Oct. 27, 28, 29 – Vacation within a vacation!

It was really nice to take a little break from the cycling trip and have some fun with friends. Early Friday morning Randy, his son Maverick and I headed north towards Lexington. It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive and we arrived in a light rain at the Keeneland Race Track – Mike, his daughter Lindsay and son in law Andrew were already there tailgating. To avoid the rain we wrapped up the tailgate and headed in to the amazing horse racing facility. Not that I have been to many horse tracks, or know anything about horse racing – but Keeneland is really nice, and it was packed.

There were bars about every 20 feet and tons of food concessions. It was great people watching as lots of people were dressed to the nines and others were wearing eccentric costumes. Lots of Tennessee fans too. We made small bets on most of the races, but I think that only Andrew came out ahead – he won about ten bucks. My strategy of betting the highest odds horses was not successful, nor was choosing the jockey with the highest winning percentage.

As the races wound down we said goodby to Lindsay as she headed back to Tennessee, and the guys headed over to our hotel to check in. We went out to dinner at Sedona Taphouse, a nice restaurant near the hotel and had a really fun evening. No late night partying as everyone was pretty beat. In the morning we headed over to IHOP for a quick breakfast before going to downtown Lexington for pre-game festivities before the UT-KY game which was at 7pm. We checked out a couple of breweries, toured a small bourbon distillery and grabbed a late seafood lunch before working our way down to the stadium area.

We yelled “Go Vols” to all those dressed in orange and took the mostly good natured heckling from the Kentucky fans. Outside the stadium we joined the TN Alumni tailgate, which was massive and very well organized. I was hoping to run into more friends from my college days…..but to no avail. Still it was fun.

Then we headed into the stadium for the game. It was a squeaker, with Tennessee winning 33-27 with the game pretty much going down to the wire!

As you can imagine, it took awhile to get back to our car and drive through the traffic back to the hotel. Randy, Maverick and Andrew were hungry and went to Waffle House for a midnight meal…..Mike and I declined and just hung out and talked. We waited until the morning and went to Cracker Barrel (with Andrew) for a big country breakfast while Randy and Maverick got their beauty sleep. Then it was time to hit the road, with the Knoxville guys heading there and me and the Nashville guys heading there. I will be back on the bike tomorrow. I have adjusted my route as it looks like it is getting pretty cold in the Smokies. I am going to turn south through Chattanooga, then pass Atlanta and hit the coast at Savannah, GA. Should be a nice ride. About 600 miles to go!