Spelunking

August 6, 2016

This was our last day in "the North". We traveled from Salem Indiana to Brandenburg Kentucky. We have been kinda sorta following the route of Morgan's raiders in reverse for a while. Brandenburg is where Morgan crossed the Ohio River on July 8, 1863. Morgan had to commandeer 2 ships to move his men across the river, we were able to make use of a bridge. Unlike Morgan, we were not burning, looting and pillaging as we went.

We spent the bulk of the day on Indiana route 135. Most of the time it had an excellent shoulder, but there was a very gravely stretch and some places with no shoulder. There were also some remains of tire retreads on the shoulder and team S picked up a wire flat. The yellow color of our jerseys and panniers attracted sweat bees. They must have been confused and frustrated by the lack of nectar.

These guys wanted something sweet while Kerry changed a flat.

We passed many fields of popcorn today. It looked like any other corn to us, but locals told us it was popcorn. Legend has it that some technicians were working on a microwave communication tower and accidentally directed the microwaves at a hillside and popped an entire field.

We didn't get any local popcorn but we got juicy local peaches in Palmyra.

After passing through Corydon, the former capital of Indiana, we made a side trip to Squire Boone caverns. Squire was Daniel Boone's younger brother. Squire found the cave by following water gushing from the ground. The water was used to power a grist mill and we enjoyed visiting a recreation of the mill.

The nicest thing about the caverns was the cool 54 degree temperature.

We could have ridden up the last hill to the cavern entrance, but the sign said to use our famous low gear.

Water flowing out of the cavern drives the Mill's water wheel.

At the Miller's controls. One lever controls the amount of water flowing into the wheel. The other lever engages or disengages the millstone. The control wheel on the right adjusts the space between the two stones.

As we entered Brandenburg we saw an unusual cathedral, except it turned out to be a telephone company building.

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