By: Lisa Peng
Today was our rest day at Mammoth Cave National Park! We woke up to a delicious breakfast prepared by our hosts Stephanie and Richard, followed by a quick drive to the caves for our 10am Historic tour.
The caves are temperature controlled to be at a nice 54 degrees year-round, which was a welcome respite from the punishing 95 degrees outdoors. As we walked through a 25 foot-long short and subsequently narrow section called Tall Man’s Misery and Fat Man’s Agony, all I could think about was how much my quads and knees hurt. (Although I am neither old, tall, nor fat in spite of my efforts to eat as many cheeseburgers from McDonalds on this trip as possible.)
I was probably more intrigued by the cave’s long and rich history. The cave used to be a saltpeter mine during the war of 1812 when Britain blockaded the Atlantic coast and the Americans were scrambling to make gunpowder from domestic goods. Even earlier in time, the cave used to be a refuge for local Native Americans. Even earlier in time (320 million years ago), this part of Kentucky was underwater, so there are fossilized sea animals and plants embedded in the walls of the cave.
After Mammoth Cave, we went to go see the Incredibles 2! There were mixed reviews from our group. I thought it was highly entertaining and very ridiculous at the same time.
Back at Serenity Hill, we had two special visitors come say hello: Matt’s parents! Hi folks! Matt’s family have been loyal followers of the blog, and we’re all so happy to have finally met them. Susan Luerman’s smile sure lit up the room. Thank you for coming to visit!
In the evening, I sat down with Kate and Alex to watch a full game replay of Spain vs. Portugal from the 2018 World Cup. I’m a slow learner, but I finally learned that offsides does not mean that the player or ball is outside of the sidelines!
On the biking front:
- My glove tan is really setting in and it’s glorious
- Bugs keep bombarding my face when I’m riding through wide open country roads
- My knee is healing! There are these amazing bandages called hydro seals that provide a moist (ew, I know) environment for open wounds to heal in. They’re waterproof, sealed from bacteria and bugs, and eventually get really gross and leak yellow stuff but they have saved my knee this summer! Can I get sponsored please?
- Some crucial info I learned when changing a bike tire: In order to get the tire both on and off of the rim after deflating the tube completely, it helps to slide the beads of the tire (bead: the two edges of the tire that’s not stretchy material that sits on the tire rims) towards the well of the rim (well: the depression in the middle of the rim that runs all the way around) to get the bead out of the rim.
- when biking in aggressive dog territory, don't slow down too much
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