Road Trip

Day 128  | Paducah 

We left Crossroads tied up to the Paducah Town Dock and walked to the edge of town for our rental car pickup. By 11:00 we were on our way 150 miles east to Bowling Green and the National Corvette Museum. We stopped along the way in Central City and discovered this is the home to The Everly Brothers (Don and Phil). Their street sign was less than impressive amid the clutter of a restaurant sign, light pole and power pole, and we couldn't get to their monument because the road was closed. We were already running short on time, so oh well ... on to Bowling Green in the rain. The Corvette Museum sits alongside Interstate 65 and across the street for the Corvette assembly plant.

A large banner covered the front of the building by the entrance. Inside the door, just past the ticket desk, was a nice "sample" for Barry to try on for size.

We jumped in on a guided tour that gave us an overview of all the galleries. A painting of a classic mid-year occupied an entire wall. The original Corvette logo emblem was on display. Hours before introduction in 1953, it was determined that it could not be used. Back then, the American flag was not allowed to be used in marketing. Overnight, a new first-edition logo was created replacing the American flag with the Chevrolet bowtie/fleur-de-lis combo flag. Variations on this theme are still used today. There were a few interactive exhibits, but this museum is really all about the cars. My favorite one was this 1966 convertible, based solely on the fact that I loved the blue.

We walked around and Barry pointed out the distinguishing features of each year. We saw several with ties to him (1965 and 1982), family (1974) and friends (1967).

The Skydome exhibit hall was the highlight. The domed gallery houses classic vehicles, those with special features, and a collection of pace cars. The underlying story of this room, however, dates back to February 12, 2014 when a sinkhole opened up and swallowed eight cars. The epic collapse was caught on security video. All eight cars were eventually removed from pit. The hole was filled, reinforced, and the floor repoured. Five cars were beyond repair, but are displayed in the same position as they were before the collapse. The white car shown below, is the 1.5 millionth Corvette.

Three cars were restored by museum staff and are back on the floor as well. Blue Devil, a 2009 ZR1, was the first one pulled out of the hole and actually started up and drove away when released from the crane. There is an inspection port in the floor to monitor the underground cave. The view goes down close to 80 feet. We finished up through the gift shop where Barry got a shirt and a magnet for our travel board. We headed west back to Paducah under clearing skies, along the parkway. Rocky banks lined the road as evidence of all the cutting required to complete this scenic road. We passed over several rivers, including the Tennessee and Cumberland. When we leave Paducah, we will go down the Cumberland River.

We drove into a another fine sunset and, as we pulled into the marina, saw an equally impressive moonrise.

We'll spend another day in Paducah and visit two local museums. Barry wants to get a haircut and we'll probably hit Walmart to replenish the stock of fruits and veggies.