While in Cabo San Lucas for an annual visit with my brother and his wife, Chuck brought up the question of whether we (Michael and I and my sister and her husband) would be interested in traveling to Kentucky to see the solar eclipse in August. After much hemming and hawing (we usually plan trips at least 2 years in advance for scheduling and funding reasons) we agreed.
In the meanwhile my sister-in-law died rather suddenly, so we planned on two trips to the mid-West in the Spring and Fall.
However the best place to see the eclipse wasn't in/near Louisville where my brother lives, but in Tennessee where family lives just over the border in Kentucky. And having a large family and house (and a 600-acre farm) we all gathered there.
The first full day at their home, they had procured tickets for a Mammoth Cave tour. Listened to the ranger give an introduction that included some words about the difficult areas of the caverns. I, with misguided bravero, agreed that the difficult areas weren't too difficult.
And most of the tour was simple. Over time the Forest Service had paved the pathway through the historical caverns so one didn't need to worry about tripping - just watch one's head on the low parts.
Until we neared the final hurdle - The Fat Man's something-er-other (Delight? Dismay?). Here one needed to duck for most of the way through as well as walk sideways through an extremely narrow, winding pathway.
Well, the combination of stooping while walking oddly did my legs in. The muscles up the backs of my legs didn't appreciate the walking position. Luckily for me, I was with family and they all pitched in to help me through that never-ending portion of the caverns. [Reminder to self: Take a different tour the next time - if there is a next time!] After much angst, I completed that portion and only faced a few hundred stairs to climb out of the cave and then the inclined walk to the surface!
Also luckily, we had a ranger, Ginger Allen, who stayed with us and shepherded us out of the caverns. She went slowly, made frequent stops, and at each stop ran through a set of questions as to my current health and how I was doing. She was wonderful! There were many stops, as leaving the Fat Man portion did not 'fix' my legs!
In fact, it was only upon returning to Mexico, several days later, that the legs recovered their strength.
So it was a fun trip that included back roads to Tennessee for the actual viewing - and only the most general of maps, the trek through the park's nature walk while we waited for the sun to do its thing, the arrival of about fifty school kids to view the eclipse and the high-schoolers who shepherded them around (this was really educational as we listened to the teacher in charge explain things), the use of a motel room and motel parking lot for the rental camper my sister and brother-in-law had secured, the return on more major roads (lots of traffic and accidents that slowed us down), and, of course, bountiful food and comradeship at the Pierce's farm.
We left the farm a day early so that we could arrive in Nashville the night before our flight home. Found a nice hotel near the airport, a nearby Mexican restaurant with good food; we sprung for the cheaper Margaritas - should have gone for the better ones!, and weathered a terrific storm on our return to the hotel. A pox on the fool who drove through a puddle at high speed, showering us under a deluge of water! Wet and tired, we fell into bed. The return to Nashville did make our return flight simpler the next day. People at the airport were very helpful and kind, and then we were in Leon, waiting for the shuttle van.
After a two-week break, we sail to Hawai'i, followed by a stay at Disney's Aulani Resort after visiting the islands (the resort looked great when we visited briefly for a show-and-tell on an earlier trip to the Islands), and then another flight home! We'll catch up with friends who live near Vancouver both upon arrival in B.C. and once at the resort (they're flying in from British Columbia). Good times will be had by all!
