6:20AM, and I'm back on the road after a breakfast of biscuits and scrambled eggs. It felt like I hadn't stopped at all, that I'd just hit pause on the night, then play again after a few minutes of rest. But slowly the sky began to grow a dark navy blue as morning took its time over the Bluegrass state.
Kentucky is one of my favorite states to drive through. Beautiful rolling hills line every highway with quaint, white farmhouses peeking in on the hills and valleys. As I neared Lexington, I picked up a talk radio station devoted entirely to horse racing. An announcer discussed his early influences in between ads for Lexus of Lexington, Kentucky bourbon, and an upscale graphic design agency.
Interstate 75 bypasses the city of Lexington, but gives you a great survey of the land used to breed winning racehorses, something this region of Kentucky has long been famous for. In 1875, Churchill Downs, a horse racing track in Louisville, held the first Kentucky Derby. Before that, horse racing had been mainly based on the east coast. (think Belmont Park in New York and Laurel Park in Maryland) When New York state was the first state to ban gambling in 1821, many breeders and race enthusiasts who thrived on race betting headed to the hills of central Kentucky, where gambling was legal and land was plentiful and cheap.
The city of Lexington has gone through several measures in the past century to ensure that pastures outside the city remain intact. Mostly, they've mandated that tracts of green space stay open within city limits, requiring new neighborhood developments to adhere to their standards of land use and placement.
Dawn broke as I headed north, after skirting the eastern edge of Lexington. A golden sunrise cast shadows from mature oaks set against vast, open spaces. Gradually, the houses and exits dropped off once again, and the land stayed rural for the 83 miles from Lexington to the outskirts of Cincinnati.
Water towers were a signature sign of each town in northern Kentucky, so I soon made habit of snapping a picture each time one came into view.
Small towns dot the hilly landscape here, and most of the land is used to train horses. Homes are few and far between until I get closer to Cincinnati and the Ohio border.
Click here to read Part Two of Day Two, the long drive from Kentucky to Toronto.
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