Adventure! Day 5 - Mammoth Cave Campground
Book by Beth, Illustrations by Tara.
I think everyone slept well last night. The fireworks were amazing, and as the Star-Spangled Banner began to play and the first of the fireworks shot up into the sky, I got something in my eyes and found myself wiping away tears. I love this country, and just as much, I love the history of our democracy. I know it’s not as fashionable to be patriotic now as it was in years past - post-world wars or even at the start of the early 1700s - but my heart aches for other places in the world under the rule of tyranny, and I feel so joyful to be living this great experiment of democracy.
We are all checked out of our rooms. This morning and early afternoon, kids are hanging out on the 21st floor while some people are doing laundry and other people update the blog. I am both some people and other people today. We will order salads from the hotel kitchen for lunch, and then it’s on to stock up for our next two days of no power, coin showers, and cooking all our meals over an open flame. Our drive is only a few hours today and Damien gets his first turn at driving the bus.
We skipped the salads and decided to try tacos instead. Calacas got five stars on Find Me Gluten Free, and those are well earned. The food at this place is probably the best food we’ve had this entire trip. We had our morning meeting at lunch and a large portion of the group agreed that the highlight of the trip was the firework show - though a few people mentioned the little bird that sheltered in the middle of our group after the explosions disrupted his usual routine. We named him Turtle. We also named our bus. Drumroll please…we introduce…William “Billie” Jacinta America. It took a bit of time to settle on the perfect name, but I think we nailed it.
Ok. We have water and food. Dinner tonight is either burgers or chicken. We have the cast iron skillet so we might make a stir fry. I’m looking forward to hashbrowns. I love to one-pot cook over a fire for a big group. We only have salt and pepper but it’s gonna taste amazing. It’s probably the secret ingredient called camping. The Target in Kentucky was like the Target in Florida, except there were no red circles on the store sign. I’m looking forward to being in the woods again.
Our campsite is epic. And it’s $1.50 if you want to take a four-minute and 30-second shower, which I find delightful. We’ve been here about two hours, all of our tents are set up, everyone’s decided where they are sleeping, rando children are chasing fireflies, and Damien almost has dinner ready. We are having a deconstructed cottage pie: chicken, potatoes, and vegetables.
Sadly, my pillow and blanket got left in Nashville, Tennessee (pretty sure someone could write a country music song about that - so deep was my sorrow that I have now experienced the full depth of human emotion) so part of tomorrow will be spent getting a replacement pillow. We are camping next to literal Boy Scouts so I’m feeling good about a nighttime emergency. Heck, they probably have extra pillows.
In other non-emergent campsite news…Tara fell out of Miss America.
She’s got a couple of big bruises, but nothing is broken. It’s that thing where once you hit your head once you’re more likely to hit it again. So the twisted ankle from a fall backstage at Torie’s show a few weeks ago had her wrong-footed on the way out the door, she missed the bumper, and down she went. I heard a commotion behind me and turned to find her on the ground. She insisted she was ok before she even knew if she was ok or not.
I guess we could say she got in a car accident. Or maybe got hit by a bus. But really it was the ground that got her. We can’t blame Miss America. That just feels wrong.
Our campfire was really pretty tonight and our campfire stories entertaining. I am really looking forward to the cave tour tomorrow and the optional 96 out of 800 and something steps. Some people will opt out of those extra steps. I am some people.
I’m remembering something I said about how hotels were superior to camping. I take it back. Nothing beats a meal cooked over an open flame and the story of Wicked Jack recounted by firelight. Goodnight to day 5 and here’s day 6 just around the corner.
