Day 11: Going Batty

Monday, August 27, 2007
Nashville to Louisville
By Jamie

So long, Nashville. After we check out, we swing by Arnold’s for some lunch. Fantastic cafeteria-style soul food. Absolutely recommended, but they’re not open very often, so be careful. After some grubbin’ fried chicken (Craig ordered the mystery meat, which turned out to be liver), we’re on the road to Kan-tucky. We had hoped to do a Maker’s Mark tour along the Bourbon trail, but all the distilleries were closed up by the time we rolled through. We were able to get in to the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey. It’s an interesting building in Bardstown, the Creation Site for all things bourbon. For the record, the US gov’t has decreed that “bourbon” must be:
1) made in the USA
2) 51-79% corn
3) the rest is barley, rye and malt
4) aged in charred oak barrels
I expect Craig will have his own special exhibit in the museum some day. Bardstown is a quant small town with lots-o-history. More good-people time at the coffee shot near the museum. The lady was pleased as punch to chat us up and pour us some of her home brewed iced tea. We were her #1 customers. She told us so.

Bardstown was a bit off the interstate and about 35 miles south of Louisville. Rather than go back to the interstate, we take the smaller road, state highway 31. Glad we did. It’s a beautiful drive.

I thought Louisville was a medium-sized college town, but as we roll in, it’s clearly bigger than I expected. We got a little turned around in the city (Jamie’s fault) so it took us some driving around to find out hotel. After we get checked in, we hop a cab and head to Louisville Slugger Field to see the Louisville Bats take on the Toledo Mud Hens. More AAA ball. The stadium is fantastic. It was built in 2000 and it’s a really great setup. Bats win 3-2, making us 3-0 in the teams we’re rooting for. We fully expect that to carry through to the Twins in the second and third games of their series in Cleveland.

Side note: I’m still flabbergasted Craig doesn’t know who Tony Gwynn is. We saw Tony Gwynn Jr playing for the Nashville Sounds.

After the game, we flag another cab and head to Headliners to see the Meat Puppets. The opener was The Only Children. Craig bought a record of theirs, which he, of course, lost. Neither of us are huge Meat Puppet aficionados, but the show is really good. As I’m standing there enjoying the music, I look over and see Will Oldham sitting there. We have a brief chat. Apparently he’s living in the area.

After the music’s finished, we start chatting with a small group of nice folks and we all head over to Molly Malone’s. We haven’t done a car bomb in a few days, so this seems like a good idea. More basic hanging around and we stop at a couple other bars near Molly Malone’s. There are all sorts of Irish pubs in this area. Must be a lot of Micks nearby.

Our stop in Louisville is a quick one. Just one night. Barely enough time to stink up the hotel room. Still, it was enough.