Day 27: All's well that ends well

We thought our day would be a mellow one...a quick trip to Fort Knox to see the Patton Museum and the post on which Stan's dad served for his two years in the Army. In addition to working as a General's aide, he was a sharpshooter and taught marksmanship. Fort Knox also is the site of the Gold Depository. Funny to think of so much gold in one spot--and that spot being in the middle of Kentucky--and the influence it has in the world. The Patton Museum was a bit of a letdown; it's being renovated and most of the exhibits (including many of the tanks) had been removed or disassembled. We did get to see Patton's staff car, the one in which his neck was broken in Germany during a minor accident, leading to his untimely death of a pulmonary embolism. I've never seen the movie "Patton" starring George C. Scott; it's now moved up a few pegs on our list.

We headed back to the camper to finish our preparations for the 100-mile move over to Lexington. The kids were walking to the truck because we were ready to pull out...and Kelsey marched right into the hitch pin, hitting it with her forehead and an audible "clunk." Unbelievably, she didn't have a gash to show for it. My immediate thought, before seeing her close up, was that we'd be heading to the ER instead of Lexington. Understandably, her tears came fast and furious. But Kelsey is much tougher than I am; after 30 minutes with an ice-pack, she hasn't mentioned it again. Kendall was so precious, praying aloud for her sister and so sad that she'd been hurt.

Our fun didn't end there. Upon pulling into the campground at the Kentucky Horse Park, we had a mishap with our electrical hookup that connects the hitch to the truck. Some wires ended up being ripped apart and will need to be repaired before we can leave on Thursday. We're grateful to be in a larger city, comfortably settled in a terrific campground and with enough days at our disposal to have the repair done at none-emergency prices. We have it scheduled for Monday.

So, forget a mellow day! We had a great remedy for our various bumps and bruises--a wonderful two hours in the enormous pool. And Kendall had a breakthrough, discovering the freedom of swimming without her arm floaties. All the swim lessons finally paid off!

The girls have been tucked into bed for a while; they were tuckered after the various excitements of the day. Stan and I just returned from a good walk around the campground, which is worth a brief description. It's basically two large circles, one inside the other, and they're bisected by a road. In the center of the two halves of the inner circle are the pool, showers, laundry facilities, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts. The place is huge, with 260 sites, all of them quite large...and walking around it this evening, we felt we were witness to at least a hundred different family reunions. The average site had a huge RV rig, two-to-three other large vehicles, a tent or two, a big fire in the grate, kitschy lights hanging from the awning, and 15-20 people enjoying each other and the evening. Really something to see! It made us miss our family and community of friends. And we realized how underdressed Teensie appears next to our neighbors' decked out pads. Maybe we'll look for a string of Budweiser beercan lights or perhaps some tiki torches. Stay tuned.

The Gold Depository

Patton's staff car

the patient and the nurse

We aren't suffering...salmon cooked on cedar planks. :-) Come on over, there's plenty.