Sunday, June 10, 2012

Bouncing Around Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio - 2012

Before it slips my mind again, let me introduce you to our new GPS.  She’s been with us for almost six months now and we’re getting used to each other.  Like her predecessor, her name is Nuvi because we are decidedly unoriginal when it comes to naming inanimate objects.  Unlike her predecessor, an American male who tended to get hysterical if you didn’t do exactly what he told you to do (and then pouted if you ignored him more than twice), this business-like woman issues her instructions in a stern voice and recovers very quickly with the next option if you didn’t follow instructions the first time.  She seems to know when you’ve deliberately ignored her or when you’ve simply over-shot a turn and issues her next directive accordingly.  She does not recalculate, she adjusts.  Smart woman.  However, she does share her predecessor’s slight dyslexia…what she tells you is up here ahead on the right is very often up here ahead on the left.  And vice versa.  Nuvi I had trouble pronouncing Walmart, rolling the “wal” around in his mouth like a wad of chewing gum; Nuvi II cannot pronounce “supercenter”(it comes out sue-purse’-in-ter) but we love her just the same.

Patton Museum

So with Nuvi II’s assistance, we located our campground in Glendale, Kentucky and made forays from there northward to Fort Knox to visit the General Patton Museum.  The museum is in a state of transition, with the Armor School and its remaining armor units -- the 194th Armored Brigade and the 316th Cavalry Brigade, having been moved to Fort Benning, Georgia and replaced with a museum devoted to the subject of leadership.  We did see replicas of Patton’s pearl-handled revolvers, his reconstructed staff car and various bits and pieces of military attire.  Gold DepositoryThere’s a sizeable auditorium where a constant loop of the George C. Scott movie, Patton, is played.  Not far from the museum, the highway passes within a short distance of the National Gold Depository where the nation’s supply of bullion is stored.  Tours are not allowed, not that there’s anything left in there anyhow, but we were able to pull off the road and take this photo.  Altogether, this was not an exciting trip and we were soon on our way back to Glendale.

At the visitors center in Elizabethtown (called E-town by the locals) we picked up a Swopes Museumbrochure for the Swope’s  Cars of Yesteryear Museum and we’re so happy we did.  It’s a little treasure.  The museum sits amid several Swopes owned and operated car dealerships and is open to the public with no admission fee.  The cars are beautifully restored, although not all to original standards.  The gorgeous saddle tan and burgundy roadster probably was available in basic black when it was brand new.  One of my favorites was a ‘56 T-bird in  a desert coral color.   There was also a Nash Metropolitan – remember them? – which looks downright roomy and comfortable compared with some of the sub-compacts of today.  Not to mention a little more stylish.

Lincoln Birthplace

The next day we took a scenic byway to visit the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP near Hodgenville at the site of Sinking Spring Farm once owned by Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, Abraham’s parents.  The memorial surrounds the log cabin where Lincoln was born and is reached by 57 steps, one for each year of his life.  Unfortunately the farm was lost in a land dispute and the Lincolns moved to Knob Creek Lincoln Knob Creek Homewhere Abe spent his boyhood.  It’s hard to imagine a family of four living in the small square cabin which has only one window and one door. A knob, by the way, is what they call hills around this part of Kentucky.   The scenic byway led us eventually to Bardstown with its historic downtown.

 

Bourbon Museum

 

Naturally we had to pay a visit to the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History and the Bardstown Historical Museum.  The whiskey museum told us more than we needed to know about bourbon.  We were told there’s a building in town with a cannonball imbedded in a wall, a scar from Civil War days, but we weren’t able to locate it on a quick drive-by and with serious storm-clouds gathering we opted to forego history and head back to the coach before the skies opened up.

Our final night in Glendale was on the soggy side with a heavy rain that lasted most of the night but at least the tornado warnings remained much further north of us.  It was still dripping the next day as we pulled out for the drive to Huntington, West Virginia.  We encountered fairly heavy rains around Lexington but by the time we reached our campground, it was merely overcast.  We’ve often stayed at campgrounds that are “multi-purpose” but never one that was both an RV park and Skydiveran airfield.  Air activity was up and running by 9:00 the next morning with someone practicing touch-and-goes on the grass strip behind our coach.  We were gone most of the day so it didn’t bother us in the least and by the time we got back late afternoon the skydivers were making their last jump of the day.  The group we saw was very accurate, landing on their feet within a few yards of the clubhouse.  Good thing, too, because just beyond the hedgerow is the Ohio River. 

National Radio Museum

While others were jumping out of planes, we were in downtown Huntington visiting the Museum of Radio & Technology, another freebie, crammed chock-a-block with old radios, phonographs, shortwaves, computers and television sets with round screens.  When faced with those monster radios with their knobs and dials, fabric-covered speakers and wooden cases one cannot help but hear the ghostly voices of their favorite radio shows from childhood.  Why did we always sit on the floor and stare at the radio?  Were we just practicing for the days when television would come along and knock the radio off its entertainment pedestal?

J Taylor CollectionOur next stop was the J. Taylor Auto Collection, generously displayed to the public at no charge by the proud owner.  This 1930 Cadillac limousine was reported to be air conditioned.  I’m not sure how well it worked but there was a tiny fan affixed to the steering column, pointing straight at the driver’s face.  With its V-16 engine, the car probably could have reached sufficient speed to keep things cool inside, even without the little fan.  This was another stellar array of impressive old cars, including the ‘64 Impala one of the docents drives back and forth to work each day. 

Cambridge Glass MuseumRarely do we travel on Sundays but we’re on a condensed schedule so we traveled through the hills and hollows of West Virginia, enjoying the sunny skies and pretty scenery.  We arrived in Cambridge, Ohio shortly after noon and got hooked up before dashing off to town in search of a Sunday newspaper.  And aren’t we glad we did!  Howie noticed a sign for a museum and we followed the arrows to the National Museum of Cambridge Glass.  We arrived with an hour to spare and the hostess volunteered to stay late if we didn’t finish our tour by closing time.  The Cambridge Glass Company opened in 1902 and continued operation until 1958.  The museum is maintained by the members of an organization devoted to the collection of Cambridge glassware.  Beautifully displayed and lit in sparkling glass cases, the array of shapes and colors was dazzling.  The blues, reds and greens were particularly rich and vibrant.  It wasn’t so much a downturn in the economy that put Cambridge Glass out of business but a trend toward…yuk…plastic, cheaper products from the Orient and a lack of interest on the part of the American housewife in tending to large collections of stemware.

With only two days in town, we made haste on Monday morning to visit downtown Cambridge.  Signs led us to Mosser Glass, founded by a former employee of Cambridge Glass.  We were shown through the factory to watch pressed glass pieces being made.  It’s a  fascinating  process which has probably not changed much over the ages.  The guide told us that machines sometimes do the pressing but in the case of Mosser the glassmaker pulls the heavy lever to compress the molten glass into the mold.   With an abbreviated range of colors and patterns, Mosser continues to survive in a niche market.  They also have a second factory which makes glass products for the pharmaceutical trade…beakers, funnels and such.

Our final stop in Cambridge was The Hopalong Cassidy Museum and Antique Store.  The museum was free, thank heavens.  It would be difficult to decide how much that experience might be worth in terms of admission fee.  I did see a photograph of Guy Madison, just like the one I had as a pre-teen.  If only I’d had the foresight to save all that clutter.

1 comment:

Don and Linda said...

I'll take notes from your blog to hit some of these places when we head out in Sep. Hope we can connect this year although we are getting a very slow start. Drive safe.