Bro-stown Road

What's up world? It's a beautiful day outside but I'm stuck inside doing a little bit of homework. I decided to take a little break to blog. Today's topic: Bardstown Road.

Bardstown Road (abbreviated to B-town or BTR)  is an interesting destination. Located in the "Highlands" of Louisville, it had a peculiar involvement in my teenage years. It all started at Doug's house one night, early in the summer, shortly after I had returned from my Honduras 'mission' trip.

That summer, Doug's house was quite the bro-hub. It was the summer between junior and senior year, perhaps one of the best summers of my life for various reasons. Everyone started driving late sophomore year, but it wasn't really until the late junior year into that summer when everyone had a car and a license and the American teenager truly became free. With a car came the need of a destination, and in the beginning that destination was Doug's house. Some guys and I would head over to the Harville residence. We'd play Super Smash Brothers and laugh and joke about girls and dream cars and parents whose curfew rules began to be a bother.

A few nights a week we'd make the drive over to Doug's house and enjoy the company of several bros; Cameron and Troy were the most notable. I remember those nights fondly, but it was really the last time playing videogames in the basement with a group of friends would really suffice as a fun night. One night, Cameron threw a curve ball into the mix by mentioning Bardstown Road. Cameron and Troy had been a few times, and was looking for more company.

The way it was described made so much sense to my tender 17 year old persona. When going out at night, the 21 and ups go to bars and clubs. The 18 and ups were typically in college and masterminds of the party industry and had a house party to be at every night. Lastly the cool high school seniors, who weren't quite in college but still mature enough to want to do something at night, had Bardstown Road.

It was the high school party district of Louisville. With Atherton right around the corner, tons of mansions housing high school seniors whose rich parents were never home, and a lively environment to meet the opposite sex, BTR was the place to be on a summer night. Cameron talked it up quite a bit to Doug and I, saying it's single guy heaven. It's where the single guys dress up to meet the single girls who are dressed up to meet the single guys. And if you're looking for a solid high school house party to attend, the invitations come by the plentiful.

So I decided to try it out. On July 4th I believe it was, I drove down to BTR to meet Troy and Cameron and in the process made countless new friends. I was inducted into the culture of summer vacation on Bardstown Road. As promised, the party invitations came almost nightly and the girls came ready to mingle. I ended up making good friends with a guy named Nathan. He and I soon were partners in crime. We'd carpool to Eastern Parkway, wingman for each other all night, and when one of us received a party invite, we both did.

The routine became an every-night thing. I'd get off work at the waterpark at about 8:30, I'd drive home and change and throw on cologne and get ready for the night. By 9:00 to 9:15 I was driving to Nathan's house to pick him up. The whole drive would be spent blasting music from my sound system, cruising BTR from Hurstbourne to Eastern. Once parked and arrived, the night would be spent flirting with girls, stopping by parties, and listening to music one of the thirty patios scattered about.

By August, Nathan and I were such regulars that our names were quite known across the BTR wilderness. It was great. A guy like me on Bardstown with a sound system in his car felt like the high school equivalent of a high roller popping bottles on South Beach with his Ferarri parked out front. It accumulated many stories for me to tell. Every night when I'd get back by my 12:30am curfew, I popped online to chat with Alex about my adventures for the night. Conversations often began with "YOU WILL NEVER FUCKING BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED AT BTR TONIGHT". Some of those chat conversations are saved on my computer for my future enjoyment. BTR was a good time to be had by a 17 year old cocky son of a bitch going into his senior year of high school.

But sooner or later, the charm wore off. As the season ended and the weather changed along with my responsibilities, I grew out of Bardstown Road. It was heaven on Earth (or at least in Louisville) for a senior in high school, but once I saw what the rest of the world had to offer, BTR couldn't keep hold of my attention. After several months of spending every opportunity at BTR, I simply stopped going. In the past three years I may have gone two or three times.

Just the other day Geoff, a fellow RA, and I were talking about us having to hang out over the summer at some point. We both somehow landed on spending a night indulging in the Bardstown Road. So I guess we'll see how that goes in a few weeks. Anyway, enjoy your Tuesday. Until next time...