Day Eight: Kentucky to Tennessee

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So in theory day eight would start off gloriously. Since we stayed in a hotel the night before, a great night of rest would be followed by an early get-up and a carefully executed schedule. Well that’s sort of how it went. We slept great...a little too great. It turned out the outlet the laptop and phone was plugged into actually was on the same circuit as the light, so when the lights went out….so did our alarm. Woops. We scurried to throw together some breakfast, guess how much coffee we could get out of those hotel coffee pods, and load the car in the rain. We actually ended up being about 55 minutes late for our 10:30 tour of the Mammoth Caves. Fortunately, we found out we jumped into Central Time from East to West Kentucky and gained an hour, making us about 5 minutes early for our tour! Mammoth Caves were incredible and we were able to capture some good pictures. The difference in the rustic caving we're used to and the accommodations of Mammoth we're pretty amusing (including a solid, doored entrance, stainless steel steps, and occasional seating for the heavy-winded). There was also a very opinionated gentleman on our tour who seemed to have thought our little expedition was a podium for his public political venting in response to the tour guide. e.g. Not allowing backpacks is Homeland Security suppressing the American People, the National parks initiating eminent domain is unjust, etc. (so, that was interesting)

Next, we cruised to Tennessee, locked in a good spot at our campground with our chairs, and checked in. When we returned to occupy our site, our chairs had been mysteriously removed from around the campfire area, and hidden in the bushes. Wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be upset….so we set up at another more populated area, and headed for the pool- which turned out to be closing in a half an hour, and cost 4 bucks per person- so much for that one. Ha. Finally, we just showered and headed for Nashville, leaving camp in the car for the time being, in case our neighborhood vandal still ensued. Nashville was alright, but a major flood had just forced much of the city to close for remodeling. We spent about an hour there, enjoying some scenery, air-conditioned souvenir shops and taking a few pics. We made it back to camp just before ten, set up camp, and got a wonderful nights’ rest.