Trips

        Fantasy RV provided a farewell continental breakfast and we spent 1½ hours talking to fellow travelers.  At 10:30 we headed out of Louisville and drove the 80 miles south to Mammoth Cave.  We drove straight to the visitor center and bought tickets for two cave tours – one today and one tomorrow.
        After reading the exhibits in the museum we learned that the caves were created as water containing dissolved CO2 forms carbonic acid and leaches through the limestone dissolving the rock and creating channels for water to run through, eventually draining into the Green River.  Millions of years ago sandstone and shale formed above the limestone creating a solid roof over the vertical and horizontal tunnels below.  Mammoth is the longest known cave in the world.  There are some 490 miles of passable tunnels in a 7 x 7 square mile area.  New tunnels are still being found, explored, and charted.
        We drove back to Cave City and parked Foxy at the Cave Country RV Campground, a new Good Sam Park, and then went back to Mammoth Cave in time to take the two hour Domes and Dripstones Tour.  We boarded a bus to take us to the New Entrance to the cave and entered a sinkhole going down 280 steps with another 220 steps up to come out at a different spot.  We walked through a series of domes and large trunk passageways.  Our ranger guide had us stop at various spots to talk about the cave formation.  At the end was a short journey through dripstone formations that formed stalactites, stalagmites, and pillars.  The largest formation is called the Frozen Niagara and it was awesome.

	Fancy transportation to the cave entrance
Cave formations	Cave formations
Cave formations	Insects on the cave roof

 

On the second day, we took the Violet City Lantern Tour in Mammoth Cave.  To make this a nostalgic tour, our group of 38 carried 10 real oil lanterns and that was our only light source on the three mile, three hour tour (photos were impossible without a flash, which Marge doesn't carry).  Cave tours in the 1800’s and early 1900’s used smoky whale oil lamps.  Our lanterns seemed modern.         The tour started at the Historic Entrance and followed wide passages in the second of the six levels of the cave.  We were about 260 feet deep.  We walked past two saltpeter mines and learned about their history and learned about the TB experiment in which terminally ill TB patients were housed in the cave for 10 months to see if the 54° and 85% humidity would help them.  It didn’t.  We walked on through long, large tunnels and could imagine the water rushing through and wearing away the limestone on its way to the Green River.  We stopped to look at several waterfalls – water still coming in from sinkholes but running down to deeper levels – and saw smoke writing on the ceilings, many from 1826 to 1839 – and stars – where the black guides got “tip” money to throw a rock to the ceiling and chip off the black crust, leaving a white “star.”  We were told that 2000 years ago local Indians used lit cane reeds to come into the cave and collect minerals.  Many relics have been found in the caves and even some perfectly preserved dead bodies.  Because these tunnels are dry and no bacteria or carnivores can live inside, the bodies do not decompose.  This tour was very interesting and a good compliment to yesterday’s tour.         After both tours we had to walk through a solution of Woolite to clean our shoes.  The bats in the cave are suffering from white nose disease and it is killing the colonies of bats.
Historic entrance	Writing and drawings on the ceiling
Names of early visitors	Mammoth Cave Park is a beautiful place this time of year.  The trees have new leaf growth, the dogwoods and azaleas are in bloom, and it is definitely different from Colorado.  Unfortunately, there is lots of poison ivy, so we did not want to stray from any of the paths.          We did walk out to see the Mammoth Cave RR 0-4-2T engine and a baggage/passenger coach.  A RR spur was built to bring rich tourists from the Louisville/Nashville main line.  We also went down to check out the two-car ferry that crosses the Green River at the edge of the Park.  It uses a paddle wheel to move it along cables back and forth.  Interesting.
Mammoth Cave RR 0-4-2T engine and a baggage/passenger coach	Mammoth Cave RR 0-4-2T engine and a baggage/passenger coach
Coal car	Car ferry across the Green River
Car ferry across the Green River	Car ferry across the Green River

 

Tues, 5/6/14 – Cave City to Mountain Grove, MO – Happy Birthday Frederick
            We were up early and on the road by 8:15.  We are heading home along a scenic route through southern Missouri today.  We crossed the Ohio River and then the Mississippi at their confluence outside of Cairo, IL.  We stopped for the night at a Good Sam park in Mountain Grove, MO.  This park needs some work.  It has not been kept up but will suit our needs for one night. 

Wed., 5/7/14 – Mountain Grove, MO to WaKeeney, KS
            It looked like it was going to rain (thunder, lightening, downpour type) but we got on the road at 7:30 and drove west as the front slipped by to our south.  We were lucky.  We stayed off the interstate routes for much of the day and were pleased that the US and state routes we choose were in very good condition.  Most of them had 65 MPH speed limits.  We had a strong SW wind all day (30 to 40 MPH) so we did not get good mileage, plus we are now heading up in elevation.
            Of interest was seeing several road-kill armadillos in Missouri and a buffalo ranch in Kansas.  It was also 99° by the afternoon!
            We stayed the night at a KOA campground in WaKeeney, KS.  We got in, parked, and ate a hot dog dinner in time to get ice cream or an A&W root beer float ($2 each) at the KOA office.  Our thermometer read 100.4° in the sun so the ice cream was real comfort food.  We also turned on the camper AC for about the second time ever!

Thurs., 5/8/14 – WaKeeney, KS to Estes Park
            We finally got on the interstate and headed home.  We arrived in Estes Park early enough to unpack the camper before more bad weather arrived.  The first snowflakes fell as we got finished - quite a temperature change from yesterday!  As always it is great fun to travel but we are very happy to be back home.

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