We Found Them!

Somerset, Kentucky

Weather: low 56 degrees, high 81 degrees, partly cloudy skies

We were out and about by 0930 hours, and imagine our surprise when we found heirloom tomatoes at the first stop we made. As a comparison, I placed two of the puny tomatoes at the left upper corner we bought at the grocery store last week. The other three tomatoes were bought today. What a difference in appearance, size, and most importantly, taste. We sliced and ate the big red one for supper tonight. Bliss!! I wish I knew what the names of these are.

We drove into the downtown business area of Somerset, and it is like many of the older towns we pass through. The streets are narrow, parking is scarce, and most of the offices are government or lawyer offices. The picture is of the Pulaski County Courthouse.

The primary shopping strip is along US 27, which runs north and south. As I said yesterday, there must be every fast food restaurant known to man represented here. There are about 30 stop lights along this stretch of highway, and none of them are synchronized. If you're in a hurry, this is not a road to be on. The low water of the lake is hurting tourism here, so I can imagine that traffic is much worse when the water is back up. They use a unique method of identifying where something is. Each stoplight has a number. If a local person is asked where something is, the light number is used to identify where to go. For example, the WalMart Mall is located at light number 13. Sonny's Bar-B-Que is located at light 6. Pretty easy, when you think about it.

Before we went home, we decided to tour the site of the Civil War battle at Mill Springs. This battle took place during January, 1862, and was the first significant victory of the war for Union forces. Eastern Kentucky was firmly in Union hands as a result, and most Confederate forces left the state. The reason most people don't know about this battle is that it was overshadowed by the much bigger Battle of Shiloh in April of 1862.

The first stop at the battleground was a welcome center, where we toured a museum of Civil War artifacts and watched a video about the battle. Then we drove through the actual battleground, stopping to view the lay of the land and trying to visualize the way the battle was fought and soldiers were moved around. Very interesting.

What more could we ask for - good tomatoes, beautiful country, interesting history.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Burnside, Kentucky: Birthplace Of The Boy Scouts Of America

Not all who wander are lost.