September 2025 – OsteoPraxis on the road

Heading for home and a bit of wind….!!

John James Audubon State park totally lived up to expectations…what a beautiful place……but now….having reached the northwest corner of Kentucky and with a quick jump into Indiana, the journey home became a bit more earnest.

Our State Park stops in Kentucky and Tennessee had been such lovely experiences that I mapped out a few more for our journey west.

As we hit the highway we noticed that we were carrying a passenger……he(she?) valiantly held onto the hood for most of the journey.

When we stopped for gas he was nowhere to be seen …. I admit I was a little sad….!!!

Our first stop was an overnight in Finger Lakes state park Missouri. We made the mistake of taking I-70 to get there…..a very busy and desperately in need of resurfacing Interstate…..not the best for towing a trailer.(or transporting a stowaway..!!)

But the park was no disappointment.

And to my delight our little stowaway had moved back behind the cab for a better ride…he reappeared as we were setting up.

I checked to make sure katydids were also present in Missouri and found him a nice bush to settle in. I hope he is happy in his new home…

Back to the journey and an upside of a slight northward jog to get to this lovely state park was that the next part of the drive was on smaller and better roads…

Next stop Lake Manawa State Park in Iowa. It’s almost on the southeast corner of Omaha Nebraska and you can see the city not too far in the distance.

Lake Manawa was another lovely campground……and the sunset was truly spectacular….

Our next days driving took us into South Dakota….I was not finding any state parks in a convenient location so I picked a campground that was about the midpoint between Lake Manawa and our destination for a few days in Custer South Dakota.

As we pulled in we were the only trailer in the grounds….nicely laid out sites with shade trees…..and some interesting old tractors by our site.

A few more trailers pulled in through the evening…..and then a huge storm hit us overnight.

In the early hours of the morning the thunder and lightning was almost directly overhead and then a strike…and we lost power. As we drove out we were surprised to see one of the trees at the other end of the campground had met its demise (it was quite the storm…!!…..and the cat was not a big fan of the storm either)

Back to a familiar stomping ground in Custer, South Dakota…and a favourite campground at Broken Arrow Horsecamp. This would be our 4th time in this campground, it’s far enough from town to be quiet yet central for all the amazing sights and sites of the Black Hills area.

Although we have hiked many times within the park, the cave tour at Wind Caves National Park was a box yet to be ticked. We had never been enthused by the thought….but based on the surprising success of Mammoth Cave...and previously Jewel Cave National Monument…we decided it was worth a shot.

I would have to say…it was not as scary as I might have previously thought….and it was interesting…..but a pale shadow of the Mammoth Cave experience. The rock formations were varied and impressive but the scale of Mammoth was on another level.

There are some fantastic rock and mineral formations….

….and as always….the rangers were superb.

I guess that’s us done with cave tours…we will stick to the high plains hikes and bison sightings.

Kentucky. A walk with Mr. Audubon

When researching the route home, and checking out State Parks along the way (Kentucky and Tennessee have such lovely State Parks) I found what for me was an absolute treasure. Knowing that everything has to be somewhere….but this was not like the little delights of stumbling on Hemingway’s birthplace, or the very first KFC…this one had me super excited and determined that we were going to stop there…..The John James Audubon State Park (yes that Audubon…the bird guy) in Henderson, Kentucky. Henderson is a small town on the northwest corner of Kentucky….handily on our way….but having found it…we were going there anyway.

It seemed like we had been travelling in thunderstorms and heavy rain since leaving home in May….and this short journey from Bowling Green to Henderson was no exception. The torrential rain in this part of the world is like driving into a waterfall…we have never experienced rain quite like it. Traffic on the highway slows to a crawl, then you hit the wall of water.

As we pulled into the campground there was yet another storm approaching…we backed the trailer into our spot as the wind lifted the tree branches and blew a flock of leaves through the park…..we nailed the spot….leapt out of the truck and into the trailer just as the heavens opened.

Even with the coverage of large shade trees the rain on the roof was thunderously loud…..the windows opaque with the sheer volume of water pouring down them. In minutes the culverts were overflowing and the tarmac roads turned into rivers.

It was impressive.

After the storm passed the surface water drained remarkably quickly ….demonstrating (we believe) just how ‘normal’ that kind of weather is in this part of the world, they’re prepared.

Kentucky is incredibly lush and green and John James Audubon State Park campground is no exception to that description. We had skillfully picked a site with beautiful tall mature shade trees.

A short trip into the park is the Audubon Museum, which along with the park, campground and museum are run by the Friends of Audubon. The trails run through the forest that Audubon himself habited and observed the rich variety of birdlife and other creatures that inspired his life’s work.

The short version of the Audubon story…he was an oddball of his time….an artistic creature who, with the unswerving support of his wife created an incredible collection of artwork depicting both birds and animals. He worked and pushed the print industry to catch up to the ability to reproduce his artwork in print form.

The museum follows the journey of his life, his work…and the work of his sons as they continued after him. Much of the exhibit is the plates from his original “The Birds of America’ volume. But there are a few original paintings. My favourite was one found in his personal belongings….it is not large like the engraved plate printings …its a small painting of a bird (Rose breasted Grosbeak), only a few inches in height on the page….but its such an extraordinary, almost magical little painting that I had to keep on going back to stare a it a little more. Sadly no photography allowed. ….and yes I had to temper the experience with the knowledge that he had killed every one of his subjects……but everything must be viewed with the context of the historical period……and it does not change the fact that he was an extraordinary artist.

Behind the museum is the trailhead for the many hiking trails through the forest. None of them particularly challenging from a physical point of view…(other than the crippling humidity)…but…for me anyway…this forest was like something out of a fairytale.

The tall trees, the bustling bird life….and the fluttering leaves creating a dappled light that almost had a life of its own.

My grandmother, my mother and her sisters were all great bird enthusiasts…..I hope they were all with me on my shoulder that day…they would have loved that place…I could easily imagine their voices and their rapt expressions following those paths.

A little way in, at the side of the path is this natural wonder….a grapevine…

from conversations we had with the rangers and some local people this is a well trodden path….a favourite stroll for locals….easy to see why…..

Down by the lake itself there are boardwalks…..it’s very swampy and with all the recent rain the water levels were high. As we reached the middle of the boardwalk we heard the plop plop of turtles dropping into the water….they were too quick…we missed them with the camera (as with most all of the birds..!!) Then…as we rounded the corner we spotted some more….

When we stopped for the blogtographer to get some shots….this little guy came and landed first on his hand (all of my pictures were discarded for being out of focus..!!) then moved to his leg so he could take a shot with the ‘big camera’…LOL….and a slightly different angle on the turtle cluster.

As we crossed the end of the lake….a bald eagle swooped…grabbed something and left again before I could even blink never mind grab my camera….

BTW…the next pic…..I am on the stairs…..checking out butterflies….

We found some really cool fungi…….

….and then we were back at the museum……

What a great place this park is…..I am so glad I spotted it on the parks list.

Our last day we drove over to the Wetland Trail…. (a five minute drive)

After even more torrential rain where the weather advisories were telling people to stay home and not travel the roads for fear of flash flooding, the wetlands were truly wet…..!!!

Thankfully there’s a boardwalk system……

The surrounding fields were filled with these hibiscus looking marsh mallows….and all kinds of other weird looking plants.

There is an island in the middle of the wetland with a loop trail around……it was pretty muddy….

To our delight we met this little chap…..who did his very best to look threatening……we think he’s a Red Swamp Crayfish, about 3″ long

About halfway around the loop the trail became too waterlogged to continue

So we made our way back through the mud…..

Another small soldier hopped out to challenge us…..the mud pile is his home…..judging by the number of these mud mounds he had lots of friends and neighbours around…..

By the time we got back to the boardwalk our boots had accumulated dinner plate sized lumps of claylike mud…walking was becoming awkward….

It took a bit of dabbling in puddles and scraping to leave it all behind…..it was heavy too…..

We did not succeed in taking pictures of birds or butterflies (black swallowtails and spicebush swallowtails )….but they were spectacular……maybe this is a place you should visit…..if you have not already…..!!!

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Back to Kentucky 2 ….One Mammoth step ahead of claustrophobia.

We arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park with no real expectations, but it was much busier than we predicted with no tickets left for the Historic Tour on the first day we were there…so we booked what we could…which was the last slot in the afternoon of the following day. Although not terribly convenient for us, it’s great to see these sites being well appreciated.

The self guided tour has less restriction on numbers so we did it as a ‘taster’ for the ranger led tour. It turned out to be a quite magnificent experience and left us quite excited for the next day.

We took the opportunity in the morning for the Green River Bluffs above ground hike…..then munched our packed lunches and headed for the gathering point.

Really lucked out with this tour selection (being the end of the day) as there was a much smaller than usual number of people (37 instead of 110).

There was a list of dire warnings from the rangers to not go in if you had heart conditions, breathing issues, claustrophobia, fear of heights etc. Honestly…they keep you moving at a steady pace as there’s a lot of terrain to cover and the whole thing is so darn fascinating that you kinda forget how far underground you are…..

The lead Ranger stopped at this historic point to show us the ‘pictures’ on the ceiling….

There are coloured mineral patches on the ceiling that look like bears, and a grim reaper….

Maybe you have to actually be there to see it……but apparently this has been part of the tourist presentation since the very first tours in the cave back in 1816.

You really can see some pretty awesome scenes in the ‘pictures’….but maybe its a bit like staring at clouds and seeing balloon animals…LOL

The pace continues through the cave….one Ranger in the lead and one as the caboose making sure no one is left behind……we were hanging back at the rear to try to take some pictures without the whole group in them….

Deep into the cave there is lots of 1800’s graffiti. Names and dates of often slaves who were some of the first tour guides. They daubed the letters using soot from tallow candles. It’s remarkably neat.

The bottomless chasm……there is (thankfully) a rail….no I did not look down…!!!

The way they described the next part of the cave….fat mans misery…..an hourglass shaped channel through the rock…..

I was dreading just how narrow it might be…..other than the rock being a bit slimy…..it wasn’t that bad…!!!

Then ‘tall mans agony’…..a challenge on the neck creeping through…..This is where I’d expect claustrophobia to catch up with us, but you’re moving along at such a clip I think we were staying just ahead of it.

At the lowest point that the tour goes to…86M/263ft…there is a big chamber that is one of the places that fills with water after stormy weather…..the recorded flood levels had reached record highs a couple of times this year……again….it was a place you had to be standing in to really appreciate how impressive the thought of it being filled with flood water…!!!

Then we started climbing again….

to ‘the fire tower’…the rock formations here were massive…..these cone shaped vertical channels look like something out of a sci-fi movie……and the 270 stairs up had a real ‘Batman Begins’ look to them

… the long ascent up these wet and slimy (and numerous..!!) stairs….

I have to say it was almost disappointing to come to the end….it sure did not feel like 2 hours down there……

The Rangers do a great job……the lead Ranger explained at the end that they pass the stories and the histories down largely by word of mouth…the intent being to keep this Historic tour as authentic to the origins of the Mammoth tourist experince as they can.

I am still blown away by how much I/we enjoyed this experience. What started as a ‘push the comfort zone’ turned out to be a ‘so glad I did that’ life experience.

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Back to Kentucky, Mammoth Cave National Park.

Continuing north and beginning the travel westward (towards home) took us back through Kentucky, but this time on the west side of the state. We had bypassed Mammoth Cave National Park on the journey south…so we took the opportunity to visit on the return northward. As I searched the campgrounds around the area , and found a Boondockers Welcome site just 15 minutes from the park gate…… Ideal.!!

This BW host had power and water available…bonus in the warm, humid July weather in Kentucky.

Mammoth Cave NP, despite its proximity to The Great Smoky Mountains (the US’s most visited park) is one of the least visited parks. I’m not sure why….we found it to be a fabulous place to visit.

On our first trip in to the park we booked tickets to do the self guided tour into the first part the Mammoth cave system. Being a bit on the claustrophobic side, I was expecting this to be slightly challenging…….but no……. Mammoth Cave is just that….mammoth….!!! Going down the steps into the cave you transition from that warm humid air of the surrounding forest….. quickly into the cool 54F (12C) of the cave.

After moving through the security gates at the entrance, the cave quickly opens up into the Rotunda, a chamber that feels like a huge ballroom. The dome of the chamber looks like a carefully crafted coffered ceiling.

There is a bit of an adjustment to the low light and a realisation that a flashlight would have been a good thing to bring.

At the far end of the area available for this self guided tour we met and chatted with a young and enthusiastic ranger who had many stories and insights into the history of the cave.

Like much of Kentucky and Tennessee, the cave has its own history of enslavement. It was a rich source of saltpeter during the War of 1812 when slaves were utilised to extract the minerals to feed the war machine. (NB. The Revolutionary war ended in 1783 and resulted in the Declaration of independence of the United States from British rule. The War of 1812 was about establishing Maritime rights and resolving trade restrictions imposed by the British fleet hence requiring a domestic source of gunpowder ingredients…!!!)

Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world…..with much of it still unexplored. The whole system has been formed by water seeping down through the limestone layers…….the architecture of the walls and ceiling are a testament to the power of water and time.

On our way back out we were fortunate to meet up with the young ranger again as he shared more stories and pointed out some of the relics found in the cave from its pre 18th century history.

We were quite enthralled by the cave….so the plan for the next day was to find an above ground hike for the morning and then follow the Historic Tour underground in the afternoon.

The Green Bluffs Trail.

Green Bluffs trail was the overground choice. We packed a lunch and a change of clothes. (It was a very warm and very humid day……this part of the world seems to experience sudden short thunderstorms with impressive….but thankfully short downpours)

….and set off on the trail.

The trail follows a high path above the Green River, luckily in shade most of the way.

The trail weaves back down to the river…….we followed the boardwalk out of curiosity and found that it led to the outflow river from the cave itself….

Continuing on the path which was not the most challenging we have ever done….but definitely as hard as one wanted to be working in the humidity.

Beautiful trail….strangely no bugs…!!! (not complaining)…then a bit of a diversion as they were constructing boardwalks on part of the trail.

We found one of the strangest….and coolest fungi I have seen on our travels……

….and much evidence that the river has seen very large volumes of water recently. The ford and boat launch were closed and you could see how high the muddy waters had flowed recently.

Due to the harvesting of the early settlers, the native trees of the area have been largely replaced by maples which were considered low quality lumber…..so were not harvested thereby reseeding and becoming the dominant tree species…..