Tuesday 17th September

Next few days will be on the road again ! Not so much the destinations but stop overs to break the journey. Today we left Nashville heading toward Louisville (pronounced "Louavaul") for the evening.

On the way we planned to stop at Mammoth Cave National Park which contains the world's longest cave system - how could we go past that ? We had booked into a 12.45 pm tour, but had time for a coffee on the way so pulled into the Black Sheep Cafe in a little quaint town just off the Interstate, at Franklin. From there it was a nice scenic drive to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Centre. The cave we went down into had huge natural tunnels, caverns, domes, and shafts, but it wasn't a wet cave, i.e. no flowstones, stalactites or stalagmites, which is what we like to see. Other caves in the system do have these, just not on the tour we selected . This system was established as a national park in 1941, contains over 400 miles of surveyed passageways. They estimate there are still 600 miles to be surveyed, all contained within a 7 square mile area.

There are remnants of a salt petre mine which was established for the war in 1812 and used for the manufacture of gunpowder. There was also evidence of years of people touring and exploring the caves with names, intials and messages carved into the rock face and smoke painted names on the ceiling. Still very clear to read, many of these dating back to the 1800's.

We like to seek out caves everywhere we travel both locally and overseas, but this 2 hour cave experience was enjoyable but not one of our caving highlights.

Wednesday 18th September

We stopped over at Louisville for the night without even going into downtown. As we continue to zig-zag our way toward Chicago we left the motel and headed for Cincinnati...it was in Ohio and that meant another state magnet for our fridge ! Our research showed us there were two things of attraction for us, the Findlay Markets and the art deco Union Station Building. The first view of the Cincinnati skyline was quite impressive as we drove in on the interstate.

Google Maps GPS got us to Findlay Markets quite easily, and this too turned out to be a pleasant surprise ! A quaint, colourful market row surrounded by shops offering lots of produce and food options. The people were all very friendly and we found our first crusty baguette here - yum ! The market had a Frenchy Belgian influence. Generally the bread in America is soft and quite a bit sweeter than we are used to so this was a lovely find.

Next stop was the Union Station Building ... just around the corner and another really great surprise - what a building ! It was built in art deco fashion in 1933 and stopped operating in 1972. Apparently rail travel was in decline when it was built ! They tried to refashion it into a shopping centre in the late 1970's to 80's, but that eventually failed as well. After some years of neglect, in 1990 it was renovated again and became home for two museums in Cincinnati, the Museum of Natural History, and History Museum. It is now described as one of the most outstanding examples of art deco railway stations in the nation ... and we could see why ! I'm sure you will see also looking at the photos.

After a pleasant stop over during the day, we drove onto Indianapolis for the evening.

Thursday 19th September

We didn't bother going into Indianapolis proper as there was nothing that appealed to us, so we just set out for St Louis being a 3.5 hour drive away. We stopped at Terre Haute for petrol and coffee and arrived in St Louis at 12.30 pm. We were able to check into our hotel early, so having gained an hour by changing time zones again, this allowed us to set off and start some exploration of St Louis before returning to do some laundry.

We went straight to the Gateway Arch right there on the riverfront. Booked in for the tram ride to the top, plus entry to a movie on the construction of the arch and entrance to the museum at the base of the arch. This turned out o be a great experience, fantastic views from the top and the whole complex is extremely well presented.

The whole complex has recently undergone a $380million renovation incorporated into a 91 acre Gateway National Park. The arch makes a real statement in the skyline with its base spanning 630 feet wide and each steel leg of the arch rises 630 feet (192m), exactly 63 stories tall. The arch, started February 1963 and completed October 1965, was designed to withstand earthquakes and lightning strikes and can sway up to 45cm in 24km/hr winds. We took a tram ride to the top, which consisted of a series of 8 very compact pods holding 5 persons in each pod and running on a rail up each leg of the arch. The jaw dropping view is enjoyed from the 16 viewing windows at the top facing toward the east over Illinois and the Mississippi, and 16 windows west over downtown St Louis, Missouri. A very nicely presented attraction !

We were in time to get back to the hotel for free drinks and nibbles between 5.30 and 7.00 pm - very civilised !