About midnight last night another line of severe storm went through Lexington resulting in more damage and power outages. The area where I stayed was south of downtown Lexington, and businesses in the immediate area never lost power, all you had to do was travel a mile or two in either direction to find trees down and power out.
As I left the hotel I made my way to down town Lexington and made a quick stop at Commonwealth Stadium and Rupp Arena. Some of the traffic lights were working while some were not. After a quick stop at Rupp Arena I made my way up to historic Lexington Cemetery where a number of trees were down and a few of the cemetery roads were blocked.
Cemetery Crews were working to clear the damage as I worked my way to several notable graves. My first stop at the tomb of Henry Clay, who served the Commonwealth of Kentucky for more than 24-years in the United States Senate and ran for President in 1824, 1832 and 1844. He also served at the 9th Secretary of State and the 7th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.The Henry Clay Monument is not hard to find. Enter the Cemetery and make an immediate left and it is just a short distance on the right. It is the tallest monument in the Cemetery.
Other notable people that are resting here are John C. Breckenridge, who served at the 14th Vice-President under James Buchanan. He also the Confederate Secretary of War under President Jefferson Davis.
Many of the traffic lights were out on this side of town and only a few gas stations had power and those that did has long lines. So I decided to head north toward Louisville to see if thing were any better.
As I made my way west on Interstate 64 it was hit or miss with who had power an who didn't. Many of the stations along the Interstate around and west of Frankfort were without power. I met several convoy's of electrical trucks traveling east on the Interstate toward Lexington so it looks like help is on the way. The closer I got to Louisville the better the power situation got.
I ended up spending about an hour at Churchill Down and then I was off to Pay my respects to our 12th President, Zachary Taylor who is buried in the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. President Taylor died on July 9, 1850 and was originally buried in a vault near the back of the cemetery. In 1926 he and his wife were moved to the current private mausoleum adjacent to the Zachary Taylor Monument.Also buried nearby is President Taylor's father, Colonel Richard Taylor who fought in the Revolutionary War. A number of Taylor descendants are resting near the Monument and Presidential Tomb.
After leaving the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, I made my way to Rest Haven Memorial Park. For me no trip to Louisville would be completer without visiting the grave of my all time favorite Dodger Pee Wee Reese. Pee Wee was a Louisville native and was the captain of the Great Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950's.Following his playing day, he turned to broadcasting and was paired with the great Dizzy Dean to broadcast the Game of the Week sponsored by Falstaff Beer. He later returned to his roots and came home to Louisville where he went to work for Bud Hillerich and the Louisville Slugger Company. Pee Wee lived the rest of his life here in Louisville and died August 14, 1999 from the complications of cancer.
All and all it was a busy but good day. Tomorrow I will stay in Louisville and see what the day brings.
No comments:
Post a Comment