Porsche Pilgrimage: Day 11 – Louisville to Akron
Sometimes you have to go a bit out of the way to get to the best stuff.
I will start with the caveat that I was bleary-eyed and tired after my run on the Tail of the Dragon the prior evening, plus a 5-hour highway pull. For some inane reason my brain picked the KOA just south of Louisville, KY for my overnight stay. Rain rolled in as I was pulling up to the overnight stop, so I was happy to pony up the extra few dollars to rent one of their "Kabins" for the night with a bed and a roof over my head instead of trying to pitch a tent in the downpour. It was a nice place to stay with heat and air conditioning and electrical outlets and wifi.
It's so absolutely fitting that I finally hit terrible weather and dreary cloudy day came as soon as I returned to the midwest. I have experienced nothing but gorgeous weather on this trip, sometimes a little hotter than I'd like, but the first rain didn't come until today.
The fact that I was in Louisville, however, meant that I was an hour and a half north of my intended stop for the day, the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. This meant that I would have to head south, then return north to northeast Ohio after the museum, adding about three hours of driving to my day.
After waiting out the storm in the comfort of my cabin, I set off on my way southward at around 11AM, arriving to Corvette Heaven just after the lunch hour. Thanks to my friend in automotive eclecticism, Myron, I was given the contact information of someone at the museum, a certain Derek, who would be happy to give me a tour of the place. Before going any further, I need to thank Derek for taking the time, he was a fantastic host.
This is a museum that deserves far more time than I dedicated to it. Even with a great knowledgeable guy showing me around, there was a lot that I rushed through or overlooked in my exuberance. I wish I'd had more time to dedicate to learning about the intricacies of Corvette history. If you're ever in Bowling Green, stop in for a visit. At $10 per person, it's a few hours of entertainment for very little cash.
The displays include everything from old Corvette racing cars to period-correct street cars to showroom perfect cars from each era of the car's history. The Corvette is my personal favorite car to compare directly to Porsche's history, as it has been around for nearly the entirety of the rear-engined Porsche lifetime. Starting in 1953 and running through to today, the Corvette has always been a less-expensive and less refined competitor to Porsche's 356 and 911. Their timelines are inextricably linked. The Museum helped me appreciate the Corvette as a proper sports car all the more.
Today was a good day. Racking up this many miles is starting to take its toll on my psyche, however.
