I fell in love with Kentucky the first time I visited in March, 1998 - and then moved here shortly after. The first fall I spent in Louisville was stunning! I grew up on the west coast...we didn't have a lot of fall colour, mostly yellow...perhaps a touch of orange or red now and then, but predominately yellow. or brown. fun for the crunching under feet sound, but not much gloriousness to look at. Kentucky is a different world when it comes to fall colour...orange. red. purple-magenta-plum-y shades. Deep, rich colours that take my breath away.
Pair the perfect autumn day with a full tank of gas and voilà! mini one day holiday.
The plan was to visit and photograph four of the 13 covered bridges remaining in Kentucky - there used to be over 400 - three of them in Fleming County.
The thing about day trips and "planned" excursions is that you have to leave room for the unexpected and spontaneous.
After a late start Saturday morning, we arrived at our first bridge, in Bourbon County, mid-afternoon.
The Colville Covered Bridge, built in 1877, fully restored in 2001.
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| Colville Covered Bridge. Bourbon County, Kentucky. keg 10.13.12 |
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| Next to Hinkston Creek. Bourbon County, Kentucky. keg 10.12.12 |
...and a change of plans.
While driving along Highway 36 we passed a yard sale. They had several old 6-pane window frames with the glass still in place; they gave me a couple of ideas. So we turned around to have a look and inquire about the windows. When we pulled in the driveway I noticed an old tractor, nearly covered in weeds and growth, at the top of a small incline, by two beautiful old tobacco barns.
I purchased two of the windows, and asked Jethro and Connie (the couple having the yard sale - they introduced themselves almost as soon as we walked up) if we could run up and take some shots of the barns. They said yes.
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| Somewhere along highway 36. keg 10.12.12 |
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| swoon. keg 10.13.12 |
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We found at least 10 more yard sales along highways 36 and 11...stopped at a couple...found a few more fabulous finds, including 2 vintage 70's purses which I scored for a total of $5.00.
The late start and unexpected yard sale stops resulted in too little light to continue our covered bridge search that afternoon, but in no way am I disappointed by the events of the afternoon and the resulting photographs and fantastic finds of my Eastern Kentucky day trip.
