11/1/21

Yesterday I drove through West Virginia, crossed into Kentucky, and something weird happened. Even though I’ve never been here before, the scenery, from the mountains of West Virginia to the green, cow-filled fields of Kentucky, all started to look…familiar. Really, really familiar. In fact everything started to look almost exactly like Red Bluff in the springtime, and the views started to make me homesick for the town. It’s the first time I’ve really felt homesick for Red Bluff since moving away. I’ve otherwise come to the conclusion that the State of Jefferson region of Northern California is really just the West Coast version of West Virginia and Kentucky:

I’m staying in the town of Richmond with my aunt and uncle. It’s my first time coming here to visit them, and I must say the place is pretty cool. It’s also nice to be in a home after nearly two weeks on the road, and they have adorable kittens at the house right now!

Today I toured the area and learned some of the local history, and Kentucky is…well, it’s different. They still cross rivers by ferry:

There are a lot of country backroads going who knows where:

And the history (as expected) gets a lot more complicated the further south I travel. In early American history, Daniel Boone set up a fort to the east of Richmond, in the opening of routes from the East Coast out to Kentucky. Later, Kentucky was a part of the Union during the Civil War but it was also a slave state. Thus the area has old mansions like the one below in Richmond that was built in 1799 and whose owners had slaves:

The above manor (which is called White Hall) was eventually inherited by Cassius Clay though, who disavowed his family’s slave-owning history and became a noted abolitionist, founder of the Republican Party, and friend of Abraham Lincoln. He was Lincoln’s ambassador to Russia, financed the protection of the White House with troops during the Civil War, and persuaded Lincoln on the timing of the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The famous boxer, Muhammad Ali, was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in honor of Cassius Clay. You can read more about Cassius’ life here:

Outside of touring things with my aunt and uncle, we are mainly trying to figure out where we are going tomorrow. I am exploring Kentucky as a potential place to move because I am greatly interested in learning how to make bourbon. No, seriously! When people asked what I was going to do after leaving Red Bluff, I would sometimes answer “learn to make bourbon.” I think people thought that I was joking, but I was half-serious. It would be amazing to learn the craft and to open my own whiskey distillery one day. One in Red Bluff. It’s a dream! A local whiskey, serving the local rodeo. I’ve even already got a name for it. But to get there, I need to first start seeing these distilleries. Gotta start somewhere…

We are currently looking for distilleries on the Bourbon Trail to visit tomorrow, but unfortunately a lot of them are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and many of the others are fully booked in their tours, so we will see where we end up and what we can end up doing. Whatever we see, I will be sure to share the adventure after the fact. Exciting!

Cheers,

Rob