Day 3: January 29, 2017
Shoeless in Kentucky

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I drove TN-96 west from Franklin then took the Natchez Trace Parkway north across the Birdsong Hollow Bridge and along the entire 4.8 miles (well over 1% of its length) to the Parkway's northern terminus.

One of my all time favorite breakfast spots, The Loveless Cafe, is just east of the Parkway.

I skirted Nashville as quickly as I could and headed north on I-65. I exited at Bowling Green, Kentucky, to drive a little US-31W/Dixie Highway and check up on a couple of roadside attractions. Horseshoe Camp Cabins is about 4 miles northeast of Bowling Green. It was virtually destroyed by fire in 2014 after a 2013 re-roofing created some real hope for a revival. It now seems the slow decay occurring before the re-roofing is accelerating and unstoppable. Today a framed picture leaned against the gate at the left of the office. The gates stood slightly apart and I could have entered but didn't. I'm guessing that the picture came from one of the motel rooms.

The other pictures are of the office interior and a board that was once in place above the office door but now lies on the ground in front of it. I had vague memories of having seen a horseshoe in the space that is now just an empty outline and did some checking when I got home. My first guess was that someone had taken the shoe after the fire while the board was on the ground but a picture from 2013 shows it already gone. The most recent picture I could find with the shoe in place is from 2009. I'd like to think that it was removed for safekeeping when the new roof was put in place.


Before returning to the expressway and sticking with it all the way home, I paused in front of Wigwam Village #2 and snapped a couple of pictures. An "OPEN" sign stood in an office window though none of the units looked occupied. Late January is not when cement tepees are at their most inviting.

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