Thursday, July 01
First up today was a drive over to Hopkinsville, KY to take the tour at the Casey Jones Distillery. It was a very nice tour, not much walking as its a small facility but chock full of information and you get to sample their products afterward!
Martha listens to the tour guide explain the history of the distillery
A lot of bootleggers ended up here, and it became a sort of
university for bootlegging!
"Casey" Jones, Casey was his nickname as he sold
his moonshine by the two jug case....hence Casey
Casey's grandson, AJ, is the current owner of the distillery,
carrying on the tradition, legally of course.
Here's AJ's grandson, watching the still, ready to start filling up
jugs with the latest batch.
Martha sampling the wares, and yes, those are plastic
communion cups usually seen in Church!
A neat Model T Ford I believe, used for deliveries and such
We continued on in the now steady rains, making it safely to Fort Campbell, KY. Once we got registered we were allowed on post and we headed for the museum. While it was not raining though, we perused the vehicle and aircraft on display outside the museum:
Martha next to a AH-1 Cobra Gunship
Never seen one of these, apparently only 10 made.
The AH-56 Cheyenne
CH-47 Chinook, troop and cargo carrier.
The C-47, mainstay of the 101st and other Airborne Divisions during
World War II.
The museum is named after the deputy commanding General of the division during WWII. Take note of the way the museum wanted to make clear that the General didn't request the additional armor which caused his glider to crash during D-Day operations.
The museum itself has free admission and is nicely arranged with nice displays of weaponry, uniforms and historical artifacts as you'd expect.
A display showing the cramped conditions borne by the Glider Troops who "flew" into combat towed behind tow planes, let loose over their drop zones, and then were expected to "land" more like crash to the ground and come out fighting. What a way to go to war!
Above is the crew compartment, below shows the tail
section, note how flimsy the construction was! Yikes.
Yep, a nuclear tipped mortar....I've doubts about the long term
survival of the crew, big doubts.
Vietnamese Military Display
I had been to Fort Campbell twice during my active duty career. The first time was as a ROTC cadet attending the Army's Air Assault School. It was my first qualification badge and the training required was quite demanding. The highlight of course was learning how to safely rappel from hovering helicopters while wearing full combat gear. Fun Times.
I have very little recollection however, of the school grounds. It was after all over 4 decades ago! The old location is now a very large motor pool and maintenance center. Here is the Sammy at the new school location.
I talked briefly with a young Staff Sergeant who asked if I was a retiree. I told him I'd graduated from the school back in 1981 and he remarked: "That was six years before I was born!" That made me feel old. He said I could wander about the school grounds but it was starting to rain quite hard so I passed on that.
Instead Martha and I drove over to the PX or Post Exchange to get some supplies and check out their offerings. Nothing exciting to report there, got gas nearby, and then we headed back to our campsite.
We also stopped in front of the hospital where Martha served as an Army Nurse Practitioner while stationed at Fort Campbell.
The Sammy ran pretty good though there were occurrences of "hesitation" during acceleration but they seemed to be connected to rainy conditions as she ran fine on the way home with no rain.
8 comments:
I had to look up the word bootlegging... these days it seems to have a more positive connotation ;-)
Depending on which side of the prohibition debacle you stood SonjaM, one would be viewed as a hero at times.
Nice walk down memory lane for you two, the Fort Campbell bit, not the distillery.
Would be interesting to taste what was about to drip drip drip out of that copper tube... did you?
No CCjon, no chance to do fresh out of the still moonshine....I imagine the taste is not the same as the stuff that has been aged the appropriate amount of time!
Nice attractions! Have you found a nice place to weather the holiday weekend? It looks like it's going to be crowded just about everywhere...
We have taken refuge at a COE campground that only has 24 sites. Hopefully the amateurs will end up at the bigger sites with their fireworks, gunfire, drunken boating and driving.
I love that you were able to go visit your old stomping grounds. The museum is quite impressive! And boy do I wish I was at the distillery with you. Imagine the hijinks we would get into!!
Lori, I am sure you and Martha would have the distillery tour guide in a state of amused shock. ;)
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