This was a slower paced day than Saturday. But I still covered a lot of
ground - pretty much across Kentucky.
The entire day was in Kentucky.
It was the only day on the trip that I didn't cross a state line.
I got a later start around 9AM, needing the rest after the previous day.
I had lunch in Cave City.
Then I went to Mammoth Cave National Park.
With more driving still to do for the day, I took the self-guided tour.
It turned out to be by far the best idea available.
The slow-moving 120 person tour groups got in the way a bit anyway.
But I got into the cave, got a lot of pictures, and got out in a
reasonable time without rushing.
There are so many caves in that part of Kentucky that it's called the
caves region. Some commercially-operated caves outside the park actually
have been determined to connect to it underground.
The public tour is just a small area.
But it shows how large some of these caverns can be.
It lives up to its name of Mammoth Cave.
I continued on eastward.
I checked into a motel in Barbourville a little short of Middlesboro.
There are motels in Middlesboro -
but the only reasonably priced one with what I thought were good reviews,
was already booked for the Labor Day weekend.
So I did some initial exploration of Middlesboro while there was still
daylight.
I looked for roads which go to the central uplift of the crater.
Though it's heavily eroded so the current terrain
was originally below the crater.
I had dinner at a restaurant there.
Then I returned to Barbourville for the night.
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![[map]](201009-tnky-day2-map.png "click for map")