After enjoying some time in Ohio, it was time to move farther south, back thru Kentucky, this time farther east than our northern route had taken us. First stop was Georgetown, KY, just north of Lexington. Our campsite was at one of our lesser enjoyed campgrounds, in wide open gravel with little grass and no trees. About half the camp was occupied by long term campers and/or work trailers so it was not the most “family friendly” location. But it worked for our needs for our short time.
We had three main objectives while in the area:
- Visit the town of Georgetown which was supposed to be quaint full of unique shops and restaurants
- Visit Lexington and specifically the home of Henry Clay
- Take a tour of the Toyota manufacturing plant
We drove into Lexington our first day and took a tour of the Clay home. It was full of history and artifacts and was well worth the time to discover more about this man who helped mold the nation and (some say) delay the civil war by several decades by his compromising approaches to issues.
On another day, our plan was to take a tour of the local Toyota manufacturing plant. What we didn’t realize was that this was a very popular attraction and tours booked up in advance. We had failed to lock in our tour so we had to go standby. We arrived an hour before the 11:30 am tour and we were lucky enough that two spots opened up for us. It’s an amazing facility, more than just an assembly plant. They build the engines here, fabricate most of the metal and plastic body parts and then assemble both the Camry and Lexus sedans. We were not allowed to take pictures, unfortunately, but it really was something everyone should see if they get the chance.
Pace Car for NASCAR Kentucky race 
First Camry to roll off the assembly line
We wrapped up our time in Georgetown by visiting downtown, having a great local lunch, and picking up a souvenir for Dan.
Great lunch stop 
Downtown Georgetown 
Yep!
It was time to move farther south into Kentucky, down to a town named Corbin. You may not recognize this name but it has a famous place in Americana history. More on that in a bit. For the first time, our GPS really messed us up, taking us down a road that was very narrow with very low hanging branches that eventually became a dead end (at a church, of all things). We retraced our tracks and eventually found our way to our campground. We finally had some shade but it was accompanied by a very dusty road and campsite, the result of no rain for some time in the area.
Lola tucked into the trees
Our campground was very close to Cumberland Falls and the Cumberland River so most of our focus was outdoors. We spent one day just scoping out the river and the falls which are truly spectacular. At certain times of the month during a full moon you can go to the falls at night and see a moonbow but we were not there at the right time. But that didn’t stop us from seeing a wonderful daylight rainbow!
We loved our time next to the river so much that we decided to take a guided rafting trip on the river. The trip started just below the falls, paddled up to the foot of the falls (and the nice cool mist from the falls) and then ran about 5 miles downstream thru mostly class II and III rapids. It ended with a pickup by a river boat where we could cool down and have lunch as the boat continued downstream to the takeout and the shuttle back to our car. The rafting company, Sheltowee Trace Adventure Resort, was terrific. Great process to get everyone equipped, loaded and on the river. And our guide was super sensitive to the needs of the folks on our raft – one lady was on a river for the first time and of course, this was Jill’s first trip on a river after breaking her leg! I’ve included there link below for those in the area and/or interested
It was a wonderful day of fun! No pics were taken but we grabbed a couple of pics from the brochures for an idea of what it was like:
Raft at the falls 
Our ride to the takeout!
We had some spare time before departing so we drove up to the dam of Laurel Lake to see what the lake looked like. We also headed into town to visit the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yep, the one and only Harland Sanders set up his cafe in Corbin and perfected his secret recipe for fried chicken. There is still an operating KFC at this location along with an attached museum (and it was free!) so how could we resist?
Sanders Cafe 
Sander’s office 
Recreated original kitchen 
Hotel room model 
Jill flirting with the Colonel
In addition to his restaurant, Sanders also had a motel back in the 40’s and 50’s (“motor court”) and to help entice his customers to stay the night, he installed a model of a hotel room complete with bathroom. And he installed a phone in the closet of the model so that those who needed to make a call, would also have cause to see the model room. Pretty slick marketing for the time 😉
That brought us to the end of our time in Kentucky, time to journey farther south back into Tennessee (and hotter temps!). We were really hoping for a great campsite and to get our awning repaired at our next stop but more on that in our next blog.