On Thursday afternoon we met up with our new and final host club Frankfort RC. Our tour in Kentucky was to end with a stay in the State Capital and the District Conference for Rotary District 6710.

Thursday afternoon we had a fun evening with our host families and Egil and Aina got to sing the national anthem of Norway being challenged by Ralph one of Diane and Chucks wonderful friends. This was presumably the first ever, and probably last, performance of “Ja vi elsker” on the shores of the Kentucky River!

Friday the 29^th of May 2009 is forever to be named Sissel Sivertsen, Aina Roste Lundon, Marius Ensrud, Egil Berglund and Heidi Mossevik (in absentia) day! We all met with the Mayor of Frankfort and were presented by him this surprise! (We also have to share this day with our five friends of the Brazilian GSE team, but still a tenth of a day is not bad…) After meeting up with the Mayor we toured the Capitol of Frankfort. Sissel got to try out the speaker’s seat, and we also found the seat of our friend Mike Cherry of Princeton! Our next stop was at the Ruby-Ruth candy store, tasting her delicious bourbon balls, just enough to sharpen our appetite before the hibachi lunch! An entertaining way to get a tasty meal!  Leaving the restaurant rather full, we enjoyed an wonderful walk in the wildlife park where we got so see a range of animals residing in Kentucky, from the poisonous snakes to the elk, deer and buffaloes! (Norwegian Moose-calling also triggers a respond with Kentucky Elk…) Only thing to put our fingers on was the lack of Kentucky bluegrass in the plants section! We still haven’t seen a single leaf of bluegrass! Next we got an introduction in Kentucky history in the Historical Museum. As a special show in connection with the District Conference, Channel 10 in Frankfort wanted an interview with us to broadcast in a few weeks time. So Aina and Egil had to dress up in their uniforms and try as best they could to answer the questions of the host for a full 28 minute interview! Sissel and Marius set a world record in volunteering not to get on the stage… The host promised to try and get the interview on You Tube, and we all really look forward to this! Yet another exciting day ended with a concert in front of the old capitol building!

On Saturday we started off by giving our presentation to the District Conference. We received a lot of applause and the audience all laughed at the right places, leaving us all quite content and more than a little bit relived it were all over. We even coped well without Heidi! We also got to meet up with the rest of the Kentucky team visiting Norway in March! A wonderful reunion! In the evening we attended the Banquet and met up with more of the wonderful Rotarians attending the District Conference. (Og haraballet ble avsluttet med utloddong av en stk spekeskinke…)

Our final full day in Kentucky was to be one of, if not the most exciting days of our stay in the Commonwealth. An  never ending series of action packed experiences were lined up for us. Sissel got one of her biggest wishes fulfilled by Dennis, Marius’ host, showing up with a magnificent bike! We were all to go horseback riding, and Sissel caught a ride with Dennis both on the way to the horse farm and back! Nothing but a large grin on her face! At the horse farm we all spent an hour on the back of the horses leaving us all a little sore, but it was a real wonderful experience (Bet Heidi is a little bit jealous of us now J ). But the action was not to end here! Chuck owns his own two seat plane, and took us all but Egil for a wonderful 20 minutes tour in the skies! We also got to control the plane ourselves!  A real grand finale of our exceptional 4 weeks in Kentucky! To wrap it all up, our host families all joined in on a cookout with the most well cooked pork chops ever! –Not to forget Sallies famous Derby Pies! As a final treat we all joined up with the Brazilian team once more all getting hooked on the game corn hole! We have already taken measurements, and plan to introduce this exciting game to Norway! Now hopefully most of our suitcases are packed up, and we are ready to go home (though Egil is to fly to Miami for yet another 16 days in the US!) but the remains of Team M*A*S*H*E will soon be back on Norwegian soil!

Days rush by as we are closing in on the end of our tour of Kentucky, but we still have a few more actionpacked days left!

Monday brought us to Fort Knox, and at last Heidi and Marius got to see their first Baseball game! A hot but exciting event! We ate dinner at Cracker Barrell all getting their brains cooking over the addictive peg games. They say its all about using your brains a little, but none, except Marius, could finish the board… (Cheeky little thing) Luckily they had an entire shelf of John Deere items for sale to brighten the spirits!

On Thursday we faced our final vocational day, once more finding ourselves in company with colleagues across the atlantic.

On Wednesday we toured the City starting of with the old residental area in East Louisville before we drove through the enormous cemetary with its many magnificent toumb stones including the $500,000 bust and pilars marking the grave of the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken; Colonel Sanders. We next stopped at the Louisville Slugger factory and Museum where they produce the world famous basball bats. Very interresting and at the end of the tour Marius and Heidi tested their skills svinging the bats in the ball cages. No lack of spirit or effort! We then took of to Indiana for lunch! In the afternoon we had dinner at Captain’s quarters before we finished the night at Erskines house giving our presentation to our host families as we were not to be able to give our presentation at the Louisville RC meeting on Thursday.

Thursday dawned and our group were to be divided with Heidis early return to attend her brothers wedding the following Saturday. We once more put our steadingly increasig amount of luggage in the van and took of first to the post office to releave some of the luggage weight, then to the mall to refill some of the empty spaces in our luggage (makes sense…) We attended the noon meeting in Louisville Rotary Club before we set of towards Frankfort for our final host club, but this time without Heidi. She set of to the airport, and made it safe home while the rest of us met up with our new wonderful hosts in Frankfort RC.

In Frankfort we are to attend the District Conference and we will have to wait until saturday after our final presentation to see wether the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s slogan “United we stand, divided we fall” will count for us as well. Hopefully we will do fine even with one menber short!

Etter en frokost med brunost og en fortreffelig lunsj hjemme hos Erskine, dro vi til Fort Knox for å se hvor amerikanerne gjemmer alt gullet sitt…. vi touret også museet med tanks fra 1. verdenskrig til de de bruker i Irak.

Her oppbevares alt gullet

Fort Knox museet i KY

Litt ukomfortabelt....!

Dagens tanks

Og så kom dagens høydepunkt (iallefall for enkelte..) baseballkamp på Louisville Slugger Stadion! Bortsett fra at The Bats ikke fikk en eneste hit før vi gikk rett før det var slutt, så var det gøy å få oppleve en amerikansk baseballkamp i stekende sol:-)

Loiseville Slugger Stadion

Green Horns at baseball

Campfire beef

Vi spiste god mat på Cracker Barrel

Aina, Will, Heidi og Caroline

Og Aina og Heidi måtte ta farvel med ungene i huset fordi de skulle til mammaen sin i morgen

Og nå må vi legge oss så vi er friske og uthvilte til morgendagens yrkesdag!

We have now returned to Louisville for our last week in Kentucky, the last stop for Heidi… (The rest of us still have one last host club on the schedule.)

Saturday Egil turned 74 and we treated him with a cake and birthday song during our lunch with our hosts in Princeton. We were once again devastated to leave our host families, but we all finally embarked the van taking us back to the big city! Bill met up with us in Lichtfield taking us the last stage from Princeton. He treated us with dinner at K&T’s, and this proved to be yet another opportunity to celebrate Egils birthday! The waiters brought him the larges ever ice cream sundae!

We met up with our new host families in the afternoon on and they were good sports letting us all loose downtown.
Egil had a wonderful surprise being hosted by Bill, the team leader visiting Norway in March! Heidi and Aina installed themselves in a British estate manor replica, no complaints at all… (We are not posh… (at all) nor envious of the cinema room in the basement…)

Sunday we spent on Belle of Louisville (boats are fun on Sunday mornings…) touring the Ohio River. They had a Bluegrass band on the boat giving us a real Kentucky experience.

The last few days have truly given us a taste of summer, all enjoying the sun, but the humidity is taking its toll on us all. Luckily during Memorial Day Weekend the biggest Beatles festival in the world, Abbey Road on the River! Three stages continuously playing Beatles songs all weekend long! The afternoon we spent chilling on the lawn listening to various Beatles tribute bands, while Sissel and Egil enjoyed swing dancing!

In the evening, Erskine and Dawn (Heidi and Ainas host family) treated us all with a delicious chicken cookout dinner followed by the movie Slumdog Millionaire in his basement cinema room!

Monday morning, being Memorial Day, Louisville hosts a large bicycle race, touring the city with 10.000 participants. We were to go as well but the morning dawned with pooring rain, so we all snuggled back under our sheets… Finally dragging ourselves out of bed Erskine surprised us with brown cheese for breakfast! Even Will, Erskines 15 years old son, enjoyed the Norwegian speciallity! He really loves to have Norwegians in the house, and we try to teach him cute frases in Norwegian! “Du er søt” is his favorite!

Enjoying the Beatles tribute bands

Sissel and Egil dancing

On Tuesday our short brake ended by the representatives from Princeton RC picking us up at the Barkley State Park Lodge. A little ahead of schedule, we got a nice tour of Priceton and surroundings before we took the stage at the Princeton RC lunch meeting. After once more giving our presentation we toured HydroGear where they produce hydraulic motors for lawn mowers and other motorized equipments. In the afternoon we once more met up with our host families, and it still amazes us how easy it is to fit into a new home with a new family. Heidi and Sissel discovered the gem of Princeton; Ziobro formal dress shop. Crazy Norwegians heating up their credit cards leaving the shop with 4 dresses! (Sissel only bought one..)

Wednesday we all toured the Princeton Fire Department, were the chief and assistant chief shared of their immense experience. We also got to take a tour in the Rescue Engine, making the day at least for Sissel!

Next we visited the Mineral museum in Marion exploring the vast Ben E. Clemente collection of fluorite. We also got to hold a piece petrified dinosaur bones and saw and egg and dung!  We then crossed the Ohio River for a short visit in Illinois! Three down 47 to go…

På ei ferje over Ohio River til Illinois

After lunch we visited the Amish community in the region. In the evening Marius and Aina got their hands dirty, leaving a permanent mark in Diane and Shermans garden planting their newly acquired peach tree bought from the Amish for $15!

After Thursdays program we know all there is to know about health care in Caldwell County! Nursing home, hospital both current and the new opening in October were toured before we made a stop at the Home Health Agency and finishing off at the free clinic. All highly interesting!

Friday we had another vocational day. Sissel got to follow the Mayor while Heidi visited the animal disease diagnostic centre in Hopkinsville. Aina and Marius visited the University of Kentucky Agricultural Research and Education Centre. This of cause being right on the spot for Aina also brought out the farmer in Marius, and we ended up spending the full day in the fields. Though we really should call it a drive in the fields instead of a walk in the fields spending most of in the van, everything has to be a first

Vi kom paa litt mer vi har gjort her vi…
Krysset Ohio River i gaar paa en spektakulaer ferje og spiste lunsj (spise er forresten noe vi gjor hele tiden…) Rakk oxo aa besoke en grotte, hvor vi selvfolgelig holdt en konsert. Sissel tok sound-check med Kyrie Eleison…

Cave Dancers

Mineral museet var en annen artig opplevelse for oss som elsker stener… oxo saa mye fint aa faa kjopt i gift shoppen!!! T.o.m. graasteiner, hirr, hirr…

Holdt paa aa glemme det kuuleste av alt.. nemlig et besok paa brannstasjonen:-) Vi fikk vaere med paa en tur rundt i byen med redningsbilen (Truck med snute! ref.:Sissel) Ekstra goy var det da Sissel, uten aa vite det selv, traakket paa hornpedalen i lyskrysset paa rodt lys, leeeeenge! Sjaaforen holdt paa aa le seg i hjel! Heidi slet med bilbeltet… kanskje ikke saa rart da dette egentlig var deler av roykdykkerutstyret!!!! Bilder av happeningen kommer kanskje senere….. hvis vi rekker det!

Naa er klokka 22.25… saa naa maa vi legge oss!

Suzi Q and Heidiho

Naa har vi kommert til Princeton. En liten by med masse sjarme. Vi har besokt en fabrikk som lager deler til gressklippertraktorer, besokt Amish-butikker og garder, og i dag har det vaert den store helsedagen. Vi startet paa et sykehjem, saa bar det videre til en slags form for distrikts psykiatrisk senter, hjemmesykepleien og til slutt det mest spennende egentlig…. det var en “Free Clinic” hvor leger, farmasoyter og sykepleiere bl.a. jobbet gratis i opptil 4 timer etter vanlig arbeidsdag. Dette er en klinikk for folk som har jobb, men ikke tjener nok til aa dekke utgifter for “medical care”. De fattigste faar dekket sine utgifter. Imponerende innsats fra alle de frivillige!! Ogsaa glemte jeg at vi var paa sykehuset her. De hadde en utrolig liten og trang lab!! Vi besokte ogsaa en byggeplass som i oktober blir et splitter nytt moderne sykehus!
I kveld har vi spist skikkelig Kentucky-dinner med country-ham, bonner, cornbread og salat, nam, nam…
Vi bor i et Pippi-hus som er 120 aar gammelt og utrolig kuult! Forovrig har vi vaskebjorner paa loftet!!!!! Feller ble satt ut i dag!!
Vi fant oss kjoler i gaar… og trodde vi var kommet til himmelriket i det vi gikk inn dora paa butikken… now we are ready for the prom:-)

Sissel og Heidi

I dag har vi hatt vår første fridag siden vi kom. De har plassert oss på en resort ved Barkley Lake sammen med det brasilianske teamet som er her. Har kost oss i sola i hele dag, og avsluttet dagen med en tur i svømmebassenget og badstua. Enkelte hadde ikke fått nok sol, og benyttet seg av solariumet også!! Bortsett fra noen små flekker vi glemte å smøre solkrem på, klarte vi å unngå å bli solbrente på vår hvite vinterhud! I går slappet vi av og så på Grand Prix. Nora var på Opra W-show i dag, og vi så selvfølgelig på det:-) Nå er det natt, og vi må sove litt før vi pakker og reiser videre til våre vertsfamilier i Princton.

Hipp hipp hurra! 17. mai er bra!

Etter gårsdagens eskapader i Nashville troppet vi friske og raske opp hos Wallace med fløytist og flagg. Franklin skulle endelig få oppleve sitt første 17. mai tog! Heidi ledet an med Gammel Jegermarsj og Norge i rødt, hvitt og blått og resten av gjengen fulgte taktfast bak. Nasjonalsangen ble høytidelig avsunget (med cowboyhatt), og pølsene ble for anledningen byttet ut med cookies.

Nå chiller vi ved Lake Barkley State Park  med Aquevit, Kentucky-vin og chips.

Go Alexander!

Gammel Jegermarsjmarsj

On Wednesday we arrived at our new host club Franklin Rotary Club. Our first stop was at the Mammot Cave where we took the amazing frozen Niagara tour. In the afternoon we all met our new host families, and we were all very pleased to once again find the hosts to be a perfect match for each and one of us.

On Thursday we started up with a visit at the Harmon/Becker Plant where they produce speakers and audio equipment for cars. We all enjoyed this well structured plant, and were very impressed with their exceptional health care system.  Next we visited Quebecor World Plant, a large scale printing company, very interesting! After lunch we toured the Corvette Museum, all getting carried away and quarrelling about which one of us should be able to take the ZR-1 2009 model back home to Norway (ignoring the fact that most of us already are pushing the limit of luggage allowance). Our day concluded with a visit at The Medical Centre in Bowling Green. We all got a chance to experience Heidi getting carried away in the laboratory, and appreciated the Director taking time to guiding us for 2,5 hrs.

Friday started with a visit to Simpson Elementary School. Here we all enjoyed the enthusiastic pupils, and we also met up with Gary, one of the members of the Kentucky GSE visiting Norway in March. Next we toured the New Mathers Metal Plant, where they produce stabilizers for 4×4 cars. Fascinating precision! At lunch time we presented our team and District for our new friends at the Franklin RC. After lunch we visited Meredith and Don Halcomb’s 5000 acre farm, Walnut Grove, where we were introduced to variety trials, large machinery and interesting new crops. We also visited their feed mill in Schochoh.  In the evening Wallace and Jane treated us and our host families with a royal dinner, and we thanked them all with entertainment and a taste of our lovely Aquavit.

On Saturday we all went to Nasville! We started off with the Opry Mills huge shopping mall, all taking the scheduled shopping seriously. We then toured the Opryland Hotel, amazing us with their extravagant decorations, consisting of no more then three enormous indoor gardens. Most of us still inn shopping mode we all found it hard to keep the time table, but eventually we found our way to one of the best restaurant in Nashville were Heidi and Marius treated them selves with an out of this world fantastic lobster soup. The rest of us not envious at all… Next the highlight of our tour: Saturday nights Grand Ole Opry Show with some of the greatest country stars on the stage! We finished off our night in Nasville in the Second Fiddler with a live country band!

We all send our hartfelt thanks to our host families and members of the Franklin Rotary Club, making our stay with you an unforgettable experience!

 

Gallery from Franklin: