Adventure Time with Straw and Rowdy : A Mammoth Weekend

Greetings to everyone once again on this rainy and lightning filled Sunday evening here in Central City. The weekend was quite eventful and we had a very special guest join us as you will hear about.

I will start my narrative from our time of departure following work Friday afternoon. Josh's visitor, Kayti, arrived just before the end of our shift. While Josh was showing her around I packed up some things and got together a little bit of food. We set out a little after 6:00 for Munfordville, KY - the town where Josh had found a canoe outfitter that offered free camping. On the way we stopped at Morgantown (see picture dedicated to Morgan below) to eat at Subway and grab a loaf of bread and water. Josh contacted the outfitter on the drive to find out that he was not sending people out due to the high water level, but still said we could camp. We arrived in Munfordville just before the darkness set in and after a little bit of looking we found our campsite. We soon discovered that the "free camping" was really just a public park that has public restrooms, walking trail, exercise stations, and a small soccer field. After asking a briskly walking man about where people camp, he just pointed in the grass and said wherever! Since it was already dark, we decided to go to Sonic and then put up the tent. The tent was put up fairly easily under a pole light and then to add extra adventure was conveniently placed beside a life-size buffalo figure. While Josh and Kayti took a walk, I talked to Morgan on the phone while walking around the track going probably around 3 miles and scaring myself every time I passed the buffalo in the dark. We all went to bed, Kayti having her own room in the tent which was big enough for probably 15 people (the tent, not Kayti's room). It was extremely hot and so I opened up most of the vents on the doors to get some air which really didn't help. At about 12:40 two cars came down into the park with a spotlight. We thought it was odd because it was a dead end road stopping at the water. They pulled down to the waters edge and shone the light around for about 20 minutes before leaving. We postulated all the things they could be doing like fishing in the dark, finding swamp monsters, and looking for dead bodies. Josh and I were ready for some action though if things got hairy.

You will see in the pictures that our tent was not only beside the buffalo but also beside the walking path. In the early morning I was soundly asleep, so it was not until later that Josh told me many people who came for their morning walk had fun watching me sleep as they went by. You will also see from the pictures that I was really roughing it having no pillow, blankets, or mattress - just two thin beach towels. We set off for Mammoth Cave which was about a half hour away. We arrived a little late and almost missed our tour had it not been for the nice tour guide that allowed us to go on the 9:30 tour instead. As we walked down to the cave we were greeted with the 58 degree air that felt glorious since it was already up in the 90's like the rest of the week had been. The whole cave tour was awesome and our tour guide was very good. We stayed up front in the group of roughly 100 people so that we could hear some of the extra things he was saying. The cave is the longest known cave in the world with over 400 miles explored - 12 being open to the public, in which 8 are lit. Our "historic tour" featured such things as the room where they used to hold Methodist church services, the salt-peter mining operation for gunpowder in the war of 1812, formations, graffiti, and Josh's favorite - cave kisses (water droplets). The tour was really cool and there were a few tight places that some people probably wouldn't like if they were claustrophobic (shout out to my Grandma). Our tour was around two miles and two hours long.

When we were finished we called two other kayak outfitters. One company was offering trips outside of the national park since the park service wouldn't let them do any on park land due to the water level. Since the current was moving so much faster, they were offering a 12 mile trip that took 3 hours (usually 6 miles takes that amount of time). We thought that sounded good so we took a break to get a drink at "The Olde General Store" which was an American Pickers dream. It was basically a store with endless antiques and old stuff lying around. The outside had things hanging and sitting everywhere and things were marked up so much that you would be insane to pay any sticker price. Josh considered buying some old glass pop bottles in the crate, but had to walk away from the deal when a worker told him the lot was over $300 (he offered $10). Just down the road we located the kayak outfitter and signed up for one single and one double kayak. We followed the driver to the endpoint to park our car which was none other than - Munfordville, the very place we had camped. We rode with our outfitter buddy and I got his life story on the way. He owns the Mammoth Cave Canoe and Kayak as well as a zip line company in the park. He owns a winter home in Sarasota, FL, has two kids that live in SC, and likes vanilla ice cream. I was unable to obtain his SS or routing number, however.

Right before we set out on the waters we got to see a small Copperhead snake, which was kind of cute (when looking from the truck). The water was indeed moving quickly and made it pretty easy to navigate. I stayed ahead of the paddling lover birds for the most part and enjoyed the quiet, peaceful water. I noticed that the river was lined with huge sycamore trees the whole way, spotted a belted kingfisher, a small turtle, a great-blue heron, and observed that the river had been at least 10 feet higher within the last couple days. We stopped for lunch enjoying our peanut butter/honey sandwiches, trail mix, and bananas. We finished in good time and it was a great day to be out on the Green River. We ended back at our campsite and departed for home once we changed and made sure we had everything ready to go. Back at the homestead Josh and I tag-teamed to prepare chicken fajitas along with pineapple slices. It was a tiring but great day.

I am thankful that Kayti was able to come and visit and I think that we all had a good time. The trip provided a lot of time to be in the outdoors and to admire God's Creation. The tour guide remarked to our group that the cave environment is very constant and things that are left there could be considered "immortal". Objects have been found to last hundreds of years without changing as seen with things left in the cave like logs, clothes, and even bodies! I am thankful that I know the Solid Rock who is much more powerful and constant than a cave could ever be. With Jesus comes true immortality!

Saying of the day - "There's nothing lower than cave humor"

AMS