Saturday, April 19, 2014

More Mammoth . . . Waiting on Weather, UPS, & Walmart

Mammoth Cave, KY – April 13-19, 2014

OK, it’s going to be in the 80’s today and we are dry camping. We open all the windows, leave the vent fans on and head into Cave City, KY and settle into McDonald’s for the afternoon. Nice table with electric plug so we both can use our computers. Luckily it cools down at night so sleeping is comfortable.

Crazy weather, one day we are sitting out in the sun and the next we are huddled inside next to the heater.

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Weather forecast is for more cold and even snow to the north & west of us (the directions we want to go next). We decide to hang out here even though it will be cold and take care of a few things that need done. EJ needs to have a lens replaced in her new glasses and there is a Walmart in Glasgow, Ky, so we give them a call. They say 3-5 days so we opt to take a chance and hope for 3 not 5 days.

We also had a spare inverter (an unexpected warranty benefit) show up at our house and want to have it sent here. We asked our neighbor to do a UPS run and hope it will get here in time.

So off to Glasgow we go. Here’s something we hope to see more of along our travels. Diesel is cheaper than regular!April 13  thru 19 (17)

We did a little exploring and found something you don’t see everyday. This formation is in someone's backyard.

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The rain and cold weather are coming our way. It’s going to be low 30’s to mid 50’s the next few days.

Since we will be hanging around awhile, on Tuesday we decided to do another cave tour. It will actually be warmer in the caves than outside. It was 32.8 degrees this morning. Our 2 hour tour started at 1:45 and it hadn’t warmed up much.

This time we took the Historic Tour. Very different from the previous one. This was 2 miles with 300 ft decent and a lot less stairs. More open space except for Fat Man’s Misery (a very narrow, low passage).

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They mined saltpeter in the caves to use in gun powder for the War of 1812. After that it became a tourist destination and several folks left their names.

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It is really hard to imagine what it was like using oil lamps and exploring these caves. It is one of natures true wonders.

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Back to camp in time for sunset, campfire and a beautiful moon rise.

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The next few days we hung around camp and tried to stay warm. Mocha found her spot and seems very relaxed and Taz is enjoying her supper from her bed.

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Frank got his inverter delivered right to the RV on Wednesday. The infamous water pump gremlin showed up on Thursday, but never fear, spare one on hand. Now we have to find a place to turn in the bad one for another spare.  Frank changed the generator oil on Friday since it had warmed up some..

Saturday, we got the call, EJ’s lens is here, yeah. Five days still wasn’t bad. Made the trek to Glasgow and took the Park Ridge road back to camp. Frank spotted this turkey heading into the woods.

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It was a beautiful day. Temps are warming up. Now that the last of our waiting is done we will be heading out tomorrow. Twelve nights when we only thought we would spend 2 or 3 puts our westward journey a little behind. We expected to have to determine our route based on weather conditions, but Old Man Winter just doesn’t want to let go. Quite the opposite from last year when we kept seeking cooler weather.

It will be an early morning as we plan on attending the Easter sunrise service in the amphitheater before we head out. Our stay here has been great and we took advantage of having one last campfire. Frank even brought Taz out to let her enjoy it too.

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We’ll be off to the midwest “I” states next.

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