Well, we got to Louisville (actually, Taylorsville) around 1:30 or so, Eastern Time. We were amazed at the traffic on I-65 from Indianapolis to Louisville at 11 AM on a Sunday. I'd hate to see actual traffic on that road. Down at the south end of that stretch, 10 miles from the border (the Ohio River), we ran into some construction that has been going in fits and starts for most of my life. I don't know if we've ever been able to get over the bridge there at full speed. The roadway heading there is a mess, the roadway out is a mess (nicknamed “Spaghetti Junction,” though I think it may have been cleaned up somewhat over the years), and all of the other highways in the area are a mess. There are some stretches that are flat and smooth with gentle curves, but not anywhere near where those features would do the most good.
Anyway, Taylorsville is on the east side of Louisville, out kind of along the beltway I-265 (though we'd taken a side trip to drive by the older house that I had associated with my dad's parents when I was a kid). We managed to get where we wanted to go without making any significant U-turns (there was one intersection, but Dad just noticed he had to turn left, though he wasn't in the “middle” lane to be able to do that).
I had a hell of a time getting some sleep last night because of my dad's snoring. I guess he has a wedge-shaped pillow that he sometimes brings on trips that alleviates the problem, but we didn't bring it this trip. Sucks to be me. Anyway, I tossed and turned for about half an hour after I wrote the last entry, then finally decided that I wasn't going to be able to sleep at all unless I had something to cover up the noise. I pulled out my CD player, which fortunately has an FM tuner on it. Amazingly, the first station the channel-scanner found was a pretty good mixed classic-/modern-rock station. Kind of a weird combination, but it seemed to work well. In fact, I think that little station on the border of nowhere probably beats out 93X/KQRS for good programming by a large margin. There were some things I didn't like—some of the songs were a little too bluesy or conutry-y for my tastes, but those maladies were overcome by other excellent selections. I hope that the station broadcasts on the Internet.
Just to try and compete with the big boys in a small way, the station calls itself “K-Rock”, though the call letters are “WRHK” (wrahk?) I suppose stations east of the Mississippi have to pull the K- part out of their ass, while western stations have legitimate claim to the letter…
Still, I think the station should probably bribe the FCC to steal KROC's call letters from Rochester, MN. The Rochester station has been a top-40s station for ages, definitely not deserving of its call sign.
I listened to the station for about three and a half hours until the great programming was interrupted by The House of Blues Blues Hour or whatever it's called. I'm just not much of a blues person, at least not what Dan Aykroyd likes to call blues...
Fortunately, this was about time for me to get up anyway. I was rested enough, though lacking any actual sleep last night, I'm glad I didn't have to drive today.
Hmm. I should probably look up an Internet cafe or something so I can post these messages, though I'm a bit concerned about security in those places…
Posted by mike at February 15, 2004 01:57 PM | Car , Family , Kentucky 2004 , Music | TrackBack