Day 19 (4/13/21): Living and Learning

This morning I woke up at the little mom and pop RV/cabin place, and got up early to get laundry done before meeting Hannah at Mammoth Cave. We were meeting at 9. So I got up and headed down to the local laundry mat. There were only two in town, and only one was open at 7:30. When I got there, a local was already there doing his own laundry. He was very kind and chatty, but didn't wear a mask (I wasn't surprised), but he was also giving me local advice. Such as how this laundromat was better than the "bougie" one next door. I did my laundry and another local came in. He also wasn't wearing a mask, but mentioned that he was because he's fully vaccinated so it would only be a courtesy to me. I put my laundry in and then went back into the camper to get ready for the day, make my breakfast, and do dishes. I went back in to get my clothes into the dryer and chatted with the second local a bit. We surprisingly (I try to avoid it) talked politics and I was pleasantly surprised to find out he's a democrat. It was interesting to hear his perspective and experiences. 

Afterwards, I drove back up to Mammoth cave to meet Hannah. We decided to do a hike and then she was going to tour the cave and I was going to continue on driving. We did the same hike I did yesterday, except I hadn't done the whole thing. It was a little bit rainy and overcast, but not too bad. It warmed and cleared up as the day went on. We had a great hike and it was nice to catch up with a friend! After the hike she went on to the cave and I headed out for the day.

Where I was going, was to be determined. This was the first day that I didn't know where I would end up. The town or the specific place to sleep. I was just going to set out until I didn't feel like driving anymore. 

On one of my rest stops I looked up a few places and found some National Forest Services land. I wanted to try boondocking camping, so set out here. I arrived a few hours later. It was a beautiful area around a lake. I stopped at the visitors center, but it was closed due to COVID. I did a walk around the area and chatted with a nice local who was fishing.

As I continued on looking for a place to camp, I realized I wasn't totally sure what I was looking for. Was a boat launch okay? Gravel pull off? Are there actual campsites? I was just driving around, enjoying the scenery, looking for a place to park for the night. I knew a few main rules from the visitor center and information online. But havent ever done this myself. 

I use several apps to find places to park at night. Some use NFS and BLM land, others campsites, and others Walmarts/Cracker Barrels etc. So I had heard of a dispersed campsite in this National Forest. But I wanted to see if I could find something further north. Also, I looked up the specific spot on the NFS website and it said it was closed due to flooding. So I wanted to try and find a place other than that. I ended up driving around the park going to pull offs, boat launches, side roads, etc  and at one point ended up at a National campground  I tried asking the guy there, but he basically said "that doesn't exist, go to Walmart." I tried to tell him it does exist and politely left. So then, I went to checkout that flooded dispersed campground. 

Confirmed, it's flooded. The pictures above used to be campsites. There was a RV already parked there, along a stretch of pavement on the back. So I decided to go up to them to pick their brain a little bit. Seeing as I wasn't sure what to look for. They told me how they find places and we chatted for a bit. I didn't have service here, so I decided to leave to try and tell someone where I was. By the time I got service, I was in the next town and it was 8:30pm. By this time, it wasn't worth me going the 20min backwards back to that spot. Plus, they knew I was alone and didn't have service there. 

I was definitely disappointed this hadn't worked out. But I took this as a learning opportunity. I'm learning what I'm comfortable with and not comfortable with. And this is a step. A step towards camping in the woods alone, without amenities, including cell service. 

I found the local Walmart and called it a night. Ironically, this is the exact opposite of where I wanted to end up.