Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

Starting mileage: 11,180, Distance travelled: 209

Miles hiked: 2.5

We realized while setting the camper up at the Mammoth Cave Campground that the heat dome causing record breaking heat had been tracking our path from Arizona to Kentucky. This led to us spending a VERY hot and humid night sleeping in Kentucky, where we had no hookups (and so no air conditioned comfort). We woke up groggy and uncomfortable as we headed out to our scheduled 9:45am Historic Tour. The cave is the longest in the world and quite different from Wind Cave, especially in its expansiveness. There was much more evidence of human activity, including mining for minerals that got turned into gunpowder during the War of 1812. David thought it was very cool to be walking through an ancient underground dry riverbed.

After the tour, we decided to hit the road rather than exploring above ground at Mammoth Cave as soon as we felt the 95 degree temperature and 90% humidity. Instead we put some miles behind us to cut down on driving to Wooster, OH the following day. We made to Cincinnati, ate a fabulous Turkish meal on the north side of the city and stayed at an RV park a little further north still. Brady, Laura and Susan played in the pool to cool off before bedtime.