A spot of spelunking

 We started the day yesterday with our self-guided tour of Mammoth Cave National Park. We were surprised to find that there is no entrance fee to the park, although the tours do cost money. Unfortunately, they don't allow dogs in the cave, so LaMar stayed out with Belvedere. I tried to convince him that I should be the one to stay, since there is a lot of up- and down-hill walking, as well as plenty of stairs, and I wasn't sure how much this fat old body could take! But LaMar insisted, so away we went.

The tour started with the ranger giving the necessary safety lecture, and then we headed down the path to the cave entrance. 

We showed our tickets to the ranger there and turned the corner to go down the stairs into the cave, and lovely cool air came rushing up to greet us! Better than any air conditioner.

Many people, including the girls, put on jackets, because the cave is about 54 degrees inside. As for myself, I was just looking forward to not sweating for awhile!

The cave at first has a very low ceiling. Carter did this and freaked me out:

When I realized he was just faking it, I made him do it again for a video. 😁

The first open area was called the rotunda, about 140 feet from the surface, and we were able to see the remains of an old saltpeter mine.

After that, we could go in one of two directions, so we chose left and started out. It wasn't long before I realized that this spelunking stuff wasn't my cup of tea--probably because I am old and fat, but there just wasn't that much to see. It is a huge cave (over 365 miles have been mapped so far, with an estimated 600 more still uncharted), but not many points of interest. I decided to go back up and stay with Belly Man so LaMar could go down, because I knew he would enjoy it. Sierra want to go back too, because her knee was hurting.

LaMar and I had traded phones because his phone had the electronic tickets on it. I had been taking pictures on LaMar's phone, so I gave it to Garrett so he could keep taking pictures. Then Sierra and I started back to the top.

After much huffing, puffing, and sweating, I found a bench and took a break. I sent Sierra on ahead of me to tell LaMar to come down. I rested on the bench for awhile, expecting to see LaMar come, but he didn't. Eventually, I got up and staggered my way back to the top. Just before I got there, I realized my mistake--I had given LaMar's phone to Garrett. LaMar's phone had the tickets on it. Without a ticket, LaMar wouldn't be able to get in. 

Geez, I can literally feel the grey cells dying in my brain.

I went back to the motorhome very sheepishly. I tried to talk LaMar into buying another ticket, but he wouldn't do it. I really feel bad that my poor tired brain just didn't work. I know he would have liked the cave.

When the kids came back, they told us stories about the cave. It had been used by a doctor at one point, because he read some article from Europe that said tuberculosis patients had been successfully treated by taking them into caves. So he bundled up all his tuberculosis patients and sent them to live in the cave. Unfortunately, he didn't read all the way to the end of the article, or he would have discovered that the European patients were only kept in the cave for a short time, and their actual recovery was made after they were taken into the sunshine and participated in horseback riding. So all the poor tuberculosis patients died deep in the cold, dark cave. The remains of the tuberculosis huts are still in the cave. 

The kids also told us about a guy who bought the cave at one point because the conditions inside were perfect for growing mushrooms. But after he got his mushroom beds all prepared, someone sabotaged them by pouring coal oil all over them. His venture went bankrupt before he was ever able to grow mushrooms.

Anyway, that was a fun adventure for the kids. As always, Belvedere was very glad to get all his humans back in the traveling box. 🚌 (Whenever anyone steps out of the motorhome, he maintains constant vigil staring out the window until they all return. He really doesn't like when his people escape the box, unless he gets to go too.)

After the cave and a quick shopping trip to stock up on provisions, we hit the road again. We went past St. Louis right at sunset, and we could see the Gateway Arch framed beautifully against the colorful clouds for just an instant. It was too fast to get a picture, but Garrett did get some pictures of the beautiful sunset.

Also, the bug spatters on the window are illuminated quite nicely.

We made it to our camp site outside of St. Louis around 9 pm and got settled in for the night.  

This morning, we got up early and unloaded the van from the trailer to make the drive into St. Louis to visit the Gateway Arch National Park. Apparently, LaMar has a bad history with St. Louis, so he wasn't at all surprised when the GPS led us in circles back and forth across the Mississippi trying to get to the park.

We finally figured out where to park the van and walked from there. 

This is the THIRD national park in a row that has not charged admission. Who knew? Certainly not me. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have spent $80 on a National Parks pass! I thought I was being smart. 

Kamikaze grey cells....

The Gateway Arch National Park also includes the old historic courthouse directly in front of the Arch.

The courthouse isn't open for tours right now, but I read a little about it. This is the courthouse where the famous Dred Scott trial was held. (If you are rusty on your American history, look it up. It's a sad but interesting and important story.)

It is also the courthouse where Virginia Minor, a suffragist, attempted to register to vote in 1872.

Savannah was really interested in this, because her history paper that she has been working on all summer is about the women's suffrage movement.

The tram going to the top of the Arch isn't running right now, but the museum and gift shop were open. Unfortunately, we couldn't take Fred in with us, so I waited outside with him while the others went in. They all seemed to enjoy it, especially Sierra and Savannah.

We got back to our RV park a little after 11. LaMar loaded the van back on the trailer while the kids and I got everything stowed away inside and got the RV "squished" (what we call it when we pull in the slide-outs). 

And now we are back on the road! We passed Kansas City a few minutes ago after several crossings of the Missouri River along the way.

Currently, we are driving through the northeast corner of Kansas, just to say we have been here. 😁 If all goes according to plan, we will be dining at Honest Abe's in Lincoln, Nebraska, for dinner!