Last night Trish and I went out to a pub for dinner called the Black Horse Pub and Brewery and walked around Clarksville a bit. They have some awesome architecture in the city and a few sculptures around so it was nice to walk around. Trish also knew a lot about the city so it was nice to hear all the background info on the city as well. We went down to the river and got to see a preview of the Christmas lights along the River Walk. I got to fee like a celebrity with her because any phone call she got she would say she was with her "couch surfer" and they all knew all about me already including my name!
Woke up to an early morning phone call which worked out well since I needed to get going anyway. Trish made breakfast and typically, I'm not a breakfast person but I could not resist the cream cheese danish she had popped in the oven! We chatted and enjoyed that danish before I had to head out. Trish had packed me some snacks and gave me a Christmas present before I left. I stayed with her, not the other way around yet she gave me a present!
Mammoth Caves was only 1.5hrs north so I was there by 10:30am and already looking to get on a tour. I took the 2hr New Entrance tour which was supposed to be the best for photo ops. The tour didn't start until noon so I went and wandered the gift shop and had lunch at the cafe on property. I also had to get my shoes cleaned and quarantined since I have been in other caves in the last 3 years due to the outbreak of White-Nose Syndrome in the Bats. The mortalities rate in over 90% in the first years after contracting the disease. And now the bats could face extinction within the next 15 years! No good!
The tour started with meeting our guides; Dominic and Lance and a bus ride out to the entrance and then we (a group of over 40ppl) started off. The cave system is over 392mi long (longest in the world) and we were going to do about a quarter mile of it. It was a total of about 500 stairs and I expected it to be like the caves we did in Missouri this summer but it was very different. The walkways were very narrow and not lit well at all. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic because you had to squeeze and bend through the pathways. There were three main rooms we stopped in to chat and turn off the lights to see how dark it truly was and lots of stairs and fun walkways. We didn't see any bats but we did find a snake and some cave crickets. I made some friends along the way and we swapped cameras throughout which worked out great for everyone!
I think that the Mammoth Cave Tour was one of the highlights of my trip. I just really enjoy things like this and hearing the history behind it and walking through this underground world. I am so glad I got the opportunity to stop! After the tour ended it was time to continue north to Cynthiana, Indiana to see Jennifer. This drive was only 3hrs and I made good time! Most of the drive was in KY and when I hit IN I only was about 25mi to Jennifer's house. Really glad I didn't do this in the beginning of my trip like I had originally planned...it would have been way out of my way! I was at her house by 5pm!
We went down to New Harmony for dinner and she showed me around that area. Today I crossed over from KY to IN but she showed me the bridge that connects IL and IN. We also happened to hit downtown on a good night because the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art was having an opening for a new show and we got to go in and look around. I really liked the artwork that was being shown so we spent a good amount of time walking around and seeing it. We both decided that tomorrow we are going to go back in the daylight and check the area out again. There were a ton of fun little features that I want to take pictures of!
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