Entry posted by Sumiki
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When we woke up, we saw the radar and knew that hailstorms were on their way. Fortunately, they were west of St. Louis, and we were safe from the potential threat that they would so intrudingly impose. We made good time into Illinois, then Indiana. I drove all the way from somewhere in Illinois, through Indiana, and then into Louisville. In Louisville, we stopped by the stadium of the Louisville Bats. The Bats, of course, were out of town, but we were able to get into the stadium, where we got a pennant and hat. (I have officially lost count of the number of pennants we've gotten.) The lady who checked us out directed us to the Louisville Slugger museum down the street, so we went down there - and it was cool.
I never knew exactly how they made baseball bats, so the tour we got through the factory was highly interesting. We handled some game-used bats of famous players before heading into the factory, where loud machines whirr. Minor league players have to use their own money to get their bats, while the major league teams supply the money for their players to use. Bats used to take 30 minutes to carve, and now it could be done in about thirty seconds. (Major league bats take 45 seconds.) Their famous logo is burned into the sides of the bats which aren't used to hit the ball, as the grain has to be tight to get the most power. Some bats get colors while others receive a quick flame to bring out the individual grains in the wood. At the end, they gave out mini-bats to everybody.
Outside the building, we talked with a guy who was sitting in a golf cart to ask him about places he'd suggest to eat. We followed his directions and found a place called Another Place Sandwich Shop. The interior is multi-leveled and eclectic. Norman Rockwell paintings adorn the walls, the menu is made of chalk, and the stairs creak ominously as we walked on them. I learned that I'm apparently a pastrami fan now. Pastramis are cool.
It was getting later, but we wanted to get as far along the road as possible. While we wanted to get all the way to Charleston, West Virginia, we got to Lexington before our GPS started to become homicidal once again and got us off on what may or may not have been the wrong road. We exited and called the phone number for the hotel. We asked about other hotels in the area, and apparently, everyone was booked. (What is it about West Virginia that prevents them from having hotel vacancies? I mean, seriously. I've been through more than half of the states that make up the US and West Virginia is the only one that never seems to have a hotel.) We actually had to double back a bit to get to our hotel, but it wasn't too much of a stretch
Tomorrow, we get home.
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