Our 8 or so days in Lexington consisted mostly of downtime. Since Cathy was born and raised and I went to college there, we spent a lot of time just catching up with friends and relatives, eating out, going to Keeneland and visiting places that we frequented when we were younger and thinner. We stayed in Cathy's cousin's (Joe) driveway, so we didn't have to shellout any more hard-earned cash for RV fees. Our only expense was taking him out to dinner a number of times. Not a bad deal.
We pulled into Lexington Thursday afternoon towing our badly injured Jeep. Since we couldn't get it to run we dropped it off at Cathy's Dad's old repair shop with the guy he trusted. His goal was to fix the power problem, get the heater working and, hopefully, fix the ticking noise we'd had since NYC. We thought it would only take a couple of day and we'd rent a car to get us around town. Unfortunately it was Keeneland and Homecoming weekend so we were $h!t out of luck. Fortunately Joe had an extra Suburban that he loaned us.
Saturday was the big day we'd been planning for months. We had rushed down to KY so we could catch the last day of the ponies running at Keeneland. As Kentuckians, we were required by law to attend at least once every two years. We missed the first few races but stayed till the end wagering $2 at a time on horses for each of us. Kira won on her very first race and Lexi and I won shortly thereafter. Mom and Hali finally won in the last couple of races.
I think after food, beverages and wagers we were only down $20 or so for the day. I'd call that a win. We met up with one of Cathy's cousins and his wife and hung out with them for awhile before heading out. The weather was absolutely fabulous and the girls had a blast. We watched the horseys, over-ate on nachos and beer and had some fun betting and rooting on our horses. Plus, the girls got some culture Kentucky-sytle.
On Monday Cathy flew out to see Brittany in OK for a couple of days so I had to be both the good cop and bad cop for awhile. Things went well until I tried to wash the RV. Apparently the "Hey y'all, watch this!" mentality came out in me and I decided to climb on to the wet, soapy hood of the RV. It only took 10 seconds or so until I slipped and landed square on my face (literally) on the driveway. In retrospect I should have gone to the hospital as I most likely had a concussion. I had a headache most of the day (naturally) and was nauseous. Cathy made me take her out to dinner that night since we had a babysitter but, looking back, I'm not sure that was such a good idea. Fortunately I was back to my normal, stupid self the next day but I think I've learned my lesson.
While mom was away we mainly stayed in the RV (the dog staying in Joe's house was wreaking havoc on the girls' respiratory system) and did school work. We did however get a chance to setup Hali's new Kano computer and get her running. She was hacking away at Minecraft in no time. I'll make her a programmer in no time!! She really loves it!
Cathy got home Friday and we decided to spend one more night in Lexington. It was Halloween and the girls were clamouring about trick-or-treating. It was super cold and rainly that night so we schlepped them down to the mall and walked around with the rest of humanity trying to stay ouf of the weather. It was really a terrible excuse for trick-or-treating and I'm still ashamed of myself.
We actually stayed in Lexington a few days longer that we anticipated. We had taken the Jeep into the shop and found out that the ticking was a bad transfer case. It took awhile to get a used one shipped in and that's what caused the delay. We decided that we couldn't wait any longer for the Jeep so we decided to rent a car and head to Mammoth Cave. I'd simply drive back and get the Jeep once it was done.
The next day we pack up, said good-bye to Joe, picked up our rental car and headed down the Mammoth Cave.
Dates: October 23 - November 1
RV Park: Joe's Driveway, Lexington, KY
