Fort Knox, Louisville Slugger, & Area, KY

We went to Fort Knox, Kentucky. The reason for coming to this state and area is because Kevin wanted to come to where his dad had basic training and other training. His dad was drafted into Korean War. In high school Kevin and his parents drove through here going to Tennessee. When we saw the outside of the United States Bullion Depository we were surprised at how small the building looked. This is where the gold is and other important and old things. Plus, it is right there next to a busy highway. We thought it would be secluded in the middle of a military base. Nope. 

Kevin & General Patton, General George Patton Museum, Fort Knox, KY 05/25

General George Patton Museum. Learning about George Patton in this museum gave us much to ponder on. And, I think that is a good thing, to want to learn more, decipher, stuff like that. This guy was tough and unbending and required that of his guys. Patton demanded full obedience but yet he often disobey his commanders.  For example, in 1945, Patton, disobeying the orders of General Eisenhower, hired former Nazis to hold administrative jobs in US-occupied Bavaria. Eisenhower “relieved” Patton as the Third Army commander on October 6, 1945. On December 9, 1945 Patton and his Chief of Staff, Hobart Gay went on their usual Sunday pheasant hunt. The driver of the car, Private First Class Horace Woodring, stopped at the checkpoint so a hunting dog could get in the Cadillac. Moving on it stopped to let a train pass. Woodring saw two 2 1/2 ton truck coming toward them after crossing the tracks. The driver of the first truck, without signaling, turned left into the depot and the car slammed into the truck. Patton was thrown forward, hitting his head on the center divider and broke his neck. He was paralyzed below his neck. He died twelve days later from a blood clot in his lungs.

Outside it was still pouring rain. Next to the museum there is a long building and I saw an open sign on it. It turns out it was one of the Fort Knox Barracks. We continue to be surprised as previously we no idea that the United States used the United States for prisoners of war camps. This place was the site of a main Axis prisoners of war camp from Feb 1944-June 1946. It was mostly Italian and German enlisted men. There were no Japanese here. Surprisingly, even though they were prisoners, they had a lot of freedom. They could work without guards both on and off the camp and even be trained in technical jobs. Many times they worked along civilians. Some worked at farms in the area. They got paid. They lived in barracks like the US soldiers lived in. 

Mapped Caves, So Far, In Mammoth Cave National Park, KY 05/25

We decided to check out Mammoth Caves National Park. Discovered, so far, is over 400 miles of caves. Think about how long it takes to drive 400 miles let alone go through a cave!!! The land here has a lot of sink holes and dimples with the water going down into the caves.

Kevin & Big Bat, Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, Louisville, KY 05/25

Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. We had purchased our factory tour tickets the other day and it is good because the place got super busy this day. The museum area has life-sized replicas of famous baseball players like George Ruth, Hank Aaron, and others. In the cases were some of their actual bats. Hank Aaron received this letter, “Dear Hank, You are a very good ballplayer, but if you come close to Babe Ruth’s 714 homers I have a contract out on you. Over 700 and you can consider yourself punctured with a .22 shell.” Oh my!!! I always thought Louisville Slugger had started as a whiskey barrel making place but nope, that isn’t so. Hillerich & Bradsby Co was established in 1856 and started turning wood for bed post, spindles, and such. In 1943 this place made gunstocks for WW2. We highly recommend people take the tour of the factory. Thankfully all the films on the tour were captioned! It was excellent! The wood for bats come from forests in Pennsylvania and the border with New York. Once it is shaved and chopped into long slices it is trucked to this factory. A professional baseball player can work with them on the design they want. It can be made down to the 1/1000th inch!

Samples of Wood Ready To Make Bats, Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, Louisville, KY 05/25

In another room there is a wall of cubbies with a player from each of the 30 teams. It has some wood in it and a bat for you to touch and hold. Ash is used but can break so maple is the most common. We then saw a video and then the machine right next to us that is an automatic turn and that is where it can be made to 1/1000th of the request. For the non-professional people, bats are made from old machines that still work today. The video said all the sawdust goes up into pipes and gathers up. Then dumped in large trucks and turkey farmers pick them up. Next we saw a video and then a guy dipping bats into a wax sealer. I really, really, really like learning how anything is made. I am always blown away by how things work. At the end of the tour we were able to pick out a small bat to keep. Kevin signed to me the tour guide said that if you are flying, you have to pack these in the check in suitcases not in carry-on. Good info! In a room we learned how Big Bat outside was made. It weighs about 68,000 pounds, is hollow, is 120 ft long with a 9 ft base. It is a replica of Babe Ruth R43 bat model. It was hand painted, yes, by hand, by John Yates, a local artist. Amazing! 

We notice around this entire area, that people wear crocs or flip-flops because of all the rain water. Even later we saw people at the restaurant dressed in nice church clothes with crocs or flip-flops. It made us laugh. But, we learned. So we brought our crocs and sandals with us today. I really wanted to fulfill some photo requests for Find A Grave at a national cemetery around here. I had found one across the Ohio River a few miles in New Albany, IN. We drove to New Albany National Cemetery. We donned our rain jackets and “rain shoes” and started searching. While the headstones are in rows like other national cemeteries, the numbers were off. We can see how they expanded and had to add numbers but it put them out of order. They were hard to find but we found 5. Then I said we should go; we were wet and getting cold.  

Our next stop was to see how busy it was at Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. Kevin thought this place was out in the boonies and farms but no, it is right in the suburbs close to the university. As we drove past, we saw the parking lot looked full and I noticed a line of people waiting outside to get in to the museum and it was pouring rain. We had figured it would be busy because the derby was last night. 

Los Alamos Fabric – Fabric Places Quilt Block, Park City, KY 05/25

I made the Fabric Places Quilt block for Los Alamos. The pattern looks like an explosion to me and I thought I was perfect.

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!