On our way to Ft. Campbell

6/27/2014

We left Owensboro this morning and it was perfect - overcast and cool, excellent for top down driving.  We had not been gone more than about 15 minutes and it started to sprinkle.  However, we motored on through the light sprinkle and it only lasted for a short time.  As we've been traveling the back roads, we've noticed one thing throughout.  And that is, that rural yard art seems the same everywhere.  And that is the rusting hulks of cars parked in all the yards and fields.  These hulks could at least be sold for scrap metal, but they seem to prefer to just let them sit in their yards and slowly disintegrate where they sit.

We missed a turn somehow in Sacremento (pop. 563) and pulled over in front of a store to check the map.  It turns out we had stopped in front of a private car collection.  We could see several old classic cars plus lots of automobilia and models.  The postman happened to drive up and I asked if he know what this was. He said that this was the personal collection of the owner of the local pallet factory.  Unfortunately, he was not home at the time so we could only look through the window.  On the way  back to Hwy. 41, we passed more fields of corn and beans, with the occasional field of tobacco now in the mix.

Back on Hwy. 41, we noticed that the Hwy. 41 Yard Sale was going on.  There were many people all along the road displaying their junk on their porches, yards and  flat bed farm trailers.  This is an organized yard sale that goes for a long way on Hwy. 41.  We finally arrived in Hopkinsville, KY and from what we saw, were not too impressed.  We saw a sign that pointed to Downtown Renaissance area but we didn't see much evidence of a renaissance!  So, we continued on to Clarksville, TN and checked into our hotel.  We went to lunch at the Looking Glass, a local restaurant run by two ex-Ft. Campbell Army cooks.  Not only was the place very cute and uniquely decorated, but the food was very good.  We had smoked salmon on a sun-dried tomato roll with a side of mac and cheese with a little Alfredo sauce to make it very creamy.  (think  you would love this, Paul!)  Decorations include a finch cage, an aquarium and kites hanging from the ceiling inside and a koi pond on the outside patio.   This place is highly recommended.

Unpretentious but very good.

Smoked salmon on sun-dried tomato roll - yummy

Koi pond

After lunch, Kyle met us at the hotel and took us to the base for a tour.  Ft. Campbell is very large and includes a lot of wildlife, including deer, rabbits, turkeys and groundhogs - all of which we saw on our tour.

Local resident by the sign post-lives in large hole under the sign.

I liked this sign by the base kennel.

Air Assault School which Kyle recently completed.

After the tour, we took Kyle and his roommate to dinner at Rafferty's.  Yes, its a chain, but it was near the hotel and it was good.  We'll spend the day tomorrow with Kyle before returning home on Sunday.