Kentucky – CountUp

The Bluegrass State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This post is all about the great state of Kentucky. My first visit to Kentucky occurred a few days before the 4TH Of July in 2005. My brother was living in Dublin Ohio (just outside of Columbus). I flew to Columbus, and then we embarked on a fun road-trip together that took us up to Windsor Ontario Canada (via Detroit). We then took I-75 all the way southward through Cincinnati and into Northern Kentucky. We spent the night at a hotel right next to the Ohio River off (and below) the Interstate. We drove around Covington and Newport and discovered the Newport On The Levee shopping, dining, and entertainment complex overlooking the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline. That was a fun first visit into Kentucky – 21 years ago.

My brother had no idea whatsoever that he would eventually live in the Cincinnati area, but that’s exactly what happened 8 years later in 2013. He moved from the Dallas Texas area to West Chester Township – a northern suburb of Cincinnati. My first trip to his new house was actually part of a 15-day / 13-state / 3,666-mile road-trip from November 16TH to 30TH of 2013. On the 6TH day I drove from the Wichita Falls Texas area to the Saint Louis Missouri area. The next day I drove I-270, I-255, I-55, I-70, I-465, I-74, I-275, and I-75 to my brother’s house. On the day after Thanksgiving (returning southward) I drove through the heart of Kentucky along I-75.

Fun Fact: My Saturn Ion 3 Sedan (my longest-running car ever) had a little over 100,000 miles on it when I started the road-trip. At the end of the road trip – a little over 104,000 miles.

I did one more road-trip to and from Southwestern Ohio through Kentucky while my brother lived there. That was in November 2017, and on my return trip southward I got to explore the Creation Museum along I-275, and Sanders Cafe & Museum – where Kentucky Fried Chicken started in Corbin.

Most of my trips to and from the Cincinnati area were through Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport (#CVG). I loved that airport.

My brother and his family moved back to the Dallas Texas area in 2019, and I must say that I miss visiting Ohio and Kentucky. I was actually planning my next road-trip to and from the Cincinnati area where I would explore more of Kentucky either on the way up or on the way down. I really wanted to check out Mammoth Cave National Park off I-65. I’m not ruling out a future trip to Kentucky to explore it as well as other areas in the state.

Soon I’ll be flying in to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (#SDF) for my Ohio River cruise. I’ll get to see a small portion of Louisville – the 7 miles from the airport to the hotel to the ship on the banks of the Ohio River. And then I’ll get to see Northern Kentucky for the first 4 days of the cruise on the starboard side of the ship.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Hoosier State” – Indiana. Let’s keep traveling together.

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. “I’m going on a cruise” – are 5 words I never thought I would say anytime soon. My 24TH and final cruise was back in January 2023 on the Carnival Celebration. It was on the newest and biggest cruise ship I had ever been on, and it was a fantastic Eastern Caribbean cruise. It was the perfect cruise to end on after 31 years. I wrote about it in a 6-part / 6-week series.

And then I bought a home in Sebring a month later, and I moved in to it a month after that – while still owning my longtime 30-year home in Homestead. And then I retired after almost 39 years with the USAF.

A 25TH cruise was definitely not on my docket.

And then I went on a retirement road-trip in April 2024. It lasted 18 days, and I accumulated 2,800+ miles to and from North Texas. On Day 3 of that road-trip I arrived in Natchez Mississippi for the night, and I ventured downhill on steep Silver Street to alongside the mighty Mississippi River. And that’s when I saw a Viking cruise ship docked on the banks of the river. Lots of passengers were enjoying their port-of-call for the day.

Ever since that moment on April 03RD 2024 I was intrigued about Viking cruise ships, river cruising in general, and how much money I would have to spend to get on one of those cruises to continue my retirement goal of seeing the U.S.A. They are not cheap. Nearly every river cruise (whether it’s here in the U.S.A. or abroad) costs more than nearly every ocean cruise.

I continued my research off-and-on throughout 2024 and 2025. After seeing their magazine and televisions ads I began zoning in on the family-owned American Cruise Lines (#ACL) and their 28 ships operating solely along U.S. rivers, lakes, and coastlines. They offer about 50 different itineraries in 35 states.

I eventually booked what I like to call a “starter cruise”. It’s on the Ohio River. It starts in Louisville Kentucky, and it ends in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 8 days later. (I’ve never been to either city.)

Ports-of-call along the way upstream (with 14 locks and dams) include Madison Indiana, Cincinnati Ohio, and Marietta Ohio. (Cincinnati is the only city I’ve visited, as my family lived there for 6 years during the 2010s.)

I got a really good deal on this cruise – with free airfare from Sarasota-Bradenton (#SRQ) to Louisville, and then from Pittsburgh back to #SRQ. Also – the hotel night before the cruise is complimentary, and I got $1,000 in instant savings when I booked in February. It’s still my most expensive (by far) cruise to date, and it’s on the smallest cruise ship. I’ll be 1 of 150 passengers (if sold out).

I’m following several Facebook groups of #ACL cruisers (past, present, and future), and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. And I know that river cruising – just as ocean cruising – is not for everyone. I’m looking forward to this cruise. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great time onboard and in each of the ports-of-call. I also have a feeling that I may be enticed to book my next cruise with them (for 2027), so I’m already looking at potential itineraries so that I’m ready in the event that I get a really good deal onboard.

This cruise is later this year, and you’ll know that I’ve returned back home from it once I begin an extended series documenting it all here on #TravelThursday. As for next week – it’s an update on miles driven so far in 2026. Let’s keep traveling together.