SATURDAY, MARCH 31. DRIVE TO NEW ORLEANS
Today was lots of driving. In the morning, I called from the truck and reserved a spot in New Orleans at a safe RV park for the next few nights.
Someone knows something, podcast kept us entertained on the long driving day. I fell asleep quite a few times though. We drove through the rest of Alabama, a corner of Mississippi and finally entered Louisiana and New Orleans.
I don't know why but driving through MIssissippi made me nervous. The formal restrooms have signs say that they have security. The other rest areas have signs saying that there is no security provided.
As we drove I kept shedding layers. It was 4o this morning in Huntsville and 22o by the time we got to New Orleans.
The RV Park turned out to be great and the manager provided us with tons of information for touring around tomorrow. She told us where to park and gave us a sheet with restaurants and all kinds of interesting tidbits on it.
We had dinner in house and then chilled until bedtime.
FRIDAY, MARCH 30. HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA
Today the weather was (you guessed it) RAINY. At 8:15 am the truck, trailer and its two occupants were on their way to Huntsville, Alabama.
Around 11:30 (it was sunny now) we reached the US Space and Rocket Center and after paying admission and, developing a plan to see everything, we began our visit at the IMAX. The movie called, A Beautiful Planet was excellent. It was up close and personal with the astronauts in the International Space Station. Jennifer Lawrence narrated the space station part of the movie and then, the movie went on to talk about how we are harming the earth and need to make changes.
Next, in the adjacent building, was a tour at 1:30 of the Saturn V rocket center. In this building is a scale model and a full size rocket overhead. The tour and exhibits were very interesting.
On the grounds is a rocket park and the space shuttle park with full scale exhibits.
I was also wowed by the interactive look at the International Space Station.
We had planned to spend the night at Walmart but since we were nearby we stopped in at the RV park next door. When we called yesterday, they were booked but, even though the sign on the door said the campground was full, I went in and asked if they had a vacancy. Surprisingly, there was one spot left on a slightly uneven site and we took it. We now had a place to spend the night. The manager gave us a map of Huntsville and the first restaurant listed was Schnitzel Barn. I took it as a sign and found us a great German restaurant. We had the best schnitzel for dinner. It was a glorious end to our day.
Traffic in Nashville is awful (kind of likeToronto), We drove back into Nashville to visit the Tennessee State Museum. It is a good thing to do indoors since it is raining yet again. There were flood warnings on tv in parts of Tennessee but we are fine. When we were at the Grand Old Opry, they showed a film from when it flooded in 2010. The place was under 4 feet of water. Everything was destroyed but, fortunately it has been beautifully renovated.
The Tennessee State Museum has 3 floors with lots of stuff to ready and see and we were there until after 2. There are exhibits about the Civil War and Tennessee History right back to Paleolithic times. I learned a little tidbit. In the 1760's , Long Hunters crossed the Appalachians for long hunting trips. It was a dangerous but generally profitable occupation. A good buck deer's skin was worth one dollar, which came to be called a BUCK.
Secondly today we sought out the Parthenon at Centennial Park. Nashville's Partheonon is an exact full size replica of the Parthenon in the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. This building houses a 42 foot high sculpture of Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
On the way back to the RV, we again found ourselves in stop and go traffic but we made it and then cooked some stuffed peppers from Costco for dinner. Friday we are moving on to Huntsville, Alabama.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28. NASHVILLE, TENN.
The weather teased us yesterday with some sun and warmth but today we are back to rain. It is still warmer though. I might be able to finally shed my winter coat.
Today we continued our tradition of visiting state capitols with the one in Nashville. Our Rv park is about 1/2 from downtown but not when there is an accident on the interstate as we experience this morning. When we finally did get downtown, we realized that there is no parking to visit the state building so, we had to find street parking a few blocks away. We don't mind walking but it was windy and raining quite heavily so it wasn't a pleasant stroll. When we arrived in the State Building, we were searched and then informed that there was no tour available until 11ish. We waited and waited while the tour guides spoke to two school groups. Finally, they said the tour guides were going to lunch. One tour guide took pity on us and showed us upstairs where the members sat and gave us a quick talk. After the guide left us, we went up into the gallery and wandered around on our own for a bit. Carl started a conversation with a couple from Ohio and determined they were originally from Russia. The woman had won a green card in the lottery and they(her and her husband) have been in the US for 14 years now.
You cannot go to Nashville and not visit the Johnny Cash Museum so, that was our next stop. Parking in Nashville is crazy expensive ($20 for 2 hours). We parked again at another meter. The Johnny Cash Museum(JCM) was very thorough and very busy. I learned a lot about his music career and also his film career. I didn't even realized that Johnny Cash had been featured in about 6 movies. We met Johnny's younger brother, Tommy who was visiting the museum and selling his 8X10 glossy's and cd's. We didn't bite at his offer. Just before you leave the museum, a video/song called Hurt that Johnny had recorded near the end of his life, was running on a continuous loop. It was about the end of his life and career and how he would trade it all away. It was very poignant.
Needing fuel for the trick and ourselves we found the nearest Costco. Fuel of both kinds was much less expensive here than anywhere else. As usual, when you go to Costco, you come home with more than you went in for. Carl sure had fun trying to fit our purchases into our tiny trailer frig.
This evening finds us making plans for our next stop in Alabama.
TUESDAY, MARCH 27. CAVE CITY, BOWLING GREEN TO NASHVILLE, TENN.
The Corvette Museum and GM Assembly Plant are just off I-65 and visible from the highway. Today we get to go visit the National Corvette Museum. The GM Assembly plant tours have been suspended until June 2019 so that was a bit of a disappointment.
The Corvette Museum was great. Lots of cars of all ages. The highlight for me was the exhibit/simulator of when a sinkhole opened up and swallowed about 10 of their corvettes depositing them 35 feet below. Two of these cars have been restored but the rest are on display (dirt and all). On the floor is an outline of where the sinkhole opened up. It cost them 4 million dollars to fill it in properly and return the museum to its original state. We were fortunate to catch up with a tour guide and he had some interesting antecdotes to tell. For example, he told us about a man who loved his corvette so much that he was buried in it.
There was a mural of a corvette that was made up entirely of pictures of people and their corvettes. It was very neat.
There was a mural of a corvette that was made up entirely of pictures of people and their corvettes. It was very neat.
In the early afternoon, we left the car museum and turned our interests to booze at the Corsair Artisan Distillery in Bowling Green. We took the tour which included 4 tastings each. This company makes several types or gin, absynthe, and whiskey. I had a 1/2shot of pumpkin spice moonshine and their red absynthe. Carl tried four different drinks but didn't buy anything. We cannot bring home much liquor anyway.
An hour and a half later and we were parked at the Grand Ole RV Resort, just outside Nashville. The first things we needed to do was get tickets to the Grand Ole Oprey. When we registered at the front desk there was a note that someone was trying to sell their tickets so the manager put us in touch and then we had tickets for tonights show. The show turned out to be quite good. There were six country artists singing. I hadn't really heard of any of them but that didn't matter. The show was over at 9:15 and then there was another show after that. They said the demand had been growing and that was why they now had two sittings.
MONDAY, MARCH 26. LOUISVILLE TO CAVE CITY
The visit to Louisville was fun but it was time to move onto Bowling Green. The timing worked out really well. On the weekends, there is hardly any traffic downtown and its fairly easy to get a parking spot on the street so, it made touring really easy.
This morning we headed to Cave City to see Mammoth Cave National Park. As we approached the sign notified that we were entering the Central Time Zone. Darn, had I known I could have slept in. The entrance to this park is free. It turns out that it is spring break so all the tours were booked up until April 1st. No problem though, since the self guided tour is only $5 pp and there are several rangers available if you have questions. The caves are incredible, eery and beautiful. We saw only a short piece of the over 400 miles of caves that have been mapped. The Visitor Center Museum provides more information on the cave formations. After leaving the VC we visited an old cemetary ( when it became a NP, all houses were moved but churches and cemetaries stayed) and got a picture with the entrance sign. We returned to our trailer after 3 and made plans for the next day.
SUNDAY, MARCH 25. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
After a day and night of sleet and rain it was nice to see the sun shining today but as I soon discovered it was still quite cool. Most tourist venues open at 11 today so we took our time heading out.
I never thought that I would be at the place where the Kentucky Derby was run. It was fun last year at Jessica's shower to bet on the horses and watches the races. We wandered around the museum, watched a movie, and had a tour of the track. It was very interesting.
Back on Market St. we visited the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The factory tour showed how baseball bats were made before and after modern machinery. They also showed the bats used by several major league ball players. Carl has his picture taken with a wax statue of Babe Ruth. He also posed with the bat of Carl Ripken Jr.
4th Street Live is a pedestrian mall downtown with eateries, retail and dining under a glass ceiling that covers the roof of the area. A very cool idea!
4th Street also has a large Historic area called Old Louisville and that is where we went next. This is purportedly America's largest Victorian neighbourhood. Houses are in a range of styles which include Queen Anne, Renaissance Revival and Chateauesque. Each house proved to be unique and quite interesting. It appeared that many of these old homes have been converted to apartments.
That concluded our touring for today so we headed back to the trailer to get some dinner.
SATURDAY, MARCH 24. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
It rained all night and it continued into the morning. We set off late for the Muhammad Ali Center. Although I am not a big boxing fan, the center proved to be very interesting with lots of live footage and exhibits.
Nearby there are two glass blowing galleries. We visited both and watched some live glass blowing. Many products of their efforts are available for sale.
The Frazier History Museum was located just around the corner. This museum houses such interesting items such as the Boone Family bible and Gen. George Armstrong Custer's ivory-handled colt pistols. The Lewis & Clark Experience was really well done with lots of staged scenery. Around 4 pm, we were both pooped and headed back to our trailer.
A home made chicken stirfry provided us with a delicious, nutritious dinner and then the TV entertained us until bedtime.
CHURCH SIGN
LOOKIN' FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
FRIDAY, MARCH 23. WAPAKANETA TO LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKYCHURCH SIGN
For dinner last night we found a Bob Evans that we could walk over to. They had a great Alaska cod special that we both went for. It was pretty good but not low-cal so, the walk back to the trailer was necessary.
This morning we slept until after 7 and took our time getting moving. Just as we were going to pull out, we were approached by a man asking what size our trailer was so, we gave him the tour and then went on our way.
A short time later after a hearty breakfast at Subway, we got detained at a Menard's, just off the highway. Lunch was once again brought from home and eaten on the way.
We arrived Clarksville, Indiana at 3:15 pm, registered and then got set
up in our rv space. The skies are looking pretty grey and I believe rain is in the forecast for tomorrow.
THURSDAY, MARCH 22. DRIVE TO WAPAKONETA
up in our rv space. The skies are looking pretty grey and I believe rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. 
We pulled out of driveway at 7:15am. There was some traffic on the way out of the GTA but it wasn't bad. A fast food breakfast at McDonald's near London (with coupons) started our holiday. Lunch was brought from home, retrieved from the trailer and eaten on the way. 1:30pm found us crossing the border at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor. There was only one car ahead of us at Customs. They asked us the usual questions about food, how long were we staying and how much money did we have. The bridge toll was $12.50 for our truck and trailer.
We arrived safely in Walmart, Wapakoneta at 5:30 and made plans to do some shopping and get some dinner. I bought some girl guide cookies and they told me that they had 7 1/2 inches of snow yesterday.
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