Day 2 - Of Time Travel and the Cavernous Mammoth

Today we took a side jaunt up to Kentucky to see Mammoth Cave National Park. There didn't seem to be a direct route via freeway or major highway, so we got to see very rural areas of Tennessee and Kentucky... as in no-cell-reception-for-90-minutes rural. But seeing the countryside this way was much more rewarding than at a blazing 75 mph. 

Somewhere south of Whitleyville, it started looking very Willy Wonka-esque. Topographically, the region is speckled with clusters of small hills that the road winds around. Nestled in among the hills are 1-2 acre plots of what looked like romaine lettuce and maybe tobacco? (Not sure about the lettuce because I thought most lettuce is grown hydroponically). The terrain was otherwise flat between the hills, which made them look like great mounds of giant broccoli. Yum. 

The road followed by some granite cliffs and then suddenly we were on a bluff in totally different terrain. The path took us through Red Boiling Springs, which used to be famous for visits to its hot springs, but a flood in 1969 decimated that industry. Now most of the blocks along the stream comprise city parks, possibly where the flood cleared out earlier buildings. The economic downturn is bad for the area I'm sure, but it has preserved the city as a snapshot of the mid-20th century South.

(Hmm the text is now center justified, and I don't know how to adjust that on my phone...)

Further north, we passed through the hamlet of Flippin, KY. We didn't see much activity here, but a plaque told.us about how a Tulip Tree grown nearby won an award at the Columbian Exposition and was used to build a local church that later burned down. Well at least it had its 15 min of flame... I mean "fame." 

The famous tree made such an impression that I submitted the plaque to the online side project of 99% Invisible, read the plaque.com. http://readtheplaque.com/plaque/famous-tree-indian-creek-church

To confirm that we had indeed gone back in time, the traffic that we struggled with was a horse and buggy. (No, we hadn't translocated to Pennsylvania.)

A charming feature of the region were large paintings of quilt squares designs on barns. I like to think that each property displayed their own family's heritage quilt design, like kilts, crests, cookie recipes, or dirty laundry. 

Finally we arrived at Mammoth Cave! While the cave had been known about 5,000 years ago, in modern times it was first used before/during the war of 1812 to mine saltpeter for gunpowder. A steady stream of tourists have flowed through the caves, which were formed eons ago when underground rivers carved out channels through the soluble limestone. 

In less enlightened times, tour guides would carry poles into the caves for the tourists to hoist up candles and scribe their names in soot on the cave ceiling. That practice is discouraged today. 

While we trekked peacefully underground, a thunderstorm raged above. This became evident when a vertical channel that connects two levels of the cave suddenly transitioned from a small trickling waterfall to a torrent.

Upon exiting the cave, we found that the rain continued (note the blurry-from-hastily taken photo). How could I have forgotten that the South has these daily thunderstorms?

A few hours outside of Mammoth Cave, our hunger shouted out to us. Fortunately  Google told us about a restaurant the nearby Bucksnort! Though we had a bit of skepticism initially, the promise of hole-in-the-wall Southern dives again delivered.