May 27 to May 28

Tuesday evening we had dinner at Cracker Barrel, and I spent the last of my gift card, a retirement gift from the KSC Quad Squad. There were showers all around and we did get a deluge while we were in the restaurant. But the RV park, about 4 miles west, stayed dry all day. On Wednesday morning we went back to the Mammoth Cave. We decided we would both take the Frozen Niagara tour, but we had to wait until noon. So we had breakfast there, they have three restaurants to chose from, and napped a little bit in the RV. I walked Toby too. It was cloudy but I really didn't think it would rain, Charlie was sure that it would. We needed to leave at least one window open because it could get too warm in the RV for Toby. So we left the window over the dinette open and removed the cushion from under the window. It was sprinkling when we came out of the cave, but it must have poured while we were underground because we had a pretty big puddle on the wood frame of the dinette seat. It was probably a thunderstorm, but since this is a big RV, Toby would have been able to get far from the open window. Oh well...Charlie was right, as usual. There were a lot of people at mammoth that day and so our tour group was full. Instead of walking to the cave entrance like we did the day before, we were taken by a bus that was fueled by propane. This entrance to the cave was not natural, but had been blasted out by a former owner of the property. Inside were a lot of formations all the way back to the one they call Frozen Niagara, but once past it there are no more formations. The reason is a sandstone and shale layer over the rest of the cave keeps water from seeping in and creating the formations. The tour was easy walking but tight or slippery in some places. I liked having to duck and twist around, it made it more interesting. We didn't see bats, but we saw lots of crickets. Normally I don't mind crickets, but this was kind of creepy. I thought we were walking through an empty space and then the flashlight showed bugs all over the walls and ceiling. Yuck! We may want to come back to Mammoth Park to do some things above ground. We like to hike and bike. They allow dogs on the trails, and Charlie might like to go fishing. No fishing license is required in the park. Also, the Diamond Caverns just to the south of Mammoth are supposed to have nice formations. They are believed to be connected to the Mammoth cave, and if that is ever proven to be true, the national park service would take them over. Charlie says, if anything, the Diamond cavern owner should claim Mammoth! We drove east and north all the rest of the day and stayed at Grandma's RV Park in Shepherdsville, Kentucky Tuesday night. Grandma was (supposedly) napping when we got there, but we got a space anyway. Grandma has lots of rules, especially about keeping dogs out of her shrubbery, which is everywhere. We walked our little dog across the street (or else!) and met up with a couple of llamas. They kept their eye on Toby, and we got pictures of them. On Wednesday we drove about 230 miles to Galloway, Ohio, the furtherest we have driven in one day in quite a while. We drove around Louisville and Cincinnati. We arrived at about 2pm and I did a little shopping at Kohls. My britches are getting way to big for me. I really needed a couple of pairs of pants. From there we went to dinner and then to the campground. We will try to catch up with Diane and whoever else is in town tomorrow.