After 81 days, 1700 photos, 10,000 miles, and a million adventures, we are back home in Raleigh. It was a totally amazing trip, and I will have to go through the photos to absorb all that we saw and did. We truly had an awesome summer. Today we drove quickly home to beat the remnants of Hanna. We almost made it, hitting a bit of rain the last hour. Coming down from the mountains is always an adventure. There is a 6% grade for 5 miles which is a little hairy, but we made it. The scenery was wonderful. And a sign we saw at a rest area made my day: NOTICE It is unlawful to urinate on state owned property. Rest rooms available inside. GS 136-(5), GS 14-132.
I can highly recommend Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. They are truly worth seeing. And driving through our country, seeing the variety of scenery and people is a journey well-worth taking. This is the last blog for this trip. We have more trips coming up, so I will keep you posted on them.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Day 80 – Horse Cave KY to Asheville NC – 325 miles
Our last night on the road. We have decided to head to Raleigh tomorrow and hopefully beat Hanna and the rain that might come Friday night. The drive today was rather uneventful except for the beautiful section of I40 north of the Smokies. Driving through the curving, mountainous road was great. I love the mountains.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Day 79 – Horse Cave KY
This morning Bill left early for Bowling Green KY to see the Corvette Museum. I slept in, enjoyed the peace and quiet, and chatted with Mandy. Bill got home about 11:30 after having stopped at WalMart to get some bottled water. We had lunch, and then headed to Mammoth Cave for the 1:30 Onyx Cave tour.
This was a really interesting tour since there were no lights in the cave, just the Coleman lanterns that half of us carried. At the beginning of the tour were some lovely limestone stalactites and stalagmites. Then we went through some dry cave and ended up in an area of wonderful gypsum formations. One area looked like white chicken feathers had been stuck to the ceiling. There were many delicate gypsum formations on the walls and ceilings. My favorite thing we saw was a tiny (only 2” long) pipistrelle bat. He was so cute!! We saw lots of cave crickets which almost look like spiders. I didn’t get any photos because we couldn’t take them on this tour.
After the cave tour, we drove to see Sand Cave entrance where Floyd Collins died in 1925 after being trapped by falling rock. It is a most interesting, but tragic, story. Look at the web site by clicking on Floyd Collins above. We also saw his final grave site in the Mammoth Cave Cemetery.
Tonight we went the half block down the hill to Aunt Bea’s Restaurant. I wasn’t expecting much, and I wasn’t disappointed. But it was food. I added a few more photos to the Mammoth Cave link on the left.
This was a really interesting tour since there were no lights in the cave, just the Coleman lanterns that half of us carried. At the beginning of the tour were some lovely limestone stalactites and stalagmites. Then we went through some dry cave and ended up in an area of wonderful gypsum formations. One area looked like white chicken feathers had been stuck to the ceiling. There were many delicate gypsum formations on the walls and ceilings. My favorite thing we saw was a tiny (only 2” long) pipistrelle bat. He was so cute!! We saw lots of cave crickets which almost look like spiders. I didn’t get any photos because we couldn’t take them on this tour.
After the cave tour, we drove to see Sand Cave entrance where Floyd Collins died in 1925 after being trapped by falling rock. It is a most interesting, but tragic, story. Look at the web site by clicking on Floyd Collins above. We also saw his final grave site in the Mammoth Cave Cemetery.
Tonight we went the half block down the hill to Aunt Bea’s Restaurant. I wasn’t expecting much, and I wasn’t disappointed. But it was food. I added a few more photos to the Mammoth Cave link on the left.
Day 79 – Horse Cave KY
This morning Bill left early for Bowling Green KY to see the Corvette Museum. I slept in, enjoyed the peace and quiet, and chatted with Mandy. Bill got home about 11:30 after having stopped at WalMart to get some bottled water. We had lunch, and then headed to Mammoth Cave for the 1:30 Onyx Cave tour.
This was a really interesting tour since there were no lights in the cave, just the Coleman lanterns that half of us carried. At the beginning of the tour were some lovely limestone stalactites and stalagmites. Then we went through some dry cave and ended up in an area of wonderful gypsum formations. One area looked like white chicken feathers had been stuck to the ceiling. There were many delicate gypsum formations on the walls and ceilings. My favorite thing we saw was a tiny (only 2” long) pipistrelle bat. He was so cute!! We saw lots of cave crickets which almost look like spiders. I didn’t get any photos because we couldn’t take them on this tour.
After the cave tour, we drove to see Sand Cave entrance where Floyd Collins died in 1925 after being trapped by falling rock. It is a most interesting, but tragic, story. Look at the web site by clicking on Floyd Collins above. We also saw his final grave site in the Mammoth Cave Cemetery.
Tonight we went the half block down the hill to Aunt Bea’s Restaurant. I wasn’t expecting much, and I wasn’t disappointed. But it was food. I added a few more photos to the Mammoth Cave link on the left.
This was a really interesting tour since there were no lights in the cave, just the Coleman lanterns that half of us carried. At the beginning of the tour were some lovely limestone stalactites and stalagmites. Then we went through some dry cave and ended up in an area of wonderful gypsum formations. One area looked like white chicken feathers had been stuck to the ceiling. There were many delicate gypsum formations on the walls and ceilings. My favorite thing we saw was a tiny (only 2” long) pipistrelle bat. He was so cute!! We saw lots of cave crickets which almost look like spiders. I didn’t get any photos because we couldn’t take them on this tour.
After the cave tour, we drove to see Sand Cave entrance where Floyd Collins died in 1925 after being trapped by falling rock. It is a most interesting, but tragic, story. Look at the web site by clicking on Floyd Collins above. We also saw his final grave site in the Mammoth Cave Cemetery.
Tonight we went the half block down the hill to Aunt Bea’s Restaurant. I wasn’t expecting much, and I wasn’t disappointed. But it was food. I added a few more photos to the Mammoth Cave link on the left.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Day 78 – Salem to Horse Cave KY – 115 miles
We left Salem at 9:30 this morning, gained an hour and arrived at the Horse Cave KOA at 12:30. This campground is almost deserted. Tourists have gone home!!! We have no satellite TV nor WiFi, but our Verizon card works. We settled in with a great view of Interstate 65 a half mile away. The campground is wooded, but they are working very hard to upgrade the campground with 50 amp power, cable, and WiFi.
We drove to Mammoth Cave National Park about 2. They offer many tours since Mammoth is the longest cave system in the world. We decided to take the “New Entrance Tour” which left at 3 and lasted for 2 hours. It was a really neat tour. To start with we descended 280 stairs on a really neat staircase that did not blast away any of the cave. It twisted and turned through various formations and was really quite fun. The largest section of the tour was through a dry area with little formations. The last section was in a wetter section with lovely formations including the Frozen Niagara. We had a total of 500 stairs and lots of hiking, but it was very interesting.
After the tour came back to the Visitor’s Center (which is undergoing a major remodel), we walked to the Historic Entrance. I really thought we went here on some childhood trip, but I have no documentation nor photos. This entrance and tour is closed for restoration work.
We came back to the RV, had some dinner, and tried to get the antanna to work on the TV. Unfortunately all we can get is PBS which is showing the Republican convention. Sigh.
I did post some new photos on a Mammoth Cave link on the left.
We drove to Mammoth Cave National Park about 2. They offer many tours since Mammoth is the longest cave system in the world. We decided to take the “New Entrance Tour” which left at 3 and lasted for 2 hours. It was a really neat tour. To start with we descended 280 stairs on a really neat staircase that did not blast away any of the cave. It twisted and turned through various formations and was really quite fun. The largest section of the tour was through a dry area with little formations. The last section was in a wetter section with lovely formations including the Frozen Niagara. We had a total of 500 stairs and lots of hiking, but it was very interesting.
After the tour came back to the Visitor’s Center (which is undergoing a major remodel), we walked to the Historic Entrance. I really thought we went here on some childhood trip, but I have no documentation nor photos. This entrance and tour is closed for restoration work.
We came back to the RV, had some dinner, and tried to get the antanna to work on the TV. Unfortunately all we can get is PBS which is showing the Republican convention. Sigh.
I did post some new photos on a Mammoth Cave link on the left.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Day 77 – Salem IN
It was family cookout day in Salem. When I got up, Joy was already working on her second pie. Yesterday she made macaroni salad. Bill and I made a run to the grocery for buns, hamburger meat, and beans. We headed over to Bill’s brother RH and his wife Barb’s home for the cook out. RH cooked at least 20 hamburgers and probably that many brats. He is quite good at cooking large amounts of meat. Bill’s sister Jamie, her husband David, their daughter Megan and her husband Steve, their son Ryan, wife Stephanie and kids Ethan, Lucas, and Audrey, RH and Barb’s daughter Holly and her husband Chris were all there along with the 3 of us. There was a ton of food. We ate, chatted, and watched the hurricane. The little kids played in the pool. Soon after, everyone left except for me and Bill, and Holly and Chris. We swam in the pool which was surprisingly cool and refreshing.
We did some laundry when we got home and took a load out to the RV. We had leftovers for dinner and watched some TV. Tomorrow should be an easy day since it is only 115 miles to Mammoth Cave.
We did some laundry when we got home and took a load out to the RV. We had leftovers for dinner and watched some TV. Tomorrow should be an easy day since it is only 115 miles to Mammoth Cave.
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