Churchill Downs

Saturday 5/10: We left St Louis originally planning on taking I-65 thru both Illinois and Indiana. Leaving East St Louis I executed a spontaneous change of plan and diverted onto route 50. We took the two lane country road all the way across the mostly farm land of Illinois. About 40 miles into Indiana while stopping for fuel we saw a sign for the Gasthof Amish village with restaurant and bakery so we made a side trip for lunch.

Indiana Amish country

The village sits off the road and from a distance has the appearance of an Amish farm. The restaurant is an authentic post and beam building. Wooden pegs secure all joints in the rough cut lumber, it did however have some modern features like fire sprinklers and electric wiring run in conduit.  we chose the buffet lunch and over-ate for the second day in a row, having eaten the buffet at the casino the day before. Real Mashed potato's and perfectly cooked fried chicken where the winners of the buffet. Coconut cream pie, blueberry pie, pecan pie, ice cream, the desert table was all good. They also had a gift store, flea market and a bakery. We were so full the bakery sweets didn't tempt us, we did however buy a loaf of oven fresh wheat bread.

Mustard field in Indiana

Shortly after leaving the Amish village we left route 50 and angled down towards Louisville on route 150. The plains gave way to rolling hills or small mountains as we passed thru Hoosier National Forest. Our destination was a campground on the Indiana side of the Ohio River just across from Louisville Kentucky. This area doesn't have many RV parks and in my research this one seemed the best . It did not meet my expectations, mostly because it is another that has been taken over by permanent residents living in RV's. The folks we've spoken to in these parks are always friendly and we've always felt safe. It's just human nature I guess, birds of a feather want to flock together.

Jumbo tron

Larry

Sunday 5/11: We drove the jeep to Churchill Downs in Louisville. I had wrongly assumed it would not be crowded because this is the week after the Kentucky Derby. There were people everywhere and unlike us, everyone else seemed to know where they were going. A friendly guide gave us a quick coaching on where we could go on our general admission tickets and where to purchase programs and place wagers. BTW, We paid $1 for our entry and had access to open seating on the first level. Last weekend for the Kentucky Derby the gate admission was $50 and that only allowed you into the rear areas where the betting and bars were located. Races could only be seen on TV monitors. All track side seating was reserved for an additional fee.

Millie in front of the original part of the grandstand

from our seats at the finish line

 Millie and I are novices at horse racing, neither of us could decipher most of the cryptic columns of numbers and letters on the program. We picked our horses based entirely on their names. All of our horses except one ran at least in the middle of the pack so the races were exciting. Two of our horses finished in third place giving us a total winnings of $9.60. Luckily we weren't there trying to win gas money for the motorhome. While we did get caught up in the excitement of the races, we had mixed feelings about the sport. Both of us worry about the animals being abused, we hope thats not a widespread practice. Another troubling thing we noticed was the large number of small children betting on the races. Kids as young as 5 or 6 stood in line with parents who placed bets for them. It appears the industry is trying to addict the next generation of gamblers at a very young age.