Lexington to Louisville

For today’s activity, I had booked a tour with Winstar Farm. I was interested in seeing the operation of a working horse farm. Because all of these places have limited schedules, I had changed my literary and hotel reservations to accommodate this tour as a stop on the way from Lexington to Louisville. The tour was scheduled for 11:30 AM. At about 9:30 AM I received an abrupt e-mail and text that the tour had been cancelled due to “scheduling issues.” This seemed pretty lame, especially as the booking was non-refundable if I cancelled, last minute or otherwise. I did complain, and we went back and forth by text a bit. They tried to offer me other times/dates, but of course that was not possible given my tight schedule.

I was pretty disappointed as, in spite of quite a lot of driving around, horses have been scarce. What to do. I knew I had two days in Louisville, one of which was already scheduled for the long-awaited bourbon tour. Also non-refundable, by the way. The other, I had booked a tour of at Mammoth Cave National Park . Fortunately, it was possible to cancel that booking. While the caves sounded amazing, I have toured several caverns already this trip, and I was anyway compromising as the particular tour I wanted was not offered until later in the Fall. Ultimately, I decided to cancel the caves and book a tour at Churchill Downs which is in Louisville. I really would have preferred the more intimate experience of a working horse farm, but this seemed the best compromise option. Hopefully I’ll at least get the chance to photograph the horses in some different situations.

Given that I now had a couple of dead hours, I drove the backroads around Lexington again, but with no better luck. I then gave up and continued to Louisville, where I had a date with Firestone Complete Auto service for an oil change and car inspection. I’ve been adding the car inspection just to make sure any small problems are caught before they become big ones. I’ve learned that I can find a Firestone almost anywhere, and they are always friendly and, as far as I can tell, competent. For example, today, they suggested changing my windshield wipers, to which I agreed, and also suggested that, before I head into the wide open Plains states, that I make sure to check my belts and hoses, just based on mileage.

That done, I am having a low-key evening in preparation for my Bourbon tour tomorrow.