The Kentucky Chronicles - Day 1


Dear Dane and Aubrey,

I arrived in Lexington today at 6 PM (that's 3 PM time in Ashland) and I was amazed to see the greenest, lushest vast expanse of fields ever. Lexington is known for its horse racing and training -- and you wouldn't believe how many fields and horses and stables and race tracks there are around here!

Even at the airport, the place is filled with giant photos of horses and fields, and when you walk out to your car there are bronze statues of famous fast horses and their jockeys. The Kentucky Derby is THE biggest horse race around - and people here are proud of it. Even the street that takes you out of the airport is named Man o War, named after one of the most famous race horses in history. Someday we should look that up together.


When I left the airport, I drove to the state's capitol, Frankfort, where tomorrow I'll research Appalachian life. Appalachian mountain life has very little to do with this Lexington horse life, so it'll be a real change of pace. To learn what I need to learn in Frankfort, I'll be at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, using the Martin F. Schmidt Research Library, photocopying pictures and information about hollers and gaps and mountain homes and schools and transportation for mountain people in the 1950s and 60s. I'm also going to try to learn about race relations -- between whites and blacks -- in that region and era.

This is probably enough info for now. You're probably interested in my hotel room, though, so I'll tell you it looks like most of the others we've ever stayed in, but GUESS WHAT? I'm not going to turn on my TV! I'm going to write and read and research my brains out.

Love and miss you both so much. Give Daddy a hug and kiss for me - and tell Mema thanks for spending last week with us, and to drive home safely tomorrow.

Love, Mom

P.S. Tomorrow I plan to take more pictures to post on the blog for you to see...