Cave Explorer
Lauren and I just got into Bloomington, Indiana. Here we are staying with local celebrity/badass: Sarah (via warmshowers).
We’re already enjoying being in the official mid-west:
- People are friendly and some even talk to us.
- People seem a little smarter.
- There even seems to be is a little bit less racism and meth usage.
We spent 2 days in Louisville (pronounced “lol-ville”), KY with Forrest and Beth also via Warmshowers. They took good care of us and made us tasty food and took us on a few graveyard tours. We spent a few hours in a massive cemetary trying to find the grave of Colonel Sanders. Beyond the dead people Louisville seems like a pretty rockin’ town with a lot to do and see.
Yesterday was Laurens 27th birthday. The festivities consisted of pedaling out of Louisville (and out of the south!), filling ourselves to the brim with Chinese food, acquiring some some cheap wine and riding out into the night. It started getting dark and raining but thankfully, we found a convenient hole in the side of a mountain to seek refuge in…
The hole was actually the entrance to some sort of vast old limestone mine/quarry operation. Inside there was a lot of graffiti, trash and rubble. Based on some of the trash my guess is the place had been vacant since the late 1960′s. Lauren was not too keen spending the night in such a place but the forecast called for lots of heavy rain and I love me a creep out. I over-rode her birthday authority and we camped inside.
(Keep in mind that these pictures are very long exposures lit with my headlamp…it was really, really dark in there. And I also failed to capture the depth and creepiness of the place.)
It’s hard to explain how friggin’ large this place was. We set up down a side-road about 1/4 mile from the entrance and explored quite a bit further without ever finding any end. There was an element of danger as it seemed like a fairly popular place for people to do crime/drugs/fornicate/hide out/drink/party/litter/spray paint/murder and there was a slow but steady rain of small to medium rocks falling from the ceiling…..
We hung out in the tent (at Laurens request) and drank our booze. Sometime in the night I managed to drop and break my (borrowed) camera on a rock. Cute little beady-eyed mice munched holes in our food during the night. (interestingly they only ate the healthy and organic food we had.) I appeased the mice with a significant heap of trail mix and mung beans. They left our stuff alone after that.
We slept complete darkness. There were occasional sounds…distant cars and trains, rain, water dripping on things, rocks falling, bats screeching, footsteps?!…no no no it’s not footsteps….is it footsteps!?
Lauren didn’t get too much sleep, instead she lied awake and cried in terror most of the night.
Serial killer convention tonight?
Goth colony?
Total cave in?
Cave beast?
???????!
The brain quickly begins to hallucinate and freak out in general without any sensory input and there wasn’t too much sensory input in the ole cave.
“Darkness imprisoning me. All that I see. Absolute horror.” -Lauren
Overall, Lauren reported the 2nd worst birthday ever.
I thought it was pretty cool in there and will return if ever I need a place to hide.
Holy guacamole. We’re only like 200 miles from Chicago!?!?
-J
It’s okay lar…hump the fear into submission. while singing happy birthday to yourself.
http://www.bestgore.com/road-accidents/skull-splatter-picture-unlucky-bik-rider/
dude.
seriously i can’t stop thinking about this…fuuuug.
Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! It just sounds so wonderful : )
i hear that beth and forrest are complete assholes. is this true?
yes. Complete and total assholes.
it was gollum…
What’s up with all the ghost Lauren’s inside of that cave?
g-g-g-g-host!
that’s not how I remember it going down…
top notch on the narlie camping spot, sounds freaky. y’all best slowz it down or your trip will be over already and whatnot, and we cant have any of that.
I bet that cave is full of deranged clowns that only come out at night. Carrying jars overflowing with angry spiders.
Iyi ki dogdun Lauren!
Limestone is so much more fun when you’re above the rock, maybe next year you’ll be doing an awesome ascent! Too bad you opted for Chicago and dumped the NY idea. Hope you have a good time in the windy city.
sorry, kerem. nyc costs too much and it’s way over there!
Fuck Chicago, stay in the cave!
come to chicago fucker!
People seem a little smarter.
There even seems to be is a little bit less racism and meth usage.
there is a lot of meth usage in the cave
Haha
happy birthday, lauren!!! ever heard of the band “i love you but i’ve chosen darkness”? that’s jared.
lol
Happy birthday Lauren, What, no cave spiderz?
giant spiders
as long as there’s no ticks
lol keep me away from new england and the ticks!