home away from home...traveling towards home

after a morning stroll around knoxville, i hit the road taking interstate 74 north and was into kentucky in no time.  reading that berea was an artist driven community with a free college for those that are focused in the liberal arts, a stop became a must.  much of the town is brick buildings with white columned two storey porches...beautiful.  the artist shops were not, as i had believed, of scholars to the school but instead of local more established non-collegiates.  i happened to walk into a metal working jewelry gallery were a couple started to explain more about their work and questioned where i was from.  when i said missouri, it just so happened that   ken [ the husband ] had grown up in the area too!  we reminisced about some of the things that were around when we were groing up, he being some three decades older than me, we had little in common, but shared no the less.

after peeling out of me my architecture major, they concurred that a trip to white hall, the restored home of cassius clay [ not the stinging bee boxer, a civil war politician ] was a must see...so there i drove.  the home was closed, but set amoungst beautiful green acreage, multiple stable homes or what could of been slaves quarters, and lots of white wooden fences.  after this was the search for the world's largest skateboard in wilmington, ohio before reaching a night's bed in lewis center.  the skateboard was built by the city college but was not familiar to the town locals, as i asked in a couple of markets and gas stations about it's location, only to be responded with blank stares and recommendation of a billboard sized painting on a building...no, no, no.  off i go.

so due to the title, perhaps by now, the question has been raised as to exactly where it is that i consider home...let me put that question to bed with an answer...we'll get to that answer soon...it's just around the corner...the judges are just about done...ok, ok, but really ' i don't know.'  i definitely believe in the home is where the heart is, but i couldn't even answer that with one place [ sorry guys ].  i feel at home everywhere that i find myself with people that put me at ease and make me want to be better.  so let this then be the introduction to one of my many second families; the karow's in columbus ohio. 

we've been splashing around the kiddie pool [ not meant to be punny ] since i was assigned to be jenn's right hand in third grade because she slipped and fell in the swimteam's locker room.  they then moved from kansas city to lewis center, ohio when jenn and i were in 8th grade which is when jenn and i became determined  that we were not about to loose each other's friendship and have now being causing caos together for the last twenty years.  needless to say even though jenn no longer lives in ohio with them, they were a necessary stop along the trip.  :)

in search for entertainment amoungst my return trip towards kansas city and with an extensive road traveling resume of their own, i took heed to the stop recommendations and found myself in dublin, ohio [ at a concrete corn field ], fairfield, ohio just outside of cincinnati [ at jungle jim's foodie land; seriously the largest collection of edible goodies that you could ever imagine!  they have so much stuff that in addition to 'cheese, wine, meat' sections...they have country sections.  its crazy.  over 1400 types of hot sauces alone  :) ], and a third to be mentioned later, but well worth the wait...

after the finish of my ohio stops, i fell just bellow the border into covington, kentucky and upon the door steps of the saint mary's cathedral basilica modelled after the church of notre dame.  it's stained glass work was amazing and you could grab book about it all for only $30.  they were very open to letting me take photos and the church was complete with not only one, but two pipe organs and the photoed holy water dispensor.  me not being overly religious, the gentleman host was getting a little talkative so i decided that it would be time for me to make my next stop...well why not make it the kentucky distillery bourbon trail.  perfect after a blessing huh?

much to my delight, the area of the trail that the distilleries were located in was extremely beautiful, but much to my timing dismay, they were on long and winding roads that would just not allow me to expidite my adventure.  so i only got to stop at one of the six listed destination before they all closed, but really that's okay because:
1. i am by myself
2. that leaves me as the driver...and 
3. drinking with others is the way that this should happen

so it has now been put on the list for a 're-visit' and there will be more to learn, share, and photo-a-lize about later.  fyi:  the one that i did make it too was the woodford reserve distillery where they gave me a shot, i couldn't handle the smell of it, sipped it, and poured the rest out so that i could take home my souviner glass [ for those noting the drinking and driving of this...all is well ].  the end of the trail dropped me into louisville, ky; a city that i was looking very forward to.  although it became quickly apparent that the time had not yet come for us to meet when upon arriving and driving by the science center/sluggerville area, there was a woman crying on the side of the street as one man ran away and another was crossing and stopping traffic to get to her after a domestic disturbance.   next, navigating the blocks to get back to the highway, there was a man thrown off his bike laying in the middle of an intersection after getting hit by a car, but the finale was a semi pulled over in the middle lane of a three-fer highway for a traffic violation...just a little bit too much to make feel comfortable to stop.  so that also goes on the re-visit list.

the departure of this city lead me directly into indiana and well, what do you do in indiana?  first was to satisfy my stomach and that would be done after noticing a sign for an amish style family restaurant.  i had a chicken pot pie filling with a biscut, chicken stuffing, and mash potatoes and gravy.  the food was satisfying, but rather on the bland side...not a whole lot of additives or spices.  afterwards, i found myself exploring santa claus.  not the jolly old man, but the city.  a christmas land pretty much year round.  there is an amusement park, rudolph's RV park, and a north pole post office.  but it was a little depressing while i was there being that it was the beginning of october when thankfully i'm not yet into the holiday spirit [ as i am a firm believer in the right for each holiday to have it's own and complete month...no infultrating ] but also because of the timing, the city was just about all empty.  and because my night was to be spent in kansas city, and in my mind there was no choice but to forge forward, it trudged on...landing me to bed at 2:47 in the morning. 

notable kentucky:
1.     street signs warning of a ticket if someone were to pull in front of a semi without leaving them sufficient space.  now to me leaving space just seems like common sense, but i guess that if there is some small way to charge people for not being aware of others and courtesy, then i'm okay with them having to pay for it.
 2.    some of the state highways, and seemingly more like side streets, are number in the 1000's and 2000's...that's a lot of roads.
 3.    just remember: to drive at least 10 mph over the posted speed limit, other wise you're likely to get run over
 4.    wood fences:  natural finish and white paint

notable ohio:
 1.    nicknamed 'slow-hi-o', because unlike their neighbor, they are certainly not in a rush to get anywhere.  abiding speed limits or slower.
 2.    land areas are not only divided by county, but also by townships

notable indiana:
1.     mile marker updates every .2 and .5 miles.  so it goes 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, etc...
2.     there were a lot of cars parked on the side of the roads in general and specifically on the on and off ramps of highways.  and some of the cars also had what seemed to be people sitting beside the cars enjoying a picnic or moment in the fresh air.  not at all concerned or appearing to be distrested by any kind of trouble.

[ http://worldslargestthings.blogspot.com/2008/11/worlds-largest-skateboard-wilmington.html ]
link to a little bit about the skateboard