Serendipity Day & Top 10 Museum

Location: Charlestown State Park in Indiana but near Louisville, Kentucky

Yesterday was a drive around and see what all I could see. The plan was to follow the Ohio River road on the Indiana side down towards the dam at Louisville. Just about every town near a river has a river road and there was one here as well. Although I am aware of the app "Marine Traffic" that will tell you where ship/boats/tows are located, I didn't look at it and planned to just wing it. I guess that is where serendipity took over because it seemed like she was in charge all day. I didn't plan to cross the river back into Kentucky based on principals. I refused to pay the toll again after paying the gas tax at the fuel pump. However, Serendipity changed that too. 

I think the best way for this post is with pictures. The captions may be a little bit longer than usual.

The campsite at Charlestown SP. The terrain isn't as hilly as it has been over the couple of weeks. I arrived around 3:30 on Sunday and there was a mass exodus going on. By that evening, the campground was about 25% full. Looks like most of Indiana State Parks are electric only sites with a water fill station near the park entrance. Every state is a little different and since the bad Juju at Baileys Point, I'm more aware.

The campground is on land that used to be part of a Government owned ammunition plant. It sits on the Ohio River, but the campground is a couple of miles away from the banks. I saw on the campground map that there was a river overlook. I headed that way before I left the campground for more exploration. I didn't check Marine Traffic because it didn't matter if there was any boats in the area because I was going to see the river anyway. This is the road leading to the river. Nice little drive.

I was happy to see a "thinking bench" at the overlook. Good job, Indiana.

Serendipity #1. While at the overlook, a nice commercial riverboat paddled by going downstream towards Louisville. I thanked whoever planned this, and headed out of the campground to find the river road. 

The highway between Louisville and Charlestown is lined with very large warehouses. Most look very new and many don't have any name or logo on them. Very "X File(ish)". After passing between a few of them, you reach this road that leads to the river. Again, a little spooky. I kept my head on a swivel, half expecting a "rougarou" to jump out in front of me.

Once you get to the river, the spookiness goes away. Houses are everywhere. I liked this view. It was the side yard of a nice house, that I didn't take a picture of. 

I did get a picture of this one because I had to stop at a stop sign. This is probably the average house. Some were larger and some were smaller. There were some old mobile homes and some cinder block houses. All were right on the rive with a great view.

I followed the River Road all the way into town. That cable stayed bridge is the toll bridge I used to cross into Indiana. It was a nice day for a drive.

The only planned stop on my trip was this place. It is the Howard Steamboat Museum. It is located in the house that was built by Edmonds and Laura Howard in 1894. Edmonds father, James, started the shipyard back in 1834. During the 107 years of operation, they built over 1,100 vessels. The shipyard was located between the house and the river. I was really impressed by their family history. Great Americans living the American dream.  

I had a hard time getting a picture to represent the magnitude of the house. The tradesmen from the shipyard was used to build the house in between boat building. You can just imagine the quality of work those well trained craftsmen did in building the house for the "boss" and his family.

This was in one of the bedrooms. A nice sitting bench with a backrest on the ends. I wonder how many people sat there over the years looking out those windows. 

Another nice sitting bench with a baby crib.

Serendipity #2. A picture of the packet boat "Cape Girardeau" which was built at the Howard Shipyard in 1923. It was christened in the town of Cape Gireardeau, Missouri on the Mississippi River in 1924. About 50 years later, I graduated high school in the same town. I had never heard the story of the boat while living in Cape, although I only lived there a couple of years. It was a nice surprise just seeing the name.

Serendipity #3. A nice little display about the LST's (Tank Landing Ships) of the U.S. Navy. They were ocean going ships with adjustable ballast tanks so they could beach themselves, unload tanks/trucks, then pull themselves off the beach using their stern anchor. There were 1,051 of them built during World War 2. They were built so fast, they couldn't give them a name, only a number. The coastal ports of the country couldn't build them as fast as was needed so the Navy used inland, river shipyards to build them. One such shipyard was Howards although it had been sold to the U.S. Government in 1941. There were 123 built at the former Howard shipyard. The reason this was serendipitous, was I served onboard an LST during the 1970's. It was a newer design, but served the same purpose. I've visited the only two existing LST's that I know of in Evansville, Indiana and Muskegon, Michigan. All of the LST's have been sold or given to other countries now so it is nice to see anything related to them. The one I served on, the U.S.S. Manitowoc (LST 1180) was transferred to Taiwan in 2000.  

Yeah, yeah, I'm taking a picture of the bathroom. Notice the plumbing for the tub. In the center is a thermometer so you can see the temperature of the water going into the tub or shower. The small thing on the left is a foot washer but served double duty as a bathtub for a baby.

 

Serendipity #4. As I was looking out the window of the museum to see where the shipyard was located, a tow boat and barges was working its way up river. For information sake, each barge can cargo equal to 18 large train cars or 58 semi-trucks. It was serendipitous to have the tow be passing right as I was looking out the window. Again, thanks to whoever helped time it. 

Serendipity #5. That is the skyline of Louisville, Kentucky and that bridge is a FREE bridge crossing the river. One of the men at the museum told me about it when I mentioned I was heading to see the lock and dam on the river but didn't like having to pay the toll. He also mentioned a viewpoint at the locks. I had looked on Google Maps but couldn't find one until he pointed it out to me. The route to the locks was through some bad parts of town that most people shouldn't try to go through. The serendipity is the man being at the museum. 

Serendipity #6 and last. Just as I walked out on the viewing platform, a tow boat with 3 barges was pulling into the lock. Again, perfect timing. That many times on the same day usually isn't accidental.

The upstream lock doors are closed as the tow enters the lock. You and see the discoloration on the lock. That is the depth difference the lock is going to make up.

The gates closing behind.

Locking through is almost done and the tow will be on it's way.

 It was a good day of many surprises. One of my plans for this campground was to check out one of the many trails. But it has rained some just about every day and I didn't feel like walking in mud. Oh well, if the rain holds off today, I may walk around the campground. 

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be heading about 100 miles north and deeper into Indiana. It will be a small town with just a couple of things to see, but you never know what "serendipity" will do. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe, I'll Cya down the road.