We’re on the road again, on our way to our next destination, Minnesota. Right now Tiffany and I are at Starbucks in Des Moines, Iowa. It was raining pretty heavy out so we’re taking a break from driving to refuel and stretch our legs. The last few days have been chock full of new experiences and adventure. Our last day on the Lovell’s Orchard was bittersweet. They took us in to live on their farm and treated us like we were members of their family. Our time spent with them was a wonderful experience learning the ups and downs of farm life and getting to know who the Lovell’s were on a personal level. What we learned from them we’ll carry with us for the rest of our lives. Our last day there just so happened to be the first day of squirrel hunting season. We have been wanting to go hunting for a while now and Luke knew this. So as a special treat he took Tiffany and I squirrel hunting. Even thou Tiffany was on rifle team in high school, I had never shot a gun in my life. So before heading out, Luke brought out one of his rifles and a shotgun, and we all took turns lining up the scope of the rifle and firing the shotgun. Twenty practice rounds later we had the scope lined up, than headed out. We drove the truck out to where the orchard meets the forest and walked into the woods from there. Tiffany saw the squirrel first and motioned to Luke to stop walking. She got him in her sights and aimed the rifle, but in a flash the squirrel had jumped trees. Luke told me to make a wide circle around and scare the squirrel back towards Tiffany. I proceeded to walk around and then I saw it. Right above me, and it was getting ready to jump to another tree. I didn’t hesitate to raise my shotgun, take aim, and fire. One by one, leaves fell from the tree and I waited for the squirrel. Then, all of a sudden, it dropped and landed right in front of me. I was so proud that I shouted back to Tiffany and Luke, “I got him!” They both ran up smiling, Luke took my knife and gutted the squirrel, then we went back to hunting for more. After about an hour of searching, the sun had set and it was just too dark so see. We ended the hunt, walked back to the truck, and drove back to the house. I walked into the house with the shotgun over my shoulder and the squirrel in my other hand, with the biggest proudest smile on my face. Then Luke took the squirrel and showed me how to skin it, and gave me the hide.
After washing up, dinner was ready, and we all sat down at the dinner table. Best meal ever! Rosi had prepared Roast duck fresh from the farm, Corn grown on Luke’s parent’s farm, potatoes, and Fried Okra,(Best fried Okra in the world). After dinner we all gathered on the deck and I introduced them to “Apples to Apples”. By the end of the game we were all laughing and smiling and having a great time. It got late, so we all went to bed, and the next morning we packed up the car, said our goodbyes, and drove off. Tiffany and I both cried a bit on the drive. The Lovell’s are great people and we loved our time spent with them, but the road was calling us. New adventures and new experiences awaited us.
One of those new experiences was our trip to Mammoth cave. After leaving the farm, we headed to Mummies’ house in Tennessee. There we had lunch with her family. Another great meal that left us feeling fat and happy! We reorganized our trunk, sat and talked with family, and downloaded a few movies online in case we get bored later on our travels. After everyone went home, Tiffany and I got out the squirrel we had been keeping in a jar of salt water, and put it on the grill. After about an hour it was ready to eat. I called Uncle Jamie out of the house and the three of us gathered around and all got to taste grilled squirrel for the first time. It was delicious! Better than I imagined it would taste, and because we kept it in salt water over night there was hardly any gamey taste. After eating our prize, we all went to sleep. Mumzie was more than too kind on insisting on giving up her bed for the night. It was the most comfortable bed we’ve ever laid in and we fell fast asleep.
Waking up well rested, we gathered our things and headed out to Mammoth Cave. We checked in, found our campsite and set up camp. After pitching our tent, Tiffany, Annabelle, and I all went for a walk. The walk was wonderful, and after about a half hour, we came upon a spring. As soon as my toes touched the water, chills ran up my spine. It was ice cold. I kept running back and forth between having my feet in the ice cold waters, and standing in the warm sand along the bank. Annabelle had a blast running around and playing in the sand, and after a few minutes I finally convinced Tiffany to take her shoes off and play in the water with me. We both felt like little kids discovering water for the first time. After a while, we headed back to camp, and set up our stove to cook dinner. After dinner, we built a fire and toasted marshmallows. I kept catching mine on fire, and Tiffany’s were all coming out perfect. I decided to humble myself and asked Tiff if she would make me toasted marshmallows for the rest of the night, she agreed, and they were all delicious! After the fire died down, we put it out and went into the tent to sleep.
The next morning we both woke up extremely early, and got dressed. Tiffany took Annabelle to the Kennel and I prepared breakfast. After filling up on oatmeal, we put our valuables in the car, and headed to the visitors center to pick up our tickets for the “Wild Cave Tour”. We met up with our tour guide, grouped up with about 12 others, and boarded the tour bus. After about 10 minutes of driving and debriefing, we arrived at the entrance of the cave, and proceeded to walk the steps single file down into the unknown. As soon as we entered, the temperature changed from cold to really cold! Thankfully, we were all wearing coveralls, which kept us warm. The caves were gorgeous! The walls and ceiling were lined with the most beautiful Gypsum we’ve ever seen, almost everywhere you looked, there were flowers made of crystal the size of a grapefruit hanging from the ceiling . The cave was about 10 ft high, by about 20 feet wide, but after walking a few minutes, watching the ceiling and the floor slowly coming together, we arrived at our first challenge. Before us lied a pile of boulders. In between a few of those boulders was an opening, about as wide as a doorway and about a foot high. After telling everyone all the ins and outs of caving, what to do, what not to do, how to follow the person in front of you, and what to do if you loose site of the person behind you, our guide crouched down on his hands and knees and squeezed himself in thru the gap, and one by one, all the members of the group followed after. Once I was in, I couldn’t believe how small the moving space was. In some places the tunnels were wide enough to crawl on your hands and knees, but throughout most of it, all you could do was lay on your belly and pull yourself thru with your hands and elbows. Re-adjusting your torso and legs to work yourself around boulders, corners, stalactites and stalagmites. This went on for about 100ft /about 20 minutes. Near the end of this tunnel, there was another gap about 2ft wide, and about a foot high, that you had to pull your head through first, than your arms, than drag the rest of your body through by grabbing onto something in front of you, and pulling yourself up and through. Only to find yourself in another tunnel only a little bit wider than the last one, and make your way through it before finally reaching the next standing room. Once there, the group met back together, and we all got debriefed on the next part of the tunnel. This time, the tunnel was going to be shorter than the last, but twice as cramped. In he went, and in we followed. There was no turning back now, I wouldn’t know how to go back the way we came anyways. We were in this till the end. The walls were closer this time, and the gaps were smaller, but we all made it. One by one we went in, and one by one we made it out the other side. Each of us helping out the person behind us. Letting them know what to look out for, and teaching the next person our technique on how to overcome each obstacle. If you needed a little help making it through the gaps the person in front of you would pull you through, and if someone behind you needed help making it through, you gave them a hand. Everyone worked as a team, and because of it, the tour guide took us through tougher and tougher challenges because he knew we could handle them. After about 3 hours of this, we arrived at a huge room in the cave, there were tables set up, people from other tours filled the room and in the back people were serving sandwiches and drinks. There was even a restroom. There were about 200 people from different tours in the hall but our group was the only group of people wearing thick coveralls, and hard hats with headlamps. After lunch, we were all debriefed on the next part of the tour and off we went. As we moved along through the caves, the challenges got harder, but the wow factors increased. Sometimes we were looking down into what looked like a bottomless pit, and other times we were looking up a thousand feet, there were rooms with the most intense acoustics you’ve ever heard, there were rooms covered in water, rooms decorated with gypsum, rooms filled with stalactites. The sites were beautiful, the challenges were exciting and the sense of danger was exhilarating. Once we reached the end of the final tunnel over 6 hours had passed. We all made our way to the surface. Boarded the bus that was waiting for us, and drove back to the visitors center to change out of our caving gear. Tiffany and I couldn’t stop talking about the caves. We retrieved Annabelle from the kennel, and headed back to our campsite to make dinner, toast marshmallows by the fire, and pass out in the tent. After such a long day we both fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.
The next morning I woke up thinking someone had just run me over with a truck. Every muscle on my body ached, from my legs and back, to my chest and my arms. Along with the pain, my knees and elbows were both badly bruised up. I woke up Tiffany, and she said she felt the same way. Than when it came time to stand up, the pain only became more noticeable. A simple task such as kneeling on the ground to roll up your sleeping bag was a challenge. Though the pain was great, The idea of what we accomplished felt even greater. Not very many people get to see what we saw down there, so to us what we had to go through was worth it. Tiffany and I broke down the tent, packed up all are things, boarded the car, and checked out. All in a hurry to catch McDonalds breakfast before they switch to their lunch menu. We felt we deserved a hearty meal after what we endured. And every bite tasted like sweet sweet victory.
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