2013 Lorettto, Kentucky

It was my, Jeff's, year to pick. I sent out an email to all my brothers and I  suggested we go to the Maker's Mark distillery in Loretto, Kentucky just outside of Louisville and at the end of the Bourbon Trail. My brother, Jay, responded, "I want to see where my courage comes from." After that statement, we were all locked into the mission.

Jay, Rob and Tom met me in Edinburgh, Indiana. (There's a nice outlet mall there if you're ever traveling through.) I hopped into the car and we all took off. This year was interesting. We had already been together the two previous weekends. I had refused to talk to them at the gatherings to save all conversations for the road trip.

We took I65 south past Louisville and turned off on to Clermont Road. Immediately we saw the Jim Beam distillery. I was excited because I thought we were just minutes away from Maker's Mark. Then Tom pointed out that Jim Beam was the end of the Bourbon Trail and that Maker's Mark was at the beginning, which was about 50 minutes away. He failed to mention it was 50 minutes on a winding two lane road that wove in and around the hills of Kentucky.

After passing about five other micro distilleries (how do they all stay in business?), we finally arrived at Maker's Mark. It is beautifully nestled into the hills and looks like nothing has changed since the distillery was built in 1805. The scene was perfect. They had already decorated the place for the holidays (this early in November, really!?!?!) and the sky was blue and sunny with no clouds in site and a slight chill in the air. If I was tailgating at a football game it would've been perfect.

We took the tour and learned all about the distilling process. It ended with a tasting and then finally we exited through the gift shop. Traditionally I grab something for my daughters on these trips, but I wasn't going to decorate them in whiskey garb this early in their lives. So we all bought our bottles of Maker's Mark and dipped them in the iconic red wax.

Saying goodbye to Maker's, we took off down the trail heading back home. We decided to pass the other five distilleries and make a stop at Jim Beam. Now if I described Maker's Mark as quaint then Jim Beam is industrial. It was about four times the size of Maker's Mark. We skipped the tour and headed straight to the gift shop, because once you've seen a distillery you've seen them all. Corn gets mashed it's distilled, put in barrels and walla....you got whiskey!

We bought our goods and continued our trek home, but there was still one more thing to do. We needed to stop for our traditional meal. The rule is simple, it has to be local and not a chain. The last two years we've had BBQ and I decided to continue the tradition. We turned off I65 and traveled 15 minutes out of the way to downtown Charleston, Indiana. I got a tip on a place called Bare Shoulder BBQ. The food was delicious and the price was right. I highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be passing through. It's worth the extra 15 minutes to go out of your way.

The day finally ended when Jay, Rob and Tom dropped me off with my car in Edinburgh. Usually our goodbyes last an extra hour, but since we've seen so much of each other lately the goodbye was quick. We would see each other again in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving. Gobble Gobble. Next year, it's Rob's turn to pick a destination. He's already leaning towards Louisville Bats and Churchill Downs. Look out Louisville, we'll be back with our tourism dollars next year!

2012 Dayton, Ohio

December 8, 2012

This year was Tom's turn to pick. He chose the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. I did a little research and discovered that the basketball gym they filmed the movie Hoosiers in was actually on the way off of I70. It's in Knightstown and it is still preserved in the way they shot the movie. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you need to stop reading this post and go watch Hoosiers right now.) Another new development was I had left Chicago and was now back in Indiana, but I was living south of Indy when everyone else lives north. So we met on the west side and started our journey eastward on I-70.

Our first stop was Knightstown, Indiana to visit the Hoosiers Gym. You gotta kind of know what you're looking for. There's not a lot of signs telling you where it is and we in fact drove past it. It's small and unassuming. We walked into the gym and in the tiny lobby area there is a gift shop/museum of sorts but when you walk onto the floor...bam...it hits you. You are on the home court of the infamous Hickory Huskers. (For a great breakdown of the movie, I highly recommend Bill Simmon's classic article.) We were given a tour by one of the workers there and she led us to the team's locker room. It was so filled with mold I couldn't stay down there for more than ten minutes. Afterwards we got to shoot hoops. I believe I won the state championship three times on a last second shot.

But enough about my childhood fantasies, time was ticking and we still had a whole air museum to see. So we piled back into the car and headed over to Dayton. We got there a little after noon and I have to tell you the museum was massive. Of course when you're housing a bunch of bombers and military cargo planes, you're gonna need a big space. It's a well thought out museum that walks you through the entire history of military aviation in the US. In the early stages you quickly discover there are many firsts: First to fly. First to shoot a gun. First to crash. And first to die. Quite frankly a distinction no one really wants.

We made it through the entire museum from no wars to the cold war to the drone wars. The museum closed and we headed on our way back. When we crossed the border into Indiana we decided to exit into Richmond to have dinner. We got a little turned around and found ourselves in New Paris, Ohio at an amazing rib joint called Baumbach's. For those of you keeping count, that's the second year in a row for ending our day dining on ribs. They had a wide variety of sauces and styles of ribs and it was all good. If you're ever passing through the area on I-70 it's worth the stop.

So we finally got back to pick up point to say our goodbyes for me to hop into my car and head home. Our goodbyes usually take a while and I told my brothers that my goal was to keep it short this year. That was said right as I was locking my keys in my trunk. If you're not a member of AAA, I highly recommend it. I called them and then we waited and waited. They promise to break you in they don't promise to be fast. After an hour, the AAA guy came and helped me get back into my car. All in all it was a good day.

2011 Hammond, Indiana

November 19, 2011

This year was Jay's turn to pick. He did his research and went to the trusty Indiana Tourism website and uncovered what looked like a good call. Hammond, Indiana, where Jean Shelton the writer of A Christmas Story is from and based his stories on, was hosting A Christmas Story Festival in the downtown area. Jay thought it would be great to shorten my distance from Chicago on these trips. That was very thoughtful. He sent us all links to the website and we were all very excited.

On the day we met at the Hammond Visitors Station off of I94 & I80. There was a sign that it was going to be a good day. As we met in the parking lot we say Ara Parseghian get in a car and pull away. We went into the Visitors Center and it had A Christmas Story Gift shop as well as a bunch of Christmas Story displays. They looked like what you would find in the window of Macy's (See pictures below) This is exactly what we saw on the website and we were stoked. We all bought out the gift shop and then piled in the car to go to downtown Hammond for the festivities.

If this were a movie, this is where you would hear the record scratch sound effect. When we arrived at downtown Hammond it was a ghost town. There was nothing there except for one hot dog vendor, a turkey bowling station and a person in a bunny suite. Not the bunny pj's Ralphie wore but a bunny suite. The local bank had been abandoned and they decided to try and make it look like Higbee's from the movie. We looked around and got a picture taken with Santa and we were done at noon. So what were we going to do with the rest of the day? Now I had lived for four years in Valparaiso, Indiana and I knew of a great rip place up in Chesteron, so I suggested to my brothers we could either go to Munster and visit Three Floyds or we could go to Chesterton and eat Wagner's Ribs. They were up for the ribs.

The place did not disappoint. Just so you know Wagner's is a bar so no kids are allowed, but we had a great time talking about what a dud Hammond was and enjoying the ribs. Tom bought an extra jar of the sauce to take home. This trip although being bad was definitely one for the storybooks.

2010 Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, IL

October 16, 2010

This year was Rob's turn to pick. He selected Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. The reason why he chose this destination was because our oldest brother Tom was in the Air Force and he was stationed there his entire tour. Rob thought it would be great if Tom could tell us about his time there. I drove down from Chicago and met up with them just outside of the town and we could ride together. For the record I arrived early and they arrived late. Just saying. Anyway, we get to the Air Force base and drive around first. It's really interesting. All the housing has been turned into a weird subdivision. The best part was the Officers Club had now been turned into a daycare center and that seemed extremely appropriate.

We went finally parked and went inside the museum that now resides there. A lot of cool planes and some history of the base. It was just amazing to see how the impact of a base that was closed and what it does to a community after it closes. There are no real stories here. Just a nice stop in a good place. It was great to learn about my brother's time here and his experiences. I do recommend stopping by if you're on your way through, but I wouldn't make a trip out of it. On the way out we dined at a local Mexican restaurant. The food was good and everything was made from scratch. Travel on.