Last Modified on 9/7/97 at 16:56:04

Day's Narrative: Early this morning Steve and I installed a luggage rack on Steve's bike and made sure there was no damage caused to it during the plane trip from Johannesburg. Everything looked fine. We will find out tomorrow since we will be going on a ride with Dennis and Wendy Price from Defries, Ky. We met them via the internet and have accepted a generous invitation from them to bicycle a few hours in the area.

The remainder of the day Steve Maister, Connie, Jim Poore and I spent the day enjoying the festivities of Munfordville Civil War Days (see photos).

[Connie] There was a parade with high school bands, one accompanied by a drill corps doing impressive flag routines involving the various flags used by different confederate army groups. My favorite was the band [don't remember which school-shame on me] whose uniform hats and tunics were half blue and half-gray. During the Civil War, Kentucky was a neutral state - could these be neutral uniforms?

Tractors, from older ones to a brand-new, big, green, John Deere, many with wives and children riding along with the farmer, added an interesting motorized section. A horse-drawn Amish wagon with father and son clopped along the route.

As seen in one of the pictures accompanying , there was a group of Confederate reenactors marching along the route as if they were the original soldiers whom they portray. These men are committed history lovers who portray soldiers from that War and do battle reenactments as well as encampments as they did today. They were dressed in outfits as close as possible to the original and endeavored to camp in the same way as the originals would have--discounting the presence of some at a local restaurant last night and at the Lions' Pancake breakfast this morning. The inviting smell of smoke that one would associate with a good Southern barbecue drew us to the encampment --tents and lounging soldiers, a teepee of rifles, stew cooking in a cast iron pot (photo 6).

Steve spoke with one of the reenactors about pistols and rifles. The reenactor was quite well-versed in the history of the Civil War and guns . He was more than an actor playing a part. He was a man committed to passing on information about the reality of the war -- in short, a reenactor.

The Old Munford Inn, a log structure now housing the Munfordville Womens' Club, was open for tours and a "Ladies' Tea" where we had a light lunch. The Historical Museum had a concert, guitar and dulcimer, at which songs special to Kentuckians were played. As we have seen happen in the past, when the state song, Stephen Foster's nostalgic "My Old Kentucky Home" was played, soft humming along with the music became soft heartfelt singing from some audience members. The musical duo also played a requested "Dixie" which caused the little boy in front of me, who was seated on a piano stool, to bounce and tap his feet in time to the tune. As with My Old Kentucky Home," some in the audience were also irresistibly drawn to sing along with this regional song, which even we Yankees [me] know.

We walked and looked and Ray and Jim were greeted by old friends and former classmates. By early afternoon, we were pretty worn out and ready for a nap.We all slept for an agreed upon hour. Steve, although going strong even with jet lag, admitted that he was just about to dive down into deep, deep sleep when Ray woke him. We all probably could have napped the afternoon away, but went out for more touring and looking. This may be a very small town, but in the short time we will be here, we won't be able to look at and do all the things we might.