Paintsville Lake State Park - Kentucky

Paintsville is located on the eastern side of Kentucky. It is in the heart of Kentucky's coal mining area and the heart of the state's bluegrass music region. It is also surrounded by mountains and that meant that we had to navigate Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, through some hilly roads with sharp curves to get to this park.

Paintsville Lake State Park

The campground

Paintsville Lake State Park is, as you have already guessed, on Paintsville Lake. The lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and it seemed to be popular with boaters.

Speaking of the lake, it was gorgeous. It seemed to be a well-known fishing spot based of the number of people trying their luck while we were there.

Paintsville Lake

Rosie in the campground

This is a relatively small campground with fewer than 50 campsites. You feel as though you are in a valley because you see mountains when you look around, but the star attraction in this campground is the lake.

Here is some specific information about this park:

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service.
• Our site had a water connection with good pressure.
• Our site had a sewer connection.
• There is one bathhouse serving the campground and a restroom outside the camping area for the day visitors. The campground bathhouse was clean and well-maintained.
• Our campsite was gravel and we had to use our leveling tools to correct a slight lean.
• The park had pay-per-day WiFi. We paid and the service was adequate.
• AT&T placed a weak 4G voice and data signal over the park.
• This was a pet-friendly park.
• We were unable to see any TV signals from Rosie's antenna. Make sure you bring some DVDs if you want any video entertainment.

Paintsville is about 30 miles from where Becky's father lives and he was able to drop by for a visit. It was wonderful having him and his wife see us in Rosie.

Becky's father and his wife visit us in Rosie

We were pleasantly surprised to see how nice this park was and we would return to it if in the area.

We stopped for a ski lift on the way

Airstream trailers in a parking lot

Visiting L:oretta Lynn's Birth Place

Kentucky Horse Park - Lexington, Kentucky

We had heard over the years from several fellow campers that the Kentucky Horse Park was a very nice place to stay. You can add our voices to that chorus. This IS a nice park.

Kentucky Horse Park Campground

First, the sites are very nice and large. There is a respectable distance between your rig and your neighbor's. We had a pleasant view of a wooded area behind Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.

Second, this is a huge park. There are 260 campsite in this park.

Third, our site was paved with asphalt. That helped make it nice to get in and out of Rosie when it rained while we were there.

These three factors help contribute to this being a very nice campground.

The campground

Rosie's site at the Horse Park

The power connection was immediately behind most camping sites. The one on our site was heavily dented and that indicated to me that too many trailers had backed into it over the years. We needed to pay close attention to where Rosie's bumper was while parking her. We didn't want to scar Rosie's backside by hitting the power box.

It didn't take long to discover why this is called a Horse Park. We were amazed at how many people brought their horses there. There are more than 1,400 stalls to house horses in the park and we watched several horse competitions while camping there.

Becky meets a horse

A horse with rider at the park

This was a wonderful park to walk around in. The roads were paved and there were many large and beautiful trees in the park.

Here are some specifics about this park:

• There are multiple camping loops in this park. It appeared that no one loop was better than the others.
• Our site had 10, 30 and 50 amp power service. We noticed that the voltage was slightly high at 129 volts.
• Our site had around 45 psi water pressure.
• Our site did not include a sewer connection.
• We found two bathhouses in this park. There may have been more. The bathhouse we saw was clean and warm.
• There was a small laundry facility in the bathhouse nearest the camp store.
• Our site was paved, but not level.
• The park had WiFi. We were unable to successfully log in and use it.
• AT&T placed a strong 4G voice and data signal over this park.
• This is a very pet friendly park. "Pets" at this park include horses.
• We saw signals from many TV stations using Rosie's antenna. Networks included ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS. Digital channels included Antenna-TV, CW, ME-TV, MY and ION.

We were surprised when we first arrived at this park. It seemed as if there were Aristream trailers everywhere you looked. It turned out that the Kentucky WBCCI Unit was having a rally in the park. The people in that group were very friendly and welcomed us to the park.

The "Derby" Hat

Derby Day at Keeneland

Keeneland

Suzy needs a drink

The buffet

Drive Thru Betting on Derby Day

Man-of-War's Monument

Inside Kentucky's State Capital

White Acres Campground - Bardstown, Kentucky, Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky Derby

Derby week in Louisville is a crazy and fun time. We parked during Derby Week in the White Acres Campground near Bardsville (Kentucky) because it was about 45 minutes away from Louisville. That is close enough to slip into Louisville, then escape before things turn wacky over the Kentucky Derby.

In front of Churchill Downs during Derby Week

To put things in perspective, it doesn't take much to nudge things into a crazy spin during Derby Week. Still, there probably isn't a more exciting time to visit the Louisville area.
We didn't expect cold and wind while camping in White Acres Campground. Temperatures in the low 40s and winds gusting to 45 MPH plus rain made it difficult to enjoy anything outdoors while we were there.

This campground has a few quirks that you rarely see on the road. The first is shared hookups. I'm sure it saves money when building a campground to share the hookup sites. That means that one trailer has to face north and the other south. It also means that you are parked very close to your neighbor sharing your connections.

Shared utilities between sites

Overview of the park

Besides being parked too close to your neighbor, this style of parking trailers next to each other means that someone may have to exit the park by driving through an open field. As things turned out, it rained the night before we were to depart and the field became too soggy to be a viable option. Fortunately, the campers next to us had a four-wheel drive and they needed that extra traction to back out of their site.

The second odd thing was that the park only offered 50 amp service. I guess you can say that the campground is more big-rig friendly than anything else. The problem with that line of logic is that big rigs are more likely to get stuck in the mud when exiting the park.
Here are some specifics about this park.

• There is one camping loop in this park. Several of the sites are heading down a sharp slope that appears to be along the path that excess water runs off the property.
• Our site, along with all other sites, had only 50 amp power connections. We had to use our 50-to-30 amp converter cable for Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.
• In addition to electrical service, our site had a water connection. We were told that water pressure was high in the park and we needed to make sure we used our water pressure regulator.
• Our site had a sewer connection.
• There was a bathhouse near the front of this park. That put it a long, long, long way from the camping sites. It was in an old barn that appeared to be low on the maintenance list. We were not curious enough to see what was behind the doors and its condition, but several fellow campers did. Their descriptions included words similar to "disgusting, moldy and awful." I'm glad we kept our distance from the bathhouse.
• The park has WiFi service, but it was very slow. How slow? I measured it at 130 baud and that was less than half the speed of my first 300 baud modem.
• Fortunately, AT&T placed a strong 4G voice and data signal over the park. We created an iPhone hotspot and avoided the park's WiFi.
• Our site was mostly grass/weeds with some gravel mixed in. It was not level and became very slick when it rained.
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie's TV antenna. Plus, we were able to see Antenna, CW, GET, ME-TV and several other digital channels.

There is one more item that we need to bring up. This park had a bumper crop of ticks and red bugs. An alarming number of people in our group found ticks or red bugs on their bodies and pets while camping in White Acres. You need to take precautions to protect yourself from these pests and check yourself often while camping here.

This is not a park we would willingly return to in the future.

Watching a race at Churchill Downs

Visiting Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace

President Lincoln's Birthplace

Visiting Maker's Mark Distillery

Sign at Maker's Mark

Visiting the Louisville Slugger factory

Nothing like having lunch on a riverboat cruise

We made it to the Winners Circle -- Sort Of!

Morning workouts at Churchill Downs