All the Gold

Brandenburg, KY
Tuesday, July 9, 2012

The American Queen was docked in Brandenburg, KY, this morning when we awakened.  It was so nice to step out of our cabin onto the promenade and see the people of Brandenburg at the riverfront to greet our boat. Our tour today took us through Brandenburg and on to Fort Knox and the General George S. Patton Museum of Leadership.  No longer are civilians allowed to tour Fort Knox, and "all the gold" is no longer there. 

This was the highlight tour today for Charlie.  He has always been a student of World War II, and especially General George Patton.  There was so much to see at the museum on Patton's life from his birth to his death. 

Today was much cooler - in the low 80s - so when we returned to the boat for lunch, we ended up sitting outside for a while on the Front Porch of America.  After the boat departed for Louisville, the river was calling us to lazily nap the afternoon away.

Tonight was our last night onboard.  We attended a show by The Rat Pack, two guys we have seen in Las Vegas, who impersonated Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.  Great show and a wonderful way to spend the evening.

Because Brandenburg is only 45 miles from Louisville, the boat pulled into dock around 10:00 pm.  We called it an early night because we are to be off the boat by 8:00 am tomorrow morning.  What a truly relaxing week we've had just cruising the Ohio River.

Blue Moon of Kentucky

July 9, 2012

Another lagniappe stop – Owensboro, KY – on our Ohio River cruise.  Owensboro is the home of bluegrass music.  Our tour this morning took us to the Botanical Gardens, which after a little rain, yesterday, had perked up a bit.  There was a visit to the Museum of Fine Art, where there was a stained glass exhibit, as well as many works of American, European and Asian art displayed. 

Bluegrass is the official State Music of Kentucky, and Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky shares with Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” the honorable distinction of being the office Kentucky State Songs.

Owensboro is the home of the International Bluegrass Music Museum, with was the third stop on our tour.  This museum was established to preserve the global history of bluegrass music.    The home of Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, is located about 30 minutes away from Owensboro in Rosine, Kentucky.  We saw a new exhibit on his life and influence on bluegrass music.  It was interesting see so many posters and information from the Grand Ole Opry and from Nashville, our hometown.  There is even a Bluegrass Hall of Fame, similar to our Country Music Hall of Fame at the museum.  Some of the more notable names, beside Bill Monroe, include Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson, and so many others.

Our friends, Linda and Jim Tidwell are with us.  Because today was an unscheduled stop, we were unable to have guides with us.  So, Jim decided to be our guide.  Jim has done this in the past, and has led us through the “ancient road to Rome” with his fractured Bible stories.  Well, he did it again today, and told tales of Owensboro that, of course, no one had ever heard, especially the folks from this fair city. 

We returned to the boat for the Jazz Brunch and were entertained with a patriotic show this afternoon from the Wulff Brothers.  Now, it’s time for relaxing and just sitting on the Front Porch of America while the scenery leisurely passes us by as we travel to Brandenburg, Fort Knox and the George Patton World War II Museum tomorrow.

Bye, Bye Birdie!!

July 8, 2012

It’s Day 3 of our American Queen journey on the Ohio River.  Today’s stop is at Henderson, KY, a small, sleepy town on the Ohio.  It’s Sunday, so almost everything is closed.  However, we were able to go to the Audubon Home and Museum.  This is an incredible home located on beautifully landscaped grounds.

Things we learned today:

• Audubon would kill the birds he painted so he could pin them in the positions he wanted.
• Sometimes he would have to kill several birds because the buckshot would destroy their wings or body, and he wouldn’t have an anatomically correct bird specimen to paint.
• There were copper plates and some stone lithographic plates that were used to make prints and lithographs.
• One of the stones that the museum owns was, at first, not considered to be authentic by an auction house, but upon further investigation by the curator of the museum, he found it to definitely be original although it was broken and in two pieces.  The second stone that was whole is in a museum in Cincinnati, and was once thought to be the original.

Because everything else was closed today, our tour was short.  As we got back to the boat, we had some rain that cooled the 100 degree temperatures down into the 80s.  Humid, but much more bearable.

The captain of the boat, Greg Brown,  made an announcement that we would have a lagniappe (Cajun for “something extra”) stop tomorrow at Owensboro, KY. 

Cave-In-Rock, IL

Cave-In-Rock, IL

Saturday, July 7, 2012

We woke up this morning and were docked no more than 50 yards from the cave at Cave-in-Rock.  The cave is in the bluffs overlooking the Ohio River, and in the 1800s was  base for outlaws and pirates, particularly those intent on robbing keelboats, flatboats and steamboats of their valuables. 

The unusual geographic features of the cave also hosted its share of bandits and serial killers.  The cave itself is 55 feet wide and was created by wind and water eroding the stone and is now the centerpiece of Cave-In-Rock State Park.

But, in 1790, it was known as the operational base of counterfeiters Philip Alston and John Duff.  By 1797, it had become the haven for river pirates led by Samuel Mason who took the opportunity to expand the cave’s operations into the tavern business, a brothes and gambling den.

The Harpe Brothers were probably the most notable for killing the sole survivor of a pirate raid at Potts Springs.  The site of the atrocity later became Potts Inn which was known as “a human death trap for unsuspecting travelers” who would show up, spend the night and be robbed and then slaughtered.  The two brothers, known as Big Harpe and Little Harpe, were the first serial killers in the U.S.   There is a town a short way down the river from Cave-In-Rock called Harpe’s Head.  These two brothers were so notorious that when Big Harpe was killed, no one believed it until he was decapitated and his head was put on a pole in the nearest town, thus becoming Harpe’s Head. 

Walt Disney used the cave as inspiration for Davy Crockett and the River Pirates, and at Disney World on Tom Sawyer’s Island, riders of the Liberty Belle riverboat are treated to “Cut-Throat Corner” and “Wilson’s Cave Inn”.  MGM went so fare as to film a scene from its How the West Was Won at Cave-In-Rock itself.

The ship sailed at 1:00, and again, the temperatures are over 100, so sitting on the Front Porch is not an option.  We had another great lunch in the J.M. White dining room with outstanding sausage and chicken gumbo and shrimp and grits.  Tonight’s entertainment is a Mark Twain impersonator and we are having dinner with the CEO and the president of American Queen Steamboat Company.  This afternoon is for relaxing and reading in the cool, quiet of our stateroom.  More tomorrow from Henderson, KY

Oh, and to our son-in-law, Jim T., Charlie brought you a rock from Cave-In-Rock.