So far behind in the postings! It is part a measure of long days and late arrivals, but also of late nights with friends — more time on the trip than writing about it!

This day, Saturday August 8, we traveled from Charlottesville to Louisville. We had only one planned rendezvous with a friend, so nothing was going to slow us down … until one sign lured us off the road:

mmmmm a big flaky ham biscuit for lunch.

Our scheduled stop was in Lexington to reconnect with Becky Ryder and husband Gordon Hogg.

Becky was a dear friend from my undergraduate days at Virginia. Becky and her three apartment mates were our (me and my apartment denizens) best friends, sharing many meals and adventures. She was also active in the Music Library and a flutist; she was part of a memorable performance of Charles Ive’s “He is There”, a delightful musical pastiche of patriotic tunes for baritone (Johnny Jones) with piano accompaniment by yours truly (back when I could really play the piano) and flute. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq5c2VCIZkE

One odd yet pleasing aspect of the catching up, apart from the many memories reclaimed, was that Becky is now the librarian for the Keeneland Library (https://www.keeneland.com/discover/about-library) and is involved in many digitization and preservation issues. We had an instant professional connection that helped fuel one of those long stays and late nights mentioned above!

Now for the Best Western Plus West I-64, technically in New Albany rather than Louisville. Another in what appears to be Best Western’s decision to put only a few handicapped spaces up by the lobby and none elsewhere, but our room was near the front, so no harm there in this case. Overall fine accommodations with a worthy shower. Thumbs down on the sad little sink coming loose and pitched forward so anything you set on the rim slid into the bowl.  The small table would had made a nice addition to help me organize things, but was not a good substitute for an actual counter. And now that I’ve noted this elsewhere, check out the towels above the toilet hanging over one of the grab bars.