Being a Traveler

     As a female solo traveler, I've noticed women approach me freely. They're curious about my van. "Do you travel in that?" or "Is that a motorhome?" or "What is that twirly thing on top?" Men approach, too, but women approach more often. One man walked by and said "That's a sweet ride!" La Lair definitely gets noticed.

     I'm more of a traveler than a tourist. Tourists drive on 2-digit routes, I drive on 3-digit routes. For example, "Paris Pike" (Route 68) was widened and 4-laned and it's a favorite road for tourists who want to look at million-dollar Kentucky Horse Farms. I took the lesser traveled Route 460 which forces folks to slow down because it's so narrow. The view of Horse Farms was pretty spectacular. Wonder where folks get their money?

     Most times, I'm just looking for an interesting place to go bicyling, paddling or hiking. It doesn't need to be a national or state park. Last Sunday morning, for example, I biked Main Street in Henderson, Kentucky. It's a wide street with a bike lane and has wall-to-wall big ole' mansions with wonderful landscaping. I also spent the night at Henderson's hospital parking lot with a view of the Ohio River at sunset and the helicopter landing pad.

     I sleep at hospital parking lots pretty frequently. When there are no state or national parks or forest campgrounds nearby, the hospital parking lot offers peace and security. I'm parked with other vehicles (24/7 hospital hours) in a non-commercial zoned quiet neighborhood. I don't look peculiar parked there and no one seems to suspect I'm sleeping inside La Lair. Plus, I can walk to their cafeteria and bathrooms. Some hospitals have free WiFi, too.

     I also visit YMCAs and city indoor swimming pools to swim laps as much as possible. I swim a mile, sit in the jacuzzi and chat it up with the locals, shower, and go back to La Lair feeling refreshed.  I use this website to find an indoor pool as I travel along; these facilities usually have weight/exercise rooms and some have indoor jogging tracks.

         My beach bag is always ready for a swim. Inside is an 8" by 24" camper towel which dries in a half hour. Last summer, Chef Renauld bolted (with a backer-board behind ABS) a folding towel rack to the wall above the water containers; handy little thing. The nifty bubble solar light in front of the rack is also a handy little thing. It's useful to find things in the window-less cargo area when the doors are closed or at night.

     The past couple of days I've been on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. I stopped at Maysville along the Ohio River which reminds me of the fictional Mayberry. I took a walk around town. Stopped by the classic twirling barbershop sign and poked my head inside the open door. Wanted to make sure it wasn't a gimmick. The barber and customers laughed and said "Not a gimmick!" I stopped at a beautiful historic building with an old "Opera" sign above it. I asked the gentleman (Mike Thomas, Opera House producer) who was standing there, "Is this really an opera house?" And, for the next hour, I got a walking/talking tour of Maysville's Opera House the fifth oldest opera house still in use. With George Clooney's help and many others' donations, it was completely refurbished, including the beautiful upholstered maghogany seats. Inside, it's everything you want an intimate opera house to be.

     Mike told me to visit Augusta down the road, the boyhood town of George's aunt, Rosemary Clooney. So, I did. It reminds me of a fictional smaller Mayberry. These Augusta rowhomes overlooking the Ohio River were built in 1798.

     Straight through the middle of downtown Augusta, the freight and passenger railroad cars toot continually and go very slowly. Amtrak passenger service is available three times weekly. If you leave nearby Maysville at 4:30 AM, you can be at a New York City party by midnight. And on the river is a busy ferry. I asked one trucker (towing a flatbed trailer to haul heavy equipment) if the ferry was big enough for his approximately 60-foot length. He assured me it was. I asked why he was taking the $5 ferry and not the bridge. He pointed to an industrial place on the other side and said, "I'm going to that plant." Probably would have cost him $7 in gas to take the bridge.

      At the Augusta library, I casually mentioned to the librarian that they had done a good job of converting an old house to a library . . . .

And she said, "Oh, this was never a house. This was built originally as a library, and it's got a new addition in the back." I suppose an institutional looking library would have looked way out of place at a mini-Mayberry.

     I use libraries for WiFi for my emails, financial obligations, and posting on this blog. Today, I'm on the Ohio side of the Ohio River. After my swim at Portmouth, Ohio's indoor swimming pool, I stopped at their library which is an institutional-looking library. It has a magnificent ceiling; would be way too outlandish for Augusta, Kentucky.

     My only traveler worries today are the upcoming Memorial Day festivals. It means I may not be able to find an available campsite as they were probably all reserved weeks ago by tourists. But alas, there's always a hospital somewhere . . . .