I have driven from Georgia to northern Indiana about 152 million times. Like most of you driving from point A to B, I try to find the most efficient route, the shortest distance and the highest highway speeds. I have a purpose and it is scheduled. I’ve done the drive so many times that I actually compete with myself by trying to beat my best time. This means I make quicker and fewer stops and that I steadily increase my cruise control as I get behind that guy going 90 feeling confident he’ll get nailed by the cop behind the billboard before I do.

I no longer look at the horses in their pastures. I no longer appreciate the bluegrass in Kentucky or the mountains in Tennessee. I drive by the Corvette Museum, which is one of the coolest architectural structures around, and I just check it off as, yep, I’ve hit Bowling Green. I count mile markers and exit signs while I get annoyed with the slowest driver EVER in the LEFT LANE (I know you all feel me on that one).

Returning from my last trip home I decided I was going to change things up a bit. I had recently decided I want to become a whiskey connoisseur (I’ll post about that later). 95% of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky. I drive right by the Bourbon Trail every time I do this trip. Of course I drive by a million other places and things I never see because I don’t take the time to stop and check them out. We all do this. Why? What’s so wrong about getting in an hour or two later than you had previously planned? Why does everything have to be so rushed and scheduled?

Spontaneity kicked in and I was getting off the highway. I made an executive decision. I was going to see the Maker’s Mark distillery.  There’s a sign saying that Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark are sitting right off of I-65. Seriously. And I’d never toured a distillery before. Here I come.  Continue reading