Kugs on the road

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days but I have run into some of the worst internet connections I have had in all my trips. So, now that this trip is all but over, Let me catch you up on where I’ve been and what I’ve been eating.
On Wednesday I spent the entire day driving out of South Carolina. I couldn’t find any interesting places to stop. I couldn’t even find any uninteresting places to stop. It was all just driving the Interstates. It was a long boring day and I was getting beat. At one point I was so tiered I stopped at a gas station and took a 30 min nap in the parking lot. That refreshed me enough to get across the border into Tennessee where I stopped for the night. The only fun part was the last 10 miles was all downhill through some winding Interstate highway roads that had lots of switchback turns; I just wish I was awake for all of it.

Tennessee Museum of Aviation

Thursday was a much nicer day, the weather was beautiful, traffic was light and I was avoiding the Interstates. While driving through a small town in southern Tennessee I drove past the Tennessee Aviation Museum, so you know I turned around for that one. The museum is divided into two parts. First the museum and hall of fame where they display many of the artifacts they have collected over the years including uniforms, guns, tools and personal affects of some of the airmen. They also have a large display showing a piece of the structure from the USS Arizona. The other half is the hanger where they keep the planes. For a small museum they do have quite a collection of planes, many of them still flyable. One of their centerpiece planes is Lieutenant America, a Douglas A-1H Skyraider that was rescued from Thailand a few days before the end of the Vietnam War.

Antique Archaeology

Then I was off to Nashville, the country music capitol of the world. So I went to the new Antique Archaeology store. The “American Pickers” from History Channel. The store is very cool, everywhere you turn you see an item that they picked on the show, and the prices are not cheep. Although the store was packed, I think the only thing they really sell there are T-shirts, Hats and Posters. But I think they sell a lot of them. While I was there two of the guys that work at the store were trying to hang a large Hershey’s Ice Cream sign from the ceiling. Just as they thought they had it hooked they let go and asked the full store for a round of applause. That was when the sign started to fall and the second guy caught it. But it was still hanging by the end of a bolt. After about 15 minutes they got a second ladder and finally hung the sign properly and safely.

Athens Family Restaurant

My plan was to have dinner at a Cajun restaurant in Nashville; unfortunately they closed an hour before I got to town. So I went for another DDD spot. Athens Greek Family Restaurant. I of course went for the combo platter. The platter consisted of Suzukakia, Pastichio, and Dolmades. Which turned out to be a pasta dish, a meatball and a stuffed Grape leaf. It’s all Greek to me. For desert I had a piece of Baklava, which was nowhere near as good as the Baklava that Martha used to make. But overall, a nice restaurant, the food was good, but nothing exceptional.

National Corvette Museum

Friday I woke up and it was pouring rain. The first thing I had planed was outdoors just North of where I was. The weather report showed things were starting to clear to the North, so I needed to stall. Then I found the National Corvette Museum. A museum dedicated to all things Corvette. In front of the building the parking spaces reserved for Corvettes are closer to the building than the Handicap spots. I was so tempted to park my rented Ford Fusion in one of those spots, but it’s their Museum, their rules… The Museum was fairly cool full of lots of Vets, Old, New, and everything in between. Overall, a great way to waste an hour and a half and $10.

Kentucky Stonehenge

Then the skies opened up, The rain stopped and I arrived at the Kentucky Stonehenge. Seriously, did you think I would go on a trip and not find a Stonehenge replica. Although this henge is very well done it is a bit strange. It’s located in the side yard of a house, right next to the tennis courts. They even have a half circle attached to the driveway marked for Parking. Of all the henges that I have visited I would have to say this is not the best, but it is right up there near the top.

Rick's White Light Diner

Would you eat at this place, I did, and it was well worth it. Even if the food wasn’t good (it was very good), even if the prices were reasonable (they were very high), even if the place was packed (8 people would be considered packed), it would be worth a trip to Rick’s White Light Diner in Frankfort, KY. Rick is a one of a kind sort of guy, and it’s probably best that way. I’m sure he can be a bit of an ornery guy, but he’s also hilarious, and an excellent cook. The reason his prices are so high he will tell you is because he uses only the best ingredients. All of the seafood is from this country; the produce is local whenever possible, the beef is local and everything is organic.

Diner at Rick's

I of course went Cajun. I had Rick’s famous Crawfish pie, with garlic potatoes and a small pile of shredded lettuce smothered with a teaspoon of Thousand Island dressing. I accompanied this with a local beer, Kentucky ale. For desert I went with the Chess Pie.
The crawfish pie was very good; it had just the right amount of heat for me. The potatoes were… potatoes, no big deal. The lettuce was confusing, I don’t understand why there was more dressing than lettuce. The chess pie was the best I’ve ever had. No, I’ve never had it before. It was still good though. From what I can find out it is just a basic southern pie. It’s flour, butter, sugar, and eggs all baked in a pie shell. Would I go back? Defiantly. The food is good, and Rick is whacked.

U.S. Air Force Museum

Saturday I went to the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio. This is a Huge aviation museum. Larger than both of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museums combined. The museum consists of three huge hangers, each one could hold a B-52, a C-130 and a B-2, as well as 100 other planes. By the way, they do have all three of those planes here. There is also a fourth room that is smaller, yet taller; this is where they keep the Titan missiles.
When I was at the air and space museum in DC I saw the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The plane shown here is Boxcar, Boxcar dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. I didn’t intend on seeing both planes on the same trip, it just worked out that way. Even though I’ve been to this Museum before, It is always worth a stop.

Tomorrow, I’m driving home, back to work on Monday. See ya’ll soon.