Wednesday, September 6, 2017, Tampa, FL
Day 118

After using museum's dump station, departed Tifton, GA, and stopped in Gainesville, FL, for lunch with nephew Jason and Tasha at Adams Rib BBQ. After lunch, played with great nephew David and then headed home to secure home with hurricane Irma coming. Arrived home (275 miles) after fill up with diesel at 6:30 p.m.  Trip stats:
8,499 coach miles driven
861.6 gallons of diesel consumed by coach engine
9.9 mpg
4 border crossings into Canada
3 border crossings into U.S.
9 time zone changes
20 States visited
3 Provinces visited

Tuesday, September 5, 2017, Tifton GA
Day 117

Departed Hendersonville, NC, for 330 mile drive to the Tifton, GA, Agricultural Museum for an overnight stay in its parking lot.

Thursday - Monday, August 31 - September 4, 2017, Hendersonville, NC
Days 112-116

We departed TN and crossed back into the eastern time zone on the way to sister Staci in North Carolina. The plan was to leave Tennessee before the remnants of Hurricane Harvey arrived which was supposed to be tomorrow. We ended up driving through Harvey. Well, at least I won’t have to clean the bugs off the windshield. We arrived about 3:30 for a holiday weekend visit with Staci, Jon and Avery.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017, Crossville, TN
Day 111

We checked out of our Cave City Campground for the 45 minute drive to the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. An introductory 15 minute film did a good job of spelling out the 7 generations of the Corvette since its 1953 beginning. Lots of pretty Corvettes and a lot of info too. However, the possible highlight may be the exhibit concerning the 2014 sinkhole that swallowed 8 classic Corvettes. 2 of the 8 have been restored and 1 is undergoing restoration. The other 5 were damaged beyond repair. All 8 are displayed in the museum. A time lapsed video shows the repair of the sinkhole. After a couple hours in the museum, we drove to The Hermitage, near Nashville, TN, about 1.25 hours away. The Hermitage was the estate of Andrew Jackson, our seventh President. The mansion is almost all original and costumed interpreters informed of the home life of the Jackson family. There is also a museum which does an excellent job of setting forth the life of Jackson. I did learn some things including the fact that Jackson won 56% of the popular vote in 1824 but with 4 candidates running, the decision went to the House of Representatives. In an alleged backdoor deal, Henry Clay put his supporters in the John Quincy Adams column and after Adams was sworn in Clay became his Secretary of State. It was not until 1828 that Jackson defeated Adams. An interesting quote by FDR was that next to Washington and Lincoln, Jackson was the most influential President in establishing our democracy. We closed the museum down at 5:00 and continued eastward stopping at Deer Run RV Park (fhu) in Crossville, TN, just as it was getting dark.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017, Cave City, KY
Day 110

On the way back to Mammoth Cave NP, we see more deer. Today we took the 10:00 Grand Avenue Tour which is 4 hours and 4 miles. It is rated “difficult” and the rangers almost seem to try to talk you out of going if there is any question whether you can make it 4 hours. The tour was exciting and although lots of steps and up and downs, it was no problem. After a late lunch and a bit of a rest, we hiked the Cedar Sink Trail, a 2 mile trail around an old sinkhole. Dinner at the Mammoth Cave Hotel Restaurant was Jim Beam honey cured pork tenderloin with turnip-cornbread cheddar casserole, field peas and butter beans and grain mustard demi was fantastic. A Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout from Lexington Brewery Co. turned out unexpectedly to be a coffee stout. Biscuits served at the table with black raspberry jam were delicious and we ate them at the beginning of the meal and the end as dessert. Another great day but I expect to sleep pretty well tonight.

Monday, August 28, 2017, Cave City, KY

Day 109

For the first time in quite a while, we did not need the heat at night. In fact, the air conditioner kicked on even though it was a cloudy and rainy morning. Our campground was conveniently located only 15 minutes from the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center. Mammoth Cave is the world’s largest with 405 miles of caves surveyed and mapped. We took the morning Historic Cave Tour which was rated “moderate” at 2 hours, included some 500 steps and covered 2 miles. The cave had some large rooms including one about half an acre. The cave is mostly dry and inactive. The cave featured a “bottomless pit” and an area called “fat man’s misery” which was very narrow and low and required one to squat and move sideways. An enjoyable tour and good training for our tour tomorrow which is rated difficult. The afternoon was spent in the Visitor Center’s museum which had a good display of the history and geology of the park. We also hiked the Heritage Trail about .7 mile. We drove the entrance road into the park twice as we ate lunch at our coach and each time going in and going out we passed several deer grazing by the road side. We also saw wild turkeys twice. None of the animals seem fazed by our presence. Another good day and excitement for tomorrow.

Sunday, August 27, 2017, Cave City, KY
Day 108

Departed Fort Wayne, IN, and headed south to Louisville, KY with a stop at Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum. Included was a tour of the paddock and grandstand. Derby Day is attended by over 200,000 but the grandstand only holds 58,000. The rest are in the infield where the track is not visible. There is a giant screen that the race is shown on but the guide informed us that most people in the infield don’t care about watching the race but are there to just party. We continued south, crossed into the central time zone and checked into Spring Hills RV Park (fhu) in Cave City, KY.