U.S.S. Kidd - Motel Battleship

Never thought I'd ever spend the night on a battleship, but there I was, tucked up on the second deck in my sleeping bag with the Mississipi River rolling on down below me.

Not sure how it came about that we got to sleep on this WWII vessel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and it kind of creeped me out at first - but then it became kind of fun in that uncomfortable sort of way.

A few of us were not prepared to spend the night in the crew quarters below. Too hot. Too claustrophobic. Too many memories, too many ghosts? So maybe a dozen of us found spots in various places topside. Some slept under the massive machine guns or just alongside a steel wall. Kathleen had this nifty little bench next to some 12 foot long missiles. I was on the deck right next to the life rafts. Creepy but kinda cool. I wasn't inspired to take many photos, so even when I can upload them you won't see much.

I slept pretty well though I went to bed really late. It was hot and the mosquitoes were biting the crap out of me. I spent a lot of time walking around the decks, climbing ladders. It was late and the moon was very bright. Sometimes I would come around the corner and find someone sleeping in an odd spot and almost trip on them; but most of the time I wondered what it was like for all those men that lived and fought on this ship back in the day. It's a museum so they still have some of the rooms set up as if you were in the 40's. You could see the old maps and the officer's quarters. Take a look at the kitchen and witness how the bathrooms were set up (no room for modesty there). You could also see postings of the daily schedule to see how these guys spent there time when they weren't in battle.

During WWII, 330 men lived on this ship, nicknamed "the Pirate of the Pacific" - don't know when it was turned into a museum - we didn't get to spend a bunch of time there, but it was a beautiful memorial and it was super cool spending time there. I don't have pictures at this point, they are on Kathleen's phone and I'll get em from her at some point here.

Moving On...