Kentucky and Missouri

I think I need to pick up on Monday, 9/30.  After talking on the phone with my Aunt Rachel (age 91) who lives at Nazareth, KY (next to Bardstown), I decided to backtrack and visit her.  She has been a Catholic nun since 1944, and is now retired although still working part time. 

I left on Monday morning and made the trip in about 3+ hours - it was great to see Aunt Rachel as well as cousins who are also in semi-retirement at Nazareth.  I stayed overnight in guest quarters, a very nice en suite room, plus meals in the community dining room.

The only picture I took was of the building I stayed in, and in which the nuns live.  It was formerly part of the college which they ran at Nazareth.  My room was on the first floor, and my aunt's room is on the third floor.  She took me around to some of the building and told me how some of the rooms had formerly been used.  It is still in beautiful condition, especially the old woodwork and flooring, plus much of the furniture.

The next morning I returned to Paducah and relaxed and visited the rest of the day and evening.  On the following day Celeste, Joe and I drove to a small town south of Paducah called Fancy Farm.  That's where my mom and all her family grew up and where I loved to go in the summertime.  (Fancy Farm is about 10 miles from Mayfield, and I believe I had a reader about a year ago who lived in the Mayfield area.)

We took trips down all the Memory Lanes, including the farm house my grandfather built and where most of the children were born.

We drove around to many of the sites I remember so well from my childhood, and then drove over to the school/church complex.  The old (original) school building is being converted to a museum, and the church has just been placed on the historical register.  I was always fascinated with the windows that cast such a beautiful light.

This church was established in 1836.

Finally we visited the cemetery on the church grounds.

This parish is widely known in Kentucky for its annual Picnic the first Saturday in August.  A phenomenal amount of pork and mutton are barbequed, and the politicians and hopefuls love to visit and make their speeches, many announcing their candidacy for various offices, including national ones.

Wherever we drove during my visit, we always managed to get back home in time for "refreshments".  I left Paducah this morning and drove nearly all the way through Missouri, but I called when I checked into the motel to tell them where I was and that my "refreshment" hour was a bit later than theirs.  

I took US 60 out of Paducah and have stayed on it the entire day, enjoying very little traffic except around Springfield.  I came through alternating stretches of bright sunshine and rainfall so heavy the visibility wasn't any better than the fog I drove through on much of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  After standing in the headwaters of the Mississippi River I had hoped to get a photo of it downstream, but there was absolutely no place to pull off the road.  The river looks like it's extremely low right now.  I crossed the bridge at Cairo, Ill (pronounced Kay-ro - just like Karo Syrup!) - rather than the way we pronounce the capital of Egypt.
 
I am wondering if I will be able to see the National Parks in the southwest as I had planned.  If the issue isn't settled by the weekend I will just head on to Sacramento but will be very disappointed.  I tried to check the NOAA weather site this evening and was surprised that it is also closed due to the shutdown of Govt.

Tomorrow I will drive the rest of the way through Missouri and start into Oklahoma.  No telling how long it will take me to get through Oklahoma, but I won't be going around or through any major cities.  I drove 337 miles today in 6-1/2 hours, which is more than I've been used to doing.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend some time with Celeste and Joe and just relax.  Of course we talked non-stop, so I didn't relax my jaws the least bit! 

Don't forget you can click on a picture to enlarge it.