Riding around Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois

Last week Jimmy & I took off on our bikes going nowhere in particular. Just where the roads led us was our only destination. I took many side roads that were new to me and by the first days end I found myself a couple hours from my brother Dennis's house so I headed for Princeton, Kentucky where I knew there was a nice clean & neat motel to rest our heads for the first night. And besides, the motel was just a stones throw from my brother's home. Early the next morning I called Dennis and asked him to meet us for breakfast and his first thought was that we were joking. I assured him that we were close by and made a date to meet him at one of his favorite dining spots for breakfast, but unfortunately the cafe was closed. We ate at another near by cafe and then we all went back to Princeton, my brother in his truck and Jimmy & I on our bikes. We went to Princeton to surprise my sister-in-law Laurel and my grandson Allen at work and by the time we talked to both, Jimmy & I decided that it was more important for us to stay there and spend some time with family for the day and the night than to travel on.

Below are just a few of the pictures that we took while on our trip.

Jimmy, Sandy, Dennis, Laurel.
Just as soon as Laurel got off work at noon we all headed
for Tennessee. It was Laurel's idea and a good one it was!

Jimmy, Sandy, Dennis

Jimmy, Dennis, Laurel.
We walked for hours and had a great time at a place
called The Homeplace, which took you back in time
to the 1800's and life at that time.

The Smokehouse

An old split rail fence & some fodder shocks

The Homeplace, Main house.
This was an active working farm with farm animals, gardens,
blacksmithing, woodworkers.

Jimmy taking a picture of the large oxen used to pull the plows.
Don't you love that fence? It had to be strong because the
oxen were HUGE.

Later in the evening we met with Tina & Allen and the kids.
L-R: Tina, Hana, Parker, Allen (red shirt), Dalton, Jimmy

Dennis, Tina, Hana, Parker & Allen.
That's Laurel in the blue shirt. Sorry Laurel.

Day 3
Waiting for a ferry to cross the Ohio River from Kentucky
to Illinois.

Our bikes and ourselves, along with several other passengers
are on the The Cave in Rock Ferry crossing the Ohio River
from Kentucky to Illinois.

A nice picture of Jimmy riding The Cave in Rock Ferry

Picture of the Ohio River.
We're almost to the Illinois shoreline. My brother Dennis
worked near this area and there also is a cave beyond
the boats in the middle of the picture.

After we got off the ferry we traveled north in Illinois for a few miles until I finally made my way back into Kentucky where I again traveled only roads that I had never traveled on before. The day was very hot and the cornfields of Illinois and northern Kentucky didn't provide us with much shade so I headed south on the little windy roads of Kentucky, roads which I prefer to travel on. You see more while traveling on the secondary roads and there are many places of interest to stop at and to take a break and stretch our legs.

While in Grand Rivers, Kentucky which is in the Land Between The Lakes we stopped at what is getting to be a familiar place for us to stop and eat, and that is Patti's Restaurant. The food is quite good and they're famous for their fat juicy pork chops. I was fascinated however by the clay flower pots filled with home baked bread and I think I could have made a meal just with the bread alone.

Home baked bread in a clay flower pot

Dennis at Patti's Restaurant
lifting the bread out of the clay flower pot

As you can see by the background in the picture of Dennis above, Patti's Restaurant is a very festive place and you need to make reservations to eat there but so far we have been extremely lucky to have squeezed in there to eat because we show up at such irregular hours and not the usual dining hours. But even at such odd hours you can see that it's still quite a popular place to eat.

With Fall weather now upon us we hope to do some more riding. The leaves on the trees should be changing to their Fall colors soon and everything is going to take on a different look. A look we are looking forward to seeing from the seats of our bikes.

To see more photos of our trip CLICK HERE