Fixed!

I think the engine is actually fixed! The CAT repair shop ended up putting in a whole new brain (computer). They drove it a couple of times without any problems before they called us on Friday morning to come get it. Once we got there yesterday afternoon, we drove it another 40 miles or so before we parked it for the night. Today we drove about 230 miles, still no problems. I think I can finally breathe again.

We made it to the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville where we'd wanted to spend a month. Not sure if we'll get to stay a whole month after all these delays, but we should be good for at least 3 weeks. I'm soooooooooo ready to just sit and relax!

And this is a good place for relaxing. We spent three days at this RV park this past spring and enjoyed it so much, we've really been looking forward to coming back. Our site is right on the bend of a stream that runs through the park so we have a lovely view.

Engine Trouble

One of my worst fears about living in the motorhome has come to pass. We are having engine trouble and for the moment, our motorhome is stuck in Waco, TX while the mechanics try to figure out what is wrong. The diagnostic computer is logging a fault with the speed sensors. The mechanics have changed out the speed sensors and the wiring to the speed sensors, but the engine is still running rough. When they started talking about tearing into the engine and needing us to move into a hotel for a couple of days, we decided to just throw some things in the car and drive the 130 miles down to Kingsbury, TX to stay with our friends Roland and Elizabeth. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends, willing to take us in on a moment's notice.

We have been in Kingsbury for the past three days while the motorhome remains in the shop in Waco. When Tom talked to the service manager this afternoon, he was cautiously optomistic that they may have solved the problem.

It's been a pretty stressful few days for us, not knowing what the problem is or when it might be fixed, but we are making the best of it and enjoying our time with Elizabeth and Roland.

More Wildlife from our Window

Rain, rain, rain. That's almost all we've seen for the last 3 days. We still haven't tried to explore Nashville because of the wet weather. And since this is our last day here, I guess it's just not in the cards for this visit. Horror stories of flooding and hydroplaning vehicles causing accidents have dominated the news. So we have just been staying home. Thankfully it's a lovely setting, even if we are seeing the view through the haze of falling rain.

Tennessee Flora and Fauna

We made it to Music City - Nashville, Tennessee - though we have yet to spend any time in the city doing the tourist thing. We're staying at Seven Points Park on the J. Percy Priest Lake just outside of Nashville. It's such a beautiful setting, we've been content to just hang out here and relax. These pictures were taken right from our campsite.

Kentucky Horse Country

While in Kentucky, we've been staying at the campground at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The Horse Park is a huge complex which hosts various equestrian and other special events throughout the year. It will be the site of the World Horse Show in 2010. It seems like there are at least as many huge horse trailers here in the campground section of the park as there are RVs.

Lexington is serious horse country and everywhere you look there are rolling green pastures and split rail fences. And of course, horses, horses, horses. We like the Lexington area a lot. It's developed enough to have all the shopping, entertainment, services, etc. one needs for everyday living, but just minutes outside of the more urban areas and you are in "the country".

Today we drove about 60 miles west to Louisville. As home to Churchill Downs, we expected it to be much the same as Lexington. But it is not. Louisville has the look and feel of a densely populated big city.

We took a tour of Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby) which we really enjoyed. The tour included visiting the paddock area, the race track, the grandstand area and the trainers' stables behind the racecourse. There is no live racing going on this time of year though. I was kind of bummed about that. I would have loved to see the horses run. But according to Kentucky state law, only one track at a time can be holding races and it's not Churchill Downs' turn. They have race "meets" two times a year, from mid-April through mid-July and then late-October through late-November.

Today was our final day in Kentucky. We move on to Nashville, TN tomorrow.

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It's the Water

Why does the best whiskey come from Kentucky and Tennessee? It's the water! That is one of the first things we learned today on our tour of the Woodford Reserve Distillery where they make super premium Bourbon whiskey. This area sits on a huge limestone aquifer that serves as a giant filter, removing unwanted minerals and adding calcium. The calcium reacts with the yeast during production to make a better Bourbon.

The tour begins in the Distillery Building where they start by cooking up a mixture of corn, rye, malted barley, water and yeast into a "sour mash" which is then transferred to a huge wooden fermenting tank for 4 to 6 days.

Once fermentation is complete, the mash is moved to the first of three copper pot stills to begin the process of separating the water and alcohol from the mash. It is distilled three times before being transferred to barrels. The barrels are then moved to the warehouse to be stored for aging by rolling them along rails. The Bourbon remains in the barrels for 7 to 8 years.

When the maturation process is complete and the Bourbon is deemed ready, it is bottled and shipped off to be sold. Some is held back for tour guests to taste (and buy at the gift shop.) So of course we had to buy some - along with some chocolates and Bourbon caramels. YUM. Tom bought a very big bottle, so it should keep us in Mint Juleps for a long time.

Almost Heaven - West Virginia

John Denver was on the right track when he wrote West Virginia was "almost heaven". At least from a gorgeous scenery stand-point, it's certainly true. For the last four days we've been at the Summersville Lake Retreat campground in Mount Nebo, West Virginia, in the Allegheny/Cumberland Mountains. We're surrounded by hills and river valleys all covered in a blanket of trees. The trees are just starting to change to their fall colors. It will be spectacular here in just another week or two. But we'll have to miss the show. Tomorrow we move on to Kentucky.

Horsing Around

We left New York this morning and are headed to Summersville, WV for the Labor Day weekend. We are spending the night in Washington, PA at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino. We have found that casinos are often a good place to spend the night when we are just passing through. They generally have large parking lots and will welcome RVers in the hopes that we will spend a few dollars in the casino. We rarely disappoint them on that score.

This one was particularly fun because in addition to the traditional casino, they have a racetrack which hosts harness races several nights a week. We'd never seen harness racing before and really enjoyed watching it.