Cars, Quilts and Caves

We started Monday with a walk along the bank of the Tennessee River in downtown Paduach.

The river has flooded the city many times over the last century, so they have built a cement flood wall to hold back the water. Each panel of this barrier now has a painted picture depicting an historical event or period of Paduach. As more sponsors come forward, additional panels are painted. The project has turned an eye sore into a major attraction for the downtown area.

After our stroll along the waterfront, we shuffled off to the National Quilt Museum! One display that held my interest was a quilt carved from laminated basswood. It weighted about 60 lbs. and was displayed hanging on the wall just like any other quilt in the building. Fascinating to view while standing three feet away. For more details, check out the artist / quilter / carver's web site at WWW.GOFRASER.COM.

Nancy comments on the quilt museum are: the quilt exhibits were outstanding! The exhibits include a collection of antique quilts, tops and some clothing such as beautiful quilted petticoats. The more contemporary quilts featured AQS winners over the last 20 or so years that ranged from traditional to breath-taking art quilts. The miniature quilts defy description! Imagine pineapple squares that were not larger than one inch square with precise points and undulating patterns. Now, the downside. Who would figure that “Quilt City, USA” has only one small, very minimally stocked, quilt shop! I was truly challenged to find even just one bolt or fat quarter that would remind me of my visit. The town of Paducah is quaint and certainly working at becoming a destination but as far as a quilt mecca, it has a really long way to go.

We decided to stay off the large interchanges and take a scenic route through a state park reserve called 'The Land Between the Lakes'. This is a beautiful area of Kentucky and should not be missed. It is a 25 mile trip over the 'high land' between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers before they join the Ohio River. The negative side of the route is that there are limited views of the water. To see the water, you must travel about one mile off the main road. These side roads tend to be NARROW! When you approach the waters, there are small hidden stops for fishing, picnics, hiking trails and some campsites.

We arrived in Bowling Green Monday evening and had dinner at Rafferty's, at the end of BG's main strip. Off to the Corvette Museum and a tour of the factory on Tuesday.

The visit to the NCM was great. It was nice to see many of the older pictures and get some pleasant flashbacks. My how time flies! Checked out a number of bricks! Even managed to turn a few over! The plant tour was quite interesting and provided a novel comparison to out tour of the Ford F150 plant in Dearborn near the beginning of our trip. The Ford plant produces about 450 vehicles per SHIFT, while the BG Corvette plant produces about 80 Vettes per DAY. Although both plants are very automated, the BG plant does have a lot of 'hands on' steps. Also interesting was the bell system used at BG. Every employee on the line has the ability / duty to pull a cord hanging next to every work station. Pulling the cord stops that section of the assembly line, sounds a tone unique to that particular work station, and brings the line foreman to that particular station to address to worker concern. We heard an alarm sound on three occasions during our 90 minute tour! The first time we heard the bells toll, we were at the station where the chassis and body come together. A rather hefty gentleman showed up about 30 seconds after the alarm began ringing. I saw the foreman arrive, turned my attention to the tour guide for about a minute, then looked back at the activity on the line. For the next 5 minutes, the foreman was reaching into the engine compartment from the front of the vehicle then from the area near the right front tire. The four foot long crowbar didn't quite fix the problem, a second (smaller) foreman handed the big guy a mallet! That seemed to fix the problem and the bell was shut off. 

Wednesday afternoon we went to the Mammoth Caves National Park. There were a variety of guided tours from which to choose, each being rated on levels of difficulty. Our options were Difficult to Strenuous, meaning at the very least more than 280 steep steps down and tight spaces and 2 hours in length. George decided that his knee would much prefer an above ground rest so Nancy took off for the New Entrance Cave tour, rated Difficult but not impossible! Nancy returned safe and sound, reporting that the tour was a pretty good workout, very interesting with a humorous guide and good views of stalactites and stalagmites.