Day 1 - Road Crew in the Fork at DennyGibson.com

Day 1: January 20, 2016
It Could be Winter
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Any weather forecast mentioning snow this year, did it in the company of words like flurries, showers, and dusting. That changed for today and some minor accumulation was expected. The snow itself wouldn't be bad all the meteorologists, agreed but the timing would be horrible. The snow hit the morning rush hour but that wasn't a problem for me. I had more or less planned on being in Louisville for the afternoon but it wasn't necessary. I waited until the snow stopped falling and rush hour was long past. It was near noon when I pulled out on the almost pristine snow.

Of course, the snow was hardly pristine on public roads. For the most part, roads were clear although a few slick spots remained and a couple of cars were "parked" well off the pavement in spots their drivers certainly had not intended. Things remained messy in Kentucky. The pavement was essentially clear but problems still occurred. On I-71, I passed a couple brave fellows testing the effectiveness of their iridescent vests.

Just when I was starting to think that all trouble spots were behind me and that running out of windshield washer fluid was my only concern, traffic slowed then stopped. And it stayed stopped. A fellow next to me took advantage of the stop to roll down his window and squirt some cleaner on his windshield and run the wipers. A few minutes later he briefly stepped outside to spray and wipe the windshield by hand. A few more minutes and he was back outside almost leisurely improving on his windshield cleaning and getting his side window, too.

Roughly half an hour after we had stopped, both lanes suddenly started moving and almost instantly shot to around 40 MPH. Things slowed after a mile or two but we continued to move as everyone smoothly merged into a single line. A broken down semi made the single line necessary and I'm guessing had been the reason for the entire episode. I can't quite fit all that together in my head though.

The path Garmin chose to my motel passed right by the Louisville Water Tower Park and snapping a few pictures of the 1860 tower seemed appropriate. A museum at the tower is closed for the winter. A more readable version of that sign is here.

Any thoughts about freely roaming around downtown Louisville were pushed aside by the snow and temperature. I did venture outside for dinner and passed these well supported walls on the way. There's a lot more to the story but I do know that it was the city of Louisville that forced developers to save the cast iron facades. Well done, Louisville.

Dinner was at Against the Grain Brewery. It's in an old train station and part of Louisville Slugger Field where the AAA Bats play. Those copper clad tanks look pretty good above the bar. I enjoyed a pint of Saladbarity Baltic Porter while perusing the menu then washed down my smoked-on-site pulled pork and Weisenberger Gouda Grits with Bring the Family Brown Porter.

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