Wall to Wall Murals in Paducah, Kentucky
After my conversation with the woman who lost her home in the tornado, I finished packing up my bike and set off for the day.
When I pulled up the waypoint listing in my GPS, one of the closest things to me was something called “Atomic City Mural.” To be honest, I had no idea what that meant. The entries in the dusty corners of my Zumo can be cryptic like that. Just because I have something saved doesn’t mean I have any idea what it means. Keeps life interesting. When I pick my way to whatever is on the other end of those coordinates it’s like a surprise party.
Since I like to live on the edge, I pressed “go” on the atomic entry and was on my way. The nice lady in the box directed me to downtown Paducah, Kentucky.
When I arrived at “…Atomic City Mural …on left” I was surprised to find a tall concrete scroll of artwork decorating the flood wall built to keep the Ohio River at bay. It was beautiful.
It did my heart good to see a panel proudly featuring motorcycles.
Here it is – The Atomic City Mural!
Flood wall water marker:
Wall to Wall Project
The project has a Youtube Video shot with a drone that gives you a nice overview of the murals. (You may want to turn of the music.)
Website: Paducah’s Wall to Wall Murals
What an awesome find, Fuzzy, and one of the many reasons to travel: Global or local (macro- or micro-adventure), travel can surprise us, can introduce us to the new and the unexpected. Discoveries can happen thousands of miles away, or in one’s backyard. And magically, their distance from home rarely affects their value as experiences—around the world ain’t necessarily more valuable than around the block.
I’m a sucker for railroads (especially the old stuff) and little towns of murals (especially when they depict local or regional history). One of my favorite such towns is Ely, Nevada. Not only does it have some fantastic murals, but it also has an amazing railroad museum with working steam locomotives, a working steam wrecking crane, and working diesel-electric locomotives, among tons of other rolling stock and related historical stuff.
If you ever find yourself riding highway 50 in Nevada (the so-called loneliest road in America), be sure to give yourself a day or two to get acquainted with Ely. You’re guaranteed to fall in love with it.
That is cool!