Island Time: September 2019

When Lisa and I got married, one of the requests Lisa had was to get a new car every ten years. We have had “Baby Blue” - Lisa’s car, for 15 years, well beyond the ten year goal. Baby Blue was the first car we purchased together and has been a member of the family, a person-like companion so to speak, all these years. The car was given a name and a gender, and was spoken about in human like phrases. Having her all these years it is difficult to think of replacing her with a newer model, one with more bells and whistles. But that is what we have done. It is with a sad and heavy heart we announce Baby Blue is leaving our family. We have many great memories and she will not be forgotten. The good news is she will be going to a family member as Sasha and James will be her new owners. We know she will be in good hands. Baby Blue has been given a good bill of health by our mechanic Bob, and I will be driving her to Utah next week.

Lisa’s new car is a newer version of Baby Blue, a 2019 Lexus RX 350, named Star Baby.

The farm house in Corvallis has a new coat of paint.

Kevin has planted 4 acres of hemp at the farm and it will soon be ready for harvest. His crop looks much better than the farmer who is renting the land and who has also planted hemp. Kevin’s a good farmer and definitely has a green thumb.

Lisa and I hired a painter to paint our rental home, the home Ian and Kaylene are renting from us. The color is a dark navy blue with white trim. The woodshed and garden shed were also painted. Ian and I completed framing the wood storage shed, connected to the garden shed, and have moved all our wood and logs to this location. The landscaping of the front yard is next.

Lisa and I have not seen Demri and her family in two years (other than Skype), so when we got to Kentucky recently it was a happy reunion. We also got to meet and hold our newest grandson, Jesse, and participate in his baby blessing. Demri and Eric were great hosts, showing us a number of well known sites in Kentucky and Tennessee.

This is the Big Four Bridge. It was built in 1895 over the Ohio River, connecting Louisville to Indiana. The bridge was reclaimed as a pedestrian/bicycle path in 2013.

The first memorial building built to honor Abraham Lincoln, was dedicated in 1911 at the place of his birth in Hodgenville, Kentucky. The building is constructed from pink granite and marble. Lincoln’s symbolic birth cabin is constructed inside the memorial.

Churchill Downs, the legendary horse-racing track and home of the Kentucky Derby, is located in Louisville and opened in 1875. We all thought it would be fun to go to the Derby sometime in the future, but it won’t be cheep if we do. Get ready to shell out thousands of dollars for a single seat. Betting at the 2019 Derby race (betting is in cash only) amounted to $227 million dollars.

Here are the Derby winners from our birth year.

Tim - Dark Star, Lisa - Iron Leigh, Demri - Winning Colors, Eric - Unbridled.

Mammoth Cave National Park is located in central Kentucky and is the longest cave system known in the world. More than 400 miles of limestone passageway have been discovered. Eric signed us up for the Frozen Niagara Tour, one of the most famous at Mammoth Cave.

We spent three days in Nashville, Tennessee staying at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, located across the street from the Grand Ole Opry.

All of us took a backstage tour of the Opry, a must-see for everyone coming to Music City. We walked in the footsteps of country music’s superstars and got an exclusive look at what happens behind the scenes of the show that made country music famous.

Lisa and I also attended a Gand Ole Opry show and it was a wonderful experience. We got to see eleven performances by some new and old country western singers, including the Oak Ridge Boys. Jeanne Robertson, a comedian, was hilarious.

Another must see is the Country Music Hall of Fame. Some unusual displays at the museum are Elvis Presley’s gold plated Cadillac. The passenger compartment includes a telephone, refrigerator, refreshment bar, record player, and a gold plated television.

Check out Webb Pierce’s Pontiac Bonneville below. It features a leather interior, a miniature saddle between the bucket seats, and chrome plated ornamental guns and horses.

Did you know the city of Nashville has a full scale model of the Parthenon? It was built for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Inside the Parthenon is a 41 foot tall statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

Lisa requested we go to French’s Shoes & Boots in downtown Nashville. Lisa wanted to buy a pair of authentic, handmade western boots. She found a pair she was happy with and wore them to the Grand Ole Opry show.

Before our flight home, we went to Fort Negley, a Civil War fort in Nashville. Below the fort is the Nashville City Cemetery, the burial grounds for thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers. The caretaker of the cemetery was W. R. Cornelius.