River Festivus 2023, Burkesville KY

Yes, a Festivus for the rest of us

We’re really growing fond of Kentucky. The beautiful country side, the rolling hills and a number of rivers and lakes that we’ve enjoyed paddling. And to get to most places that are worth going to, it’s mostly two-lane winding roads. Such is a risk-reward for traveling to really cool locations and events.

River Festivus is just such an event. We first discovered The Cumberland River Run in 2019 when we started taking part in the Kentucky Waterman Series points series. The river run was part of the program. At that time, the Festivus was mostly taking place on the town square. It has grown since then, expanding to the Veterans Memorial City Park with thousands attending. All in a town with a population of 1500.

River Festivus is now part of our regular schedule each August. This year we had family joining us for the weekend so we planned for all three days.

Burkesville is over a six-hour drive so we got started about 9:00AM. Our first coffee stop was CoffeeHouse Five in Greenwood, IN.

We ordered their house coffee and tried some breakfast sandwiches: house-specialty parmesan chive breakfast biscuit and the breakfast grilled cheese. The images speak for themselves.

Just as we got through Louisville, we got all kinds of warnings and alternate route suggestions from Google. I-65 was jammed up so we headed east out of Louisville then south on two and four lane ‘back roads’. When this happens the best plan is to accept the slower traffic and find another coffee shop-it’s our coping mechanism. And we’ve had good luck before. We did this time as well.

We were routed through Mt. Washington, KY, a small town of 18,000. There were two local shops that came up on the search. We chose the Honey Depot and Coffee House.

Sometimes, co-branded restaurants can be a bit sketchy. Bubba’s BBQ and Tire Repair-doesn’t sound so good. But this one turned out just fine. We had their house coffee along with a buttery pastry. Delicious!

In fact, the other coffee shop we found but did not visit was Mt Washington Florist and Coffee Bar. While we can’t personally vouch for the coffee at the florist, the patio was very busy. One can only assume the crowd was there for the coffee and not for the daisy/lily arrangements. We’ll make a point of stopping there next time and report back.

At this point we were less than two hours away when it happened. A dash light came on and the alarm chimed-!Low Tire. When we started this blog, I wasn’t ever planning to write about flat tires. But in all our travels, this is not the first time for such problems. Anyway, we stopped at a parts store and bought a tire guage and a can of fix-a-flat. Once it was established which tire, I pumped in the fix, drove to a station and paid $1.50 for air. We were back on the road in no time. All we needed is for the fix to hold until we made Burkesville, then we’d deal with tire. We did have a spare but that’s another story.

Amazingly, when we pulled into our Burkesville hotel, the tire was still holding. OK, we’ll get it through tonight and see in the morning.

We met up with our family from Indiana and headed to the festival. We set up our folding chairs for the outdoor music and headed to the food trucks. Mary got the pulled pork nachos and I got Philly nachos.

Friday night’s music was a ‘battle of the bands’. There were four bands of different types and the winner would get to open for Saturday’s show featuring Diamond Rio. The music groups were: Mom’s Mad, Blackwood, Joe Clark, and Grace Farmer and the Whiskey Shots. Last year’s winner Fontanium also played while the judges decided.

The show lasted until almost 10:00, then we headed back up to the hotel. And when I say up, I do mean up. Each year we stay at the Alpine Hotel which sits 500′ up the mountainside looking down on the town. The rates are reasonable and rooms pretty nice.

The race started at 9:30 Saturday, so we got up early to eat before heading to the start. This is the view we got from our hotel deck that morning.

The view was wonderful. We headed down the hill for breakfast. Update: tire was still holding at 38 lbs.

In keeping with one of the strange-named-places-to-eat narrative of this post, we drove to the Bait Shop for breakfast. Yes, the Bait Shop. We discovered this place after it was recommended by locals the first year we attended. Yes, they have live bait and assorted fishing supplies on one wall. But this place serves home-made breakfast and lunch.

The prices are really good and it’s always busy and until this year, seating very limited. But they just expanded the shop with more tables along with a nice deck/patio. We finished our meal then headed out to the start of the race.

The Cumberland River is fed from a large dam on Lake Cumberland. The river water is clean and very fast. And cold-55 degrees. The race is seven miles and every year, there is fog at some point on the river. It’s all very cool. Maybe one day we’ll paddle the river just for fun and enjoy the view. But not today. After the race, we all met for awards and post-race lunch: 1/2 BBQ chicken, beans, and potato salad (provided by a local restaurant, Hamilton’s Bar-B-Q).

We had some time before the evening show so my cousin Joe and I thought we’d get in 9 holes of golf. Mary and Karen dropped us off at the Dale Hollow Lake course and they headed to hike at Dale Hollow State Park.

Dale Hollow is a tough course. Lot’s of hills (and hollows) and most fairways lined with trees. Some of the bunkers could have used some work but overall it was a very pretty, scenic course. And mean, really mean. Deep woody roughs with narrow fairways along with the fact that I had not played a round in years, and you had the course winning after 4 holes: 10 strokes over and down 6 balls. I was starting to recall why I hadn’t played in so long. But then I found a ball looking for lost ball #7 and things turned around. I played better the last five holes and finished with the found ball. Nice afternoon on the course.

The ladies visit the park

By Mary

Before leaving the golf course, we asked the clerk at the pro shop how to get to the Eagle Point Trail and very glad we did. The trail starts at the far corner of a very large parking lot and the trailhead is not well marked. We were warned that the hardest part would be hiking up the first hill. We had to dodge the typical tree roots during our ascent so it was a good hike for us but both Karen and I were up for it. The 1.7 mile trail was an out and back to Eagle Point – what a beautiful view!

Gigantic rocks perched on the edge – so glad the trail did not take us below that ledge!

It was hot so after taking a few pictures and enjoying the view, we returned to the car and drove back to the golf course. We purchased some cold drinks at the pro shop, sat outside in the shade, and visited while we waited for the boys to finish their round.

I have to mention here that Dale Hollow Lake Resort customer service was very responsive. On this site, there was an email address that I used to request a trail map and more information about the park. They responded the next day and when I had a follow-up question, they were right on it the same day! We hope to visit there again.

We headed back up to the hotel, cleaned up and drove down to the night’s festivities. The Saturday show was packed!

Friday night’s winner, Blackwood, performed first then Diamond Rio came on about 7:45. We really enjoyed the music. We ate BBQ from the trucks again and the weather was almost perfect.

The show ended and then a small fireworks show launched from the Alpine Hotel capped the night. We planned our breakfast for the next morning. A fancy sit-down meal or the Bait Shop?

We opted for the Bait Shop and had a biscuits and gravy along with a huge omelet. We said our good byes and headed home.

The tire is still holding at 38 lbs but I was a little nervous. So mapped a route north that took us by a Walmart in Campbellsville KY. They got us right in – and this was a Sunday. A short time later, the mechanic told us they could not find a leak anywhere. The fix-a-flat had worked as sold. But that still bothered me. If it had been a nail, that would have been an obvious source. The unknown is not helpful when it comes to tires. We had Walmart put on a new tire, never knowing what was wrong. I can live with that.

Our next stop for coffee was just an hour up the road in Elizabethtown KY the Vibe Coffee Shop. The shop is located just a few minutes from the interstate right in the middle of downtown. And I do mean middle, sitting right on the town square roundabout.

Back on the interstate, we had to really plan out our next step. We knew we’d need coffee again before the end of the trip but nothing seemed to be open between Louisville and Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon so we visited a shop we’ve been to in the past. It was only an hour away but we figured that would set us up for the rest of the trip. Such are the tough decisions made on our travels.

Just over the river from Louisville is Jeffersonville, IN and really interesting coffee shop called Pearl Street Game and Coffee House. But first let me explain how we found this place a few years back.

When we first started visiting central and southern Kentucky, we found you pretty much go through Louisville. That means crossing the Ohio River via the I-65 toll bridge. I get why they have tolls-don’t necessarily agree with them-but I do get it. So a few years ago we travelled back and forth over the bridge to attend an event in southern Kentucky. Since their toll system didn’t match our Illinois Toll transponder, we received a bill in the mail a week or so later. It had three pictures of our van, kind of like a gotcha invoice. Ok I understand that. What I didn’t understand was a bill for almost $18.00. We’d expected $7.00. Turns out that our top-mounted boats added enough height to have the system think we were a delivery van, not a mini-van. With no procedure for appeal, we paid the fee.

So the next time we went through Louisville, we took the last exit before the bridge. It took us across a narrow 4-lane bridge into downtown Louisville. Lots of traffic and stop lights. But wait, there are coffee shops downtown that might be worth checking out.

Now $18.00 is not a lot of money but that will pay for two coffee shop visits plus a pastry. So ever since, we’ve gotten off the interstate before the bridge, braved the stop and go traffic, had some coffee, then back on the interstate. When ever we do, it feels like we’re “sticking it to the man” but really we’re saving for coffee.

So…that’s how we found Pearl Street Coffee. That explanation took longer than the detour. What is somewhat unique about this place is that it’s a gaming room/store. Dungeons and Dragons or Magic, role playing games like that. It’s a converted house with tables and and comfortable furniture in each room. It’s a very welcoming place. And easy to get to, just two minutes off the ramp of the aforementioned bridge detour.

Five minutes later we were back on the interstate, heading home. It was a very full weekend and we had fun. We will plan on attending the Festivus again next year, eating at the bait shop, beating the system around Louisville hopefully without a flat tire.