Our Rolling Ranch House: MORE BIKE RIDING, WALKING AND PLAYING TOURIST AROUND PADUCAH!

On Thursday, August 6th, our bike ride got cancelled because it started raining and it was forecasted to be on and off all day long.

During a break, I did managed to get out and walk a little over 4 miles. On the way home I stopped at a farmers produce stand that is just a 1/4 mile down from the RV park. His produce stand is on his huge produce farm and everyday they have fresh picked fruits and veggies.

We have been having corn on the cob a few times a week. I tried a recipe that called for cooking them inside their husks and in the microwave. Well it turned out absolutely wonderful. Not only that, but I tried a new technique that I saw one time. After is is done cooking, you cut off the bottom part of the corn husk and squeeze the hairy top end of the husk and keep squeezing the corn cob down until it slides out! No silk what so ever. I can honestly say this was the best corn I have ever had and I will have to ask the farmer what kind it was.

I always chat with the lady that runs the register and while there today, an elderly man came in. I found out later that he is in his mid 90's. He gave us his keys and told us to go out and look in his trunk because he had a petrified hornets nest that he got down in Texarkana, Texas.

So we did and it was pretty amazing to see. I started chatting with him and he started asking questions about me in my florescent orange vest, fanny pack and sweat band. He asked if I was a "highway worker". I do get that often, but I told him who I was and that I was heading back to the RV park.

Well this sweet man offered me a ride and just at that time the lady cashier had this frightful look on her face, kind of like a "deer in the headlights" look. Well I thanked him and said I have to get my 4 mile walk in.

As he left, she said he doesn't drive well and that he can just barely see over the hood of his car. She knows this because she has been behind him several times as he drives around town.

On Friday, August 7th we were out the door at 8:00 a.m. We wanted to take advantage of this cool, low humidity day. So we peddled to town. Look at the beautiful building in the back ground.

Of course we headed to our favorite place. When you first open the door into Kirchhoff's, the delicious aroma of fresh baked breads and pastries immediately hit you. This is just one of two display cases that show off their fabulous looking desserts.

Several loafs of flavored bread.

We enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee and a warm slice piece of Fioccha bread. It was loaded with tomato, cheese, spinach, ham, bacon and pesto. It was to die for!

The streets are lined with these beautiful old time lamp posts.

We headed to the Mural Flood Walls. Since it was overcast, I was hoping to get better pictures than the ones I posted last week since I did not have to deal with shooting into the sun.

I had Ralph get in front of one of the mural panels so you could see how tall the mural walls are. I gave the history on these murals in an earlier blog entry, but will touch on it again.

The flood walls protect historic downtown Paducah from the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers overflowing their banks. In 1937 the Paducah flood waters were 11 feet higher from the sidewalk where Ralph is standing. It covered 90% of the town.

There are 45 murals and they stretch over a city block. It shows the past history of Paducah. The murals were designed and painted by Muralists Robert Dafford from Lafayette, LA. The project began in 1996 and was completed in 2007. Each mural has an interpretative bronze plaque with a short history lesson on the scene it depicts in the panel.

U.S. Marine Hospital in Paducah.

This mural depicts the flood of January 21, 1937. Notice in the upper left corner, a boy and his dog clinging to a porch roof. Look in the upper right hand corner of a cow on a 2nd story porch. The flood put the cow there and National Geographic featured a photo of the cow on the second story porch of a home. See a larger picture below.

Ladies working the switch board.

Muralist Robert Dafford

Barge Riverboat Captain

The Delta Queen, The Mississippi Queen and the American Queen.

Although it is hard to see, this is a Christening of one of the Tow Boats.

Welding the ships propeller.

Paducah was a major port in its heyday.

In 1938, the Ohio River froze solid. The folks from Paducah cautiously started testing the ice. Eventually they rode bicycles, skated and drove their cars on the ice.

Early settlers.

Native Americans and Lewis and Clark

Unloading supplies off of the barges with mules.

The Market House was used as a Trading Center. The original building was built of logs in 1836. A larger brick building was constructed on this site in 1850 and was used as a hospital during the Civil War. The present one was built in 1905. It is now the Cultural Center and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also across the street from Kirchhoff's Bakery.

Firehouse Station #5 when horses were used.

The cities drinking fountain in the square that was for horses and dogs. It was presented to the city in 1907 by the National Humane Society.

At one time, Paducah was the strawberry capital of the world.

Here you can see a driveway between the flood walls. People can take their boats to the Ohio River. As you can see a channel on this concrete wall where a lock can be placed in case of flooding.

The Ohio River.

I am on the back side of the mural wall close at River Front Park. As you can see the big trees that line the wall and provide wonderful shade for picnic tables. This is a nice area to have a picnic and watch fishing boats, steamboats and barges cruise the Ohio.

This is the view from the picnic tables.

We made our way to the Greenway Bike Trail. We got a nice treat, we saw a mother deer nursing her 2 twin babies, but by the time I stopped my bike, got my iPhone out to snap a picture, she took off into the woods leaving her babies behind until they got the message to skedaddle.

On the way back to Paducah, we stopped at the barn of John Pass Carriage Service. He and his wife have a the carriage business in Paducah. Their barn contained a horse drawn hearse that they have actually use for funerals and a Cinderella Carriage. I would have taken a picture of them, but the barn inside was a little to dark. He was getting this carriage ready for this evenings rides around Paducah.

Some of their carriage horses munching hay.

We then headed over to see Steam Locomotive Number 1518. It was built in 1923 by Lima Locomotive Works for Illinois Central and is the last remaining Mikado Type Steam Engine in existence. It was a Work Horse of its time.

This year the engine, cars and caboose got a make over. The train was washed, sanded, primed and painted by local volunteers, men from the homeless shelter and Class D inmates. Earlier the city asked for bids from companies to do the restoration and the bids were outrageous, so they asked for volunteers and folks stepped up to the plate. Sherwin Williams donated all the paint, primer and supplies. This saved the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We stopped at Dixie Leather. We were told about the Leather Artisan, Philip Phillips from Kevin a local fellow who we met at the local neighborhood coffee shop.

Ralph piddles with leather in his spare time so off we went. All I can say is Philip Phillips was quite a colorful character. Quiet, soft spoken and a hippie from the 60's with a long silver braid.

Some of Dixie Leather Works have been featured in the Smithsonian as well as other museums across the country. They have received arts and entertainment credits in over 40 major motion pictures such as The Alamo, God's and Generals, Gettysburg, The Civil War, Buffalo Soldiers, Purgatory many other movies.