Summer sights and sounds

As long as people have lived in communities, people have built special communities for seasonal get-aways. The cottage at the beach, the mountain cabin, summer hunting camps, fall hunting camps, winter hunting camps, fishing camps, a cabin at the river. The Kentucky River Campground, outside of Frankfort, KY is a summer camp. Of course, with modern conveniences such as insulation and electricity, it's also a year-round camp. Stuart and I had planned to spend a couple of days at the KY Horsepark Campground, in Lexington, but didn't consider the weekend get-away crowd. There was no room at the inn. The KRC was down a narrow, twisty paved road.  Our host showed us the three sites he had open...all obviously previously occupied long-term.
 
Thursday night, as we listened to the bumper crop of cicadas singing, looking at the row of campers waiting for their weekend tenants to arrive, we realized we were looking at a small slice of American underground.  I have vivid memories of the old cottages at the beach.  There are postcards and photos in family albums and displays at local museums of those cottages.  But, I don't know of a collection of photos, yet, of a summer campground community.  There is one in almost every place tourists visit, mostly out of sight of the shopping malls and fancy waterfronts.  These are the vacation homes of working class people.  And, those working folks make a mad dash out of town every Friday afternoon, for the quiet of the golf carts and conversation  with other travel trailer neighbors.  They live outside, no matter the weather, watching outdoor tv's and walking around the campground to see who's not there.  They are quick to offer advice on everything from what local sights to see, to the location of the closest Walmart.  The best part is they accept us, transients and therefore foreigners, as family and friends.

KRC is on the muddy, ever-flowing north Kentucky River.  They say the fishing is good.  We don't know, we're only here for two nights.  But, here beside the cornfield and the river, it's quiet.  And, they've invited us to come back.
   
US Highway 421 North was a blue road on the map, our favorite kind of road.  It was curvy and steep in places, but took us past fields and small towns.  About 10:30, we drove into New Castle, Ky.  Lots of cars parked on the side of the road, flashing lights from emergency vehicles made us think there was a terrible accident.  But, it was the beginning of a parade!  You know we couldn't miss this, so we found a place to park, and walked back.  The African American Pride Heritage Festival parade brought out everyone in town, I believe.  The high school marching band, a couple of notable citizens, and of course,  beauty queesn.  This photo is the 2011 Queen, being greeted by the hostest of the event.  About a dozen past queens were honored just before the parade began, and sat in folding metal chairs to form the viewing 'stand'. Kentucky State University Marching Band came up from Frankfort to perform, to the delight of everyone!  The three block parade was over in about 30 minutes, 30 minutes of pure delight!