On the road: TN and KY

Welcome to Tennessee!

Saturday morning we enjoyed one last home cooked breakfast with our wonderful Atlanta couch surfing hosts before the 4 hour and a half drive on I-24 W to Nashville. The landscape changed from the grunge of northern Georgia to the rolling hills and winding rivers of the Tennessee wilds.

Just north of Nashville, we rented an Airbnb located on a farm off the highway. There were several farmhouses, one of which had all the rooms rented out for travelers like us (and a traveling band staying downstairs in the basement), and another had someone living in it, with chickens running around outside. Every morning, fresh eggs were left for us in the communal kitchen. After the hustle and bustle of Atlanta, the rural Tennessee farmhouse was a welcome relief.

 

After a good night's sleep, we drove an hour and a half north into Kentucky to spend the day at Mammoth Cave National Park. It was warm, but snowy out, and I was excited to experience a national park as a visitor this time, instead of a park ranger.

Inside the visitor center, one of the rangers gave us an overview of the tours and the cave, and we decided on the Historic Tour, a 2 hour walk through the historic areas of the cave, covering 2 miles and 440 steps.

It turned out to be a great choice as we descended into the damp darkness of the meandering caverns with a handful of other tourists. I would have liked a smaller group better, but overall it was enjoyable. Most of the walk was pretty easy through dimly-lit winding pathways, but my favorite part was an obstacle called "Fat Man's Misery." At this point, the path narrowed to the point where even I had to squeeze a little through a hip-high maze of rocks and duck under low ceilings. A few bats flitted about here and there as well.

When we finally exited the cave, the air felt warm and dry again, the drip-dripping of melting snow pattering down to the rocks under the gaping cave mouth. We all had to walk through a weird soapy mat to clean our feet afterward to help prevent the spread of White-nose Syndrome that has been increasingly killing off bat populations.

I was surprised to see the disease had spread as far west as KY. Three years ago when I was doing bat counts in PA, the disease had just been discovered on the east coast and was wiping out populations along the eastern states. But now it has been found as far west as OK, killing off almost 6 million bats nationwide, sometimes 90-100% of localized hibernating groups.

Once we were out of the cave tour we split off from the crowd and hiked some of the trails above ground. It was getting towards mid-afternoon and we were hungry for lunch, so we drove on through the park, looking for a spot to picnic.

One of the coolest spots we stopped was near the river ferry, but instead of heading towards the main waterway, we followed a side creek into the woods. Here we found all kinds of cool lichens and fungi, which Peter quite enjoyed, since he has studied bryophites before. Unfortunately, I don't remember what kinds of fungus he said these were. :)

 

In addition to the beautiful plant life, several deer plodded about in the woods across the creek, perhaps aware of us or perhaps not. Unfortunately I couldn't get any good pictures, as I only had my camera phone on me... Alas.

Wanting to make the most of our day, we decided to hit up downtown Nashville in the evening before heading home. Although it was incredibly touristy, we had a good time wandering the shops until dark. It seemed that as soon as the sun went down, the street came alive, despite being a Sunday night. Live music floated through the air from the dozens of bars, street musicians played, and groups of people dressed up in cowboy boots and Stetson hats hopped from one pub to the next.

Peter and I joined in the fun at a couple places with live music, putting our swing dancing skills to use (his more than mine!). At several places, we received compliments all through the crowd on our way out, and a homeless guy came up to us on the street to say he saw us dancing through the window and thought we were amazing (then asked us for a dollar).

What a day in Kentucky and what a night in Nashville! The next day we would be on the road again, driving towards the Gateway to the West: St. Louis, MO.