August 11th and 12th, Bowling Green, KY and Beech Fork, WV

Friday, August 11 and Saturday, August 12, 2006
Day 47 and 48
Mammoth Cave and Drive to Beech Fork State Park, WV

On Friday we drove from Mammoth Cave down to Bowling Green, about 25 miles south. There we visited the Corvette Museum and saw many vintage Corvettes and had a very nice time. Right across from the Museum is the plant where the Corvette is made. We didn’t actually see the factory, but after eating at Hardees for lunch we did see five car-carriers loaded with brand-new Vettes leaving the plant! Wow, did we drool over those brand new vettes going to various dealerships in the country.

The highlight of the visit to the museum for me was the gorgeous 1963 split-back window in silver. Oooh, Aahh, my dream car!

Later in the day I took the kids to an activity at the Visitor’s Center just for kids. It was called Nature Tracks and they played games relating to the types of living things at Mammoth Cave. Of course the parents had to play too, so we played “CAVO”, like Bingo, and Sheldon won the third round. We also played “Bat – Moth”, like Marco – Polo. Sheldon and Brianna were both moths who never got caught by the bats. We made another campfire and I hung out there for most of the evening with Brianna, but Sheldon was in trouble so he had to go to bed early. He’ll learn to “listen” soon I hope. Of course he didn’t actually go to sleep in his bed, but kept shining his flashlight out his window at me and Brianna and things like that.

On Saturday we drove about 310 miles to Beech Fork State Park in West Virginia. This is also all of our first time to West Virginia. The hills of Eastern Kentucky rolled on and on, and the drive was quite nice. It took us a little over 5 hours to get here. This is yet another lovely State Park Campsite. I think most of the State Parks we have been to have been really nice.

Today is actually Sunday, the 13th. I have gotten behind with the journal on this later part of the trip. This morning while walking Brownie I was fortunate enough to be able to see six deer. First I saw three, a doe and her fawns. They spotted me and Brownie and didn’t stay around long. Later I saw a nice young buck, with 6 points! He stayed close enough for me to really observe him and he was probably a one-and-a-half year old buck. And with six points already! Soon after that I saw two more does, and they took off quickly and ran across the street. The deer around here are more “normal” in their behavior than the deer further out West. They run when they see people!

Later today we are off to Virginia, and Shenandoah National Park. I’m looking forward to the drive on Skyline Drive!