May 28-29, 2018 Paducah, Kentucky

90's and humid again, then turned to rain and a bit cooler.

The unusual square looking bridge over the Tennessee River.  The bus at the commercial  Victory RV park near Paducah, Ky. No tree,picnic table, a small patch of grass. We would be close to the neighbors, but there are none on this side. Notice how high the electrical plug in is- it is because we are in a flood plain near the Ohio river. But quiet, mostly dark and enough power to run the AC. 

In downtown Paducah at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers there are 50 murals along the flood wall depicting the history of the area. Also this flood gauge on the flood wall showing the high water marks for the past floods. It tops out  at 61 feet. Looks like the highest flood in 2011 was 55 feet above  river level. A big thunder storm is rolling in over the Ohio river.

Historic buildings along the river front. It was Memorial day, everything was closed so it was pretty deserted. An area of the street is still brick by the flood wall. 

During the thunderstorm we went into the River Discovery center. It is in the only antebellum building in Paducah meaning it  was not destroyed in the Civil War. Lots of battles here. All sites along the rivers were big battles over control of the rivers since they were the main transportation at the time. John drove the ship simulator. He drove a  coastguard vessel and crashed it. This interesting chart shows how much a barge can carry compared to train cars and semi's. One barge equals 15 jumbo hopper train cars and 58 semi trucks. One tow of 15 barges equals 225 jumbo rail cars and 870 semi's. If possible most goods are transported on barges. Three historic buildings in downtown. The Columbia theatre, a church and a huge hotel. Three historic buildings in downtown. The Columbia theatre, a church and a huge hotel.

 John standing before the high flood water marks downtown holding his breath since he is below the highest in 1937. All are  before the flood wall was built. John with his Under tow double IPA in front of a tank of the same at the Dry Ground Brewery.

A tux rental place called Mister Penguin, peanuts at the brewery with a notice that product contains peanuts, a sign for Rocky Point Copper Stills and John in front of a Mikado train engine built in 1923. Paducah Locomotive Shops started building  locomotives in 1929, later rebuilding and updating diesel locomotives. 

Today we went to Metropolis, Illinois to go to the Superman Museum. Welcome to Metropolis, Home of Superman, Giant Statue and Super Museum, Supernirs-Largest selection of currently licenced gift items and souvenirs on this planet. The 15 foot Superman statue in front of the court house. 

John and I as superman and superwoman. Superman changing in the phone booth, It's a bird, it's a plane, It's Superman! The bathrooms at the Super museum. 

The museum 40,000 Superman items worth $2.5 million. They chronicle the life of America's comic, television and movie hero from the time when the Superman comic strip was in the paper in 1940 to Lois and Clark television series in the mid 1990's. Original Superman costumes worn in the movies and on TV.  Superman's cape that Christopher Reeve wore, the Clark Kent break away shirt that George Reeves wore for quick changes, and the flying harness worn under Christopher Reeves costume when he was hoisted up on wires by a 200 foot crane in 1978. The crane would slingshot him through buildings and landscapes. These were risky performances all done by Christopher Reeve himself rather than stuntmen. And many many more things, including almost every superman toy made. 

Darn we will miss the Superman Celebration next weekend here in Metropolis. John was not happy when I asked him to model the Clark Kent glasses, glow in the dark kryptonite and Lex Luthor's lab computer.  Superman with me at the museum and John with the Lois statue downtown.

 An original  5, dime and dollar store. We had lunch at the 718 BrewCafe, a brewpub in Metropolis. It was more of a cafe than a brew pub, the food was pretty bland. There were only two beers, a wheat and a dark. 

Back in Paducah, Ky are these two statues. The first one is titled Wacinton (to have understanding) hand chiseled from a local 56,000 lb red oak to honor the Chickasaw Indians who lived and hunted in this area by sculptor Peter Toth. We have seen  numerous Indian sculptures by him across the nation. The second on is a marble statue of Chief Paduke for whom Gen William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) named Paducah. The National Quilt museum was phenomenal. It had an amazing display of really intricate quilts. Also some of the museums miniature quilts were shown. They were all less than 24 inches per side and the pieces in those are microscopic. They will not allow photos inside the exhibits. Good thing because I would have taken numerous ones of each quilt. I took this one in the lobby-allowed there. The two on the bottom are stained glass windows of scenes that have inspired some of the quilts. There are 16 of them. 

We visited the last brewery in area, Paducah Beer Werks. John with his pale ale. They were out of their IPA which is what he usually tastes. My masterpiece is taking shape. Only one more row planned. Then the finishing touches. 

May 27 2018 Sturgis, Kentucky

90+ degrees, way too much humidity with the heat index at 100 degrees.

We went back into Illinois to visit Garden of the Gods. It is an area of rock formations reminiscent of southern Utah in a thick forest. Very surprising to see in Illinois. We walked on the Observation Trail. It is 1/4 mile long with lots of spurs to overlooks and rock formations. Caution should be used because there are high cliffs. We were stuck in a traffic jam on the way there because two people had fallen off one of the cliffs and the emergency personnel were rescuing them. As we were talking to one of the rangers involved in the rescue he was picking ticks off. Another reason to stay in the nice air conditioned car. 

There were cool weird textures, streaks and circular bands of raised reddish brown formations in the face of the bluff. 

A view of the the wilderness area from the bluff.  It was of course Memorial Day weekend and the place was packed. The ranger told us that people fall off the cliffs here all the time. 3 so far this weekend. Watching these people on the rocks we were not surprised. John says gravity works. See the tiny people on top of the bluffs? 

Devil's smokestack rising above the trees. There were plenty of cool rocks under the tree canopy too. Very beautiful place.

A tree with crossed legs, caution high cliff ahead, and a wild petunia. This statue of Bigfoot was near the Garden of the Gods Outpost. There were footprints painted from the statue across the street to the outpost- like he came over for ice cream. The outpost sold lots of Bigfoot memorabilia. 

We stopped at Pound's Hollow where there is a beach and swimming. It was pretty crowded but we waded in the water. It was nice in the heat. Cave in Rock state park is on the Ohio River. It is a big cave. It has a lot of history. It has been noted on all the explorers maps. Even Lewis and Clark's.

 It was known to be an ideal lair for outlaws, bandits and river pirates who preyed on the people traveling along the Ohio River.  At one point the cavern was converted into a tavern called Cave-in-Rock. The cave served as a backdrop for a scene in the movie "How the West Was Won". It is a pretty cool, big cave. John inside the cave and illuminated in the beam of light. Looking back out at the river.

 Another photo of John in a smaller cave down the beach. This one you could look up and see sky and vegetation  through a hole. After Cave in Rock we drove down to Elizabethtown and had fried catfish on the floating E-town River Restaurant on the outdoor deck as the waves rocked the building. Beautiful historic downtown Elizabethtown and the restaurant.

 Then back to Cave in Rock to catch the ferry back to Kentucky.  Beautiful downtown Cave in Rock and driving onto the ferry. To the right of the Cave in Rock photo is a phone pole by the ferry that was painted in feet for measuring flood levels. It stops at 57 feet. Downtown Cave in Rock is decorated with lots of these painted bicycles. Lewis and Clark also stopped here on their way down the Ohio. Here they are eyeing one of the bikes. On the Kentucky side of the river is Amish country. A horse and buggy caution sign and a horse and buggy going by.

 A view of the cool looking clouds over the Ohio River. Sunset from camp.

 Another row and more beads added to the basket today. 

May 25-26, 2018 Sturgis, Kentucky

We didn't have reservations for the holiday weekend so John scrambled and found this great place at Union county fairgrounds in Sturgis, Kentucky.

Beautiful day over western Kentucky farm land. Downtown Sturgis, Kentucky. They have a  Sturgis, Kentucky bike rally in July. It was called Little Sturgis but Sturgis South Dakota sued them and they lost. Had to pay a fine of $100,000. The city sold the rally to a motorcycle shop in town and they have continued having it with another name. 

Welcome to Sturgis. Sign on the hardware/ feed store for livestock chutes- "Easy on the cow and Easy on the Cowboy", City of Sturgis welcomes you. Not sure what the Enough is Enough on this political sign, but we saw a few of them. Next to the fairground where we are camped is Ervin Cable co. We think it is phone cables since they have this Pole Farm training facility. 

There was no power in the RV site at the fairgrounds. John called the city two brothers who work together came out and flipped on breakers. John tested the power in the pedestal and it was twice the amount of power as usual and it would have burnt out the bus. The guys called their boss and when he checked it it was fine. John's multimeter needs a new battery. The guys were very prompt and polite. Very entertaining to talk to the Kentucky locals. Learned alot about the area. The bus parked at the fairgrounds. We are the only campers here tonight. No events planned for the weekend here. Very quiet, except for the frogs. We are camped on a lake, later I saw the sign that said water treatment plant. Oh well it looks like a nice lake and does not smell. Two other real lakes here too. 

Sunset tonight over one of the real lakes. My masterpiece in progress. 

We went from Kentucky over the Ohio River into Illinois, then Indiana to the low point of Indiana, then back to Illinois and Kentucky. John is low pointing in all the states. He says everyone else high points. And the low points are generally easier to get to. I follow along to take the photo. The low point of Indiana is where the Wabash river meets the Ohio River. I followed over all the downed branches, the mud, trash, mosquito, tick and snake habitat but stopped when it became  knee deep foliage with poison ivy.

John on his way to the low point of Indiana in knee deep foliage with poison ivy. We drove on the Ohio River Scenic byway, also the Illinois Scenic Byway. It was mostly  farms, some with silo's bigger than their houses.

Driving over the Wabash River. We met some really BIG tractors. back in Sturgis this sign on mainstreet says  Nearby coal fields supplied the fuel for the steamboat the Robert E. Lee in a race against the Natchez in 1870. The greatest race in river history began in New Orleans and ended in St Louis. The Lee won by 6 hours and 15 minutes. Both steamboat captains were natives of Kentucky. The Saturn mfg is in the industrial park here in Sturgis, conveniently located near the fairgrounds we are camped in. 

We stopped in Old Shawneetown, Illinois, the oldest town in Illinois settled in 1793 at Nate's bar and grill for lunch. It was the only thing open in town. Lewis and Clark stopped here in 1803 on their journey down the Ohio river to procure a supply of salt from the "squatters" . The area would soon become the gateway for the settlement of the state of Illinois. The old historic bank and downtown Old Shawneetown. 

Nate's bar and Grill in Old Shawneetown was the only bar or grill or town we passed on our trip today and the only thing we saw open in Old Shawneetown. Most of the patrons were drinking Coors, and Bud Lite. While we were at Nate's the Redneck Express party bus pulled up in front and dropped off a load of rednecks. They said they were stopping everywhere.

  Our campsite at Union County Fairgrounds looks much better with the sun on it. We still have it all to ourselves. The fairgrounds, airport and industrial park are all here. I added another row and some beads to my current masterpiece. 

Sunset over downtown Sturgis. The sun looked as wide as the street when it set.  Sunset over the 'lake' we are camped by.