5/15/21 Day 5 – Leaving My Old Kentucky Home State Park Campground today. It was a quaint, quiet and well located park for our 3 night stay.
We are headed north to Louisville then directly west for the next 3 days… about 1250 miles to get to eastern Colorado..YAY! We went through St Louis today noting the signature arch in the city. It is pretty spectacular.
Slightly overcast day with some light spritzing and ended up in New Florence, Missouri at the Wood Hat Spirits distillery. WOW, the man who did the tasting was so interesting and well educated, not just about the bourbon and whiskey but so well traveled, an art teacher previously, and stone artist. He presented as a very friendly local man but there is so much more than meets the eye! This is exactly why we LOVE Harvest Hosts… you get the real local flavor and meet so many genuinely lovely people. It was a really enlightening experience, made us ginkly all over with a newly inspired faith in human kind.
5/16/21 Sunday – Day 6 We start today with 1124 miles under our belt…. Today is our longest driving day of the trip with about 475 miles through Missouri and Kansas… flat and on the interstate and currently raining pretty well. Makes for a tiring day but we got an early start at 8:30 and, according to the GPS, we will get to WaKeeney, Kansas around 4 … fingers crossed. We can tell we are not on the east coast with remains of armadillos along the road 😳
I wrote the first paragraph for today as we were driving towards Kansas City, MO. We hit Kansas City and the rains came POURING down for 3 hours! Yikes!
I took over driving when the rain let up and the skies turned blue again then smooth sailing till we got to WaKeeney Kansas. I think Kansas gets a bad rap for being flat and boring… it was filled with rolling hills, farms and tiny oil rigs in the fields. We came across miles of wind turbines in the fields and I know many do not like the fact that they block the view of the land but as we passed through, there was something gentle and calming about the rhythmic turning of the blades. It felt very graceful.
Rainy day driving 
Graceful turbines
Once in WaKeeney, the GPS took us to a random road (better description is a lane with grass down the middle) and with that, Paul said “I’m not going down there!” I called the winery we are staying in and they got me there on the packed dirt/sand roads. We unhitched the car and made it to Shiloh Vineyard in plenty of time.
We set up in the level field next to the pond and, when dry camping, the set up is easy… 2 slide outs come out and the levelers go down… Done!
This place is great! There was a high school graduation party going on there for a girl that was surely going to make her mark on the world. She had a story board up with horse riding medals, sports awards and a life story in pictures. She seemed pretty special. We were greeted by Kirk and Treva, the owners, as well as Chris and Kim, relatives that are joining the family business and moved from California for another adventure. The tasting room was empty so we took some seats and relaxed after a long drive. There was the coolest barn on the property which was transformed into an indoor venue, the chicken house was transformed into the tasting room and they are working on making the grain house into a guest house/place for the bridal parties to change and get ready for their day. This place was transformed into a beautiful, welcoming event space without loosing the charm of a Kansas farm. They dug out the pond and developed an outdoor space for guest’s enjoyment and have their own cold hearty vineyard. The company was delightful, sharing stories, faith and wine, it doesn’t get better than this.
After the torrential downpour last night, we were safe on the level ground by the pond!
Last night a torrential rain storm hit just as we were ending the tour of the property and boy did it rain! After the rain subsided, we sat on the bed and watched the lightning storm in the distance, it was quite a show, lighting up the horizon and accentuating the land and clouds as streaks hit the ground. Grateful the it was in the distance and not near us.
It was a bit harrowing getting out of the winery and on the “main” roads in mud and sand but we both made it (driving the car instead of towing it) and headed directly to a gas station. We did learn something new… the low gas light works! We made it to the gas station but rest assured, we do have a 5 gallon jug of gas in the storage bin… just in case!
As I post these last pictures on Monday 5/17, we are driving through…. you guessed it, rain. The miles for 5/16 was 485, the longest driving day of the trip. Total miles is 1602! States driving through, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas…
Loving the updates! I didn’t realize you were drinking your way across the country!🥂 I hope the rain is behind you and it’s just smooth sailing the rest of the way! 😎💗
You are so funny! 😂 We are soaking in every moment!