A drive in the country

Our last afternoon in Cave City, KY, was spent on a scenic drive that is generally referred to as the Duncan Hines byway. It starts in Bowling Green, KY at the former home of Duncan Hines (the cake mix guy) and travels through the countryside between Bowling Green and Mammoth Cave National Park. We took in the northern half of the drive through small towns like Pig, Sunfish, Rhoda, Stockholm, and Bee Springs. The biggest town on the route was Brownsville.

The guide highlights some of the “sights” like churches and courthouses or the mall of Sunfish. I find that some of the most interesting sights are not even in the guides and are more of a reflection of the area. Some of these villages are so small that they do not have a sign to indicate where they are. Some are just a collection of a few homes in the great farm country. Some are nearly ghost towns from an era already gone.

As far as I can remember, we came across our first outdoors baptism center. It was located along the Bear Creek and was apparently used by a number of congregations who share the cost of upkeep.

We took Halley along on the trip, but I do not think she really enjoyed it. If she could talk, I would guess she would have preferred staying in the motorhome.

Stopping at the Nolin Dam on the Nolin River, we found the spillway roaring with water and high water in the river below the dam. The refuse in the park indicated how high the river had risen in recent weeks.

The tour ended after we entered the national park and took the Green River Ferry to the south end of the park and then on to Cave City. The Green river is an important part of the park, since for millenniums; it was the river that helped create the huge caves in the park.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Since we were going right by Mammoth Cave National Park to visit with friends, we decided to stop in and take at least one tour of the cave. I still find that taking decent pictures in these large dark spaces difficult, but I keep trying. A new addition to the tours is the requirement that you agree to a foot soaking on the way out of the cave. There is some kind of fungus found in caves in a wide region. They are calling it the bat white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats since 2006. Since these bats are very important to the cave environment and to the well being of the rest of us, they are taking these steps to try and prevent the spread of the infection.

We have been here several times over the years. We are staying in Cave City and it is almost like time has stood still here, at least in some ways. There are no new construction projects or high tech tourist gimmicks to get you to spend your money. There are still the attractions that you might have seen in the 1950’s. Dinosaur Park, old fashioned souvenir shops, classic motels, and even a place that offers to let you sleep in a wigwam.

We are staying in a newer campground –Cave Country RV campground. It has reasonable size sites with level spots, full hookups and free WI-FI and friendly owners.

The park itself holds the world’s largest cave system. It fact, if the next two largest caves were placed within it, there would still be over 100 miles of cave to spare. To date there are known to be 313 miles of cave tunnels and they are still exploring. It is certainly not the most attractive cave, but its sheer size is so impressive, you forget about the rest. We took the Mammoth Passage tour which takes you to some of the larger rooms.

The cave has had human visitors for at least 3000 years. They know this because they have found physical evidence of their presence on the form of artifacts and some mummified human remains. During the war of 1812 the cave was mined for elements to make black powder and they used a water system using hollowed out tree trunks, which still remain in the cave today.

In addition to the cave system itself, the park is over 52000 acres with miles of hiking and biking trails. It also offers lots of opportunity for waterborne exploration, as well.

U.S. Space and Rocket Center

Before leaving the area, we wanted to visit the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. We have passed by this place a number of times, so this was the time to get it done. This facility displays much of the history of the the USA space program with stories about many of the important players. Certainly, in the top tier of that group is Dr. Wernher von Braun. Dr. Braun, who surrendered to the USA forces near the close of WWII, was the designer of the V2 rocket that was used against London and other targets in the later stages of the war. He proved to be a driving force in the US space program and came to Huntsville in 1950.

The center has a full scale Saturn V5 rocket along with many displays of history and the technology of the space program. It is a great place to spend a few hours for those interested in the space program. We did see a vehicle that may suit our needs if we decide to downsize our RV.

Also on site is the SpaceCamp program, where kids from fourth grade thru high school can attend a week long space camp. This is a very popular program and has a number of high profile graduates in science and medical industries.

It is definitely worth a visit.