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Today is the day where everything goes well. I’ll kayak in an abandoned mine, I’ll have a strange dinner, and I’ll tour a cave. It’s perfect!

Wednesday September 17th, 2025

The towel and washcloth did not dry overnight again.

I’ve read several books written about hiking the Appalachian trail and something that these hikers bring up a lot is a constant state of “dampness.”

I get it now.

Not much wind with all of these trees.

I drape the town and washcloth over the backseat in the car.

There’s not a lot folks camping around me, so I get up early and tear down my campsite so that I won’t need to come back after kayaking.

Off to the abandoned kayaking mine: Gorge Underground!

I’m the first on here in this parking lot.

I did pick the earliest time available on the schedule…

I’m still nervous that the tour didn’t have enough people book a slot that it got cancelled, but I’m sure they would have called me if that happened.

The hills here are wild, I drove up this slope to get to the parking area.

Great news.

The tour did fill up and is not cancelled.

But I’m still here too early, so I’ll look around the gift shop and the mine entrance a bit.

Our tour guide has a great sense of humor.

Before we go in, we get the run down of what to expect and what to do.

Get into the kayaks gently. Shoes stay behind. Strap on your hard hat. Activate your head lamp with two clicks.

Here we go.

This will be my first time kayaking.

(I’ve canoed before, I’m sure it’s similar).

This place likes to be silly.

There’s a low spot where you can touch the ceiling.

If you get lost, you can follow the lights out.

These crystal bottom boats really pull it together.

It’s nice having this great view of the water.

We are also very lucky to be here on feeding day for the fish.

They’re very active and coming to the surface for food.

It’s cold down here.

I can see my breath.

Kayaking underground is relaxing.

It feels like I could give a gentle push with the paddle and lay back in the kayak and float along.

I mean, if it weren’t for the guided tour and keeping the group together.

I made it a point to go wide on all of the turns so that there would be enough room for two lines of kayakers.

And the tour is over.

I don’t want to say too much because this is absolutely worth the visit and I wouldn’t want everything spoiled for you.

Truly a wonderful adventure.

While I drive to the next camp site, I’m going to see if I can pick up some of the missing middle issues I need for Exceptional X-Men.

I’m currently missing four issues and this is still an active release, so I think it will still be at comic shops.

I forgot to take pictures, but I was able to pick up some of the missing comics.

I’m on the way to Mammoth Cave National Park, but I can see that Camp Nelson National Monument is along the way, so let’s stop here for a quick visit.

Unfortunately I don’t have much time as I need to get to the next park with enough time to check in and set up my tent before it gets dark, but since I set the kayaking for such an early time and the drive is only about three hours, I can spend a little bit of time here.

Another national park stamp and sticker completed!

I had an absolutely wonderful conversation with one of the park rangers here who used to work with various tv shows like Mythbusters that would come through.

She had a funny story about being asked to hold up a camera with her foot in a moving Jeep while being interviewed.

Showbiz, am I right?

Something went wrong with my map and I ended up at one of those Yogi Bear themed Yellowstone parks.

I’ve always wondered what their deal is.

Might as well stop in and check to confirm that this is the wrong place.

…

It is.

And this place is practically abandoned.

School did just start, and I believe these are campsites built for a younger audience.

It’s spooky to be in a gift shop and cafeteria that is both open and abandoned.

The ghost pirates do not help.

I borrow the Wi-Fi and I am close to where I need to be, but I need to take some back roads for a few more miles to get to the park.

We’re here!

Heck…

I think I might be here early enough to take a cave tour.

I’m worn out from the kayaking and exploring another historic site, but I can never pass up a cave tour.

Let’s do it!

This place has an unfortunate back story.

I won’t spoil it for you. Take the tour.

The ceiling is darkened in some areas thanks to the old lanterns that were used to explore this place in the past.

There’s also a fair amount of vandalism from before it was decided that it’s a bad idea to let visitors carve or burn words into the stone.

Also there are some odd angles we had to contort our bodies into to get through this cave.

I love cave tours.

Oh! A cave spider!

Correction: This is a cave cricket.

I stopped to take this picture and show another one of the guests so he could get a picture as well and the ranger at the back of the tour corrected me.

Oh good.

Every great cave needs a bottomless pit.

Another awkward angle to get through this part of the tour.

A fantastic tour and a fantastic park!

I did not expect to be able to do this today.

Starting tomorrow, I work my way back towards home.

This is the furthest West location on this trip as it is currently planned.

I do have room to make adjustments if necessary and as someone with sleep apnea, I’ve been without a CPAP for a few nights now.

It might be good to get a hotel room so that I can plug in my breathing machine and get a full night’s sleep.

Oh! This is one of the parks that has a post office in it!

I wish I had stopped by here earlier.

But I am here to check out the bathrooms and the showers before I go to my campsite to set up my tent.

They look good, but I’ll wash up in the morning.

Let’s get the tent up.

I’m too tired to take more pictures of the tent going up.

I’ll get it up, and then I’m going to find a place to eat.

There’s a place called The Dog Pound.

It sounds like they have some wild hot dogs.

Let’s check it out!

Is this the gas station from Fallout 4?

It feels like the gas station that I turned into my base in that game.

There are some similarities.

Let’s get the Big Jack Attack.

Now that is a meal.

A fantastic burger-dog.

If you ever visit Mammoth Cave, stop in here for a bite. It is worth your time.

I need to re-up on supplies while I’m here, too.

What is Ski soda?

I’ve never seen this before.

We are back on track.

It’s good to be near a city again.

I have phone reception and access to grocery stores.

A quick pass with the UV flashlight didn’t turn up any new bugs or plants.

You know what?

Today was a perfect camping and travel day.

All of the little things that were going wrong before were all worth it to land on this amazing day where I kayaked an abandoned mine, took a cave tour at a national park, ate a burger-hotdog for dinner and spent a brief moment in an abandoned kid’s park shop and cafeteria.

Life is good.

Also…

I need to sleep.

Good night.