Staying at Fort Blugrass Mobile Home Park

Hi! Before we get into this park review,we wanted to take just a moment to talk about Amazon Camperforce. Amazon Camperforce is a temporary work program for RV'ers who want to help out with holiday rush. Sadly, there is a couple of "news" articles currently circulating about the program that cast Amazon as a draconian overlord, working senior citizens to death in Bezos' salt mines. 

Um, no. Camperforce is an awesome program that allows Amazon to ramp up for the holidays, while giving retired and semi-retired RVers a way to make some extra cash. RV'ers get paid hourly (with time and half for overtime) AND get free rent (Amazon covers lot rent for Camperforce employees at local RV parks). Many RV'ers return to the same distribution center year after year, making lasting friendships as well. Oh, and Amazon pays a nice bonus to everyone who stays to the end of the season.

If we had one quible with the program, its that the RV parks in the Louisville/Shepherdsville metroplex are, um, interesting. White Acres (Bardstown) and Grandma's (Shepherdsville) are ran by owners who have some rather strange quirks. North Louisville Campground, where we stayed last year, wasn't one of the Amazon park options this year, but Amazon has added Fort Bluegrass Mobile Home Park. 

Let's talk about the cons first. This is a very old mobile home park, and it does back up to train tracks and a warehouse area. Having said that, new owners bought the park in May of 2018 and they have been working hard to fix the park up and bring in newer units. We saw a lot of improvements in the park in the four months we stayed there.

Dog Friendly: The park does not have a dog park and there is no off leash areas to excercise a dog near by. There are some neighborhood streets and athletic fields close by which do provide good places to walk a dog on leash.

Motorcycle Friendly: The park's roads are asphalt, but be aware there are some enormous speed bumps in this park!

Cell Service/Wifi: Verizon was 2-3 bars, without a booster. The park does have free wifi, but its definitely a work in process.

Amenities: Currently the park doesn't offer many amenities, except for a laundry room. The owner is putting in showers and bathrooms, but we are not sure when these will be ready. We also feel we should point out that the owner is still trying to sort out issues with winterizing water connections at the different sites - we weren't the only campers who had issues.

Getting There: The park is just off of I-65 and technically in Watterson Park, which is in the southern outskirts of Louisville. Once again, we will mention the speed bumps - go slow entering and exiting the park! 

Local Stuff: There is a Walmart, Target, and Krogers an easy one mile walk (just follow the sidewalk past the athletic fields) and Costco isn't much further. The park is also just south of 264. The area above 264 is known as Highlands/Bardstown and is well known for its restaurants. Talking about restaurants, we definitely recommend Tumbleweed, which is right around the corner, just past the Krogers.

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Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind - Free!

Hi! We're back! Amazon was crazy busy this year and we didn't get much time to blog. We will try to do a better job blogging in 2019 - we promise!

We did get a chance to check out one museum in Louisville - the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). If  you've been reading this blog for a while, you won't be shocked to know that, yup, this museum is free!

The APH was started 150 years ago, thanks mostly to the efforts one man, Dempsey Sherrod. Louisville was chosen as the home of APH because of the city's central location. The nonprofit's museum is on the second floor and is our favorite type of museum - they encourage touching the exhibits! (Which is a good reason to donate a little to this musuem - we all need to support this!)

Most of APH's products are written in Braille. Braille was created by Louis Braille, a blind French man who was trying to figure out a way for the blind to read and write.

Although Louis created Braille, there were several competing reading systems for the blind throughout the nineteenth century. 

The musuem does a great job talking about this "battle of the dots" and the ensuing confusion before printers settled on one system.

The museum also has a large collection of different styles of Braille machines, many of which were innovations created by APH employees.

One section of the museum is dedicated to educating visitors on the many needs of blind students,

'

andincludes the many tools and inventions that APH has created over the years to meet these needs.

It's Buddy! Buddy was the first American Seeing Eye Dog. Buddy's human would go on to found the American Seeing Eye in 1929.

There was also a fascinating corner dedicated to Stevie Wonder, highlighting the the unique challenges he faced as he worked to get an education while handling the demands of being a child performer. Stevie is so successful today, we often don't think of the huge hurdles he faced at age 11 when he signed his first record deal.

The museum had so much to see (and touch!) we could've have spent the entire day there. Our stomachs, however, insisted on lunch. Fortunately, the museum is pretty close to a great restaurant we found last year - Feast's BBQ.

Their brisket is moist and flavorable, and the fried cheesecake sticks are excellent.  They also have smoked tofu. Yes, you read that right - smoked tofu. Since I am one of those weird people who loves tofu AND bbq,  this makes me very happy. Also, fried cheesecake. Just saying.

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Staying at Horseshoe Acres

We stayed at Horseshoe Acres for two weeks, while waiting to nail down a start date with Amazon. The owner was kind enough to pro-rate us at the monthly rate, which is currently $400.00. This is a park with mostly long-term residents, but its well-kept, with plenty of trees and nice size lots. We understand the owner bought the park a few years ago, and he has been working hard to upgrade both the park and the lots.

 Address: 12050 St Rt 70 West, Bremen, KY 42325

Website: horseshoeacrescampground.weebly.com

 Dog Friendly: The park doesn't have a dog yard, but there are plenty of open spaces to walk a dog. 

Motorcycle Friendly: The park isn't very motorcycle friendly.The park's roads are fairly rough gravel. Also, the park is laid out as a one way circle, and the way out is down a very steep hill.

Cell Service/Wifi: You can occasionally get signal in the field near the children's playscape, but we had no signal in the RV.

Amenities: The park has two unisex bathrooms with showers, and also has a small laundry room. The bathrooms were recently renovated, are fairly clean, and the water is hot.

Getting There: The park is right off of Route 70, but be aware it is very rural and there is a lot of deer on the road. 

Know Before You Go: The owner has a second job, so may not be around when you first arrive. We were also advised to we could pick any open spot, but we noticed some of the spaces are pretty short and quite a few were fairly uneven. We would definitely suggest parking and walking through the park if you aren't assigned a spot.

Local Stuff: Did we mention the park is very rural? After a packed two weeks at the Winnebago Rally, we were definitely ready to enjoy a slower pace in the Kentucky countryside before heading on to Louisville. If you're looking for fun and excitement (and easy access to grocery stores) this may not be your kind of park.

And finally, a picture of the hill leading out of the park. It's even steeper than it looks!

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We're in Louisville!

Just a quick update to let everyone know we are alive, and in Louisville! We've been without reliable internet since August 1st, but we've got three bars here - so regular blogging will commence tomorrow!

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Staying At Louisville North

We stayed at Louisville North Campground while The Biker worked for Amazon (it's hard to believe, but we are almost done and will be leaving in two weeks!). Amazon paid for our lot, but the daily price is $45. Let's clear up some confusion about this campground. This park was a KOA until 2016, and you may still find some maps and reviews list it as a KOA. The only KOA in the area is now in Sheperdsville (30 minutes south of Louisville). Second, this park is not in Louisville. This campground is in Clarksville. Three small cities, New Albany, Clarksville, and Jeffersonsville sit side by side, and across the river from Louisville. 

Address: 900 Marriot Drive, Clarksville, IN 47129

Website: www.louisvillenorthcampground.com

Dog Friendly: There is a city park next door to the RV park called Colgate Park, and Falls of Ohio State Park is an easy 1.7 mile walk away. There are no unleashed areas in either park.

Motorcycle Friendly: The road surfaces were OK in this park, but there are some pretty uneven surfaces. While all the roads are one way, about 25% of the spots are permanent residents, and they don't seem to pay much attention to the rules!

Cell Service/Wifi: Verizon was 3-4 bars, without a booster. The park has Wifi and it's decent, although expect the signal to slow in the evening when everyone is home. The park used to have cable, but it's our understanding they no longer offer this service.

Amenities: The park has washers and dryers, and bathrooms with showers. It is an older park, but the facilities are clean; and the washers and dryers are decent size. The park also has gas pumps, a small convenience store, and propane.  Tom Stinnett Camper's Inn is next door, and has an RV store.

Getting There: The park is just off Hwy 65. Be very careful putting this park's address in your GPS. There is a low bridge (10 feet clearance) on E Montgomery, just a few feet east of Marriot Drive. You will want to approach this park from Marriot, and avoid E Montgomery!

Know Before You Go: All bridges, except I-64 ,have tolls. If you intend to visit Louisville often, it's a good idea to register with www.RiverLink.com  Spots can be tight and you may be asked to park your car and/or trailer in the field across from the park. The park is both in the flight path of a major airport (and a hub for UPS) and bordered by a train track. The trains frequently brake before going over the nearby bridge, so expect a lot of noise at night. 

Local Stuff: While most people stop here to visit Louisville, there is quite a lot to do in Jeffersonville, which is only a few blocks from the park.  We also highly recommend checking out New Albany and Southern Indiana, and the Big 4 Bridge. There is a Kroger's 2.6 miles away and a Walmart 4 miles away. 

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Cave Hill Cemetery - Free!

Last week, the Biker got an extra day off for Turkey-day and the weather finally decided to co-operate. (Ok, it was in the 50s, but sunny) He asked me if there was anything I wanted to do, and I immediately said, "Cave Hill Cemetery." He programmed it into the GPS and off we zoomed  - after he pointed out that 'normal' people would probably want to do something related to either the Derby or Bourbon. You know, cuz we're in Louisville.

cemetery map

(clicking on any photo will open it up to full size)

Cave Hill Cemetery was opened in 1848. The City had no plans for a garden-style cemetery, but the designer quickly realized it was the easiest way to work with the old farm's hills and ditches. The cemetery's entrance was built in 1892 and features a bell tower with a 2,000 bell. 

Cave Hill is a very large cemetery. It has 296 acres, five lakes, and a natural spring that comes from its namesake cave. The cemetery also contains 600 species of plants.

This is the Eastin grave - a wife's loving memorial to her husband. Since it was winter and we wanted to get home before dark, we were only able to walk through a few sections. There are many more graves we would have liked to have seen if we had more time; especially Sam's swing, Barney Bright's grave and nude sculpture, the Wilder monument, and the Heffner grave. 

 

When I went back to look at the photos later, I spotted what might be a white bronze monument in this picture. I wished I'd noticed at the time - I could have checked to see if the monument was hollow or not!

The cemetery contains sixteen miles of winding roads. The vistas and beauty of the place are breathtaking.

There are 195,000 people buried here. The cemetery is still in use, and sees around 500-600 burials a year. There is also a scatter garden by one lake, for those who prefer cremation.

There are angels and birds everywhere, many of them exquisitely carved.

The grounds are beautifully kept, and the cemetery has a system where families can ensure regular upkeep of both the graves and the plants.

Another forest of obelisks, just beyond the Cave Hill National Cemetery, which in the northwest corner. 

There are a few Woodsmen graves at Cave Hill, but this is not one of them. In the background is the Thompson family grave site, marked by a large tree stump monument The family members graves are marked with log-shaped headstones.

An elaborately carved Celtic cross marks the Strater gravesite.

There are many modern sculptures, too,

including favorite pets.

A mother and her young son were feeding the swans and ducks. We couldn't resist snapping a picture of this little guy, waddling around in mid-molt.

This imposing obelisk marks D.C. Parr's grave. His parrot, Pretty Polly, is buried behind his grave.

The cemetery does have several mausoleums, in a rather bewildering range of styles.

I believe this gothic one is the Gheens Masoleum.

One of the most heartbreaking memorials we saw. These three small angels mark the graves of a family's three children.

The cemetery also contains the graves of 200 Confederate soldiers, and a small memorial. As somebody proud to have family members who fought in the Union army, I find myself torn by the controversy. It's all to easy to forget that most of these graves and memorials were paid for by grieving women, who had lost sons, brothers, and husbands. 

Over 5,500 soldiers are buried in the National Cemetery section.

Eleven soldiers of the 32nd Indiana Infantry were the first soldiers interred here. They died in 1861, and were later moved to Cave Hill.

The 32nd Indiana Infantry Monument is the nation's oldest Civil War monument. This is a replica of the original monument, which has been removed for conservation. Because the 32nd were German-Americans, the monument has inscriptions in both English and German.

The cemetery staff is active in not just caring for the cemetery, but making it a place that honors and remembers its dead. One recent project was to find the names of the 200 children buried in this plot and then create a suitable memorial. The statue's base has plaques with the children's names.

I think it's fitting we close this post with Muhammad Ali's grave site. He personally picked the site himself, and asked that it be open to the public and filled with lots of color. The cemetery has honored his request, and added a quote by him, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room in Heaven." RIP, Ali.

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