Greetings of the season! Wanted to let you know that we arrived back in Mexico safely and without any problems whatsoever. We had a super trip and despite our nervousness of the unknowns with the border crossing, car importation, driving in Mexico (all signs in Spanish, of course!) etc. everything went very smoothly. Good weather, easy driving and some time for a little exploring.

We took your recommendation and stopped at Mammoth Caves National Park in KY and had a blast crawling around in the caves with another couple and two guides for nearly six hours. The other couple was half our age and probably only half as sore as we were the next day! We hadn’t decided which tour of the caves we might take or how long we would spend, but when we got there we found they needed two more people in order to go on the Wild Cave Tour. A young couple on their honeymoon were waiting anxiously to see if they would be able to go on the tour - I believe they had driven from TN specifically for this adventure. Usually there isn’t any problem having enough people, but I guess early Dec. is a slow time. In the summer one must make reservations months in advance, as they only allow a maximum of 14 people to go.

We had so much fun, it was challenging as well, squeezing through a 9” hole, crawling on our bellies for 120’ (seemed like 10X that!) through an area that was only as high as our bodies…not for the claustrophobic, that’s for sure! I didn’t care for it at all - To avoid more belly crawling, I sang “Amazing Grace” in an area of the caves called Cathedral Dome. It had awesome acoustics! We were up to 300’ below ground for most of the day, in areas most people never get to explore; I believe we covered approx. 5 miles.

The other couple has invited us to look them up if we ever want to explore in TN!! They took a few photos and emailed them to us. Tom is in the Army and had just returned from Iraq, his wife, Heather, is an Adventure Tour Guide. We were in good company! We had to spend another night in Cave City as we were totally exhausted and needed hot baths! While I was crawling around, it occurred to me that my hips and other areas that had recently been messaged and otherwise manipulated, might have rather gone for a hike above the earth instead! Our day was right up there with our trip into the Grand Canyon for natural wonders and stuff not everyone experiences.

Keith and Leigh in Dave’s Lost Sea

The next morning we drove to Memphis for some Blues at BB King’s place, the Civil Rights Museum (quite moving) and to Graceland to learn more about Elvis than we ever needed to know! Graceland was decorated for the Christmas holiday just as it used to be when Elvis lived there. It was a step back in time. I knew he died young and all, but I was surprised to learn he died when he was my age… that seems quite young to me! We spent a lovely afternoon in San Antonio walking around the Riverwalk and seeing the Alamo. We then spontaneously saw “Polar Express” in 3-D at an IMAX theater. What a super 3-D movie! It was really something…

We were nine days on the road with three for play and considering we hadn’t done much advance planning, it was a really fun trip.