Woke up fairly early and had a hotel breakfast (Waffles! Saturated with syrup!).
Initial weather forecast and radar images looked pretty good. A second look an hour or so later showed a significant amount of rain forming to the west so we packed up quickly and were on the road by about 7:00CT. We suited up in rain gear in anticipation of what we were likely to ride through.
Drove northeast into Alabama in humid cloudy conditions toward Birmingham and then north on I-65. Near the border between Alabama and Tennessee it started to sprinkle a little bit followed by very hard rain and a few rumbles of thunder for about an hour. At some point I noticed that my rain suit had formed a large hole and my pants were getting wet - at least that is my story... Time to order new rain suits when back at home.
The rain stopped around Nashville and had only marginally slowed us. It wasn't an aggressive day so we could take our time.
We crossed into Kentucky and stopped at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. The museum was pretty neat, but definitely geared toward the Corvette owner/enthusiast. There were many interesting Corvettes to see but the museum didn't tell the story well of the cars from their inception to where they are now. Still, it was worth spending some time to see.
A few other nuggets that I didn't know before:
- The Corvette name comes from a French word for a small lightly armed but very maneuverable warship. I guess the Chevy Littoral combat ship or Chevy PT Boat doesn't have the same ring.
- Until 1981 the cars where essentially made off a production line by hand and only 700,000 were made before moving production to a modern line at Bowling Green.
- Among the many neat prototypes/concept cars on display was a V-12 powered car with stretched engine bay to accommodate the larger engine called the "Falconer." They should have taken that concept further!
- Many frame off cars showed the newer gearbox in back design in a way I hadn't previously understood.
- Some late '70s cars had pretty paltry performance numbers. Given that emissions regulations were ahead of technology, this is a pretty dark time for cars in general.
After going to the museum and having a hotdog at the "Corvette Cafe," we headed back north. We were stopped and slowly plodded along for nearly an hour and several miles due to a moderately bad wreck involving a truck towing a camper-trailer. The trailer had overturned and was severely damaged. Hopefully nobody was hurt. The cops came up the shoulder when we were stopped and there was no ambulance. Better to be stuck in stalled traffic than causing it.
Once moving again, we got to Elizabethtown, KY for the night. A cheap chain Motel was it for the night which smelled of some potpourri of old cigarettes, paint, and a few other nameless wonders. I guess that is what one gets when not willing to blow a C-note on a room to sleep a few hours in.
Dinner was at Texas Outlaw. The ribs were actually smoked and were really good - the sauce was OK, since the meat was so good, it probably would have been better without the sauce. Probably some of the better restaurant ribs I've had.
From here it is hopefully a couple hour jaunt to home.
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