One of the requirements of the Marshall Award is to submit a final report of the project. Today, I sent my report to headquarters. While my inaugural leadership tour is history, I hope that there will be other leadership tours, mini-tours, and journeys in my future.
If you want to review my report, click here. It is also listed on the References page.
When you think of Kentucky, what do you imagine? In case you forgot, they make Bourbon in Kentucky. We went to a presentation at Locust Grove about how to make the old fashioned cocktail. At Locust Grove, we listened to two women discuss the history of the cocktail and the old fashioned beverage. They showed us how to make the traditional cocktail, one with strawberry and rhubarb, and one with black cherry.
The lineup
The black cherry was made with a double oak bourbon. All of them were very good, and my favorite was the one with rhubarb, of course.
and snacks
The house at Locust Grove
Main house
and the area around the main house.
Small shed
and the garden next to the shed.
Afterwards, we went to dinner at the Captain’s table. It was a beautiful evening.
Sunset
I have seen many things in the breakfast rooms as I travel, and most of them are rarely positive. In some motels, guests have been courteous and chatted with strangers, in other motels, kids have run around unsupervised, and in most motels, people avoid each other. In several motels, I have seen people cheerfully helping others with the waffle maker.
This morning an older woman went back to make a waffle for her second course (I have never had courses for breakfast, but some do). Apparently she was sharing the waffle with her husband who had been getting her coffee and other things during their first course of breakfast burritos. When she sat down with the unattractive waffle, the husband said, “Cut it here, and you take the pretty half.” Oh, how sweet. She did, and he even commented on how good his crumpled waffle tasted. There are good people out there who appreciate the little things.
After 2 days presenting at Jefferson Community & Technical College in Louisville, KY, I took the long road to visit my mentor in Yellow Springs, OH. On the way was a great stop at Clifty Falls State Park. Unfortunately, the water level was extremely low, but the rock formations must make beautiful waterfalls. Here’s what I saw:
Main falls
Part of the walkway
Top of the falls
Behind the falls
Rocks along the trail
Looking up from the last image (one of my favorite shots)
Jeff, my guide
We were on the “rugged” trail (the sign makers need to come to Oregon)
The falls from a distance
A closeup of the falls from a distance
There are many more photos of the park on my Shutterfly site.
I have had an amazing time in Louisville (pronounced loo-uh-vull). This is another place that I need to revisit.
Downtown Louisville
I was able to visit some beautiful places:
Locust Grove
Captain’s Quarters
Cave Hill Cemetery (that’s a real dove)
At Cave Hill Cemetery
A pedestrian bridge across the Ohio River
Ohio Falls
The dam
My last evening was spent at the Bristol in Jeffersonville, IN.
Dinner
It was wonderful, and I hope to return soon.
One of the fun things that I did while in Louisville was to walk across the Ohio River on the new pedestrian bridge. It was a beautiful day, and it was very calming. If you Louisville and have time, do this.
The east side of the bridge
To the west
To the east
An absolutely beautiful day
Before I went to Kentucky for the first time, I researched the “must see” sites. All of the reputable sites said a visit to Colonel Sander’s first store fit the category and the restaurant was an historical venue with a museum. Because of this (and having another reason to travel through London and later seeing Cumberland Falls), I scheduled my return to the Nashville airport through these destinations.
As I approached Corbin, KY, I put the museum’s location into my GPS. After many strange turns, I dead-ended in someone’s driveway in a residential section on a hill. So, I found another website and added that location to my GPS. This one took me to an industrial location that was on the south side of Corbin and nearly abandoned.
Then, I searched for another location and followed the GPS to the north side of the town to a small community of Lacy (I think). At this point, I lost my patience. Seriously, this was a small town. How difficult could it be to find Colonel Sander’s museum? I located another online site and drove south (retracing my steps yet again). This time, “my location” was in a busy intersection. I decided enough of this and headed towards Cumberland Falls.
Less then 1/2 mile ahead, I saw a tall KFC sign. There it was (based on photos online). I was so excited to see the museum and taste the Colonel’s chicken made in the original kitchen. Great exhilaration followed by immediate deflation–It was KFC. Just the same options with a few “relics” behind glass. How sad…
In the last few days, we have been trying to organize the last part of the leadership tour. Here is the tentative schedule:
1: Fly to Nashville2: Something in Nashville
3: Nashville State (in the Nashville area)
4: Pellissippi (Knoxville; with Roane State and Hiwassee)
5: Walters State (Sevierville campus with Northeast)
6: Cleveland State (Chattanooga and Georgia)
7: Chattanooga (Aquarium & Lookout Mountain)
8: Drive to Columbia
9: Columbia State or Motlow State (invite Alabama)
10: Dyersburg State @ Covington (Southwest)
11: Madisonville CC in Western Kentucky
12: Jefferson.Comm.&Tech.College (Louisville, KY)
13: Jefferson.Comm.&Tech.College (Louisville, KY)
14: Things around Louisville, KY
15: Drive to Cleveland
16: Cleveland-Cuyahoga CC (Parma, OH)
17: Columbus State CC (OH)
18: Cincinnati State (OH)
19: Gateway Community and Technical College (Florence, KY)
20: Bluegrass Community and Technical College (Lexington, KY)
21-22: Something fun somewhere
23: Somerset CC (KY); drive to Nashville
24: Fly back to Eugene
Probably one of my best excursions was trying to find Short Creek in Kentucky. I was told to Google it on a map, and I was shown that it was an easy trip off the main highway between Somerset and London. Google didn’t find the creek, but I was able to find the road. First there was a two-lane pave road. It was Sunday, and I drove by a church in session. It was a beautiful morning, and I was driving the country road with my windows down.
Further down the road, it became a one-lane paved road. My Google map did not show a waterway for quite some time, and I wasn’t really paying attention to my online map because I figured the world’s shortest creek would be obvious. I lost my data connection, and shortly thereafter the homes become less well kept. The road became gravel, but I grew up in rural Oregon, so that didn’t bother me.
Short Creek Road
It really was a beautiful drive with those cicadas chirping everywhere. About those cicadas, I felt as though I had ringing in my ears most of the time, and I don’t understand how the local people did not hear them. I guess after time, one just tunes it out. Around the next bend, guess what I saw?
Old barn
Let’s just say that I pulled up behind a pickup right in front of a man’s house. Yup! The road ended right there. He was sitting on his front porch with his dog. I yelled to ask him how to get to Short Creek, but he couldn’t hear me. The dog bounded up. (There were no banjos playing.) The man had to walk all the way up to the car to be able to hear me. He told me that the creek was at the beginning of the road, right after I turned off. How had I missed it? He told me to turn around in his yard, so I did and was on my way.
I was nearly back to the road when I saw a small pullout. Yup. There’s a creek over there, and it’s reputed to be the shortest one.
There’s water over there
There is a sign, on the other side of the road facing the creek. Who reads at a 90 degree angle while they are driving?
Short Creek sign
Anyway, I got out and admired the little creek. The water was blue and flowed nicely.
Short Creek
This is a college that I learned about during my recent studies. Admission is highly competitive, from what I understand. Instead of students paying tuition, all students perform service. That helps the college, the students, and the community.
The local community includes a lot of art and artistic endeavors. For example, there is a man who is known for making quality dulcimers. Unfortunately, we were there too late in the day to visit his store, His items in the windows were beautiful.
The hotel was very beautiful, and I would like to stay there one day and dine in their restaurant.
It rained just as soon as we arrived. That was nice. It was very different from Oregon rain because it was warm rain that came, poured, and moved on. In Oregon I am used to longer lasting rain that makes everything grey.
I also saw bunnies. They were just running around like they do on campus at the University of Victoria. I was so excited that I yelled. Unfortunately, I scared Margo who thought she should slam on the brakes for some emergency.
The strangest thing was a truck we were following on the freeway. I guessed that the cargo was 2 big screen TVs with wheels, tires, and large tubes. No one else identified it until we passed.
Following the truck
It was truck axles. I am still not sure what the “big screen”-looking items were.
Leadership Tour 