Thank God I’m a country boy.

Okay, so down south I’d be a redneck. But my last week in Michigan was definitely ‘country boy’ world. Topped off with having an alternator for my bike rebuilt (for $75) versus replaced like in the city (for $601 “plus labor”); to demolition derby and tractor pulls, you just don’t experience anything like this outside of “the Thumb”.

So, the weekend starts out at my brother, Dale’s house for a family gathering and celebration of my niece, Whitney’s birthday. And then progresses to Elkton for the Autumn Festival, where I of course park my house.

The first night of festivities includes the demolition derby. For the uninitiated, this is where a bunch of country boys, and a few country girls, spend the previous month frantically trying to get a car running, not so they can get to work, but rather so they can smash it against the cars of their friends (and sometimes enemies). For instance, this is a sequence of shots of one the heats. (You can double-click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

I know, you are thinking “Lon, HOW do you top THIS?” Well, imagine taking your average tractor out of the field, just before you’re are going to harvest this year’s crops, and souping it all up and challenging your buddies to see who pull the most weight the farthest down a gravel road! Yep, and you might as well set up a beer tent next to this road, because people are going to want to drink beer while they are cheering you on. I give you, The Tractor Pull:

And tractors come in all colors andshapes (and modifications)

And even trucks!

One day of this weekend event included a classic car show. This was really fun because it involved not only Model A’s and other older classics, but also many muscle cars that we all grew up with. Here are a few.

And here’s my brother’s car:

Yeah, I come from a pretty cool family.

Life is good, in the country.

Leitchfield, Kentucky

That’s the last time I stop for gas in Leitchfield, Kentucky.

Okay, its not Leitchfield’s fault. See, I was on my way from Michigan back to Texas, and still not having decided how I’d return, or when, I chose to take the Western Kentucky Byway to enjoy the scenery; and when I stopped for gas, I noticed someone had leaked transmission fluid in the gas station lot. Well, that someone turned out to be me. Keep in mind I’m driving my F350 Diesel truck, pulling my house, with not one, but two motorcycles (thanks to the additional bike purchased in Michigan) loaded in the back, and my trusty dog, Coffey riding in the back seat of the truck. So here I am with my house and worldly possessions and a disabled truck.

Two and half hours later, my truck was on a flatbed tow truck heading 30 miles east and my house was connected Mr. Duvall’s truck heading 15 miles south to what I could only hope was a functional campground (did I mention I was kinda in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky?).

Long (trust me, very long) story short, I’m getting a new transmission put in the truck (and no, given that the truck is a 1997 with over 200,000 miles, it is not covered by warrantee) and I’m sitting in a campground for the next 4 days (in this case, a weekend is just adding to the shipping time of parts).

Yesterday, I made the most of it by unloading one of the bikes and going for a ride (8 hours, 100 miles, you do the math). But unfortunately today I woke up to rain and it looks like its going to rain harder, with possible thundershowers, tomorrow. So having 2 bikes isn’t doing me a lot of good.

If nothing else, maybe I’ll catch up on this blog thing.

(By the way, Mr. Duvall called me this morning, just to check in to make sure everything was okay, and to see how it shook out with the transmission. Folks in these parts have been very accommodating.)

It's about time, eh?

I know what you’re thinking. “Oh my God, a blog entry! He hasn’t written forever.” You’re right, and I owe it to Larry Clark, whom I met in the parking lot of the Mammoth Caves National Park. But don’t worry, I’m not doing this for Larry (or you), but rather myself.

You see, Larry is another full-timer, and we were talking about travel and family and keeping in touch and all, and Larry tells me he writes a blog, so his kids and friends can keep up with him. And I told him that I used to keep a blog, but due to (and I’m ashamed to admit to this)…the instant gratification of Facebook and being able to just quickly post a picture or an update and be done with it….that I hadn’t taken the time to update my blog in a while. And then Larry says something very profound – he says that he finds his blog works great as a journal. When he and his wife are discussing things that happened two or three years ago, they can go back and see when it really was and who was involved. I’VE DONE THAT! I’ve gone to find a shop owner’s name when I’m going back to an area, or to remember where that really great restaurant was with the liver and onions. So I told Larry that he just gave me the incentive to get back to my blog. Be damned with Facebook!

So, how is it that I was in the Mammoth Cave National Park to meet Larry in the first place? We’ll I was out on the new little Dual-sport motorcycle that I bought while in Michigan. A “Dual-Sport” used to be called and “Enduro” when I was growing up. It’s a motorcycle that is licensed to ride on the roads, but at the same time is equipped to ride in the trails and hills. I’ve been shopping for one for almost two years when I sold my “second bike”, the Sabre. The Valkyrie has been good (obviously so, since I bought another one after totaling my first in May), but is not very well equipped for some of the dirt roads and trails I’ve taken it down. Anyway, I was out riding back roads of Kentucky and came to a ferry crossing run by the National Forest Service. The river was about 100 feet wide, so this was a short but cool ride. I got talking to the ferry boat driver afterward (he was heading up the hill to also do some weed-eating – yes, this was WAY in the boonies and his job was to maintain the place, as well as drive the boat. DARN – I just realized that I should have asked him if *I* could drive the boat?! Well, I guess I was having too much fun running around the back roads and trails with the new bike, that I missed that adventure.)

But I digress. While talking to the driver, he told me of another ferry, that does even more river crossings “up to 300 a day” versus his 40. Turns out, it is near the Mammoth Caves, which is also just up the road. And he says “if you haven’t seen it, you really should” (talking about the caves, not the ferry, but frankly I already knew I’d be riding that other ferry as well). So, I rode to the Caves and parked in the Visitor Center and toured and read. It’s the world’s largest underground caves. They have this cool picture showing the 300 miles of caves. Very cool. (Literally, too.)

It was after walking around and clicking a few pictures that I met Larry (you remember Larry, right?) and we talked in the parking lot for a half hour or so.

So I’m back. I’m going to not only keep up with the blog, but I’m going to try to work my way backwards and post some of the events that occurred since I last wrote. I’ll continue to post the pictures on Facebook, so if you want to see all of them, you’ll have to become my friend.

And yes, I DID ride that other ferry. I was still the only vehicle on it, so I got to visit with the driver for the entire 30 second ride.

Why am I in NoWhere, Kentucky riding a dirt bike and visiting with Ferry Boat Drivers? Oh, yeah, if you haven’t been keeping up on Facebook, maybe I should fill that little tidbit in.
Stay Tuned.
Life is Good, and I’m happy to be back.