Kentucky - Day 6 - Scottsville

Barren River Lake State Campground
Sunday, 6 October 2019

I saw in a brochure I'd picked up at the Visitor Center on the 1st that Mammoth Cave offered multiple types of tours of the cave, as well as self-guided tours.  I figured I'd likely learn more from a person than a sign so decided on one of those.

Online I found that the only tickets left for this morning were first-come-first served at the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center, so I called to ask a human being if that were true.  Yes, Mammoth Cave is something people'd want to go see on a weekend, but it's October and, despite my experience with crowded campgrounds, I'm still having trouble believing the tours would be sold out.  The morning ones were, it turned out.  I didn't much want to go in the afternoon because the tours last a couple of hours and Google was already telling me it'd take me 45 minutes to get there, which I figured for me meant an hour at least, and I didn't want to be wandering around on unfamiliar roads in the late afternoon.

I managed to get the next-to-last ticket available for tomorrow mid-morning's tour and decided to stay an extra day here.

I spent some time checking out what's available in Bowling Green, which is where I figure I'll go next.  What I had trouble finding is a place with public recycling bins.  Kentucky isn't any more enthusiastic about recycling than Illinois is, apparently.  None of the state facilities does any more than put out a bin for aluminum cans, not useful for me as I don't drink pop or beer.

I've begun to notice that my heater isn't working.  I knew a couple of days ago it wouldn't come on when I turned on the thermostat, but I thought maybe it was air in the lines or something.  But my stovetop works just fine, which it wouldn't if an air block was the problem, so I want to get someone to check my heater.  Winter's not far away, after all.  I found an RV dealership/service place across the street in Bowling Green from the National Corvette Museum, which I'd thought about visiting anyway, so figured I could talk to them.

Meanwhile, I drove into the small nearby town of Scottsville for groceries and to see what's there.  What's there, it turns out, is a Smucker's plant.  I'd have expected it would provide a number of jobs, and maybe it does, but I don't know where they all live.  It sure doesn't seem to be in Scottsville, because I didn't see enough houses for them or enough prosperity to go along with what I figure Smucker's would pay employees.

Scottsville sits on either side of the Barren River and the connecting bridge is under construction.  Google didn't want me to go that way to the grocery store I was aiming for, but I figured it just wanted to insist on what it thinks is the fastest route.  At least, I thought that until I found where it was taking me when I insisted the scenic route is the one I wanted.  When I saw it was a river that I was being routed away from, I realized it might be a washed-out bridge or something.  And I was nearly right.  But I still got to see most of the main part of town, going my route.

I found out later that Google wanted to take me down the shortcut road that the locals use.  Fine, except it would have meant heading down a very steep narrow road with a lot of (doubtless low-hanging) tree branches.  Fine if I'd been driving a passenger car.  Not at all fine in an RV.  Google LOVES shortcuts, and so many of them are down roads I have no business being on that I've learned to take a close look when it says I shouldn't take a main road.  On the other hand, it insists I should want to go on interstates and gets very upset when I insist on a state or county road instead.  I just have to keep a close eye on what it tells me to do and we're fine.

This time I got lucky.  I missed the turn it told me to take (it really is an obscure local shortcut - I saw people taking it) but still found not only the grocery store but - serendipitously - large recycling bins in the parking lot.  And even a little room to walk the dogs.  So a successful trip.

Kentucky Public Radio plays local music on weekend afternoons, I'm learning, and today I heard a wonderful piece of fiddling.  I thought the announcer said it was a piece called "Fly Through the Country" by someone named Tennessee Wagner.  I've now figured out that the tune itself is called "Tennessee Wagoner" and it was released on the 1975 "Fly Through The Country" album by a group called New Grass Revival.  And if you want to listen, you can click on this link.   www.youtube.com/tennessee-wagoner

My campsite is perched - almost literally - on a hill.  It's got a long driveway, but it curves in the middle and is on such a sharp angle that it's realistically only usable by a small RV like mine.  And I barely fit on the flattish top part, because of the curve.  I watched my next-door neighbors set up their 27' or so camper and, even though their rise wasn't as steep and they didn't have to deal with a curve, they still had a hard time getting it level and stable.  But mine has nice shade and it's right by the entrance, which I like for the dog-walking, and it's high enough that I can get spotty internet, and it's fairly dark at night, and it's near the washing machines and showers, all of which I used today, so I can deal with the hill/curve combo.