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On the road to Lido Key

Limited stops along the quickest route possible – that’s the usual approach to the Michigan-Florida road trip. Sun and warm temperatures are the goal, after all, so why waste time along the way?

A different mindset prevailed during the planning process for this year’s pilgrimage from St. Johns to Lido Key, located on Florida’s Gulf Coast by Sarasota. It was not necessarily a leisurely pace – there are the caravans of semi trucks to battle, after all – but the trip south on major interstates was carved into "bite-size" pieces, interspersed with several interesting stops.

Although asthma and allergies prohibit the consumption of alcohol in any quantity other than a "thimble full," Wayne loves to sip a good bourbon. He had often talked about touring a distillery along the famed ‘Kentucky Bourbon Trail’ as part of the Florida excursion – this was the year to make that happen.

Seven of the most highly touted bourbons are produced in an area just south of Louisville, roughly following the path of the Western Kentucky Parkway from Lexington to I-65. We opted to tour the Maker’s Mark distillery, located pretty much in the middle of nowhere outside of Loretto. The smooth bourbon is a favorite of Wayne’s – and guests who take the tour can "dip their own bottle" in the distinctive red wax that is a signature of the brand.

The fact that the small-scale distillery is the oldest such bourbon enterprise in the country with a spot on the National Register of Historic Places was an added bonus – certainly well worth the drive off the beaten path.

Wayne learned all about ‘stilling’ bourbon from our tour guide, Jeannie, who has a sister in Traverse City. It’s a fascinating process, to be sure.

Testing his skill at dipping a Maker’s Mark bottle into the bright, red wax was a highlight of the tour. Staff along the assembly line consider a bottle with six long drips to be a good achievement – Wayne had to settle for five, but he did claim a "sprout" as a sixth wanna-be drip.

The route we took from Maker’s Mark west toward I-65 runs along a lovely rural, two-lane road that boasts two landmarks dedicated to a truly great man, Abraham Lincoln. We made stops at Lincoln’s boyhood home at Knob Creek, and Lincoln’s birthplace – a National Historic Site located just outside Hodgenville.

Obviously, the log cabin at Knob Creek is not an original structure, but the small, one-room dwelling that is being reconstructed on the site of Lincoln’s boyhood home does provide a glimpse into the environment that helped shape Honest Abe.

Likewise, the log cabin that is enclosed inside the Lincoln Memorial building is not the house that Lincoln was born in – although that was the claim for a number of years. The window-less, one-room cabin was part of an exhibit that traveled around the country near the close of the 1800s before being enshrined inside the granite memorial at Lincoln’s birth site. Carbon dating of the wood in later years proved that the cabin could not be the building in which Lincoln was born.

Even if it’s not "real," it’s still impressive to stand in front of the doorway and think about the child that grew up to be a remarkable president.

Leaving Kentucky behind, we made the loop around Nashville to pick up I-24 and connect with I-75 at Chattanooga, before completing the day’s drive at another important enroute destination – Ellijay at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Georgia.

Ellijay? Where is it, and why would stopping there be at the top of the "Wayne and Rhonda Trip List"?

It just so happens that Ellijay is the home of Blue Ridge Industries – Wayne’s employer for the past 20 years. Without Blue Ridge, there would be no trip to Florida – or anywhere else for that matter.

Day after day for the past several years, I’ve listened to Wayne talk on the telephone to lots of different Blue Ridge folks, in particular the "ladies in customer service" – how they put up with his conversations, I do not know, but they seem to sincerely enjoy has rather zany telephone personality.

It was a true pleasure to meet everyone at Blue Ridge. They made me feel very welcome – a great group of people.

So…. here we are at Lido Key where the sandy beaches are inviting and the sunsets are always spectacular. Sunshine, warm Gulf breezes and blue skies are the order of the day.