We got up in time to walk Olivia to her bus stop and then left in the motor home, headed for the north. After about an hour, a car passed us and motioned us over to the side. He told us we had blown a right front tire on our jeep. This happened to us on another car before. We went to the next exit, grinding sparks all the way. The Lord sent a kind gentleman who offered to help. We put the "doughnut" on and drove into Cartersville, TN. The Jeep dealership there looked around town and found a new tire and rim to get us going. I think the tire is not the correct size, but we were able to get back on the road within four hours and drove on to Chattanooga where we spent the night.
We left there the next morning early and drove up to Monteagle on the way to Nashville. We stopped at the Russell Stover candy outlet and loaded up with discount candy. We had been looking for a low carb toffee product that we had tried before. We found it for a lesser price than on the outside. We drove through Nashville headed for Louisville where we wanted to see the Derby parade. Unfortunately, I had miscalculated the distance and we missed the parade. We did find a Wal Mart on Bardstown Road. We ate a bite and went downtown to the "Chow Wagon" where there were lots of junk food booths, a band, and many drunks. We bought Pegasus Pins that got us in to the event. We enjoyed the weather and the pleasant evening.
We arose early Friday morning, packed a lunch and went off to the Kentucky Oaks races at Churchill Downs. These races are on Friday preceding the Derby and features fillies. We had been told to go to the track early to be sure to get a space in the infield so we arrived shortly after 8:00. We had chairs so we had to enter at the 3rd street gate where we paid our $25. It was a beautiful day and we got a desirable spot along the home stretch rail. We walked all over the infield and crossed via a tunnel to the grandstand. We looked for John Knight and found him later in the day. The first race of 11 was at 11:00 and ran every half hour. We sat in the sun and had a great time. When we located John, he took us everywhere he could because some areas were private and others did not permit jeans or shorts. We got enough of the flavor of intensity in the serving and food preparation areas. We went back to our seats at around 1:00 and had the delicious lunch Evelyn had prepared. We had the delicious bread we like so much: hazelnut/poppy seed topped with smoked turkey, tomato from our Texas garden, and lettuce. After seven races, Evelyn was tired so we left and to my surprise, were able to see the rest of them on television in the motor home, including the Oaks race. We had seen the preparation of the winner's garland last night. It was made of lilies as opposed to the roses placed on the Derby winner. We went to a Captain D's for dinner because we could not find a local restaurant without a smokey haze inside the restaurant. Off to bed.