"It's not easy facing up, when your whole world is black..."

Day 33

Hopkinsville, KY to Cave City, KY (106 miles, 5,741 total) 

We left the distillery early in the morning so we could make our tour appointment at Mammoth Caves National Park a few hours away. 


Having gotten a good jump on the day, we managed to spare a few minutes to swing by the Jefferson Davis Memorial, this being his birthplace of the man lauded for his "service as President of the Confederacy," a slightly different description than that which I remember from my textbooks. 


Having visited a piece of history (that may not exist for too much longer, let's be honest), we continued along the way to Mammoth to check out the world's largest cave system.







Though most of the system was closed because of Covid, we were able to tour "Broadway" through the historic entrance to the caves and check out artifacts dating back several hundred years, including the tuberculosis "huts" dating back to the 19th century (because freezing your butt off in a dark cave is always the best medicine for your consumption). You'll notice in the last picture, the darkening of the cave walls attributable to the smoke from torches used to light the way for these poor souls. Continuing the Kentucky theme, there was a woman straight out of casting for Deliverance on our tour who sounded like she should have perhaps resided in one of the tuberculosis huts herself.

After our time with Covid Cathy, we stopped off at Bucky Bee's BBQ for a light lunch and then hooked up at our campground early for the night.







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