November 1-3, 2009 More roads through Kentucky all the way to Missouri
Sunday- We left the Bourbon Trail area after 3 wonderful days and continued east toward the Mammoth Caves. Leaving Louisville, and the rolling hill horse country we stopped and visited a National Historic Site – the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. One generally thinks of Illinois as the place of Abe’s birth, but he was born on February 12, 1809 on the Sinking Spring Farm near what is now Hodgenville, Kentucky. There has been built quite a remarkable replica of the Lincoln Memorial that holds a replica of the Lincoln Cabin. From Hodgenville we headed to Cave City where we set up camp and headed to the Mammoth Caves. There are over 365 surveyed miles of passageways. The Ranger that led our tour thinks that there could be more than 1000 miles. We went on two tours, the 1st being the Frozen Niagara tour – it was area in caves with quite a few stalactites and stalagmites, flow stones and what we think of when we tour caves. There was one wall that really looked like what Niagara Falls might look like when frozen over. Our next tour was the Mammoth Passage , about ¼ of a mile into this huge limestone cavern. No stalactites or stalagmites but still pretty impressive none the less. We enjoy touring caves, and plan on visiting some more in Missouri.
Monday we continued west through more of Kentucky, our itinerary was to reach the area known as the Land Between the Lakes, but the navigation system, both Karen and the GPS were not very dependable and we somehow missed the turn off and ended up miles away from our intended destination. We were tired and decided not to back track and stopped for the night in a small burg called Murray Kentucky. The evening was pleasant, we had a nice campfire, barbequed burgers and made s’mores -- real enjoyable camping evening.
Tuesday we woke early, the change off Day Light Savings Time and moving from the Eastern Time Zone to Central has messed with our sleeping patterns. We continued the eastward push, finally leaving Kentucky, briefly crossing into Illinois, crossing the mighty Mississippi River that showed some signs of flooding from the recent rains, and finally into the state of Missouri. We headed north aiming for St. Louis and the beginning of our tour west on historic Route 66. We made camp in Eureka, MO about ½ hour out of St. Louis.