Day 131

It has been a u-turn day. We went to the post office, made a u-turn to get to the historical society. It was manned by an ancient southerner who spoke slowly and heard even slower (is that an ear u-turn?). However, we did find that the alter rails from Judge Holt's church (built across the road from the mansion and constructed for his mother) were now in the historical society's museum. The rest of the church is in Owensboro, KY. The Mennonites bought it and moved it there. They didn't want the stained glass windows (too much color) so they were stored for several years in a tobacco barn. When the Presbyterians built a new church, here in Hardinsburg, the stained glass windows were installed there. We will try and get a glimpse tomorrow.

Meanwhile, we hit the grocery store for fruit and an ATM. No luck on the ATM and you can only get $25 above your grocery purchase. U-turn to WalMart. I got cash. Anne couldn't remember her pin number. Meanwhile, I had used the restroom and my jeans zipper got jammed in the down position - U-turn back to the motel for new jeans.

Finally, on the road at 11am looking for Edward DeHaven's grave. We have the AAA Kentucky map. We have the Breckinridge County map from the court house with the grave site marked by the archivist. We have the xeroxed map of Hancock County from the public library. We have Fiona. We have Google Maps. We have written directions to the cemetery from the cemetery book. And we still left town going the wrong direction. We get to the correct roads and no cemetery. We look in every possible direction. Read and interpret the instructions 6 different ways. We saw gorgeous, quiet scenery - but no graves. After 2 hours, you guessed it, u-turn for Hardinsburg, grabbing a salad and using the restroom before heading north to find the old Sterrett homestead and graveyard.

We found the correct roads and drove them from one end to the other. Fabulous views of the Ohio river. The perfect sites for any home - no house that fit the description. We ended back in Cloverport and did find the Black cemetery - but no Sterretts or anyone else we knew. U-turn - back on the road looking for the cemetery. Again - no sign of graves at the appropriate spot until we got out to the main road. And there it was. The perfect little cemetery up on a knoll. We whip a u-turn, park and go bounding up the hill ... and it is not our cemetery. U-turn. Finally we headed to Owensboro to see the sights. It is 3pm.

We arrived in Owensboro at 3:45 - just in time for 15 minutes at the art museum and... a bathroom stop. We then head to the public library. No relevant genealogy but a great new library facility and librarians willing to give us private tours and information. Good food for thought on library facilities and innovation. We left just at closing with directions to a local BBQ place. Drove confidently past the street - by several miles - before completing 2 u-turns and arriving at the restaurant at 7pm. Good dinner. 2 u-turns on one-way streets to get out of town, 1 u-turn on the highway when Fiona tried to send us down a back road, and the strangest NPR program ever heard to keep us awake on our way back to Hardinsburg. We are now safely tucked in. Hopefully our journey to Louisville tomorrow will have more straight lines.