One World

A spelunker is a person that explores caves for fun. Cavers are people who explore them for scientific purposes. We're about to become spelunkers exploring Mammoth Cave in south central Kentucky. It's smack in the middle of the bible belt south. We can tell that as we ride along the roads. The houses and yards are much smaller than they were up north. These folks don't appear to have much money, but they have a lot of belief. The consistent pattern is to enter town with one or two Baptist churches, with cemeteries alongside. Then a few houses, with a small well kept yard, columns holding up the front porch roof, with a rocking chair and glider on each porch. Statues of Mary are common, and we see signs every so often like "come to Jesus" or "it's back to school time, how about back to church?" Then as we leave town about 2 blocks later, two or three more white churches, each with another cemetery alongside. Average people to church ratio is about 20 to 1. We are in a dry county now, as most seem to be. Laura is having withdrawal issues.

We left Leitchfield and the Hatfield motel about 10:30. They had a free breakfast which we couldn't pass up, then we lingered. I enjoyed talking to the manager and maid. It was only a 35 mile ride today, we decided to take a detour south to see a cave. By noon we were hungry again and spotted one of the numerous produce stands next to the road. Laura has been wanting a tomato from one, so I pulled a uturn and stopped. It was quickly apparent that these weren't city folks. They quickly offered up a tomato, wouldn't let us pay for it, then had to run up to the house to get salt. I grabbed a peach, which they also would not let us pay for, and ate it on the spot. Do we look like we need food that badly? We talked and talked, each of us fascinated with the others. They loved the bike and the trip, we loved just talking to these dudes. While getting the salt, we heard the wife wanted a picture. I said not unless she comes on down so we can meet her as well. It took awhile but here she came, kind of shy but curious. There really is a parallel universe where we're all the same but we're nothing like each other. I'm not sure these folks have ever been out of the county, much less Kentucky. They don't have much money, they are land rich cash poor, as they own property that has been in the family for generations. The government pays them to not farm it. We walked the yard, looked at the view from the house, she showed us the "holler". She also told me at one point, "it's hard to eat land". I bought a loaf of banana bread that the Amish made, which I insisted I pay for. $3.50 didn't seem like all that much. Some locals came by and bought some mushmelon. I didn't know there was such a thing. We all got pics, and they seemed to marvel at the bicycle built for two when we rode away an hour later. We sure won't forget these guys.
Fifteen miles down a curvy road we pulled in to our cabin in Mammoth Cave National park. It's primitive but suits our needs. We bought tickets for a 4.5 hour cave tour commencing at 10am tomorrow, lunch below ground. Walking around here after the ranger talk tonight, it seems to have sunk in a little bit that I can do this for a long time. I really love these warm evenings, it doesn't take much to entertain me, and I especially love having no one, especially no account boss men, tell me what to do. The riding is not always easy, especially when I misjudge a hill and get in the wrong gear, and we both get pretty tired sometimes, both physically and mentally, but we're on our own agenda. That's a pretty big deal.