Road Trip Day 1-Lexington out, Louisville in?

The trip season started in
2018 as I joined Fred and Michael Landucci, Derreck Chupak and Doug Hopkins for a planned two city stop on the opening weekend of the minor league season.
The plan was for a trip to Lexington (I had been there last season, but the rest of the group had never visited) and finish the trip the following day at standby Charleston WV, where we had been, but Derreck had not.

Things do not always go as planned.
The weather forecast had improved over the final few days before the trip  (At one point, one to three inches of snow was called for in Lexington), still light rain was falling and at some points in the higher elevations snow showers, so we expected an at least 50/50 chance of a cancellation of the game.

For lunch, we were checking TripAdvisor for places to eat in towns a few miles away for ideas and decided to stop in Morehead, Kentucky.
If you are a rabid college sports fan, you might know Morehead State from the Ohio Valley Conference (Division I basketball, 1-AA Football), but otherwise, Morehead is a small town that you may not have heard of otherwise.
The number one listing was Pop's Southern BBQ, so that was the choice.
Doug loves BBQ and I'm not passionate about it, but traveling through small-town Kentucky, one was going to gamble sooner or later unless you wanted to wait until Lexington arrival.
The gamble paid off as in my opinion, Pop's was even better than the North Carolina version that I tried last year.
The beef brisket was highly recommended by a local diner and I tend to listen to the recommendations of the regulars-as long as I like the item that is!
I had a side of slaw and something called cheese taters that was tasty, yet odd looking dish that merged cheese, potatoes and a small amount of ham.
Sometimes, the small places are the best places to go and finding them is half the fun!

Our next stop was scheduled to be Woodford Reserve, a famous Kentucky Bourbon manufacturer and a place that Michael wanted to see since we were in the area.
After a stop at the Liquor Barn for Michael (A liquor fancier from way back), we decided to stop at Whitaker Bank Park to get tickets and as we cut through the wind, we were told that the game was canceled.
I figured that could happen and was prepared for it.
We asked if we could take some pictures and buy some items from the gift shop.
The Legends were about to make some dollars as Doug Hopkins isn't afraid of dropping money for memorabilia and the rest of us have been known to spend too.
No, they weren't.
The manager of the gift shop was called and she "didn't feel like turning the machines on".
The person in the front office tried to coax her into it, but "she just didn't feel like it".
The Legends lost a tidy sum on this and left a less than desirable feeling toward Lexington among us.

I reached out to the general manager, Mr. Gary Durbin, a few days later, he apologized for the employee and has offered to make things right, so we'll see if Doug can buy the items that he wanted most...

Woodford Reserve was a place that I likely wouldn't have visited on my own, but for a one time visit, it passed the time.
It is a tour of the entire facility and our tour guide was very knowledgeable combined with being entertaining without being over the top as so many people are in similar situations.
Learning how the bourbon is made, aged, shipped and just what being "Bourbon" requires was interesting and I always like to learn new things.

After a little under two hours, we were off to Louisville.
Yes, Louisville.
Louisville was roughly an hour and change away, the Bats (Cincinnati Reds) were at home and they defeated the weather to play their game.
This was unexpected, so none of us had anything to be signed, but for the love of the game and to see something on the trip, we were going to Louisville Slugger Field!

But that will wait until another post,where we talk Louisville and one awesome place to eat!!