Fast cars and a slow motorhome

We were up just after 6:00am yesterday morning. We had been parked right beside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky and we wanted to be there right when it opened at 8:00am.

Sure enough, we were pretty much the first paying customers of the day, although there were quite a few people around because they had a staff meeting just finishing up when we arrived.

The National Corvette Museum is a pretty big operation. They obviously have a close working relationship with General Motors and the Corvette factory located across the street. A few of the cars on display are on loan from General Motors. Others are on loan from private citizens, and some have been donated to the museum.

It's really well done. We were impressed. Very professional! For the $10 USD ($13.20 CAD) entry fee, it's hard to go wrong.

They have a 2015 Corvette in the lobby that you can dream in.

Gimme the keys, I want to take it for a spin!

And a 2018 Corvette that they are raffling off at $10 a ticket. No, we didn't buy a ticket.

There's a 15 minute introductory movie that you watch in the theater, then you wander the displays. Everything you wanted to know about the Corvette, going right back to the beginning in 1953...

1953... the beginning.

There were only 300 1953 Corvettes made.

The displays are really well done.

1958...they call it a "survivor" car because it is in original condition.

Roy Orbison's 1967 convertible.

And then of course they also have displays of a few of the more recent ones, as well as the racing history of the Corvette. But I was more interested in the older ones.

And then we came to a display that made us go "huh"?!

Many Americans have probably heard of the sinkhole disaster at the Corvette Museum in February of 2014. But we had no idea. We were in South Africa at that time, and likely weren't paying much attention to the news. Anyhow, we obviously missed it at the time, so when we saw the display, it was a real eye opener. 

For those (like us) who did't know...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/12/corvette-museum-sinkhole/5417171/

Of course it was all over the news at the time because it was such a freak disaster... and 8 priceless Corvettes were severely damaged... 6 of them beyond repair.

So they've turned that whole disaster into a really interesting display of the sinkhole and how they repaired it, including the damaged cars...

Six damaged Corvettes.

Yikes. What happens when tons of boulders come crashing down onto your Corvette!

The seven generations of Corvettes.

1983 Corvette... the only one in existence.

1983 was a transition year for the Corvette, and there were only 43 pre-production models made for design and engineering testing. This is the only one that survived, and production models were all manufactured as 1984 models.

This car was only feet away from the sinkhole when it collapsed!

We spent two full hours in the museum, and I think that Ruth even enjoyed the visit even though she's not as interested as I was.

But then, we had some driving to do to head south away from the upcoming cold snap. We wanted to get around Nashville, and to the Meriwether Lewis free campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

In to Tennessee.

I hate driving on the busy Interstate highways. Yuck.

And, it was pretty windy yesterday. Sherman is like a big sailboat in the wind... not enjoyable to drive. And traffic was heavy through Nashville. We've been to Nashville before, so no ambition to go again. We took a sort of bypass around the city and then got right on the Natchez Trace Parkway just south of Nashville.

Entrance to the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The parkway is a two lane scenic road going 444 miles (710 kms) from south of Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi. It follows the same route as the Natchez Trace... a trail used by pioneers in the 1700 and 1800's. The entire route is part of the National Park Service.

Very scenic, and a 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit.

Nice and slow and relaxing, just the way Sherman likes it!

View from one of the bridges on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Getting close to the Meriwether-Lewis Campground, we were also getting close to running out of gas!

Not really but we probably still could have driven another 50 or 75 miles. Anyhow, there is nowhere close to the Parkway to buy gas... there are no commercial services on the Parkway at all. So you have to actually exit the Parkway and go into a nearby town if you want anything.

So we made a detour into Hohenwald and put 20 gallons in at $2.39 a gallon. That should get us to Tupelo, Mississippi where fuel is a little cheaper.

Then, it was into the campground. There are only 32 sites here, and they are totally free of charge. No services except for flush toilets and a place for fresh water. But the sites are paved, and each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Really nice little park... and did I mention it's free?!

Last time we were here, it was quite busy, so we weren't sure what to expect. But I think we're a little late in the season... many snowbirds coming through here would have done so last month, not December.

So, only about six sites were occupied.

Sherman, in site number 18.

No close neighbors, and we didn't hear any generator noise last night.

It started raining in the wee early hours, and it is still raining this morning. Temperature is quite mild though, and it was still 62F (16C) inside the motorhome when we woke up.

We're going to hang out here for at least two nights, possibly three. The rain is supposed to stop after lunch, but with the temperature dropping throughout the day.

Yesterday's drive, 149 miles (238 kms).

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