Skinny Scary Bridges

We crossed the Ohio River into Missouri at US-60/62 on an old bridge.  But then we made the mistake of turning left and having to use the Cairo Mississippi Bridge to cross the Mississippi ....this was one of those moments when Andy spurts out - "For the love of God!"

 

Sharing this bridge with semi-tractor trailers was as unnerving as the two bridges we crossed at Land Between the Lakes.  So much so that Andy had to do some research to learn more about these bridges.  He found a great website called Bridge Hunters that gave us some cold hard facts.

All three recent scary bridges have a deck width of 20'.  Is that the width inside the steel girders?  We don't think so.  Keep in mind, our RV is 8.5' wide.  Our mirrors extended beyond the white and yellow lines.

The Barkley Lake bridge - built in 1932; current score of 41 out of 100; is 3,104' long.  "Functionally obsolete"

The Kentucky Lake bridge - built in 1932; current score of 32 out of 100; is 3,495' long.  "Structurally deficient"

The Cairo Mississippi bridge - built in 1929; current score of 46 out of 100; is 5,175' long.  "Functionally obsolete"

We need our states to spend their money on areas by importance - not just the "shovel-ready" projects.  They're re-paving roads that are in decent shape when bridges are obsolete and deficient.  Crazy.

Aurora, KY - Biking the Land Between the Lakes

Sunday morning we got up early and went for a road bike ride.  The main north-south road in LBL is called The Trace (French for "path" since it's an old Indian path).  Although it has good road surface for riding, we decided to do more of the secondary roads to avoid traffic - although traffic seemed minimal, it still offered no shoulder and high speed traffic on The Trace. 

We rode 29 miles by looping together Mulberry Flat Rd, The Trace, Silver Trail Rd, and then doing all paved spur roads we could find -- to the Nature Station, to Honker Bay, to Energy Dam, and so on.  A great ride.  Hilly and curvy thru a forested area.  We thought our biggest dangers were keeping an eye out for the suicidal squirrels, the flocks of wild turkeys (which were HUGE by the way), and the multitude of deer which bounded across the roads.  But then Andy came down a hill and around a bend only to find that our paved road suddenly turned to gravel.  I saw him limping next to his bike and his frantic waving and was able to stop in time.  No blood, no injuries, just another flat tire.  Whew.  

The area we were riding in had signs about Eagle nesting, but we didn't see any unfortunately.  Stopping to look does kind of ruin your average speed, but riding bikes is a great way to explore versus being sealed up in a car. 

We're hoping to get either another road bike ride in during our stay, or get our mountain bikes out on some of these trails.  But the heat index hit 101 degrees one day, so if we can't do it first thing in the morning or near sunset, we'll be out of luck.

Aurora, KY - Elk and Bison in Kentucky?

We finally made our way out of Tennessee.  We're now in a town just outside of The Land Between the Lakes Nat'l Rec Area.  We found it using our normal mapping skills and talents - we saw a big green spot on the map and said, "Hey, what's that place?"  And here we are.

This National Recreation Area is managed by the USFS, so biking, hunting, ATVs and the such are permitted here.  There are a lot of trails, shoreline, state parks, history, wildlife and birds in this 170,000 acre peninsula.  The land sits between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake and spans over the Kentucky and Tennessee border.

Our first thoughts as we crossed into the NRA was pure fear.  The two old bridges that cross the lakes via Hwy 68 are old and extremely narrow.  They are rebuilding the roads so you have to do battle with large dump trucks on these bridges.  There are only inches between the passenger side mirror and the steel bridge arches and inches between the driver side mirror and the passing dump trucks.  Not fun.  Collisions happen, and not surprisingly.

We got here on Saturday and so far have enjoyed some of the area.

Saturday evening we drove through the Elk and Bison Prairie.  Due to habitat destruction back in the mid 1850's the elk and bison left.  We never thought of elk or bison being East.  But they are restoring a section of the LBL to it's prior prairie state and have about 30 elk and 50 bison.

It was like entering a Jurassic Park compound:

The males were awfully frisky.  Is it mating season?

Louisville, KY

Our RV was parked in Lousville for ten days. We went home to Philly for a week of that time frame, however, so I could help my mother with her big move. We moved her out of the house we grew up in and into an apartment that is more manageable for her. It's such a big change for her and an important time in her life, I'm glad I went home to share it with her. Andy went home too to see family and friends. During his trips home he usually spends one afternoon downtown at one of the local establishments with friends and family who work in Philly. So after these trips, he usually avoids alcohol for two weeks or more. Good thing we don't live there anymore! Especially now that another bad influence is working downtown - yeah, I mean you Rosie! Well, if you can call interning with the EPA 'work'.

It was a shame we didn't spend more time though with the RV. Otter Creek Park (actually in Muldraugh, KY, next door to Fort Knox, KY) is a beautiful park with hiking/biking/bridle trails, a creek to swim in or tube down, it borders the Ohio River, and is heavily forested with an array of birds. The camphosts had bird feeders out attracting many hummingbirds and goldfinches. The park offers many activities including caving and rock-climbing which we missed because they were only offered on the busier weekends. We were expecting the park to be mobbed for the Fourth of July, but were relieved it wasn't. On the Fourth we went and toured the Patton Museum which is on the Fort Knox Military Reservation. The museum included a large assortment of tanks, American or other countries; from different wars including WWI to Iraq; from 2-seaters to large 4-man tanks. There was also a display about Elvis Presley in the Army which I found interesting (I always assumed he did more PR than fighting, so I was totally wwwrrrong). And we also learned that Patton died from an embolism after breaking his neck in a car accident. Ironic that a man can earn so many medals and die from a car accident.
We drove past Fort Knox. Not only do they not offer tours there, but it doesn't look very inviting, either.
We did get to see a flame-thrower demonstration at the Patton Museum, though.

While we were at the museum, we learned that the base was providing fireworks for the Fourth. We were planning on driving the 45 minutes back into downtown Louisville, but decided we would rather drive 15 minutes and see the fireworks on a military base...and at Fort Knox to boot! Men in uniform and tanks on the lawn, all set a nice patriotic stage to celebrate the Fourth of July. The concert was good, but I always prefer patriotic music on this day of the year...give me the old traditional, big band music on this day to really get me in the spirit. But maybe the boys in camouflage preferred a respite?

We spent the fifth touring around downtown Louisville. We walked around Glassworks which has three different divisions of glass-makers: the architectural division which makes glass for buildings and large sculptures; the flame-workers which make the small ornate glass designs; and the hot-shop which uses the ovens to make vases, etc. We ate lunch at Andy's favorite restaurant, Skyline Chili, thinking of our other Skyline-loving friends in Florida (Hi Rod and Drew!).
Afterwards we toured the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The factory was surprisingly small and old-fashioned in the fact that the only thing that separated us from the workers was a yellow line taped to the floor. Machines now can make a bat in 30 seconds, versus the olden days of 30 minutes to hand-carve one bat. The tour and the museum gets you dreaming of playing baseball. Anyone up for a pick-up game on the old sand lot? Downtown Louisville is an interesting mix of old and new. Old brick buildings with old-fashioned signs hanging above the door, and down the block a new skyrise of steel and glass.

Since we took the trip home to Philly, we need to make up some lost time. We'll be hurrying through to Colorado now. But we also want to collect our stickers for new states, so we'll be spending one or two nights in each state along the way. It's a quagmire...we don't want to zoom past all this new territory and not stop to see things, but we also feel the need to hit the mountainous and northern regions in the next two months.

Mammoth Cave NP, KY

From Chattanooga, we went to Mammoth Cave Natl Park for five nights. We had scheduled a tour in advance to be sure we wouldn't miss out...the Adventure Tour! We got there the afternoon before and checked out the Visitor's Center and did the brief Discovery Tour just to get a feel for Mammoth Cave. Mammoth has 365 miles of mapped tunnels, but they believe it is over 600 miles long. Not in one long line, but in a criss-crossing, multi-level maze of tunnels. It is mostly a dry cave, with 95% of it dry limestone rock formations. In some areas where the protective sandstone cap cracked you will find stalactites and stalagmites, but not many. The history surrounding the cave is interesting: an attempt at nitrate-mining inside the cave, the first tuberculosis hospital was built inside the cave, a trapped-caver story involving a circus of bystanders leading to Mammoth later becoming a National Park and stories of some of the first cave guides who were 17 yr old black slaves. We had taken four tours total and feel that we only saw a small portion of Mammoth Cave.


But we did get to see a portion of the Cave that not many visitors see. The Adventure Tour was six hours of crawling on hands and knees, squirming on bellies, straddling gaps in rocks, and just getting dirty. We wore helmets with headlamps, kneepads, and work gloves. The cave averages 54 degrees, but we still worked up a sweat. We kept our longsleeves on to help protect us from scraping on the rocks. Visibility was reduced due to the use of headlamps only, and since Andy and I agreed to be the "trailers" we had some kicked-up dust to contend with. As "trailers", we were responsible for making sure that everyone else got out of each tunnel ahead of us, and no one was left behind. There were 2 NPS Rangers with our party of 10 amateur speleunkers. Paula was our lead guide, and Eric followed behind or slunk thru holes only to reappear in other areas where help might be needed. Being a maze of tunnels allowed the park rangers to pick and choose the tour depending on our capabilities. It also allowed for "Plan B" if someone couldn't fit through the tunnel of choice - which did happen twice on our tour.

We crawled through places with the names like "Hell's Hole", "Kathleen's Crawl", and "No Name Pass" (no 'clean' name could be agreed upon for this tunnel, because it was worse than Hell's Hole!). Many of these tunnels were about 1 1/2' to 2' high making it difficult to use anything more than elbows, forearms, and toes to propel yourself forward. Surprisingly these tunnels were also quite long - 80 feet or so - meaning you were propeling yourself like a worm for what seemed like eternity. Some entrance or exit holes were so tight that you had to position your helmet just so in order to squeeze through. Prior to entering a new challenge, Paula would brief us on what to expect - height, length, best attack method. After one such briefing she rolls over from her sitting position and disappears into a crack. None of us knew the entry to the hole was right there. We all started to look at cracks and crevices more closely after that..."where does that hole go?".

There was only four who dared to enter the Mole Hole, however. Eric thought only 2 of the guys with us could do it this hole is so small. Eric did not think Andy should attempt it, that's how small the hole is. Andy may be 6'1", but he's built for speed and is a slim 165lbs (same weight as in high school, the bugger). But, Andy had to try it of course! Wish I could say he got stuck, because that would make for a funny story...but he didn't. The four of them got in and out safely. I'm just thankful we all weren't asked to attempt it.

Around the 5th hour of this why-did-we-pay-for-this excursion, I realized that my body was about to quit. Just pure and total physical exhaustion including, toes, lower back, elbows, triceps, you name it. But this is what we wanted and, boy, were we surprised that the NPS would actually offer such a life-risking tour. We now have even more respect for our NPS and the Rangers. This is what exploring our parks and wildernesses should be like...not always behind railings and in a safe-zone, but doing something with some risk and with some fear. There's a certain amount of pleasure and satisfaction in doing something that's challenging - either physically, mentally, or both.
Wild Cave Tour Photo Gallery - click here for pictures! (Some of the photos were taken without the flash for two reasons: 1. the dust particles in the area are highly reflective, and 2. I wanted to capture the essence of this tour by showing the darkness and headlamps-only lighting. The drawback is blur from people moving about.)

The day-after was pay-day. We could barely move our arms because our under-used triceps were so sore. The skin on our elbows had been rubbed off - you heard me right, not cut, no abrasions, just missing skin from the constant rubbing on earth or rocks. We had bruises on elbows, forearms, rib cages, knees, you name it. Andy's mom just can't comprehend how we consider this "fun", but we do. The price was worth it.


Mammoth Cave NP isn't just about the cave, either. We enjoyed some topside activities, too. On Friday we kayaked the Green River. Since we were too cheap to pay $40 for a shuttle service at a local kayak shop, we made it an out-and-back paddle from Green River Ferry. The current wasn't too strong so we made it 6 miles upstream (using our GPS to gauge distance and speed), then decided to turn around for the 'float' home. Well, since the current wasn't too strong, we had a 6-mile paddle downstream. Just like at home when the wind is in our face both ways! A nice paddle though thru forest with limestone banks, islands, and birds providing musical entertainment the whole way. And, only 6 other people were seen the entire day.



On Saturday we took a horse-back riding trip with Double-J Stables. They're located on the northern border of the Park. The ride takes you into the forest of Mammoth and along one of the many myriad trails throughout that section. Very peaceful. But we've decided...we don't like trotting. Ouch! The abuse on your lower half is awful. Or maybe we just need lessons?

Here's a pastoral scene...we watched the sunset near our campsite.

Chattanooga (Choo Choo)

Chattanooga is an interesting little city. Once so industrial, it is now on the verge of becoming artsy with several pocket-parks displaying sculptures and artwork. It is also wonderful that the city is making the Tennessee River, which divides the city, into a main focal point and accessible to all. There are several parks dotting the riverside and a wonderful greenway that when finished will run for 22 miles along the river and through downtown. We ran and biked on the Riverpark Greenway.

The downtown area surrounding the Aquarium has several fountains that children can play in, stone bridges, and brick-pavered courtyards.

There's an outdoor amphitheater with free concerts. We saw scuba-divers gearing up to go into the river and kayakers enjoying the river as well. Here's a picture of the kayak launch down the river bank...makes me think we have it easy in S. Fla.

There's an inviting feeling to the downtown area. Very alive. Now it's not complete yet, there are some vacant buildings and industrial areas, but you get a sense for the direction this city is taking and its a good one.

One of the touristy things we had to do while in town was go to Rock City. Since the 1930's they have advertised on barn roofs across the country. Thankfully it wasn't as touristy as we feared. It sits on top of Lookout Mountain and consists of large boulders and cliffs with blooming plants and trees planted in nooks and crevices. There was the Swing-a-long bridge to cross over one large gap...

And other areas you had to squeeze between boulders to get to the other side...

There were also fantastic views of the valley below from Lovers Leap.


We also toured some of the historical parks in the area. The first was Chickamauga National Military Park. Although the park itself was serene with rolling fields and forests it was hard not to be disturbed by the history of this battlefield. Over 34,000 men died during the Civil War within two days of fighting. That's it, just two days, all of those lives lost. That's not including the wounded or missing. What really hit home for us was this quote by Col. John Wilder on Sept 19, 1863

It seemed a pity to kill men so. They fell in heaps, and I had it in my heart to order the firing to cease, to end the awful site.

We only took the driving tour through the park since we didn't get there til late in the day. There are hiking trails and biking roads that you can use to see more of this area.

Monuments and plaques are placed throughout the park detailing lives lost and battles fought. Cannons were placed on the original lines of battle which gave you an idea of where the 'enemy' was coming from, which was usually a forest.

We also went to Point Park, or Battles of Chattanooga, high up on Lookout Mountain where the battles continued. The park offered incredible views of Moccasin Bend and Chattanooga below.