Finally done with our objectives in Louisville, we leisurely headed south to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Now everyone thinks of Fort Knox as the place where the nation's gold is stored. Well, that's correct, but tours of the bullion depository are no longer allowed. The reason we went to Fort Knox is to see the Patton Museum. This is about General George Patton, who commanded armored units (tanks) in WWII. (If you haven't seen the movie, Patton, you should.). So after being immersed in airplanes and thoroughbreds, we were now immersed in tanks and Patton memorabilia. Here is a little two man tank that seems overkill since it only carries a little 'pop-gun' 30 caliber gun. It never saw combat. Patton created the image himself: pearl handle pistol, hard charging, ramrod straight, mainly to inspire his troops and apparently he did. Here's his mobile office, much like an RV in that he had a bed and lavatory. Here's his personal jeep. Notice the single seat in the back. Patton died following a car accident in Germany shortly after the war in 1945. He suffered a broken neck and died a few days later. This is the restored car, a 1938 Cadillac 'limousine'. The museum also features the head of a Saddam Hussein statue that was toppled in the Iraq war. (the museum acquired it thru Army clandestine channels, if you get my drift) There were model tanks, this was made from 45 pounds of sterling silver. Go figure. Here is a model of the Bullion depository. You may recognize it from the movie 'Goldfinger'. Here's a photo on the fly as we drove past the real thing. We would have thought it would be deep in the military reservation, rather than this close to the road. From here we stopped by Lincoln's birthplace. Remember we saw such good history of Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois. Not much to see here, however, so we moved on to Mammoth Cave. Late afternoon the place was crowded and the tours sold out, so we moved on. We elected not to stay and go back the next day. We had been in a cave earlier on this trip, and for me, 'you see one cave, you've seen them all'.
I realize this report may be of more interest to the guys, but ML actually was pretty interested in the tank stuff and the history that went with it. As of now, we're back in the country at a really nice Corps of Engineer Campground outside of Celina, Tennessee, where a cousin of ML lives. We'll stay a couple of nights here to relax after the bigger cities. Stay tuned.
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Who We Are
Chuck and Mary Lou have been traveling in their RV since 2002 and have lately been taking longer, extended trips. This is our way to share our experiences. Trip Reports
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