Transiting Kentucky

Wednesday March 1 - Mercedes Repair - continued

Huge Flag

Photo in side car mirror of car dealership

When we got to the Mercedes place, Bob handed me the keys of the rental in case (he said) he didn't get back!!

He took it on a test drive, and we decided just to take it as it was - they had changed one fuel filter, but said they didn't have the other one - citing the fact that the car was 20 years old. I called the Lodge and told them that we would check out tomorrow. The car door locks no longer worked, and it was shifting hard, and the engine wouldn't turn off. After we put gas in the rental and turned in it, Bob drove back to the Lodge - the acceleration is fine now. We picked up hamburgers at Burger King, and he bought the filter that Shaun said they couldn't get at AutoZone for $3.00

After he ate lunch, and read his repair manual, he went out and looked at the car and figured out that the connector between the car lock button and the actuator was missing (which makes a leak in the hydraulic system that runs everything). So he connected the two with a wire tie and voila, the engine now shuts off without having to turn it off from under the hood.

We had dinner at Barb A Rosa's Real Pit Bar BQ.

In 1960, Sandra Austin opened this restaurant and it has been taken over by her daughter. They advertise an authentic hickory smoked BBQ experience.

Menu on the wall

They have both eat in, drive through and catering. Behind the pig on the counter are license plates.

Pig on the counter backed by license plates

I think we had the regular BBQ rib plate (small) for $7.99. This would include Ribs, Coleslaw, BBQ beans, French Fries and Texas Toast.

BBQ plate with BBQ beans and coleslaw

Thursday 2 March 2006 - Driving to Bowling Green

We checked out of the Navy Lodge in Millington ,

Highway east out of Memphis

and the drive to Bowling Green was pretty much without incident.

Highway near Nashville

We stopped at KFC for lunch and I had the chicken pot pie which is really good.

Chicken pot pie

Bob's lunch

(It was right next to Nervous Charlies Market and Fireworks),

Nervous Charlies

but Bob refuses to get fuel on the road and has to get it just before we get to where we are going.

We crossed into KY about 1:45

Kentucky Welcome Center

(Did you know about the 'notch' in the TN/KY border - apparently there was a surveying dispute and so there's a notch of KY that sticks down into TN).

Monument to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing at Kentucky Visitor's Center

The Visitor's Center was in front of a horse farm.

Gas station

Microtel

We checked into the Microtel. Originally I wanted to stay in Bowling Green for two days and go to Mammoth Cave before we had to be in Taylorsville for our last condo stay. But the car trouble that we had kept us in Memphis an extra day. I made the reservations at this hotel through the internet.

The website says: And now, Microtel is pleased to be the first economy/budget hotel brand to offer guests free local and free long distance calls in the continental United States, and free wireless high-speed Internet access in every room of our hotels, as well as advance online check-in and check-out with unlimited access to online folio information. These new amenities compliment our other standard amenities including remote TV with ESPN, CNN and one movie channel and complimentary continental breakfast.

After we checked in, I immediately started uploading pictures from Memphis etc on the high speed wireless internet. The room was nice I thought.

Me taking my picture in the mirror - bed on right

Beds and TV (on right) and Refrigerator left-door to adjoining room in back

It had a TV up high in the corner (good for watching in bed), and had a microwave and a refrigerator and a coffee pot. It also had a window seat.

Microtel Sign at dusk

I'm not a big fan of Cracker Barrel, but if we didn't want to get back in the car and drive, our choices were limited to either Waffle House or Cracker Barrel.

Waffle House sign

Cracker Barrel Sign (with Ryans across the street in back)

Bob walking along the porch

Sign outside

It was packed so I sat in a rocker in front of the fireplace to wait for a table while Bob walked around the store.

Fireplace in Cracker Barrel

Bob bought a clacker for mother to call people with if she is in bed and wants something

Red light in Cracker Barrel

Table decorations in Cracker Barrel

Faux olde country decor

Bob had a roast beef sandwich with gravy, mashed potatoes and coleslaw,

Bob's roast beef sandwich

and I had breakfast which I figured they couldn't screw up too badly. It was two eggs, hash browns, fried pork tenderloins, biscuits, pale gravy, grits and stewed apples.

My two eggs, hash browns and fried pork tenderloins

Grits, Gravy and Biscuits

Stewed apples

Last time I said over easy for the eggs and the yolks were all hard, so this time I said sunny side up and they were absolutely raw on top. I managed to drip egg yolk all down the front of me. I also got ice cream and fudge sauce in a mug for dessert.

Ice cream and fudge sauce in a mug

Rocking chairs outside Cracker Barrel as we left

When we got back to the room, there was a rowdy crew next door - sounded like they were in the hall, but they were not. They talked as loud as our daughter and son-in-law (all talking very loud at once) and kept saying things like "Get out of here" very loudly. Bob went to bed, grumbling. He said they were in the adjoining room and the noise was coming through the door.

About 10, they were still at it, and I was tired and wanted to go to bed, so I opened my door very quietly and looked, and their door to our room was open. That's why I could hear everything they said so clearly. They were playing cards on a hexagonal table, and had poker chips etc. So I called the desk and complained that they were gambling, and she called the room. They quieted down.

Friday 3 March 2006

The next morning, they stared up again at 7 giving group yells. The clerk on duty said they must be some kind of sales group. They had been there for 4 days and checked out that morning, but he said he faxed them a lot of maps. I left a comment card that said I'd never stay at a Microtel again.

The continental breakfast was just that - orange juice and apple juice, rolls, cold cereal and milk, coffee and bagels. (We could have gone next door to the Cracker Barrel for a proper breakfast of course, but that wouldn't have been free.)

Bob didn't think much of it. So we checked out to go to Taylorville which was only about an hour and a half away. But first, because we weren't supposed to be in Taylorville until 4, we went to: Mammoth Cave about 10, thinking we could do a tour there.

Sign pointing to Environmental Education and Picnic Area

But the first thing we saw (after a school group which the ranger said was 'little kids' in 4th or 5th grade, but looked to Bob and me like the 7th graders that we used to teach)

School bus field trip to Mammoth Cave

was a sign saying that you could take no packages of any sort into the cave.

• No camera bags,
• No fanny packs,
• No diaper bags,
• No purses,
• No backpacks.

Sign with prohibitions

When I asked they said it was because of homeland security, which is absolutely ridiculous. I mean if I wanted to I could strap stuff to my body - I wouldn't have to carry a knapsack. (Although the sign also said

• no firearms,
• no knives,
• no pepper spray,
• no mace,
• no stun guns or other weapons)

And I guess a bomb would count as a weapon. I see no reason to carry weapons into the cave but I can see plenty of reasons to carry a camera bag or water container.

So Bob was already POed at the idea of going back to the car with his little tiny fanny pack that he carries his camera in. And I thought that the idea that some homeland security could be impacted by carrying a diaper bag into the cave was pretty silly. I'm sure that's not the reason, but I couldn't get the ranger to tell me what the real reason was. According to the website: Interested members of the public can join an Earthwatch.org sponsored field survey of the history of Mammoth Cave However, due to Mammoth Cave park regulations, participation on this project is restricted to US citizens only.

Visitor's center

Screens with tour times at the ticket booth

The next thing was that the Frozen Niagara tour that was leaving at 10:30 was a 2 hour 3/4 mile tour with considerable climbing, and I didn't think that I was up to that. The Travertine tour which was only 1/4 mile and no climbing involved wasn't until noon.

If you want to visit the caves you should check the schedule (which we had not done) and check the length and amount of physical effort required. Make reservations, especially in the summer. Fees for an adult range from $4 for the self guided Discovery Tour to $25 for the Wild Cave Tour.

• Travertine Tour - EASY: Walking Distance: ¼ mile, round trip. Emphasis On: Formation of cave; development of dripstone; animal life. Landmarks Seen: Frozen Niagara Entrance, Rainbow Dome, Crystal Lake, Frozen Niagara flowstone formation; Drapery Room. Number of Stairs: 13, an additional 98 are optional
• Trog Tour - for children 8 to 12 years old - not recommended for children with asthma or severe allergies to dust and molds.
• Focus on Mammoth Photo Tour - a new short evening tour where camera bags and tripods are allowed.
• Frozen Niagara Tour -Number of Stairs: 500, nearly 200 descended inside New Entrance. Takes 2 hours and covers 3/4 mile
• Mammoth Cave Discovery Tour - both Self-Guided and Ranger-Guided Historic Tour 1.75 hours and 3/4 mile round trip Number of Stairs: 120 - 180
• Great Onyx Lantern Tour - 2 1/4 hours, 1 mile and 40 steps
• Introduction to Caving - 3.6 hours, 1 1/4 miles Must be 10 years old.
• Star Chamber Tour
• River Styx Cave Tour - 2.5 hours, 2.5 miles, 560 steps
• Violet City Lantern Tour - 3 hours, 3 miles, 160 steps and numerous hills
• Grand Avenue Tour - 4.5 hours, 4 miles and 670 steps
• Wild Cave Tour - 6-7 hours, 5.5 miles Involves: Free-climbing cave walls; lengthy crawls through areas as tight as 9 inches high; walking in a crouched position; hand and knee crawls over jagged rocks and dirt; crawling through wet areas; twisting into and out of tight crawlway openings. Visitors must have had their 16th birthday; High-top, over-the-ankle lace-up boots, with lug or deeply treaded soles, are required. No low-cut hiking or athletic shoes allowed.Chest or hip measurement should not be more than 42 inches to avoid situations that impact tour for all participants; Helmets, lights and knee pads provided

River Tour section (closed for the winter season)

We watched part of one of the movies. A schedule was posted, but it was not adhered to in any regard. We went to the auditorium at 10:15 and nothing was being shown. We came back later at 10:25, and something had already started.

Movie schedule

Scenes from the film

From what I gathered from the movie the great thing about Mammoth Cave is the sheer size of it,

Map showing the parts of the cave

because there aren't many stalactites etc. in there. So we passed on going in. I got my passport stamped in the shop,

Another NPS shop

and I walked around the Visitor's Center. We went through the little museum.

Museum at the Visitor's Center

Clothing for caving

African American Heritage

Even if you can't go into the cave, there are interesting things to see on the surface.

Small stream near Visitor's Center

There are signs about the various geological features.

Informational sign about the caprock

For instance one of them says:In the Pennsylvanian Period, 280 million years ago, a layer sand and silt was laid down by an ancient river delta, forming the slanted layer of mixed sandstone and shale visible immediately across the ravine. Beneath this "caprock" lie 6000 feet of layered limestone deposited as an ancient ea bed some 350 million years ago. The miles of cave passageway that make up Mammoth Cave are found within these layers. Sandstone and shale is more resistant to being dissolved by water than is the limestone underneath. The caprock acts like a roof, shedding water to the side of the ridge.

Sign pointing down the road to Historic Entrance

Road down into the caves

Looking up at the visitor's center from bridge

Visitor's Center

Winter

Road in the winter

Bridge to the Visitor's Center

Mammoth Cave Hotel Bus

Old Train Exhibit

Fuel Available

Cabins Closed Off Season

Bike Trails

Narrow Roads

Then we drove to a little church up on the hill

Mammoth Cave Baptist Church

and I got out to look at the cemetery.

The graves were interesting - there were a couple that looked like someone hacked them out with a knife.

Henry Burnett's grave

G. W. Denison's grave

Other gravestones

Shackelford's graves has the dates of their marriage and baptism on the stone

Leuise Child of Clyde and Ida Davis

There was a grave there for William Floyd Collins "The Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known"

Floyd Collins ultimate grave

In the 1920's Floyd Collins was known as the best cave explorer in the world. His family's Crystal Cave (which he discovered on January 18, 1917) was overshadowed by Mammoth Cave. He was part of the infamous Cave Wars between Mammoth and 17 other cave attractions. While trying to find a passage from Crystal Cave to Mammoth Cave, he was exploring Sand Cave when a large rock fell on his foot, trapping him 60 feet underground and just 120 feet from the entrance. He had only one light, was ill-clothed, didn't have a protective helmet, and was exploring alone.

He lay trapped there for two weeks. He was close enough to the entrance for people to get food to him for the first four days. then a cave-in closed the entrance to the passageway and reporters could only talk to him. Reporter William Burke "Skeets" Miller from the Louisville Courier-Journal received a Pulitzer Prize for his interviews with Collins. When the shaft that was being dug to rescue him reached his location, he had already died. Authorities decided it was too dangerous to recover the body, so it remained in Sand Cave for several months until Floyd's brother Homer raised enough money to give Floyd a "decent burial".

When Crystal Cave was sold in 1927, Floyd's body was put in a glass topped coffin in the cave. The body was stolen in March 1929 and later found in the river minus one leg. The body was returned to Crystal and the casket was chained down for security. In 1961, Crystal Cave was purchased by Mammoth Cave National Park. At the Collins family request the National Park Service re-interred Floyd Collins next to the old Mammoth Cave Baptist Church on Flint Ridge road on March 24, 1989. Many books and even one musical have been written about Floyd Collin's death. The book originally titled "Ace in the Hole" about the media circus surrounding his death was made into a 1951 Billy Wilder movie starring Kirk Douglas.

We went back out to the interstate past Dinosaur Land about 11:48

Dinosaur Land guardian

and crossed into the Eastern Time Zone after which we had lunch at Hardies.

Hand Scooped Ice Cream

Taco Salad

I found a little rock in my salad about the size of a baby tooth.

Rock from my salad

Since Mammoth Cave was such a bust, we stopped at Hodgenville at Andrew Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site (another stamp in the book). It was on the property called Sinking Spring where Lincoln's father and mother and older sister came to live before he was born.

Map

The first thing we saw were the cabins of the Nancy Lincoln Inn.

Nancy Lincoln Inn buildings on the left as we enter the park

These were log cabins which are not part of the park and which apparently are rented for about $65/night so you can get the 'flavor' of living in a log cabin without running water. The Inn was constructed of chestnut and red heart pine in 1928, and consists of a large, round-log building that houses a souvenir shop, snack bar, and Lincoln memorabilia. The inn operates four, one-room overnight tourist cabins.

The cabins are air-conditioned, but in keeping with their historic character, do not have indoor plumbing. Full sanitary facilities are close by in a modern bathhouse.

The Site has a visitor's center

Visitor's Center

From the window of the Visitor's Center

This is the usual type of National Park Service bookstore. They sell things like a magnet or patch of of the building, a Lincoln Birthplace Christmas Tree ornament for about $15.00. And they had cookbooks and coloring books and so on.

Gift shop items

There was a film - Abraham Lincoln: The Kentucky Years, a 15 minute captioned film shows every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour and it ran on schedule.

Movie at the visitor's center

There was another group of school kids there - these were older and looked to be developmentally disabled. There were various exhibits in the visitor's center including one on Lincoln Logs,

Construction details of a log cabin

Model of the cabin

Inside the cabin

and a cross section from an oak tree (called the Boundary Oak)

Picture of the Boundary Oak

which was growing next to the Lincoln's cabin. It was a white oak on the north boundary of the farm, and it was about 28 years old on the date of Lincoln's birth. It was marked to show how big it was at various times in Lincoln's life

Tree "timeline"

Boundary Oak

Boundary Oak detail

Sign about the park

Instead of going up the steps, we took the boardwalk out to the log cabin building which made it possible for wheelchairs to get to the log cabin memorial without going up the steps. We met a lady pushing a wheelchair when we were walking on the walkway.

Boardwalk through the trees(wheelchair accessible)

From the walkway looking back at visitor's center

Bob walking around the Memorial building

There is a log cabin with no provenance (It is not really the cabin in which Lincoln was born) which is inside a marble structure somewhat like the Lincoln Memorial in DC. This First Lincoln Memorial is a somewhat incongruous structure was apparently built with the contributions of school children. (10,000 citizens contributed and a lot of children would send 25 cents each) The neoclassical granite and marble structure designed by architect John Russell Pope -- a sort of Greek temple in the Kentucky woods --was built to house a reconstructed cabin like one where Lincoln was born

Steps in front of the memorial building

Fifty-six steps, one for each year of Lincoln's life, lead to the huge double front doors. Sixteen windows in the building and sixteen rosettes on the interior ceiling are there to remind visitors that Lincoln was the sixteenth president.

Doors

The one-room cabin that is inside does reflect Lincoln's humble beginnings although it may be smaller than the original. It includes one door and window, a stone fireplace, and dirt floor.

Beside the entrance to the memorial building is inscribed, "Here over the log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born, destined to preserve the Union and free the slave, a grateful people have dedicated this memorial to unity, peace, and brotherhood among the states."

Front door of the cabin

Fireplace side of the cabin from the outside

Looking down the steps

The spring (called "Sinking Spring") is still on the farm near the memorial. A few months before Lincoln was born his parents and sister moved from nearby Elizabethtown to the property, known as Sinking Spring Farm. His father paid $200 for 348 acres of stony ground on the south fork of Nolin Creek.. However, Lincoln did not remember living on the farm because his family moved down the road to Knob Creek Farm when he was only two years old.

The farm's name came from a spring on the property which emerged from a deep cave, still visible today. Sinking Spring was the water source for the Lincoln Family

Land around the spring

There is no way to get down to the Sinking Spring without going down steps. Bob walked down into the spring, but I stayed at the top and took a picture of it from there

Sinking Spring

Between mounds

Looking down into the spring

Bob walking back up from the spring

We were on the road again by about 2:40. We went up I-65 to the Bluegrass Parkway

Intersection KY 55 and KY 48

(which has no number) and got off at

Bloomfield

We notice that most of the barns hereabouts are painted black.

Black barn

Kentucky farm

Black barns

Road to Taylorsville

Taylorsville Dam

Bob wanted to get fuel before we went to the condo as he though (correctly) that there might not be many gas stations.

We checked into the condo about 4. This was the last place where we stayed on our 2005-2006 winter trip. It was an Armed Forces Vacation (space available) condo. We were here in March. The condo ad says that there is an 18-hole golf course on site and Taylorsville Lake is just a mile from the resort. You can swim in the lake (not now of course - in the summer) as well as fish.

Condos on the hill

On-Site

• Game Room
• Golf
• Laundry Room
• Outdoor Pool
• Playground Area

Playground

• Spa Services
• Whirlpool/Hot Tub
• Swimming

Road to outdoor pool - indoor pool is in the red building

Pool house

• Fishing is available on the lake and the nearby Salt River.
• Indoor Pool

To unwind, take a dip in the resort's glass-enclosed pool open Memorial Day through Labor Day. Of course we were there well before Memorial Day.

However, it WAS a convenient location, not too far from Louisville or Frankfort. You will need a car.

Parking lot of the condo

I discovered that the phone system doesn't allow internet usage, so I have to come down to the office to log onto the internet. I came down Friday afternoon to use the computer and she had me put in on one of those computer desks pull out trays. Then when I plugged it in, the plug did not have any electricity to it. She put her hand on the tray that the computer was on, and the whole thing fell off and onto the floor. I thought my computer had been broken.

I got my power strip out and plugged it into a plug on the other side of the room. The computer still worked. It is a dial-up which is pretty slow, and there is only one line for the office and the guests, so if I use the computer, the lady in the office has to be offline. Guest use is limited to 15 minutes if there is more than one person waiting. When we were there, no one else was using the computer line. I was afraid to chance the computer desk, so I worked on a table until they fixed the plug behind the computer desk.

We have two bedrooms - one a king bed,

Bedroom with king size bed

and one a regular double or a queen.

Bedroom with Double bed

There's only one bathroom, and only one TV and that's inom.

Dining room to living room

Kitchen

There is a full kitchen. The unit backs up onto a golf course. It is on the second floor (14 steps) but the hill rises steeply so that we could walk right out the back onto the golf course. Although there is NO way that one can access the parking lot from there without sliding down the hill.

View from the back windows

Taylorsville is a very small town. There are a drive in tobacco shop, a couple of little boat places (places for little outboard fishing type boats), a small hardware store, and the town hall.

Town Hall in a Small Town by the Dam

It looks like this another condo primarily for golfers.

Golf course

The lady at the condo gave us directions so we wouldn't have to go all the way into Taylorville for dinner, but she was concerned about us getting in after dark because of the danger of hitting a deer. Hitting a pothole seems more of a problem.

Taylorsville doesn't have very many restaurants. We wanted to go somewhere to sit down for dinner, and our choices were Dairy Queen, a Chinese buffet, the little restaurant on the corner or a place called Moby Dick (A Whale of a Sandwich).

Moby Dick sign

Moby Dick logo

We hope our ship comes in before the dock rots

We ate at Moby Dick on the first night. It seemed to be mostly take-out. I've seen other Moby Dick restaurants since then, but can't find that there is any kind of presence on the internet if it is a chain. I got the fried clam dinner,

Fried clam dinner

and Bob got chicken strips

Chicken strip dinner

which looked so much like fish fillets that he went and got tartar sauce for them. They came with fries, coleslaw and hush puppies and were too much to eat, so we brought them home.