July 1

I’m pretty tired so hope I can accurately remember today. We left Lincoln State Park about 9:30 – 9:45 headed to Cave City, KY, which is the closest “town” to Mammoth Cave National Park. It’s just north of Bowling Green about 30 miles. Bill thought we would take 3 hours but we made better time. However, when we attempted to head south on the highway we had arrived on from the north yesterday to this park, it was blocked and nothing said where to go. We went ahead and went back north, thinking we could at least cut over someplace. Luckily right up the road we decided to just take a road and darn if it didn’t put us right on the alternate route we needed. For once we must be living right! We were on all expressways but not a rest area in site and after a while I REALLY needed a pit stop. Finally I just pulled off the road and went in the RV. That bathroom can be really handy!

Had no trouble at all getting to our RV park, Singing Hills in Cave City. When we pulled in we both were kinda nervous about the place. The entrance and office don’t really exude the feeling of a high quality establishment. I went in the office and the lady was so nice and provided so much great info. Once we pulled around the building it wasn’t so bad at all. The spaces aren’t the most level and they are kinda close together but we got a pull thru with full hook up and that is what we wanted and for only $14 a night with our Passport America. They have 6 ducks on the little pond and we can fish if we want but it is catch and release. We had lunch and I wanted to get a load of wash done before heading to the cave. We had a 3:30 reservation for the River Styx tour. We wanted to make sure we left in time and had some time to check out the visitor center so we left at 2:30. I put the clothes in the dryer and off we went.

It was further than all the signs indicated but we got to the visitor center, parked and as soon as we walked in the door they announced for those going on a 1:45 tour to please gather under the pavilion. I kinda looked at Bill and said 1:45? Then they announced it again. I asked him what time was it. We kinda looked dumbfounded and asked a lady at the register and found out that we were back in Central time so it was 1:45 and we had an extra hour to burn! Of course that means when we get back to the Eastern time zone we will lose that hour! I could have gotten my other load of clothes in the wash. We checked in and picked up our tickets for the tour and checked out the gift shop. Then went next door to the hotel and checked out their gift shops and went to the café and had a snack to pass the time. I had a cappuccino and Bill had tea and we shared a piece of Derby pie. I’m gonna have to look up a recipe for that. It’s kinda like a pecan pie but with walnuts and tiny chocolate chips in it with a thin crispy layer on top, not really a top crust. When it was about time to depart we did a bathroom stop as our tour was 2 ½ hours, 2 miles and 500 steps. I wasn’t sure I had made such a wise choice for 2 people with bad knees. Once the ranger got us together he painted a strenuous picture of steps, low ceilings and narrow passes. We again wondered if this was a good decision. Anytime someone tells you that you will have to walk crouched down for 150 feet in an area called Fat Man’s Misery, well, you kinda wonder if you will fit. He told us we all would. He also stressed if you had a fear of heights you might want to reconsider. Hey, I had $19.50 invested in these tickets, and we didn’t want to be the only ones to turn back. At least we had windsuit pants on and jackets, so we wouldn’t freeze when they took 2 hours to come rescue us if we passed out or something.

I called and left a message for Becky Nunnelly, who lives in Bowling Green, where we will be going tomorrow. Becky used to be Kerry’s roommate and we’ve kept in touch via annual Christmas cards. We hoped to have a meal with her or her family while we are in the area.

The rangers were great. The led one was a former history teacher and he was especially good with the kids on the tour. There were 38 of us. At one point we carried Coleman lanterns to the 5th level down which is the lowest. Since I’m sitting here writing it’s obvious we made it out alive but boy that last 155 steps back to the top just about did me in. Bill commented my face was pretty red. Once out we still had a pretty good walk up the incline to the visitor center. The Fat Man’s Misery was not bad at all. Being short I didn’t have to crouch so much but I did fall and got my pants muddy. Bill was in front and didn’t know there was a woman down. The young couple behind me was too busy taking photos to notice, but I managed to get up and salvage my pride. Mammoth Cave is not the biggest, that would be Carlsbad, but it’s the largest, running 400 miles at this point of discovery. There are 25 miles of rivers. The River Styx that the tour is named for is the river at the bottom of the 5th discovered level. It’s named that from Greek mythology as the belief when you died was you would need to be ferried over the River Styx to get to the “other side”. When they died they put gold coins over the eyes so once you reached the underworld you had money to pay the ferryman.

It was 6 when we got out of the cave and headed back to the RV. I made biscuits with country ham and 1/3 of the zucchini, which was pretty good. Bill even said how good it was. I left the pieces larger than I normally do and steamed them, then put a bit of butter on and coated with Parmesan cheese and tossed it. Bill got word from his principal, Mike Armbruster, that Mike was being transferred to University HS, so Bill knew he had made the right decision to retire. He would not have liked to work for a new principal at this stage. I did the second load of wash and Bill walked Xena twice. She was going crazy at the door when we got home. Acted like we were not coming back. I read a little while Bill did some email. He did dishes while I did email and now he’s in bed and I’m getting droopy eyed!!!