A new paradise to explore.

Deep in the land of the hollows an’ creeks

If’n you git lost you git lost for weeks

Listen to the tale of a man who got lost

A hundred feet under the winter frost

—Ballad of Floyd Collins

When we left Fenton Campground at 8:30 am, there wasn’t one stray cloud to screen out the glorious yellow orb that had abandoned us for three days. We donned our sunglasses, put the van’s visors down, and headed east, straight into the sun’s power.

By the time we reached Bowling Green, the elusive sun had again vanished. Drat! It was great while it lasted.

Bowling Green seemed to exist solely for Western Kentucky University. The football stadium was colossal. Campus buildings stretched for blocks. All the finest old mansions were folded into the campus.

I was expecting the rest of Bowling Green to be equally lovely. On this, we were a bit disappointed. Downtown had a nice layout - a big square of buildings surrounding a large park in the middle. Most of the store buildings were ordinary, and many were abandoned. The rest of the city had that “past-its-prime” industrial appearance.

I have to say that western Kentucky has wholly embraced its brief Confederate past. Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were born in Kentucky. I do not know if Lincoln’s birthplace is celebrated here, but Jefferson Davis’ birthplace is. We drove by a monument that could have been the Washington Monument’s twin brother. Sure enough, it marked Jefferson Davis’ origins with all the glory afforded to George Washington.

Kentucky began the Civil War as a neutral state. Early in the conflict, the Confederates violated that neutrality by crossing the border with an army. In retaliation, Kentucky joined the Union.

Western Kentucky, however, continued to harbor Confederate sympathies. A shadow government was established in Bowling Green and petitioned Jefferson Davis to be included in the Confederacy. Davis, knowing how iffy the shadow government was, reluctantly relented, and an extra star was added to the Stars and Bars in December 1861. Confederate General Sidney Johnston headquartered his army in Bowling Green to give this extra-legal government some legitimacy.

When Fort Donelson fell to Grant in February 1862, Johnston took his army and skedaddled. That was pretty much it for Kentucky’s Confederate flirtation. There were some battles in Kentucky as the South occasionally contested the state, but it remained Union.

In all, 60,000 Kentuckians joined the Confederate army. 120,000 joined the Union Army. Another 25,000 Kentucky Black men joined the Union effort. Still, Bowling Green has several plaques celebrating the city’s brief stint as Kentucky’s Confederate capital. Not one mentioned Kentucky’s stronger and more official Union affiliation.

Downtown Bowling Green. There are a handful of nice buildings, but there are many vacancies.

The park in the middle of the downtown.

Several past contestants, both winners and losers, from the TV show, Survivor, have developed a cottage industry of cashing in on their brief brush with fame. Ethan Zohn won Season 3. Apparently, he is now a motivational speaker. I had just heard a story about these former contestants and was surprised by the coincidence of seeing Ethan Zohn being featured at the town’s theater.

City Hall.

Honoring both the men and women that serve in the Armed Forces. Acknowledging female warriors is progressive and touching.

REMEMBER THE MAINE! The American ship, USS Maine, was anchored in the Havana harbor when it suddenly blew up in 1898. America blamed the Spanish and went to war against Spain in retaliation. This Spanish-American War lasted about 3 months. The US won. Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders gained fame. As a result, Spain agreed to leave Cuba, and cede Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the US. It is extremely doubtful that Spain had anything to do with the explosion. The most likely cause was an accidental fire onboard that reached the ammunition stocks. Oh well!

The County building.

Erected in 1949, this plaque doesn’t tell the whole story.

On to Mammoth Cave National Park. We immediately fell in love with this place. The park roads snake through a spectacular forest covering deep hollows and giant sinkholes.

As soon as we settled in, we drove to Cedar Sink Trail. The 1 2/3 mile long trail loop dove into a giant Karst. A karst is a special kind of a sinkhole. It reveals an underground river. At the bottom of a karst, a creek or river magically emerges from one side and disappears into the other side. There are several underground rivers within the park’s boundaries that occasionally reveal themselves in a karst. The one we looked at, and all the others, eventually lead to the Green River.

Beautiful one-lane Joppa Ridge Road.

The Cedar Sink trailhead.

Stairway leading down into the karst.

A plaque explaining a karst.

The actual karst.

Here are those fascinating woody vines again

Next we drove to a unique bend in the Green River, called Turnhole Bend. A bunch of those underground rivers burst out next to the river resulting in a robust spring feeding the river with either 6,000 gallons or 60,000 gallons a minute. We both read the plaque but can’t remember how many zeros were in the flow rate. Either way, the spring provided a nice added elbow in the river’s bend. River boats could use it to turn around in.

The rocky walls of a sinkhole.

At the bottom-right of this sinkhole, you can see a hole that leads to an underground river.

You can see the round spring down in the valley.

We found this “pet-TREE-glyph”, lol!

Our favorite trail was a long boardwalk to Sand Cave, marking the spot where Floyd Collins met his celebrated but sad end. In 1925, Floyd’s family-owned Crystal Cave, an out-of-the-way cave, was open to tourists. It was so far out-of-the-way that few people came. He decided to search for a new cave closer to civilization.

When he stumbled upon Sand Cave, he naturally explored it. A cave-in trapped his leg. Rescuers worked for two weeks to free him and his ordeal became a nationwide phenomenon. Unfortunately, a larger cave-in blocked the rescuers and doomed Floyd. He didn’t make it, but for a while, his tale lived on and the legend of Floyd Collins became celebrated in song. The Ballad of Floyd Collins is absolutely worth a listen. Link to the Ballad of Floyd Collins (I hope): https://youtu.be/S-b7u4aUs_.

The sad story of Floyd Collins.

The boardwalk to Sand Cave.

The entrance to Sand Cave.

The sun re-emerged as we drove around the extensive park roads until sunset. It was another near-perfect day.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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