The conference wrapped up on Friday afternoon. Powerful stuff — lots of learning, lots of emotion. Several people cried at the end. You read that right. People attended to work, and they did a lot of that, but they were also moved by the experience. More to say on this soon.    (1RE)

The Krew wrapped things up Friday night and Saturday morning, then we said our goodbyes. I’ll have more to say on these folks as well, as they were a remarkable bunch who played a remarkable role. For now, this will suffice: I already miss them, and look forward to seeing them all again soon.    (1RF)

Saturday afternoon, I picked up my rental car, and with my newly acquired bluegrass album blaring in the background, set off for Fort Wright, Kentucky via Louisville. Louisville’s about three hours north of Nashville and is the home of the Brown Hotel, my dinner destination. I had been wanting to taste the Brown’s speciality — the Hot Brown — ever since learning about them on the fabulous PBS documentary, Sandwiches That You Will Like.    (1RG)

I didn’t come away with the greatest impression of Louisville. It’s a tiny city, and it felt quite gloomy, even on a Saturday night. Welcoming me to Louisville was a billboard of Richard Pryor, exhorting people to boycott KFC because they mistreat chickens.    (1RH)

The Brown Hotel is just off Broadway Street near Theater Square. You can tell that the city is making efforts to revive that area — there’s some construction, some newer buildings, and some public art — but it’s not working yet.    (1RI)

The Hot Brown was good, but not outstanding. Unless you’re driving through anyway (as I was), don’t go out of your way to get one. It’s basically an open faced turkey sandwich soaked in alfredo sauce with bacon and tomatoes. I was worried that it would be too rich, but it was fine.    (1RJ)

I had a slice of Derby Pie to complete the meal. The pie tastes like a giant chocolate chip cookie with walnuts. It’s actually quite good, and it’s not too sweet. Apparently, Kerns Kitchen — also based in Louisville — has a trademark on the term, “Derby pie,” so if you don’t see its name written on the crust, it’s not the real thing.    (1RK)

I finally arrived in Fort Wright around 10:30pm, about six hours after I had left (and including the hour I had lost from the timezone change).    (1RL)