A Day of Rest

Good morning, my friends. We had a day off yesterday. It was a day off except for going to the grocery store. Fortunately our list was short. The grocery store here was so small we were only able to get about half of the items on our list. They didn't have "exotic" things like radishes, and so we'll do a little more grocery shopping in Paducah today. Oh yes, and did I say Paducah? Yes, today is quilt show day. I've been looking forward to attending the quilt show in Paducah for about 16 years...as long as I've been a quilter. 

So aside from grocery shopping, a few things were accomplished. I did some slow-stitching in the morning and finished off the audiobook I was listening to. It wasn't a great book, but it was entertaining enough for me to finish it. I had a plan to try a recipe for Apple Cobbler for Two, but I needed two Gala apples for that. When we got back to the RV, I went straight to work. The apples were cut into quarter-inch pieces, mixed with some flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter, and then piled into two ramekins.

From there, they baked for 35 minutes in a 400°F oven. When they were finished baking, they looked like this. Next, I was to stir them a little bit and press the apples down into their juices.

And then I made a simple biscuit dough to be flattened into a disk and placed on top. The dough was very elastic, and so I used my fingers to stretch it out to cover the top as best I could. Then it was sprinkled with a little sugar.

Then they baked for another 15 minutes, and Voila!

And these were so yummy. It was like eating a piece of apple pie. If I were going to do this again (and I will), I'd bake them in those wide soup mugs I have. Since they filled the entire ramekin to the tippy-top, there was no room for ice cream. I was able to carefully remove them from the ramekins so that the biscuit stayed on the top, and we ate them from bowls with the ice cream. Dee-lish. And pretty darned easy too.

Of course, we waited until after dinner for those. And Mike got a bee in his bonnet to go out for dinner after sitting around the RV all day. We ended up going to Kentucky Dam Village, just down the road from us. It's a "resort park."

The restaurant was inside and down some stairs. This was the view from our table.

The whiteboard at the entrance advertised their drink special which was a "Dam Smash." I looked for a recipe for this. If you Google "Dam Smash Cocktail," you'll find all kinds of recipes using different kinds of spirits. This one happened to have vodka, cranberry juice, lime juice, and a little soda for some fizz. It was pretty and tasty.

We didn't realize it until we got there, but dinner was a buffet. I prefer ordering from a menu, but this one was pretty good. It gave me a chance to try and learn something new. The soup you see below is Burgoo. It's a traditional Kentucky Stew.

It tasted good, and so I inquired of our server whether it was a traditional Kentucky dish. Her response, "I don't know...I'm from New York." Okay, so The Google never lets me down. And sure enough...

Traditionally, it's made with different meats, like squirrel or opossum or raccoon. And I doubt I'm going to find any of that in my grocery store, and so the recipes I found online used different combinations of chicken, pork, beef, and lamb. America's Test Kitchens also has a recipe, and so I'll try that one eventually. For now, you can Google it and see which one looks good to you. Just type in "Kentucky Burgoo," and you'll find lots of options.

After dinner, our shadow selves wanted to get out for a walk. We wouldn't ordinarily take them when we go out for a meal, but they didn't eat much. They were feeling tall and lean.

The grounds here were beautiful. I've taken a picture of the map to give you a sense of where we were. The resort is located where I've circled in red below. The dam is just a little up from there. You can see it with a short solid black line. It's the Kentucky Dam, and it dams the Tennessee River. In this part of the world, dams are under the purview of the Tennessee Valley Authority. But what I really wanted you to see on the map is the area known as the Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area. I'm hoping we'll have a little time while we're here to explore this more. 

For last night, we left the restaurant via the back door and took a little walk along this pretty walkway.

Looking to the right, we could see the Kentucky Dam Marina.

Here, we could walk out on a breakwater. There were people fishing below.

Looking to our left, we could see the Kentucky Dam.

Looking more to the right, we could see another marina across the way.

It was lovely here. Peaceful.

Heading back, this is where the restaurant is located, on the lower floor.

The grounds were beautifully landscaped.

On our way back, we drove past the Kentucky Dam.

There is a lock here, and another one under construction.

And that was the end of our day. We headed back to the RV to enjoy our apple cobbler.

So today we'll be heading off to the quilt show. I want to try to get there fairly early, and so it's time for me to make breakfast and get us on our way. My friend Robin wasn't able to make it to the quilt show, and so Mike is coming with me. I'd be perfectly happy going alone, but he wants to come. I've promised him some fantastic quilts. Fingers crossed they'll let me take pictures. 

Eddyville, Kentucky

Good morning, my friends it's a misty morning here in Eddyville. It's been a while since we saw fog like this. This is what I see through the window as I write.

Backing up to East St. Louis, this was what we saw on our last evening there. The kitties were all about this. There were two rabbits, but one ran away too fast for me to capture him in my picture.

We spent our last morning resting up for the drive...just over 200 miles yesterday. Smitty likes this quilt.

Sadie was gathering the morning rays in her window hammock.

Heading out, I was happy to see this street named for our 44th president.

And we caught one more view of the arch as we drove out of town.

Heading on down the road, we soon came to one of these signs directing us to various kinds of fast foods. Now take a look at this:

Having just been to the Gateway Arch, the similarity in the shape suddenly became obvious. So...who copied whom? As it turns out, the Gateway Arch and the McDonald's logo came into being at approximately the same time in the early 60's. Inquiring of The Google, I learned that originally, real arches were part of the restaurant design. You've probably seen some of the original structures. They looked like this:

(Image credit: "File:GentillySpeedyMcDonalds.jpg" 

by Infrogmation of New Orleans is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.)

They were incorporated into the chain's logo in 1962, which resembled a stylized restaurant. In the current Golden Arches logo, introduced 1968, they resemble an "M" for "McDonald's." They are widely regarded to be one of the most recognizable logos in the world.

Now, I have one more thing to say about the "Golden Arches." And to quote Dave Barry, I swear I am not making this up. I read it in the book, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. (Good book, by the way.) Some people have speculated that the McDonald's Golden Arches resemble women's breasts. This was partially because of Louis Cheskin, a scientific researcher, clinical psychologist, and marketing innovator. Mr. Cheskin argued that the arches, which he likened to "mother McDonald's breasts" had "Freudian applications to the subconscious mind of the consumer and were great assets in marketing McDonald's food." And that concludes my TED Talk about the golden arches. Thank you for coming.

Moving on...it was another good day for barns.

It was interstate almost all the way yesterday. The road looked like this:

Except when it looked like this (sigh) : 

Along our way, we drove past Rend Lake. We'll be staying here on our way back west at another of the COE (Corps of Engineers) campgrounds. 

We passed through the town of Benton, Illinois. There's nothing particularly interesting about Benton except that in September 1963, Beatle George Harrison visited Benton while on vacation. It was the first time any member of the group visited American soil. He stayed at the home of his sister, Louise. The bungalow used to be the Hard Day's Nite Bed and Breakfast. During his trip he traveled from Benton to Fenton's Music Store in Mt. Vernon, IL to purchase a Rickenbacker 425 that later sold at auction for $657k. 

In August 2017, a 16-foot-tall (4.9 m) commemorative mural of George Harrison was created and donated by California artist John Cerney. Cerney caught word of Harrison's memorable visit to the town on a Sirius radio program, which inspired Cerney's creation. The "highway art" can be found facing southbound traffic along Interstate 57, the road we were traveling.

We also passed through the city of Metropolis, Illinois. In his various portrayals, Superman resides in a fictional American city named Metropolis, and on June 9, 1972, the Illinois State Legislature passed Resolution 572, declaring Metropolis the "Hometown of Superman." The city has a 15-foot-tall (4.6 m) painted bronze statue of Superman which sits in front of the county courthouse

(Image credit: "Metropolis, Illinois - 25' Statue of Superman" 

by kthypryn is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

A statue of Noel Neill's Lois Lane from The Adventures of Superman stands just a few blocks away.

(Image credit: "La statue de Noel Niell" by Geoffrey Bonnefoy is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

Metropolis also happens to be the birth place of actor John Malkovich.

Also of interest was the town of Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

Mt. Vernon was founded in 1817 by Zadok Casey, who was elected to the State Senate in 1822 and was elected lieutenant governor in 1833.He served in the U.S. Congress between 1833 and 1843.The town was named for George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, which was named for Edward Vernon, a British naval hero. 

Mt. Vernon has a lot of interesting history, but the part I wanted to tell you about was this: On February 19, 1888, a tornado cut a path a half mile wide through Mt. Vernon, killing 37 people and destroying more than 450 houses. The Jefferson County Courthouse was destroyed. This event was one of the first disasters to which the American Red Cross responded. Clara Barton herself directed the relief efforts.

(Image credit: "Clara Barton" by exit78 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.)

So all those little towns kept me busy reading up on their history and notable people. We were nearly to our final destination when we crossed the state line into Kentucky. The Ohio River divides the two states. We could see the bridge up ahead...

Here we go...up and over.

The river is wide here.

And then...ta-da! Heellllllllooooooo, Kentucky!

And just across the state line, we passed through Paducah.

And I barely caught this sign directing us to the National Quilt Museum. Paducah, we're going to be spending a lot of time with you.

When I planned this trip, everything in Paducah was already booked. We're actually staying about 30 miles down the road in Eddyville, Kentucky. We crossed over the Ohio River again as we made our way farther east.

The river is not so wide here.

Eventually, we reached our campground for the next four nights (three now). Taking a look at this, I was pretty sure Smitty was going to like it here. There are other campers here, but we practically have the place to ourselves. There's also a water park, but this is their off season, and the water park is closed.

Of course, the first order of business was to add Kentucky to the side of the RV. Here's the before.

Here's the after. I know...such a gas.

Of the lower 48, only Kansas remains, and don't you worry, Kansas. We're coming for you in a couple of weeks. I amused myself because I wrote a blog post way back in September of 2014...nearly 10 years ago. I included this picture of the map as it stood at the time:

After I added the last state for that trip, I said this: "There's a big hole right in the middle of our map. Kansas, your turn is coming. Of course there are all of those other states too, but Kansas seems to stick out more than the others." And, what can I say, Kansas? We saved the best for last. Except for the truly last...Alaska. Alaska, your turn will be next year.

And shortly thereafter, I got Himself out for a walk.

He sampled this Kattucky grass and found it to his liking.

Growing around our campsite, I captured these tiny little wildflowers. My phone tells me this is 

Fleabane.

So here we are. The quilt show starts today. We have one-day tickets, but we'll wait and go tomorrow. We have tickets for the museum on Friday. And that leaves us with a free day for today. We're going to do our grocery shopping, and Mike wants to do some maintenance on the RV. It'll be good to hang out and rest our feet for the quilt show tomorrow. You might want to do the same. I expect we'll be doing a lot of walking and standing while we're there. I'm hoping they'll let me take pictures, and of course, I'll share if I can.

It's a pretty day, and the mist has burned off. It's time to get going. It's been a few days since I've had time for slow-stitching. I'm looking forward to getting a little more done on that today.