdivison were planned by the Olmsted Brothers - yup, those Olmsteds. Part of the original municipal plan was to leave a third of the area undeveloped.
If I was a better blogger (or not trying to take photos from the back of a moving motorcycle!), I would've taken photos of each park, as well as some of the cool houses and places of Indian Hills. Instead, y'all are getting random photos of the ride down River Road. We probably need to beg, borrow, or steal a Gopro at some point, huh?
Anyhoo, heading east, we pass Eva Bandman Park, named after a local citizen who donated land for park space to the city of Louisville.
We also pass Louisville Champions Park and Thurmun Hatchins Park.
There is also the Carrie Gaulbert Cox Park, named for for a local business man who also built the Malvern House. There is a great article about the house here, which is still lived in by Cox's descendants.
And finally, there is Caperton Swamp Park, or really, a 29 acre wildlife preserve. This is supposed to be a hidden treasure and a great place to take a nature hike.
River Road was originally a road that connected the small towns and villages along the Ohio River. Much of this area belonged to the Veech family and their farm's name, Indian Hills, would later become the name of the current city.
One of the great things about this ride is the many views of the Ohio river. With all of this year's natural disasters, though, it was hard not to look at the river and think about the Flood of 1937.
Here's an obscure piece of history. The Ohio Flood was actually the second big disaster that Louisville weathered. The first was the Madrid Earthquake back in 1811. This was actually a set of earthquakes which are still on record for being among the top 5 earthquakes for North America.
A small red sign marks the Patriot Peace Memorial.
There is no parking at the Patriot Peace Memorial itself, so we parked in the Different Strokes Golf Center, next door. A short walking trail leads from the golf parking lot to the memorial.
The memorial is set on a hill, and honors military personnel who gave their lives, but not in active combat.
The memorial is simple and stark during the day (at night, the names are lit up). There are the currently over 400 names on the walls of the memorial.
On Memorial Day this year, Navy Lt Commander Drew Hilliard's name was the latest to be added.
The memorial is a beautiful, moving tribute to the men and women who have died while serving our country. There is also an ongoing restoration project, which you can donate to here.
After leaving the memorial, we headed to the Captain's Quarters for lunch.
This marina is actually part of Harrod's Creek, a small town that was eventually annexed by Louisville. Here is another fascinating and totally useless historical footnote. This town was almost called Transylvania!
The government seized the assets of some Tories that had chosen the wrong side in the Revolutionary War and gave that land to the Transylvania Land Company. When the company went defunct, Kentucky decided to use the land to create a college, called Transylvania University.
The university divided some of the property up and sold it. It seems the intent was to create a town called Transylvania, but the town became known as Harrod's Creek instead. I wonder how many residents know how close they came to being the brunt of Dracula jokes?
The Captain's Quarters is a well known local restaurant, that sits on the site of an earlier tavern. Harrod's Creek was a stopover for people traveling down the Ohio.
The view was awesome - the food was not.
We had checked online reviews of the Captain's Quarters, and the place was crowded, so we were looking forward to trying some local cuisine. The breaded catfish was tasty, but the french fries were meh. The Biker asked if he could substitute another side for coleslaw, but was told he couldn't, because 'the coleslaw was a garnish'. The coleslaw then came out as a side anyway, and was literally swimming in too much dressing.
I had the blackened fish, which was also well cooked, but was the only thing edible. The 'steamed' broccoli was cold and half-raw. Even worse was the turnip greens.
In the south, turnip greens are slowly cooked in a tasty concoction of butter and bacon that pulls the bitterness out. Instead, I was served an enormous pile of barely steamed turnip greens with no seasoning. With my fish sort of perched precariously on top. The 'etouffee' garnish was a smear of sauce under a veritable mountain of inedible turnip greens. But wait - it gets worse!
I give you this restaurant's won-ton appetizers. Yup, we ordered won-tons, and got very bland jalapeno poppers instead. Nope, these didn't even have won-ton wrappers, just the usual crumb breading. Oh, and did we mention the waitress? She was in a band, and made it clear she was doing this job solely to make ends meet. We had to remind her to bring The Biker's drink (she served him water instead) and then she couldn't be bothered to check back on us, or bring refills.
In case you are still wondering, we do not recommend this place! On the up side, Crockett loves broccoli, raw or not, and was very, very happy that I took my side home to him instead of eating it!
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