Day 62 - All day in the Louisville, Kentucky Central library

Well, I can honestly say that today we did something we've not done this entire vacation: we searched for a couple of my ancestors. That's right, back in the revolutionary war days my mother's father's ancestors lived right here in Louisville, Kentucky. That is, in fact, the reason for our visit here. Since nothing ever shows up on Ancestry.com to tell me how they got here, why they came here, or how many of them stayed when some of these Jones family members moved to Illinois, I decided I'd just have to come and do the research myself.

Well, I can tell you after five or six hours of me reading relentlessly in the history section and Concetta scanning the microfilmed tax records for the period between 1703 and 1811, we still don't know anything more than when we arrived. I guess those Jones boys are just hard to track down.

This morning, it took us just a few minutes to get to the library since we'd camped right across the Ohio River in Indiana last night. The library is located only two or three blocks from the river on the Kentucky side. But as we rolled downtown just as rush hour was beginning to taper off, I started to get really nervous about just where I was going to put the rig, since all I saw was parking garages and no open-air sites.

But when we got to the library, we discovered an open-air parking lot just next door. Only problem was, you had to drive up to a ticket machine, reach out and take your ticket, squeeze between the yellow stanchions, and then pass successfully into the lot. The lot was not crowded when we got there, but I figured that it would be by the middle of the morning.

Fortunately there was enough room to turn the RV around so that it faced the exit booth. Then I parked it at the end of a row so that I could take up one whole space, plus the diagonally lined-off area where no one was supposed to park. This meant that the whole rig wouldn't stick out in the travel lane part of the lot. I didn't think the booth attendant was going to cheer about our placement, but we weren't planning to discuss it with him.

Once we were in the library I kept looking out to see if anyone was paying any attention to our parking choice, but no one ever came to look.

Around noon we went back to the RV and had lunch. Coincidentally, the lot attendant took that opportunity to stroll around. I held my breath as he approached, but he went right on by without stopping and soon returned to his booth.

By the time we had reached the middle of the afternoon, the books were piled high on my table and I knew all kinds of things about Kentucky history. Concetta, for her part, was going cross-eyed from trying to read the blurry tax records. I'd taken a bunch of notes, which may or may not be pertinent. Concetta had done a raft of photo copies for which the library refused to accept payment, which was nice.

I glanced out the window again and saw, much to my joy, that the parking lot had begun to empty a bit. So, as the clock ticked toward 3:00 p.m., we packed up our notes and photocopies and the computer, thanked the wonderfully helpful staff, and bid the Louisville library adieu.

Then we had to maneuver the rig OUT of the narrow parking rows made for tiny Japanese cars and through the even narrower exit booth. But fortunately I was able to back the rig up into what had been filled spots only a short time before, and then make a sweeping left turn and then a right before approaching the booth. The entire cost for parking for the day? $4.50. Wow! Even with the tip it was a pittance!

It was tough getting the rig past all the obstructions at the booth, and the entire four lanes of traffic in the street ahead was at a standstill due to construction down the block, but we managed to squeeze into the lane closest the curb and get rolling, thanks to a kindly motorist who let us in. Before we knew it, we were up on the expressway and headed for the next camping spot.

We decided not to return to last night's KOA. Oh, it had all the necessary amenities, but it also had a railroad freight line that ran just forty or fifty feet from our door. Whenever a freight would roll through it sounded in the coach like the world was about to end. So, tonight we're camped south of Louisville in Shepardsville where things are a tad more quiet and serene.

And there you have it. I did take the camera with me to the library today, but totally neglected to take any photos of the place with it. For that I apologize.

We're not sure what direction we're taking in the morning, so we'll All be surprised when next the blog appears.

Cheers!