We left our motel near Hebron, Kentucky (a VERY nice place!), and headed southwest. Our goal for today was to get to Sikeston, Missouri, where Sharla’s sister, Lois, lives, by way of Mammoth Caves, Kentucky. Sharla had been to Mammoth Caves once before, and wanted me to see it.
Mammoth Caves is an amazing place. In 49 square miles there are nearly 400 miles of caves, all interconnected. The guide described it like a big bowl of spaghetti, with one 400 mile long strand. The park was offering at least 6 different tours, all of them from different starting points and ending up at different places. Last time Sharla went on the Historical Tour, which includes a lot of the caves where the Union soldiers did some mining during the Civil War, and a lot of old mining equipment, etc. We decided to do the New Entrance Tour, which includes some of the cave formations.
The New Entrance was established by a man who was trying to find a cave near Mammoth Caves to make some money. He bought up property adjacent to the caves and then went and asked the locals if there was any place there where they had felt “cool air,” which could indicate a cave. He found some cool air in a little dip and threw a stick of dynomite nearby, blowing a hole that opened into the cave. In order to get into the cave these days, you have to climb down 280 stairs, a total of 250 feet. The descent goes across great, deep chasms and squeezes between rocks. After this gentleman had first opened the hole, he called his nephew and had him climb down on a rope. He got to the end of the rope, but there was still a lot longer down. Next day he came back with a longer rope, and still ran out of rope. Each day he brought back a longer rope, and after about 5 days he finally reached the bottom and had a look around. He reported back to his uncle that there was definitely a good, money-making cave down there.
After he got the cave prepped for visitors, he still had to get people to come to his cave. He would station a guy at the fork in the road that went on to Mammoth Caves, who would tell them that there had been a cave-in in Mammoth Caves, or that the lodge up there had burned to the ground, but that was okay, because there was a really good cave just down this road. That actually worked for a while! After a while it was found that this cave was actually part of the Mammoth Caves complex, and it was incorporated into the National Park.
When we came out of the caves, it had started raining. By the time the bus got about halfway back to the parking lot, it was raining hard. By the time to bus stopped and it was time to go to our car, it was POURING!!! We both got soaked getting to the car. Thunder and lightining, too!
We headed to Sikeston. The rain let up about 50 miles east, and we had mostly cloudy skies the rest of the way. Oh, and a gorgeous sunset! We are now holed up in the local Super 8, and will meet Lois and her husband tomorrow for breakfast, before heading to St. Louis.
Good night and God bless.