Mammoth Caves

Mammoth Caves is only about an hour north of Bowling Green and we wanted to do something fun with Mom before sending her back home.  The last time we were here we took the tour starting at the Natural or Historic Entrance.  So we signed up for the $12 ‘New Entrance’ tour.  I’m glad we did.  This tour goes thru a part of the cave that is wet – so there are Stalactites and Stalagmites and Flowstone. 

I always remember which are StalaCtites and which are StalaGmites because of the C and G.  C means they come down from the Ceiling and G means they come up from the Ground.

It’s a long, steep, narrow stairway going down into the cave from the New Entrance.  Cool.  Spooky.  Actually, it’s really cool – 54 degrees, compared to about 84 outside.

I think Mom liked it.  It reminded us of when she arranged for all of us to go to Yucatan and get a special scuba diving certification for Caverns.  That really must go down as one of the most unique, spectacular, experiences of my life.  Diving in the gin clear fresh water and floating by submerged stalactites and stalagmites.  Too bad I can’t go back and look at a blog post of that experience but that was in the 90s – BB (before Blog)  The caverns are knows as ‘Cenotes’.

This formation is known as the ‘Frozen Niagara.’

 

 

The camera lens fogged up when we came out of the 54 degrees into the 84 and high humidity.

 

After the tour, we could take a walk by ourselves just to view the entrance at the Natural or Historic site.

 

RV.net Blog

I’ve been following information on the RV.net website since before we started RVing.  The forums are an incredible wealth of information.  You can ask a question and, within an hour, you will have several answers.  So, in late 2007, when I saw a call for Bloggers to write for a new RV.net Blog – I jumped on it and filled out all the information, including a link to this personal blog so they could see that I write for the long run. 

A month or so later I got a phone call from Leslie saying that I had been chosen as their Blogger on Computer issues for the RV.net blog.  I have never been so excited over news that I had years worth of work to do … with no pay!  It’s amazing what we will do for recognition!

That was 2 1/2 years ago now and with rare exceptions, I’ve written an article for them every single week.  I love the fact that the obligation makes me come up with something to say about computers and traveling every week.  I also love that my articles are seen by many thousands more people because of RV.net’s following.  I keep a list of all the articles on our website.

Last year, we got to meet Leslie and David in person at The Rally in Albuquerque.  Yesterday we got to visit them in their Affinity offices in downtown Bowling Green.  Good people – we enjoy being affiliated with them and look forward to The Rally this year in Louisville.

RVSEF Conference

The RV Safety Education Foundation put on the conference where we presented our seminars this past week.  It was a small group (about 60 people) and they had 6 sessions from which to choose each hour – so we had very small groups.  One session (GPS Navigation) we actually had standing room only.  But the room only held 15!  :-)

The focus at this conference is similar to the old ‘Life on Wheels’ where it was all about learning the details of living in an RV – from understanding the bathroom holding tanks, electrical systems, and propane appliances, to fire safety, state laws of the road, and RVing clubs.  We attended Life on Wheels in our first year on the road.  The program was over last year with the death of it’s founder, Gaylord Maxwell. We were thrilled to be included in this new incarnation of the program.  Thanks to Walter Cannon for inviting us to be a part of it!

The best part of being involved in these events is the other people you meet.  We’ve run into Dennis and Carol Hill of RV Driving School before, but this time we got to spend some quality time and so enjoyed them. We’ve added their Blog to our list at the right … check it out.

Here’s a little video I put together to give you a glimpse of some of the other folks involved:

Internet Woes in Bowling Green, Kentucky

We’re flabbergasted!  This is a metropolitan area and yet, we have NO Verizon data service.  The voice part works fine – we’re in an ‘Extended Network’ area.  No roaming charges, and phone calls work just fine.  Verizon has agreements to use other company towers.  This is a good AT&T area.

I even called Verizon thinking there must be some mistake – there must be a setting in our Droids that I need to change?  Nope, the rep confirmed … there is no Verizon data service in Bowling Green. 

OK, well you learn something new every day – luckily there is Wi-Fi in this park, not the best, but it does work.  Then … we started talking to someone at the conference who was using a Verizon My-Fi and they had a data connection just fine?!? 

Curiouser and curiouser.

I posted another ‘Gabbing with the Geeks’ coming to you from the RV LIfestyle and Safety Conference which started today.  If you watch it, you’ll learn about RVs in China and Workamping for Amazon.

Natchez Trace Parkway

What a beautiful stretch of road.  The Natchez Trace Parkway is a National Park – like the Blue Ridge Parkway.  No civilization, just beautiful, curving 2-lane road and green, green grass and trees alongside.  The road stretches 444 miles from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, thru Alabama and on to Nashville, Tennessee.  It follows a route that has been used by soldiers in the Civil War, and by many generations of Native Americans before them. 

There are plenty of pullout spots to stop for lunch.

Or to take a walk.

Jackson Falls was so pretty.