Rachael, Adam, and I headed north towards Bowling Green to meet my Dad on a Saturday, and we decided to stop at a few spots that you might consider ‘off the beaten path’ locations.
Simpson County Tourism – 81 Steele Rd, Franklin, KY 42134
First up is the Simpson County Tourism information center. Behind their building, they have a large mural wall that tells different stories from the history of the area. There is also a historical marker there about a nearby plane crash from 1947. It seems that a Captain Thomas F. Mantell, Jr was flying a P-51 Mustang near Louisville when his superiors ordered him to pursue a UFO. In his pursuit of the UFO, Captain Mantell crashed and perished. The object he was pursuing was never identified.
The Fork In The Road – Uhls Road & Bunch Road, Franklin, KY 42134
Next up was a pretty interesting location NE of Franklin. A couple of miles out come country roads, you come across a ‘fork’ in the road, which has literally been marked…..with a giant fork. From what we have read, the local high school welding class made this as their project in 2018. Pretty cool!
South Union Shaker Village – 896 Shaker Museum Rd, Auburn, KY 42206
Next up we stopped by a place we had been very excited to see. All morning we had passed signs directing us towards the ‘Shaker Museum’. Since we have a Shaker Edition Challenger, we were really excited to see the exhibits, figuring they would have a mix of older and newer Mopar products. Sadly, upon our arrival, we discovered that this was instead a Historic Shaker Village…..as you can see, Adam was quite confused. We were so disappointed, we decided not to stick around, and headed off to meet Dad.
Note – No, we’re not really that stupid. We just thought it would be a funny photo op.
Aviation Heritage Park – 1825 Three Springs Rd, Bowling Green, KY 42104
Last stop after meeting Dad was the Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green. They have a few aircraft on display in an outdoor setting, most on loan from either the Air Force Museum, or from the Naval Aviation Museum. We saw some signage that indicates they are preparing to open a museum building some time in the near future, so not sure if all the planes will move indoors at that time or not. While I’m sure it would be easier to maintain and secure these planes indoors, I really like the outdoor atmosphere. Without a doubt, the neatest plane they have is a NASA T-38A trainer, tail number 901. Every astronaut in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs logged hours piloting this craft. Yeah, let that sink in for a minute. John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, Jim Lovell, and so many others! I’m not sure any other aircraft can hold that same claim, and it’s an amazing piece of history. If you are an aviation or space fan, this is a MUST SEE!
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