Using Google-Maps, the trip from Atlanta to Lexington is 387 miles.
I traveled with a motorcoach bus group called Seniors On the Go Travel. The owner is Cathy Stokes and the website is named "Seniors On the Go Tours".
I have be honest and say that my roommate wanted to sign up for this trip. I enjoy **ALL** of the bus trips and -- I signed-up for this trip because my roommate on many past trips said that she wanted to go. I had never been to a horse-race before and I had never heard of Keeneland before this trip. I HAVE heard of the major horse races in the news, but I had -NO IDEA- of how involved the racing of horses can be. On this trip, we toured the Racetrack before race-day, went to a 'stud-farm' (Darby Dan's) and learned how thoroughbred horses are kept pure-in-their-breed, and saw the beauty of the area. We also visited a large 'training' camp and saw where over 1000 horses have nearby stables in many barns. We were told about the jockeys who train them and heard about the jockeys who race them. We learned about how horse-manure is managed and sold to mushroom growing farmers. We visited a retirement-farm and saw beautiful horses and the love shown to them by the organizers. --AND-- most-of-all, we went to the race and experienced the wonderful buffet in the clubhouse! The whole trip was very interesting and educational! (And, of course, we had many wonderful meals. I'm trying to include less food in these posts, but - if you, the reader, would like more about the food that we eat, please let me know.) I stayed in the Phoenix Room during the races as it was chilly outside and I was very comfortable inside. We were encouraged to go outside to the track area, but I had toured the track viewing area on the previous day and I was comfortable watching the races in the room. In particular, I was interested in the statistics and other information on the screen/monitors. I was especially interested in the 'pro-picks' shown minutes before a new race began. I took a picture of the group, but wanted to 'blur' faces because I didn't want anyone in the group to be upset with me for showing their faces in the blog. This is my first experience with editting photos and I don't often show faces of people, if possible.
By the way, I 'think' that I won some money. The group ate the buffet in the Phoenix Room before the race. We studied the program and talked with a 'betting-coach' (called a 'betologist' in the brochure). Just before the first race started, I went to the betting-window and told the man-with-the-computer that I was 'new'. He nodded and I told him that I wanted to bet $5 for win/place/show on a horse. (Cost of the bet was $15 since I was placing $5 on each choice = "win"=1st place or "place"=2nd or "show"=3rd.) After the race, I saw the monitor of the winners and was surprised that I was 'in-the-money'. There are 30 minutes between races. I studied the program and when the betting-window was clear of other people, I returned for a bet on the second race. I chose another horse and placed a $5 bet for win/place/show and gave him the ticket from race number one. He processed the ticket from race-number-one and said that I owed $1.50. I gave him the money and returned to the table to watch the monitors for the race. Luckily, again, the horse that I picked was 'in-the-money'. And, again, I studied the program and returned to bet when the window was clear. Again, he processed the ticket from race-number-two and said that I owed $3.50 for my bet. This time, I chose a ticket for 'win' only. Mistake! My horse did NOT win and my ticket was WORTHLESS! Well, the rest happened fast and the other races were quick to complete. I'm writing this web-post a couple of weeks after the trip and my memory has faded. Our bus was scheduled to leave before the last race so that we wouldn't have the maximum traffic to negiotiate. On the last race that the group attended, I had picked another horse for win/place/show and saw in the results, where the horse was in the top three. I went to the window and collected $12.50 for the final race. I'm normally not much of a gambler, but - I think that I ended up positive in the cash-flow for the day. As I indicated previously, the middle races happened quickly, and my memory has faded, so - I DO remember putting money in my pocketbook in the end. I'm at the stage-of-life where I need to write everything down or I don't remember the details. That is one of the reasons why I continue to create blog posts. "That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It" = the title of a Jimmy Buffet song. (Note: For each race, I bet on only one horse. Others in the group were betting on several horses per race. If I couldn't keep-up with my one bet, I wondered how they kept up with many?) By the way, the buffet was absolutely wonderful. I only gained five pounds on this trip.
This was another 'FABULOUS' trip planned by Cathy. On the bus-ride, we played games and had a wonderful trip! Note: I refrained from showing pictures both of the Univ of Kentucky bus-tour and the food that we ate. If you, the reader, would like to see pictures of our driving-tour and/or food, please let me know in the comments.
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As always, any comments that you have about the website would be appreciated.
Blog-Note 1: Because the pictures take a long time to load, it is best to view these webpages using a desktop.)
Blog-Note 2: http://PuddinInVannaWhite.wordpress.com is the 'original' website of this blog. This blog has a domain name without the .wordpress. middle name. see website=PuddinInVannaWhite.wordpress.com for older trips ---)))LEFT MOUSE CLICK HERE"(((---
Blog-Note 3: I have another website. It is about my 1971 MGB. I sold it but still retain great memories from the days that I owned it. The url address is : see website=PuddinInThe MGB.wordpress.com ---)))LEFT MOUSE CLICK HERE"(((--- )