Reminder: A quarter from 1964 ('junk silver' which contained real silver) is now worth $5.39. A dumb coin from 1964 is showing you that inflation took 21x your money over 60 years. If you'd worked hard and saved a quarter in 1964 today you'd need 21 more to have the same value. At the same time, your government (BLS Inflation Calculator) says they only took $2.55 from you--a mere 10x?!? I will believe a stupid coin over ANY government statistic. Regardless, they are stealing your life force. Inflation is like a frog being slowly boiled alive in a pot of ever-warming water. "If you work for money that another man can print, you are a slave to the man who prints the money." – Jack Mallers If only there were a way to store your life force's value in an asset that some government cannot print more of out of thin air?!? Hmm 🤔🤔🤔

Congaree National Park (South Carolina) Our trip to South Carolina was to check Congaree National Park off our national park list. It is a small national park but the spiders didn't get that memo (hhuuuugggeeee). I was glad to have Emmaline with us because I'm an old fart and left my readers in the car so I couldn't read the self-guided tour brochure!

Charleston, SC - Plantation Tours We toured 4 different plantations while in Charleston, SC. Each was very different. Middleton Place was my favorite property. It was immaculate. Deano's got new yard goals! Magnolia had a more natural vibe. Boone Hall had the best driveway and felt like a movie set. My favorite tour in the entire city of Charleston was at McLeod Plantation. It was a more historical tour and the content was totally unexpected. I learned more on that tour than any other in town.

Charleston, SC - Historic House Tours While in Charleston, we toured several historic homes. The entire city is covered with houses that are 200+ years old. We toured one restored home, one plantation home, and one preserved home (i.e., unrestored). Each was beautiful in different ways, and hearing the history of each was very interesting. As the tours unfolded, I realized how 'unfancy' I was.

Charleston, SC - Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie Double Forts! While in Charleston, SC we visited Fort Sumter NM & Fort Moultrie NM. We started the morning off with a short boat ride over to Fort Sumter where we helped raise the Old Red, White, and Blue over the fort where the Civil War began. We headed over to Sullivan's Island for a quick lunch and our second fort of the day Fort Moultrie. I almost talked myself out of doing it and I'm glad I didn't. This was the best fort exhibit I've ever been to. They have different areas set up as it appeared through hundreds of years of military history. It was fascinating. I might have reverted to my childhood and had a GI Joe battle inside this fort! Maybe!

Sightseeing In Charleston, South Carolina We did a lot in Charleston, South Carolina. Our initial sightseeing was to get a lay of the land. Cobblestone streets, good food, historical houses, seawalls, waterfront parks, fountains, city markets, historical tourist attractions, Civil War submarines, and haunted carriage rides. I definitely caught a ghost on film!

Mammoth Cave NP - Gothic Avenue Tour Gothic Avenue was our final tour at Mammoth Cave NP. Seeing all the candle smoke writing on the cave ceilings (from over a hundred years ago) was very interesting. We'd planned to hit another cave system while in the area but heavy rains closed that one down. So, we finished up our final tour at Mammoth Cave and headed home. Mammoth Cave NP = DONE!

Mammoth Cave NP - Grand Avenue Tour The Grand Avenue Tour was our longest tour at Mammoth Cave National Park. It was 4 miles long and took about 4 hours. It was also my favorite tour of our trip. It had it all: slot canyons, tubular passageways, tall canyons, and tunnels sparkled with gypsum. It ended following the Frozen Niagra and Domes and Dripstones tour paths packed with awesome cave things to see!

Mammoth Cave NP - Star Chamber Tour A cave tour with the only source of light being our gas lantern's flame. It was our 3rd tour of the day but it was the most unique. We entered the cave at dusk with about 10 lanterns. So we experienced the cave just like they did a hundred years ago by candlelight! Then the guides took all the lanterns (with the little light they had) and left us alone in the Star Chamber in complete darkness for about 4 minutes. [wets pants a little bit]

Winter Mowing (DeanoFarms: Week 91) I needed to do my winter mow while the wildlife was tucked away for the winter. I'd left a few brush pile messes around the place earlier in the summer that I needed to clean up. So, I cleaned up my messes and finished mowing everything on a nice winter weekend. Winter mowing is certainly not as hot as summer mowing! FTW!

Mammoth Cave NP - River Styx Tour & Historic Tour (Extended) A lot of the River Styx Tour follows the more popular Historic Tour route but it is a very different tour. I liked it much better than the Historic Tour. You get to go to the deepest part of Mammoth Cave (down to the River Styx and Echo Lake). The River Styx tour also was the best tour we went on to understand the geology of the cave system. Our tour guide was great at explaining how the longest cave system on earth was formed. By the time the tour was completed I'd learned enough geology to no longer feel like the entire cave would come crashing down on my head.

Great Onyx Lantern Tour @ Mammoth Cave NP We started our tours at Mammoth Cave NP with the Great Onyx Lantern Tour. This cave system is not part of Mammoth Cave system but is part of the national park. After a short (and pretty wild) bus ride we were assigned lanterns and entered the cave. It was a nice mix of cave geology (different than the Mammoth Cave system) and cave tourism history. Plus no lights just lanterns (with flames)!

Winter Farm Chores (DeanoFarms: Week 89) Tennessee was getting ready to have some icy winter weather roll in. I got out to the farm to get hunkered down in preparation for freezing temperatures. While I was there I did some tree cleanup. I did all this while wearing my grandfather's old insulated coveralls. [wipes tear from eye] Then once the weather hit I had to save Nashville by making sure Nurse Molly was able to make it work.

6 Tours In Mammoth Cave National Park I'd been to Mammoth Cave National Park before. Like many places I've been previously I didn't 'finish it'. It is the completionist in me! So I planned multiple days with 6 tours and 12 miles of underground hiking. After 16 hours of underground tours, I'm marking this National Park done. CHECK!

Planting Trees (DeanoFarms: Week 80) I planted a sapling (oak) and a seed (walnut). We'll see if they make it. If they do they can join alongside their big brothers/sisters for the next 100 years.

NASCAR Cup Race - Nashville Superspeedway It had been over 10 years since we'd been to a NASCAR Cup race. Now that NashVegas has a Cup Race at Nashville Superspeedway it made sense to Get 'Er Done! It was hot! It was also fun as crap! Few things are as entertaining as a NASCAR opening ceremony and the first few laps of a race. We got headsets, picked our drivers, and settled in for an afternoon of racing. My driver was looking good all day and was leading lap 299 of the 300-lap race. But after a rain delay and 5 (FIVE?!?) Green-White Checkers (and 30 extra laps of racing) the race finished after 6 hours with the only guy I didn't want to see win the race winning the race. Boo, Hiss! Regardless, we got our money's worth! Emily and I will now get in our RV and follow the NASCAR Cup Series around the nation! LOL

Disney's Epcot We'd not been to DisneyWorld's Epcot in a long time. I found myself saying "I ain't ever done this before" a lot. Several new rides and a bunch of things that I'd simply never seen/done before. Some of it was because it was new/different. Some were because we weren't chasing kids around. Epcot as an adult with other adults (Emmaline and Zach) is a different experience than with little kiddos! Also, we were jealous of Max/Arden being in France (while we were there) so we spent the majority of our day in Disney/France! C'est la vie!

Silver Springs State Park We visited Emmaline in Orlando and headed to Florida's first tourist attraction, Silver Springs State Park. It is home to the largest artesian spring in the northern hemisphere (Mammoth Springs) and some of the clearest blue water you'll see anywhere. We kayaked first and then took a glass-bottom boat tour. On the glass bottom boat tour, we saw a pretty large alligator laying on an island that we had just kayaked by earlier...and not seen at all. Which was somewhat disturbing. CHOMP!

Touring Bike Build For Bikepacking The bike is built and the shakedown rides are completed (3 of them). I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I modified Emily's old '90s model Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike. It should be a fine starter bike for me to do a few overnight trips. This will help me see if doing bike tours / bikepacking is my thing. It is ready for a Fall '24 ride(s). I think I'm going to do an overnight trip on the Natchez Trace Parkway when the weather cools down a bit for my first overnight trip.

Back To My Hometown (Springfield, TN) Hunting The Bell Witch Somehow my travels led me back to my hometown, Springfield TN, for a long weekend. I decided while I was there I'd do a little Bell Witch hunting. I'd watch movies and read books to learn about her evil ways. Then I'd go to Adams, TN to visit some sites. I was going to find her! I had plans to look for her while floating down the Red River and in the Bell Witch Cave. She cursed my efforts, however, and brought terrible weather. So, all my plans were dashed/shut down. Nice move Bell Witch...I'll get you next time! You haven't heard the last from me!