When we left Columbia we drove up to Waynesville. N.C. parked right on a nice little mountain stream and goofed off for two weeks, we did a few mountain drives to some little towns and some friends from Green Bay stopped in for a few days so we did a lot of catching up with them.
Then it was on to Knoxville, we always stop in Knoxville because of McKay’s book store, this is the best used book store in the country, we get there at 10 in the morning and leave for lunch about 1:30, and we went there twice in 5 days. Some more fiends from Shelby Ohio stopped in here for two days on their way home, so we did a bunch of running around with them.
Our next move was to Lexington, Ky , we stopped here so Cathy could get some genealogy research done over in Frankfort, and there’s a great Mexican Restaurant in Georgetown. The Viet Nam War Monument in Frankfort is the most unique one in the country. It’s a giant sundial with the names of the Kentucky soldiers KIA engraved in the concert surrounding it; it’s designed so that the shadow of the dial points to the soldiers name on the anniversary of his death and only on the anniversary of his death. The MIA’s names are located right at the base in front where the shadow will never fall. A Viet Nam Vet who became an architect with the GI Bill designed it. It is well worth the drive over to see this.
We also drove down to The Civil War Site Camp Nelson. They are just starting to restore this site and are doing a great job and have tons of things planned for the next few years. This Fort had a life span of three years start to finish, it was 4000 acres, had over 300 buildings and running water through out the camp, when it was closed everything was dismantled and moved except for one bldg that was there when the camp started, the former property owners house. An interesting history to Google.A week off non-stop rain in Springfield, Ohio so Cathy could do some more research in Columbus and right now were sitting in Wapakoneta, the weather finally started to dry and warm up, just in time for all the amature campers to come out for the holiday week-end. When we got here the park was empty but Friday night they started pulling in by the droves so that now there are kids and dogs and campfires everywhere you look. It’s funny but when you start traveling full time you really start to dislike the holidays, it’s like a bunch of strangers show up in your backyard and start using your grill and pool and spa and everything else and then Monday they all leave without even saying thanks.
Almost forgot, I heard on one of the travel forums that the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne Indiana was closing there doors May 31st, this museum was started about 100 years ago by the Lincoln Mutual Life Insurance Company, it appears that the new owners decided to pull there support so the museum will be history. We decided that we better get over there so we did a day trip and toured the museum, glad we did. Since the Botanical gardens were just down the street a block or two we also went there but just did the indoor stuff since it was really cold and windy
Next stop SE Michigan and a summer of Grandkids.
