Memnison Journal

BBC article about a cave full of skeletons from the Bronze Age in Germany, and how they matched the DNA to a couple of locals…3000 years down the line.

At various times, I get into research projects; some simmer on for decades in various forms, and some break off and pick up speed because I happen to run into something that really fuels the fire, so to speak.

My library here is largely one that I use for reference. I have a huge amount of material that isn’t in book form, and I’m going through that all the time and hacking away at it to be able to organize and marshal the stuff. At present, the idea is to digitize everything, and use various management utilities to be able to find and figure out what’s what.

Here’s a *short* list of the topics I’m still digging for:

Being unable to get around very well is a PITA all over the place, and especially on vacation. Wheelchairs (unpowered) are fine for travel on flat surfaces, but not up and down hills of any sort. I was lucky because the folks at Kentucky Down Under helped out with their own golf carts and whatnot to get me in and out of bad situations, but Susan was whipped trying to push me around in the wheelchair. Walkers also don’t do well on inclines.

We do, however, now have a handicapped placard on the van/SUV that can be moved around and used, so long as I’m in the car.  Let’s just say that Kentucky isn’t very handicapped-oriented, and parking places were very limited.

The Mammoth Cave area is loaded with tons and tons of tourist traps that don’t necessarily have a thing to do with caves…and they all look relatively cheesy to me, but I’m a horrible critic of such places.  Tons of junk shops.  Goofy / miniature golf under all sorts of names.  A knife store with a $1 special which must have been made of tinfoil.

And a fascination on the Amish, by all that’s holy.  Big signs saying NORTHERN AMISH FURNITURE - there’s a separatist Southern Amish group I don’t know about that chews tobacco?  And - Amish Mattresses - using latex and memory foam??

I did find a nice used book store in Horse Cave…the kids wanted to check it out after lunch.  There was a sign on the front door: ALL UNATTENDED CHILDREN WILL BE GIVEN A MOCHA LATTE AND A PUPPY.  The Merediths saw that, backed off, brought me over, and then asked about the mocha (a favorite of Meredith Grace’s) and the puppy.  The guy behind the counter, much amused, said the machine was broken and the puppy already went home.

As usual, the greatest complication in getting the twins together is that we live so far apart - and that the parents are absolutely necessary to be present in the process. Since the kids are eight, and VERY attached to their families, especially their moms, the trick is to get twin A to place B without a lot of expense or tricky negotiations of schedule. In our case, our leave time has been eaten alive by my medical misadventures, and in the other family’s case, their jobs can sometimes very strictly circumscribe their available time.

For example, if we schedule a visit, you have to make it time-worthwhile for everyone. The kids have to have enough time to play with each other, and get months of miss-you out of their systems. And frankly, if you have to pay for the expense of two or three family members going at the same time, at about $250 per person for airfare, the idea becomes to get the most bang for your buck that you can get, time-wise. So we’re always talking about a Wednesday or Thursday to Sunday visit (Mondays as well, sometimes, but that’s a bad day for the other family).

And if Meredith Ellen comes up here (or we meet in the middle), you have to add in Ally as well to the transport and other costs as a given. She’s five, and VERY close to her folks, and she goes if Meredith Ellen goes.

Mike (the other dad) has a screamingly full schedule, and rarely travels on these trips. I do more often, but I’ve missed several Alabama trips due to illness.

This time, the families decided on a in-between drive-to site - the Mammoth Cave area in Kentucky - at the Jellystone Campground there. We selected a cabin - a futon, bunk beds, a sleeping loft, and a double bed in a side room, with a kitchenette and a heater (a big red electrical box that plugged into the wall and had a thermostat on it - worked reasonably well). We also rented a golf cart for in-site transport - something that could second as a motorized wheelchair for me if needed.

The plan was to leave after my wound doctor on Wednesday and drive down, and then drive back on Easter Sunday. The other family got there early, and sat around for a while before we got there on Wednesday around 7 pm. (There had been quite of bit of flooding in the Ohio River valley, but we didn’t get slowed down by it.)

The major complication on the trip was that Going Camping When It’s Still Cold Out Can Turn You Into A Icicle. Thursday wasn’t much of a problem, because the kids just wanted to roam around and play, and the cold didn’t hang around in the morning. Friday was nicer still, and the kids had a great time at Kentucky Down Under. But Saturday was freezing, oppressively wet and cold and everyone hated it - and that was when the campground had a ton of activities, mostly outdoors, for the kids for Easter.

Frankly, I was amazed at the number of people out camping that early in the year. I haven’t been anything resembling camping for years and years - and I have a love-hate relationship with camping. I hate the bugs. I hate oppressively bad weather that you can’t escape. I love the fresh air, especially with a slight nip in it in the morning. I love a fire, but I’m not so crazy about tons of woodsmoke. (My CPAP and my clothing reek of smoke from the damn fire.) I love the open clear skies full of stars. I hate being in a situation where I’m trying to sleep on something massively uncomfortable and unpadded. I love a good place to sit with a hot cup of something and enjoy the peace of the outdoors.

From that angle, the cabin we had was a good compromise. The two biggest drawbacks about it were that there were no places to store things, really, and that the fridge in the thing was tiny, so having enough food around at any time for six people (three adults and three kids) got to be a problem. Otherwise, the kids found the location and the cabin a lot of fun, and used the sleeping loft as Kid Central, though as with any set of kids, Stuff Can Spread Out To Wherever.

Bug problems were nonexistent - too cold.

I under packed - didn’t bring along a proper coat, and tried to make up for it with double layering sweaters. The wood smoke from the fire pit outside (which we used every night - the junior pyromaniacs adored cooking with charcoal on the outside grill and setting fires in the pit) tended to stink up your outer clothes, and since the only place for me to really sit around the fire was by pulling up the tail of the golf cart to the fire, I ended up getting the smoke blowing into my face as it swept down the hill and down past the fire.

It was interesting seeing people doing some kind of high tech while they were there - the campground had a limp sort of WiFi available, and we saw this one guy sitting outside his trailer, mummied up in a sleeping bag and plunking away at a laptop. Or the portable satellite dish stand outside another trailer.

The campground was reasonably well maintained and staffed, and we’d recommend it highly to anyone. From what we could tell, it had a seriously loyal repeat clientèle that would come back for special weekends season after season, and were VERY busy in the high summer season. It advertised itself as a very family-friendly place, and we would certainly agree. Lots of recreational stuff.

The kids liked the golf cart for zipping around on errands in the resort, up hills and down; Meredith Ellen’s mom was a favorite driver for the kids (a little more exciting, they said) and I only got to drive the thing once - the others did most of the errands with the kids.

Another element of the campgrounds that the kids loved was that - well, you got to meet your neighbors. There was another family next door from the Cleveland area - mom, her boyfriend (with a strong North Country accent that I thought was Lancashire, turned out to be Newcastle) and two girls a bit older than the girls. They ended up coming over to our fire on Friday night, and the girls went over to their on Saturday night. Chatter-chatter. Many marshmallows were ignited and melted.

…but not Marmots.   VANISHING POINT for your inspection.

Does anyone out there have any good leads on the theories on Kennebec Man and the concept of pre-1000 AD European(ish) people migrating to North America?  Yes, I’m fully aware that it’s a wide matter of controversy.  Mormon theories not included.
Similarly, is there anyone out there who can give me a lead on the stability of Karst formations in, say, the lower midwest US?  (We’ll say Illinois, Indiana or Ohio south of I-70 / US 40.)