Road Trip to Woodstock & Beyond - Days 4 & 5

 Click HERE to read Day 1     Click HERE to read Day 2&3

After the Corvette Museum, it was a nice little 2-hour drive to Louisville, Kentucky, and the next stop on our itinerary - Momma's Mustard, Pickles & BBQ Restuarant. After our horrible experience with the barbeque at Tom’s in Memphis, we decided to try for some good “Q” at another highly-touted eatery. Fortunately, despite the weird name, this place came much closer to our expectations. It wasn’t great Texas barbeque, but it wasn’t bad. Clean, friendly service, reasonable prices, and cute girls as waitresses. OK, in today’s culture that may be considered sexist by some, but these 2 old guys raised in the old days of yore still appreciate nice female works of art and we will not apologize!

When in Louisville, of course, you must tour the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum. Looking it up online, it was “strongly suggested” that you get your tickets before you arrive as they are often sold out. Our arrival time left only 2 tours remaining for that day and both were almost full so we checked into a really nice hotel, the Fairfield Inn & Suites Louisville East. This was one of the best hotels we stayed in the whole trip - plenty of parking, friendly staff, and clean facilities. The room was clean and very nice with very comfortable beds. Wi-Fi was fast and never dropped. In the morning there was plenty of hot water for a good shower. Quiet all night long. Can’t ask for much more than that! We bought our Louisville Slugger tickets for the next day, got some sandwiches, and brought them back to the room to eat while we watched more of the Women’s Softball Championship.

Day 5

Entrance to Louisville
Slugger Factory
 & Museum

Arriving at the Museum at the appointed time the next morning, we were amazed to find that instead of the group of 20 for the tour, we were the only 2 people! We had a great tour guide who was able to give us his undivided attention. It was a really interesting experience. We learned how the bats are made, the different kinds of wood preferred by different major-league players, and watching them actually being made was way cool. Everyone, including the workers, were very friendly. Our guide was knowledgeable and never seemed to get tired of our many questions. As a souvenir, we both got a “nub,” (the end part of a bat that is cut off before the final processing) from a bat destined to be used by a major league player. At the end of the tour, we were given another souvenir, a small Louisville Slugger bat. It was a very enjoyable experience and especially interesting to me as a former user of Louisville Slugger bats when I played youth and high school baseball. I thought the souvenirs in the gift shop were a bit expensive and I didn’t find a shirt I liked so I didn’t get anything besides the souvenirs from the tour and a refrigerator magnet for my collection. I highly recommend this stop.

Other than stopping for a fast-food lunch, gas, and road food, the rest of the day was spent driving, telling stories, remembering things we have experienced together, and generally, just enjoying each other’s company. 360 miles later, we checked into another nice hotel in Washington, Pennsylvania – The Hampton Inn & Suites, Pittsburg-Meadow Lands. After driving most of the day, we dropped off for a nice, restful sleep by 10:30. We had another interesting little side trip scheduled for the next morning.

Another nice breakfast at a nearby Waffle House and 35 miles on down the road brought us to the small, quiet little town of Perryopolis, Pennsylvania. Why in the world would we drive so far to visit such a small, rather unremarkable town? To see the “Buffalo Bill House” of course. No, not the Buffalo Bill of Old West fame. We’re talking Buffalo Bill from the movie “Silence of the Lambs.” He of the famous chilling line, “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” If you watched this movie for the first time late at night like I did, there wasn’t much sleep afterward as your eyes stayed wide open and you jumped at every little sound in the night. Here in little Perryopolis is the house used for the exterior shots as the house where Buffalo Bill had his victim pit and his little dog and his bottle of lotion. Except for the movie sign in the front yard and the "Private Property" signs, it looks like just a normal nice house in a small, quiet town. A fun thing to tell your friends about what you saw on your road trip! Maybe the best thing though is the relaxing drive getting to the house. You must drive down a well-maintained, pretty, 2-lane road with trees on either side closing in over the top, then down a side street through a tunnel dug through a mountain which is followed by a one-lane trestle bridge, and then across a set of railroad tracks. Worth the side trip if you have the time.

"Buffalo Bill's" house

Just 90 miles away was our next stop – Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. I mean, who hasn’t had the desire to see Punxsutawney Phil and visit the famous Gobbler’s Knob where every February 2nd, the venerable, and supposedly immortal, groundhog holds forth each year with his weather predictions. The "Inner Circle" members – recognizable from their top hats and tuxedos – communicate with Phil to receive his prognostication. This suspension of disbelief, a central requirement for the festival, extends to the assertion that the same groundhog has been making predictions since the nineteenth century. According to legend, there is only one Phil, all other groundhogs are impostors. It is claimed that this one groundhog has lived to make weather predictions since 1886, sustained by drinks of "groundhog punch" and "elixir of life" administered at the annual Groundhog Picnic in the fall.

Unknown to most, Phil does not live at Gobbler’s Knob. His actual home is in a nice, cozy den in the Punxsutawney Library. We had that information along with the address of the library, but we drove around for 20 confusing minutes or so because we couldn’t find a building that looked like a library or had a sign indicating it was a library. The address where it was supposed to be was a police station with a parking lot full of police cars. I really needed to relieve myself of the morning’s coffee so I told Chip (who was driving) to just pull into the police station thinking surely they had a bathroom I could quickly borrow. He didn't want to do that because "we'll get a ticket." Then I noticed a line of regular civilian parked cars along one small row so I told Chip just park in there with those cars. Reluctantly, Chip pulled in and parked. Great friend he is, “OK, but if we get a ticket, you’re paying it.” 

Punxsutawney Phil relaxing at home

It was then I finally saw a little sign that just said, “Library.” Maybe one end of the building was a police station and the other end was the library? Walking around to the other side of the building, the side with no parking lot, the side facing a quiet, little park with lots of grass and trees, the side that had no indication you could see from the road that it was a library, and there we found the library’s front door and just inside the front door was, thank goodness, a men’s restroom! A few minutes later, I walked into the aisles of books and a lady told me the library was closed due to Covid restrictions. I asked if this is where Phil lives. Yep, over in the corner and yes, you can go over and see him. Sure enough, looking into an enclosure with a wall of thick glass was the legendary Phil! Unfortunately, the glass was very dirty and scratched up so bad, you could barely see into Phil’s home. I noticed there was another window on the other side that faced outward. We walked outside to the window, but that window too was heavily scratched and dirty. I took several terrible pictures of Phil (due to the condition of the glass), who seemed quite relaxed and paid us no never-mind. I must admit, it was a tad underwhelming. In fact, it was very underwhelming.

Gobbler's Knob Park

Making it back to the car (no ticket!), we then drove about 2 miles outside of town to Gobbler’s Knob. Until I researched it, I thought Gobbler’s Knob was somewhere in Punxsutawney, like in a downtown park. Not so. It is about 2 miles southeast of town, set off all by itself. We arrived to find we were the only people there, so we took our time driving around looking at the well-maintained stage and park. It too was a bit underwhelming, but still, we enjoyed seeing in person the stage and all the Groundhog Day things we’ve seen on TV for years. 

The famous stage where Phil
delivers his prediction

We made our way back to town to eat at Joe’s Drive-In, the highly-rated old-fashioned diner famous for serving up the best hamburgers in Punxsutawney. The burgers were ok. Certainly not Whataburger or even In-N-Out quality, but I guess the Punxsutawney residents are pleased as punch with them.

Putting Punxsutawney in our rearview mirror, we headed about 80 miles south to Stoystown, Pennsylvania and the Flight 93 National Memorial. Neither of us anticipated the intense feelings we would soon feel.

Phil statue at Joe's Drive-In

Road Trip to Woodstock & Beyond - Days 2 & 3

Click HERE to read Day 1

Day 2 

The next morning, we had a rather frustrating experience in Jackson, Tennessee. Trying to follow the GPS to the bakeshop, the designated exit was closed due to construction. No big deal, we'll just go down an exit and come back. The next exit, closed due to construction. Hmmm. And the next exit, closed due to construction. Three exits in a row closed due to road construction! Whose bright idea was it to do that? We finally got to the next exit, went over a couple of blocks and headed back to the bakeshop's address. We made it to the street where it was located and found it too was closed for construction! Close to giving up, we decided to give it one more try so back the way we came and across the highway hoping we could get across at the right street by going under the highway. Nope, closed due to construction. That's it! Woodstock Bakery will just have to wait until some other time. 

We had to go a block away from the highway so we could get to an open highway entrance and along the way, guess what we found - the Woodstock Bakery! Turns out there is a south Innsdale Cove Road and a north Innsdale Cove Road and we had been trying to go to the wrong one! Not sure all the hassle was worth it, but we did buy several items each for later consumption and we had a nice conversation with the friendly, young girl behind the counter. We really felt old when we told her we were on our way to Woodstock and she didn't have a clue what we were talking about. Everything we purchased and ate was delicious!

If you ever find yourself in Jackson, Tennessee, and if the road construction has been completed, get a chocolate cupcake from the Woodstock Bakery - yummy! Next up - Cooter's Dukes of Hazzard Museum and a late lunch with Paula Deen in Nashville.

It's about 135 miles from Jackson to Nashville. And if you have to keep slowing down due to road construction, it takes a while to drive those 135 miles. I love going on road trips with my buddy because we have so much in common. Driving from one destination to the next, we reminisce about old girlfriends who did us wrong and recall good times back when we were young and old age and death was remote. He is sneaking up on 70 and I have embraced 70 so we talk about aches and pains, bad knees, and lower back pains and we can’t remember where we put anything. We tell each other wonderful stories and the next day we say, “Hey, did I tell you the story about the time ...?” and the reply will be, “No, I don’t think so,” and we’ll do it all over again.

Aisles and aisles of stuff to buy at Cooter's

You may remember the TV show Dukes of Hazard back in 1979 and the early 80's. In today's political climate, can you even imagine if that show aired now? Most of the regular cast, Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse), Tom Wopat (Luke Duke), John Schneider (Bo Duke), and Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) went on to fame and bigger roles. Not so Ben Jones (Cooter) who has made his living being associated with Dukes of Hazzard. Of course, we had to visit "Cooter's Place" his Dukes of Hazzard museum. It's in a small building jammed pack full of the show's artifacts and lots of things for sale like t-shirts, Daisy Duke shorts, bandanas, playing cards, General Lee and Daisy Jeep model cars, postcards, signs - most anything you can think of. Maybe most interesting of the whole thing was the actual General Lee (1969 Dodge Charger), Rosco's patrol car (1978 Plymouth Fury), and Daisy's Jeep (1980 Jeep CJ-7). It was a fun way to spend about 30 minutes and well worth the free entrance fee!

After Cooter's Place, we were a couple of hungry guys! We found our way to Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen. By the time we arrived, it was the early afternoon after the lunch rush hour should have been over, but it was still very busy and we had to wait for 30 minutes to get a table. After being seated and getting our food, we found it was well worth the wait! We got to choose 2 entrees and 4 side dishes for the table (served family style) for about $20 per person. It's a bit expensive for lunch but worth it! I chose Beef Pot Roast and if I remember correctly, Chip chose the Fried Catfish. We had Creamed Potatoes, Cole Slaw, Candied Yams and corn for the side dishes. Each and every item was great! And if you want more of an item, just ask because it is unlimited refills. You also get a dessert, but we ate so much we couldn't eat another bite, even for dessert. Fortunately, they are happy to put your chosen dessert in a to-go container for your enjoyment later. I took a peach cobbler and Chip chose the Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. They were both a wonderful treat in our hotel room later that night. Highly recommend Paula Deen’s!

With very satisfied full tummy's, we got back on the road again headed to Bowling Green, Kentucky, Unlike Cooter's museum, we were headed for a much different, very interesting museum.

From Nashville to Bowling Green, Kentucky is only 70 miles. We arrived there a little after 4:00, but after our full-on meal at Paula Deen’s and then driving just a little over an hour, we decided it would be a good time to take the rest of the day off to relax a bit. We rarely make hotel reservations beforehand because we want to be free to stop early or late and we usually don’t know exactly where we’ll be when we decide to stop for the night. On our road trips, we usually live by the words of Lao Tzu – “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”

We checked into a LaQuinta Inn and proceeded to relax, i.e. nap time! Our good luck with getting good hotels on the fly continued as our room was clean, cold, quiet, and had very comfortable beds. We woke up just in time to feast on Slotsky sandwiches and chips from the shop next door to the hotel and then settled in to eat our Paula Deen desserts and watch college Girls World Series softball games. It was a very good day.

Day 3

The next morning, after a surprisingly good breakfast at a Waffle House near the hotel, we drove to the reason we were in Bowling Green – The National Corvette Museum. Now this is a great museum! From the first Corvette to the latest and greatest. There’s a lot to see here with information on each car, the difference between the year’s models, and who owned that particular car if it was somebody of importance or fame. The place is huge – 55-acre campus and 115,000 square feet under roof with wide aisles and friendly, knowledgeable staff. Before arriving, we figured we would spend an hour or so here, but it was so interesting, we spent 4 and could have stayed longer.

You may remember when the National Corvette Museum made international news headlines on February 12, 2014, when a sinkhole collapsed in the Skydome of the Museum in the middle of the night. No one was in the building when it happened, but security cameras were rolling and caught the incident on camera. Millions of viewers later watched on YouTube as 8 very special, very expensive Corvettes fell into the 30-foot cave-in. The museum did an excellent job of covering this. The damaged cars are on display with placards describing each car’s damage and how much it would cost to repair (several were beyond repair). The sinkhole is safe now, but there is a plexiglass-covered hole in the floor where you can look down into it. Seeing those beautiful cars damaged like that was enough to almost bring tears to my eyes.

And then there’s the gift shop – one of the best I’ve ever visited at a destination site. Pretty much any Corvette-related item you could want is there. Most of the items were a bit expensive, but all were of top-notch quality instead of the usual Chinese-made cheap tourist keepsakes. I got gifts for family members as well as a t-shirt, jacket and a great lap blanket for me. The back of our vehicle, Chip’s SUV, is already starting to fill up with our goodies and we’ve still got lots of places to see and things to do! Next stop on the road ahead – Day 4 in Louisville, Kentucky.

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