385. Return from Kenlake

Ok. I promised a trip back to Louisville from Aurora. Here it is.

After the meeting, I returned east across the Eggners Ferry Bridge, leaving Marshall County and re-entering Trigg County and the Land Between the Lakes, on US68/KY80. This would be the only portion of the return trip over the same roads. A new intersection is currently under construction for US68/KY80 and The Trace, the LBL’s north-south route. Remnants of the old intersection remain and I used them to exit down onto The Trace and taking the first right stopped at the Visitors Center, which also houses a planetarium. Of the nine cars in the parking lot, mine and two others were from Kentucky. I changed out of my “meeting” clothes and into some lighter and looser fitting garb. After walking around there, I ventured north several miles, entring into Lyon County, before cutting east along the Old Eddyville Ferry Road, which once connected the now submerged cities of Eddyville on the east side of the Cumberland River (which was relocated after Lake Barkley was created) and Birmingham on the west side of the Tennessee River (which wasn’t relocated after the creation of Kentucky Lake). On old maps of Kentucky, this road which crosses the LBL from southwest to northeast was marked as KY58. At the end of the road I did my traditional dipping of the toes into the waters of the Cumberland, one of the most historic rivers of early America, a river which both starts and ends in Kentucky.

I returned to The Trace and continued the journey northward in the LBL. At the North Welcome Station, there is a hiking path known as the Canal Loop Trail which, if followed in its entirety, allows views of both lakes as well as the connecting canal between the two. I walked a very short part of about 1¾ miles of the part closest to the Welcome Station, a circular route which follows down the hill to Kentucky Lake and then back up. That was my exercise for the week. I need to do that more and keep making plans to do so, plans which typically remain just that – plans.

Finishing the hike, I finished my visit to the LBL, driving north out of the area and out of Lyon County and into Livingston County, which begins just north of the connecting canal on KY453. At US641, multiplexed at this point with US62, I turned east and headed back into Lyon County through Eddyville to the point where US62 and 641 divide, at which point I took the road less travelled, US641. US641 runs northward, out of Lyon and briefly into Caldwell County at Fredonia where I’ve made a mental note to inquire of Ray Crider if he has people there, as one of the crossroads in Fredonia is Crider Street, running between Grove Street and Dycusburg Road. From there US641 continues over into Crittenden County near the little town of Mexico, at the intersection with KY70. A few miles north of here is the city of Marion, seat of government for Crittenden County. At Gum Street, US641 is joined by US60, which would be our route most of the rest of our journey within the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

US60 leaves Marion on a northeast bend of the N. Main Street, there becoming Sturgis Road. Heading northeast carries one through the village of Mattoon which is very near the village of Repton, a little to the south along the railroad line. Crossing the Tradewater River over into Union County brings you into the small town of Sullivan. At a fork in the road, US60 bears left (or north) towards Sturgis. Along the way, on the left side of the road, was something I haven’t seen in a while – an unpaved road with a state highway number, KY923. I of course noticed first the number of the route, 923, a number (or date) of some importance to me. The route enters from just south of US60 where it makes a 90 degree curve, crosses 60, then juts west only a mile or so. I’ve since learned it is called Claysville Road. I’m not sure how many unpaved state highway routes remain or if there is some good reason this one is not. It did catch my attention.

The town of Sturgis in Union County is growing. It is well known for its smaller version of the bike rally held in a city of the same name in South Dakota. From Sturgis, US60 goes up Blueberry Hill, along a ridge, then levels back down as you enter the Union County seat of Morganfield. Morganfield has a By-Pass around the south and east sides, but I trekked through town to get a look at the Court House and downtown. US60 courses along Morgan Street, a somewhat narrow street with high curbs in the residential section west of the Court House. The more industrial parts of town are located east of the Court House along US60, going past Flournoy and into Waverly. One of UK roommates is a native and current resident of Waverly, Chris Greenwell. I hadn’t seen Chris in several years until he showed up at the Democratic State Convention back in June as a Union County delegate.

US60 runs generally due east out of Union County and into Henderson County, whose county seat is a city of the same name as the county. But before arriving in the city of Henderson, it is necessary to pass through Corydon, hometown to a Kentucky legend, former Governor and United States Senator Albert Benjamin “Happy” Chandler. The towns boasts an elementary school named for Happy.

Henderson (the city) is a large long drawn out affair of a city with wide streets and cross streets, something I like in a town but a lot of European afficianados do not. It gives you the wide open feeling of a midwestern town. Henderson is on the left bank of the Ohio River, which at that point runs in a north-south course. It is a few miles south of Evansville, Indiana and about 25 miles west of Owensboro, Kentucky. The main intersection is that of Second Street and Green Street. Green Street takes one to US41, which takes one north of downtown, past the entrance to the John James Audubon State Park, across the Ohio River but still in Kentucky, and alongside Ellis Park Race Course, eventually crossing the stateline into Indiana.

Once in Indiana, I met with an old friend of mine and we walked along the beautiful brick riverwalk along Riverside Drive in downtown Evansville, the county seat of Vanderburgh County, Indiana. The original part of Evansville is laid out in a grid pattern on an offset southwest/northeast pattern of crossstreets. The Ohio River makes a huge and narrow bend opposite this part of the city, a bend less than a mile in width, much like it does much further upriver in Meade County, Kentucky.

We made our way out to the Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, a very neat forest area right in the city, much like Louisville’s Beargrass Nature Preserve, except that Wesselman is fairly flat for the most part. One side of it runs along the old Wabash and Erie Canal path. After some time spent there, I was ready to say bye to my friend and head north back to the Left Bank of the Ohio near Milepost 606, a ride of just over 110 miles, along Interstate 164 north from Evansville to Interstate 64 over to Louisville.