Underground at Endless Caverns

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Another early morning saw us taking care of a few remaining chores and relaxing a bit before we broke camp to do some sightseeing. First, though, a few housekeeping notes.

We used the Phaeton’s Vacmaster (central vacuum system) for the first time yesterday. It gets the job done. The outlet is located at the base of the pantry, about two thirds of the way from the cockpit. There’s plenty of hose from there to the rear of the coach. When stretched to its full length, the hose also reaches the cockpit, but vacuuming the inside steps was a challenge. The handheld Dirt Devil that we brought with us to vacuum the basement may become a permanent fixture and will work to take care of the steps, inside and out.

We also used the Fisher & Paykel dishwasher for the first time last night. The compact, one-drawer unit is efficient (used the eco mode) and quiet. So quiet, in fact that we wondered if it was even working. I’m very pleased with this handy amenity, which was at the top of my list for the Phaeton — J&V, thank you for opting to have it installed when you bought the coach.

On with our day. We put the trash out (picked up by the resort staff every morning) and left our campsite around 9:15a. It was 74F [23C] at our shaded site. By the time we’d driven the short (and I mean two-minute short) distance to the gift shop/office just outside the resort gate, the temp was up to 79F [26C]. Sounds comfortable, doesn’t it? I assure you that it wasn’t; the high humidity made it feel oppressive.

Scenery from in front of the Endless Caverns Gift Shop.

We were in time to buy tickets for the 9:45a tour of Endless Caverns. (Discounted $13/adult admission for resort guests). Our group was small — just the two of us plus a family of five — and our guide was informative, relating the history and the geology of the caverns as we walked through the chambers for the next 1½ hours.

The entrance to the caverns is in the building on the far left.

The credit for discovering the caves in 1879 goes to two young boys who were hunting rabbits. Removing some rocks to get at the critter they had cornered, the boys uncovered a hole. Curious, they went through the opening and found themselves in a cave with many chambers. The story goes that when they returned home, they told their father that they’d seen the parsnips and carrots in the family vegetable garden from under the ground. What they had really seen were the stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the cave. Shortly thereafter, the family started conducting candlelight tours of the caverns to supplement their farming income.

In 1919, the caverns were purchased by Colonel Brown, who wired it for electricity. We thank him for that (the lighting system has since been refurbished). As James, our guide, demonstrated during the tour, without lights it’s absolutely impossible to see a thing — not your hand in front of your nose; nor the stalactites, stalagmites, rock flows, pendants, and other rock features of the caverns.

Tour guides used to tease visitors by telling them that
this formation was a frozen waterfall.

Though the lighting conditions were far from optimum for hand-held photography, that did not stop us from clicking the shutter as James pointed out some of the interesting formations.

 

The floor of the cave is pockmarked from the water that drips from the ceiling.
it’s not unlike walking on a cobblestone path.

The only bat we saw … no, I’m not referring to Mui.
(They’ve found white-nose syndrome in some of the bats here;
the population is being watched closely.)

The passage on the left leads to the chamber known as the Blue Room (right), which ...

... gets its name from the manganese found here.

We enjoyed the mile-long tour even though we’ve visited similar caverns before. Mother Nature’s creations inspired our imaginations to run rampant, and we saw everything from crocodiles, to whales, to Fred Flintstone gazing at an ice cream cone with his mouth agape. Adding to our pleasure in the tour — the 55F [13C] temperature in the cavern; very refreshing considering the weather we’ve been experiencing. James said that five miles [8 km] of the cave system here has been unearthed and explored to date. No one seems to know how far or how deep the system really goes. So, for all intents and purposes, the caverns are indeed endless.

Time to head home.

Our tour completed, we returned to the Phaeton for the drive home. We’d planned to stop somewhere to eat the PB&J sandwiches Mui had prepared, but didn’t find a spot to pull over. So, 1½ hours and 88 miles [141 km] later, we were at the storage lot. It had been 89F [32C] when we left Endless Caverns; it was now 100F [38C] — making today the 36th day of 90F or better temps so far this summer (and we’re not even in August yet). Keeping fingers crossed that the heat wave breaks before we all melt into the pavement.

Putting the Phaeton to bed, we high-tailed it home. By 2:30p we were hard at work on chores around our “house without wheels.”

Housekeeping at Endless Caverns

Saturday, 17 July 2010

We don’t know the meaning of sleeping in; not even on vacation. I was up by 6:00a; Mui even earlier. Taking advantage of the pleasant temperature, we went for a quick walk to stretch our legs and check out some of the resort amenities. The pool looked inviting and we made a mental note to return later in the day.

A multi-purpose building with showers and restrooms, and …

… a Rec Center set up to celebrate all things NASCAR.

Looks inviting; but we have chores awaiting our attention.

On the way back, we noticed that some of our distant neighbors were starting to stir; having coffee and reading newspapers in the shade provided by the tree canopy. Not in our plans for the day, I’m afraid. With a slew of chores awaiting us, we returned to the Phaeton, made quick work of breakfast, and set about making the coach spic-and-span clean.

Mui demonstrates the proper use of a bucket and squeegee brush.

Just so you don’t think we goofed off, I even have proof of our hardworking selves doing chores inside …

The hot, humid day was perfect for working inside the Phaeton as we were not in the least tempted to be outside. The day started out with plenty of sunshine, which filtered down to us through the canopy of the trees. About 11:30a, the heavens opened up in a deluge, and I do mean a deluge. The downpour was short in duration, but strong enough to give the Phaeton a good exterior wash.

It’s raining; it’s pouring …
but the old man is not snoring; he’s working.

The deluge is thick; almost like having privacy sheers.

It took us about 10 hours, with just a short break for lunch, to complete our chores — wiping down the interior of cabinets and drawers; dusting and polishing the counters and the cabinet doors; putting away pots and pans and whatnot; vacuuming the floors and Swiffering the tiles. By then, the sun was out and the skies were blue once again. Perfect timing for a well-earned break at the pool. The humidity was thick after the rain, and it was still hot, hot, hot, but the cool water was refreshing.

A glass of wine to relax; a simple pasta dinner. We even had a guest drop by …

Too bad barking dogs scared off our dinner guest.

After dinner, while Mui browsed the available TV channels for something to watch. I checked out the camp’s claim of being “Internet friendly.” The signal turned out to be pretty good. Certainly the speed would not have allowed streaming video, but it was fine to check email. I even managed to post a couple of blog entries.

Tomorrow’s our day for fun … we’re going to go check out the caverns for which this RV resort is named.

Next Up … Underground at Endless Caverns

Weekend at Endless Caverns

Friday, 16 July 2010

The Phaeton was cleaned inside and out prior to finalizing the purchase in May.  It certainly looked great when we picked it up in Oregon.  But a cross-country trip takes a toll on any vehicle, and the coach was not immune.  Wanting to give our “condo on wheels” a once over before we start settling into it, we’re hanging out at Endless Caverns RV Resort this weekend to take care of chores and have a bit of camping fun too.

It was capital letters HOT, HOT, HOT when we left the house around 2:15p.  The temperature gauge was reading 105F [41C] by the time we arrived at the storage lot.  There was no way we were going to be able to pull right out and get on the road.  Poor Phaeton had been baking in the sun for days.  So, we cranked up the generator, turned on the A/C to cool it down some, and used the time to offload stuff from the CR-V into the basement of the coach.  By 3:15p, we were on I-66, heading west to the junction with I-81S.  It was still hot inside the coach, but it was bearable.

The 88-mile [141 km] drive to our destination near New Market, Virginia was an easy one.  We made just one stop along the way and that was to top-off the diesel that we’d used on the last leg of our cross-country trip.  (Love’s Travel Stop — $2.80/gallon with a $.05 cash discount.)

Mount Jackson’s “Basket of Apples” Water Tower is a well-known landmark on I-81.

By 5:30p,  we were checked in at the resort office.  A few minutes later, our golf-cart escort was guiding Mui as he backed into site A24.

The Endless Caverns Gift Shop is also the check-in office for the RV resort.

There’s no map; we follow an escort to our assigned site.

Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, the Phaeton is settled in for the weekend.

This is a new RV resort (144 sites; $51.99/night for a full hook-up), located in a heavily wooded area.  It is still growing, with both new amenities and additional sites in the works.  If there’s any construction going on at present, it certainly isn’t evident to us.

We’d chosen a back-in site so Mui could practice maneuvering.  As it turns out, this decision worked in our favor in regards to privacy as well.  All of the pull-through sites down the hill from us are occupied.  The perimeter back-in sites, on the other hand, are mostly unoccupied this weekend.  Our nearest neighbors are four campsites away to the left; five campsites away to the right.  That’s a lot of privacy when you consider that the sites are not only wide, but they are terraced and well-spaced out as well (Mui’s guesstimate is about 20 feet [6 m] separation on either side).  In essence, it’s like we’re all alone in the middle of the forest, except that we have electricity, water, and sewer.  Life’s good!

View of the campground from the bedroom window.
(Straight down from us are empty sites with our closest neighbor
in the distance; the pull-through sites are on the left)

You can’t see the pull-through sites when you look out the windshield,
unless you go to the very front and look right.

After settling in, we went for a slow stroll around the campsites; with the temp reading a humid 97F [36C] anything more strenuous was out of the question.  We like this place and wouldn’t mind coming back in the fall or spring.  The weather then should be more conducive to outdoor activities.  And perhaps the teeny-tiny, gnat-like flies won’t be in evidence then either.  The flies don’t bite, but they are a pain nonetheless, because they swarm as soon as you sit down or otherwise come to a standstill.

We didn’t want our lentil and rice dinner garnished with gnats, so we had dinner inside the coach.  Afterwards, Mui tested the satellite without success.  The antenna did get reception from local channels, and though it was grainy, it was sufficient for Mui to get his evening news fix.

With our evening chores taken care of, we popped in a DVD to watch a movie, but it failed to hold our interest.  We could have gone down to the Rec Center for a NASCAR “tailgate experience away from the track,” but we’re not fans.  Instead, I switched to blogging, which is always fun for me; Mui opted to read for a bit.  A quiet way to bring our day to a close.

All we can see of the sunset is just a glimpse of orange skies through the canopy.

Tomorrow we have chores to do, so perhaps it’s just as well that the forecast is for high temps and thunderstorms.  We won’t be tempted to go play outside.

Next Up … Housekeeping at Endless Caverns