I drove down the two lane highway as a lush covering of foliage crept in over me. The songs of birds whistled through the windows, meshed with the whooshing of the wind, as I drove way too fast for the size of the road. Dense forests surrounded me and I felt like I was completely alone. All of the sudden I slammed on the brakes as the forest broke open into a packed parking lot with a line of cars waiting to get in. All of the sudden a feeling of dread came over me. There were hundreds of people swarming a building on the other side.
Sometimes, my lack of planning on this trip gets me into trouble. As my goal is to push the supercharger network to it’s limits, I try to be spontaneous with the locations I choose to go to. Sometimes, especially when I visit national parks in the summer, this can get me into some trouble as most of the people attending these places have been planning their trips for months, and I forget the sheer amount of people that can be there on a random day. I parked my car, and went inside, assuming that I would only be able to get a cursory tour into the cave below. But sometimes traveling on my own can bring unexpected benefits. There was a single spot available on an afternoon tour. I snatched it up and headed to the meeting area to wait for our guide.
I’m usually pretty understanding of the utter lack of ability for most people to think things through and prepare, but sometimes even my mind is blown by some people at the national parks. As we met the tour guide, and he gave us the run down on the days activities, a family started asking questions about their elderly mother. I’d like to say, if you are about to go on a walking tour, with 60 other people, and you have someone that has trouble walking, it’s probably not a good idea to take them on said tour. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, but I digress.
We entered the cave, being led by said old lady setting the snail like pace for the next two hours, that would cause every other tour throughout the day to get delayed because of us. Said family was very concerned with the amount of sun that would be in the caves underneath the ground. Their grandma couldn’t be in the sun too long. But we were headed underground… I won’t comment any further on this absurdity.
Once we got below, the cool, damp air made conditions pretty comfortable and we started exploring the caves that have been a tourist attraction for centuries. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world. With over 400 miles of caverns, and more to be discovered, it is a completely different universe. Massive rooms open up beneath the ground, dwarfing auditoriums that people have built above. Rivers flow through the grounds, so a constant distant sound of running water reverberates through the chambers. The tour is pretty cool. I’d say worth it, but don’t be like me and plan in advance and not during the peak season.
Closest Supercharger Bowling Green 28 mi
1676 Westpark Dr, Bowling Green, KY 42104
Mammoth Cave National Park
5VPX+QQ Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
