The Ray Adventures: Sept. 7 - Sept. 17 Scott AFB, Illinois

We are on the final leg of our summer tour, it's been quite a trip! Lots of history, mini golf, hikes and scenery.We had to dodge a couple or tornadoes, thunderstorms and just this week the remains of Hurricane Irma. I've taken a couple of things off my bucket list - zip lining in Eastern Tennessee and a visit to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We are still on schedule for our arrival at Bay View RV Resort by mid October. We found out yesterday two of our friends who left their RV's behind for the summer lost their "homes". They are both shopping for replacements. The local RV dealer whose inventory was totaled in the hurricane is getting shipments of new rigs every day. Rockport is slowly recovering.

We left Scott AFB on the 7th for a 150 mile drive to Cape Girardeau, Missouri located right on the Mississippi River. We took the scenic route down the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. Like we've seen all over the southern part of the state - lots of corn and soybean fields. What a cool town, a nice size, population of 37,000, it's the only inland cape in the US. In 1956 construction on a flood wall started which saved the town from many floods including 2016 when the river was at an all time high, but kind of ugly. In 2003 they replaced the "rickety" bridge over the Mississippi (according to a local) and at the same time, painted a series of murals on the flood wall, nearly 1,000 feet long, the murals feature 24 historically themed panels. We walked through the historic downtown before stopping at Minglewood Brewery, Gary said the beer was good, we shared an appetizer in lieu of dinner.

We took a drive up to Cape Rock Scenic Overlook, in 1733 Jean Baptiste Giradot, for whom the city is named, established a trading post at Cape Rock, originally at rivers edge (the rock was moved up the bluff to allow railroad construction)

CG has a great trail system, we took a 6 mile pedal, weaving around the town. The bike shop recommended we go up to Vienna, Il., about an hour away, to Tunnel Hill State Park, a 9.3 mile one way pedal up to Tunnel Hill, a slight upgrade, crossing over bridges and a trestle.    Gary made it all the way and through the tunnel - slow but sure I fell short by a mile. It was easy riding back down, I could almost coast. The longest ride for me ever 17 miles, Gary went about 20.

Gary went up to Trail of Tears State Park, located on the site where 9 of 13 groups of Cherokee Indians crossed the Mississippi River in the harsh winter of 1838 - 39. Thousands lost their lives in the forced relocation.

September 9th was our 39th wedding anniversary, and they said it wouldn't last! We celebrated at 36 Restaurant and Bar, a fine dining restaurant in historic downtown CG. It was delish! The staff was very welcoming, made us feel like regular customers. We watched our Ducks win and Sunday, bummer, Hawks lost.

We left CG on the 13th for a 175 mile drive down to Ft. Campbell, located in Tennessee and Kentucky, the home of Screaming Eagles the first parachute team, of the 101st Airborne. The base is quite large, we keep asking "are we in Kentucky or Tennessee". We're basically just hanging out here for about a week before heading to Nashville because it's about half the price for parks. The Fall Quilt Week was taking place this week in Paducah, so on Friday, we drove back to Paducah, Luci went back to the daycare in town while Gary went to the Rail Road Museum, he said it was minimal, the most interesting was the train engine simulator, he was the engineer for the day. The Tilghman house, a historic house, the occupant, Tilghman, was a railroad engineer working to bring the railroad to Paducah just before the Civil War and being a graduate of West Point was an officer in the Kentucky Militia, when Kentucky decided to join the side the Confederacy, he became a general in the Confederate army. He enjoyed a nice lunch at the brew pub while I attended the Quilt Show. Oh My! Gary had the camera, sorry no pictures of the quilts. It's quite humbling to see the fabulous work of the quilt artists. A lady from Aumsville, Oregon, only about 15 miles from our home, won 1st place in the applique division. I got to talk to her, she said it was only the 9th quilt she'd ever made. I was still doing all the easy blocks when I made my 9th. (actually still am) Last year while in Galveston Gary and I went to the International Quilt Show, I bring this up because I visited over 200 vendors and didn't buy a thing. I made up for it this time.

Gary did some exploring on base, the museum he was looking forward to visiting was closed for renovations but he stumbled upon a Military Survivor Appreciation Week display of boots with the names, photos and date of their death on a tag on a military boot of people who died on 9/11 and military since. The idea of the boot display was a military spouse formerly from Fort Campbell in Hawaii in 2012. Since then 3 other installations have incorporated a boot display into it's Survivor Appreciation Week.

Clarksville (Tn) has a lovely Riverwalk along the Cumberland River, the three of of us had a rather sweaty walk, it was 92 with high humidity. Other than that it was nice. We took Luci back to the air conditioned coach so we could go to the commissary to stock up on food, etc., and to the exchange for adult beverages.
This morning we beat the heat, we went to Ft. Defiance Interpretive Center and Walk. Earth works from the Civil War were still in place and intrepretive signs were placed along the walk. There are a couple of old cemeteries in Clarksville, the first was the final resting place for Wilma Rudolph, a 5 time Olympic Medal winner from Clarksville. The second one was much older with old stones dating into the early 1800's.

On to Nashville tomorrow, only 7 days to go before the Seahawks/Titans game, I've been looking forward to this since I bought the tickets last March in Rockport. Oh our Ducks and Seahawks both won this weekend.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN,

Gary and Pam