November 5, 2015 Travel to Bella’s Hometown

Travel Day today – !   So after we packed up and dumped our tanks we were on our way.  These turkeys came to see us off – wasn’t that nice of them:

We crossed over the Green River:

And took a few back roads:

How about this mansion!

We passed many old barns:

Crossed a few rivers:

To arrive at our destination for today:

Here is our spot in Hillman Ferry Campground:

Our view of Kentucky Lake:

Isn’t that a great spot!

In 2011, we were here at Land Between the Lakes with our friends Bruce and Sue but we stayed at a Army Corp Park (now closed for the season).  This area is where we found Bella –

Do you think she knows???

Just enjoying the breeze:

After setting up, we just hung out and enjoyed the view.  Between setting the clocks back and going thru a time change, we get tired early.  The best part (NOT) is trying to get the kitties on a schedule after a 2 hour change. 

Tomorrow we will do some exploring so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 145 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Kentucky: Mammoth Cave Entrance Road; SR-70; Western Kentucky Parkway; US-62W; SR-453; The Trace Road

November 4, 2015 Cleveland Avenue Tour

This morning was spent taking care of some insurance business and then after lunch we headed to the Visitor Center for the Cleveland Avenue Tour.  This tour was much smaller than yesterday’s tour – which made us VERY HAPPY!  Thirty three people today vs. 100 yesterday.  Yikees.

After a ten minute bus ride we arrived at the Carmichael Entrance:

After a short history of the entrance and safety information, away we went:

Down 183 steps:

Into this huge area called “Rocky Mountains”.  We could not use flash so I do not have a good picture but believe me, it was HUGE with HUGE rocks – .  From there we entered “Cleveland Avenue” - a tubular cave – WOW!:

These are gypsum flowers – check out the different formations:

During the Civil War troops came to this area, stayed at the hotel, and took cave tours.  They found this gentleman’s name on the hotel registry and a few years ago his ancestors were on one of the tours:

This area was used by both the Confederate Troops and the Union Troops.  Kentucky was the one state that remained neutral.

Many people who visited the caves and explored the caves, left their names.  If it was dated before 1941, it is considered historical.  After that it is considered a felony.

We continued on the Avenue:

The geologists think this mile long tube was caused by a slow moving river because of how it is shaped and the fine dirt on the cave floor:

As we walked along, the rangers told us about the explorers of these caves and some of the social history.

After a mile, we arrived at the Snowball Room:

How about that!  There were restrooms there too.  It is named the Snowball Room because of the gypsum formations on the ceiling that look like snowballs:

This room was used for parties, proms, dinners and all kinds of celebrations.  I asked if it is still used and was told “officially no” but there was a brand new commercial coffee maker there – HMMMMM  (I think there is an elevator nearby too…)

Many people who came left their names.  If you think about the dates – 1800’s up to 1940 – and what it took to stay here, those folks had a higher income than most.

Very interesting!

After a short break, we walked a mile back to the entrance and up those 183 stairs – whew! – to the bus and back to the Visitor Center.

The weather continues to be beautiful so we enjoyed another campfire this evening.

Tomorrow we will continue our journey west so stay tuned and enjoy today!

November 3, 2015 Domes and Dripstone Tours

Another beautiful day - sunny and blue skies.  Love this photo of Andy saluting the flag:

We were up early and made our way to the Visitor Center for our Domes and Dripstones Tour.  We took a 10 minute bus ride to the New Cave Entrance.  This entrance was made in 1921 by blasting a hole in the bottom of this sinkhole into the main part of the cave. (It was not owned by the National Park at that time.)

In we went and down 280 stairs to the main part of the cave which was 250 feet below ground.  (We could not take flash pictures so these may not be the best.)

Here we go:

Looking into the pit - Scary:

Some areas were wide:

And some were tight:

One of the main cave areas – it was huge!  You can see one of the members of our tour in the lower right of this picture:

These caves were created by water millions of years ago.  The walls of the cave are limestone and as the water left, some of the layers collapsed.  Over the top, however, is a formation known as capstone that keeps the cave from totally collapsing.

Mammoth Cave is one of the longest caves in the world – so far over 405 miles have been explored and mapped – WOW!

Although this part of the cave is considered a dry cave, at times water has seeped in and created these stalactites

Amazing, isn’t it.  Every time we turned a corner or entered a different room, we were in AWE!:

Now we have entered into the wet part of the cave where the formations (dripstones) are just incredible.  Here is the “Frozen Niagara” formation which is a conglomeration of stalactites measuring 75 feet high and 50 feet wide.  We walked down 49 stairs to the bottom of the “Drapery Room.”

Close up of the “Frozen Niagara” Formation – WOW!:

These are known as cave draperies:

How cool is this!:

We exited thru a different opening and were bused back to the Visitor Center- this place is AMAZING!

After having lunch, we took a drive to Cave City for gasoline for the generator.  So many old barns:

How about the size of this rooster- :

This evening we enjoyed another wonderful campfire. 

Another cave tour is on the schedule for tomorrow so stay tuned and enjoy today!