Thunder over Louisville and Mammoth Caves

In short: the air show and fireworks at Louisville, KY and Mammoth caves

Thunder over Louisville-Airshow

Coaxed by AP, S in turn called me for a trip to Louisville for 'an airshow' and fireworks. We arrived slightly later than the 3.3o pm start for the event, which started off with propeller planes flying in formation, followed by a helicopter doing tight manoeuvres: It was much like how a child would swing a toy helicopter in his own hands: turning left, right, upside down.

The entire air display was over the Ohio river, and we were on the Louisville side with the other bank being Indiana. The various aircraft demonstrated at approximately 20 min intervals, leaving some time to kill in between.

These were followed by fighter planes: F16s, F22s, C130 Hercules, B52 bombers. Undoubtedly, the F-series were the star of the show: they would fly past at just sub-sonic speeds, with thunderous boom unmistakably attributable to a fighter plane. That roar sets your heart racing and adrenaline running. Especially the F22, which pushed the limits of how well one could control a plane. It would fly past at about 650mph and then suddenly rise, at a near 90 degree angle. Now the plane made a vertical climb - and then made a complete circle going upside down.

Also impressive was an aerobatic display in a single engine propeller plane, which mimicked losing control, spiralling and pulling up just short of hitting the bridges.

Unlike my wishes, none of the planes flew under the bridges, I guess they would have been too close to the water.

An Osprey aircraft, one which has two propeller engines, but can swivel its propellers from parallel to the wing to perpendicular and become a sort of helicopter and hover was impressive. Two Chinook or Sea Hawk transport helicopters hovered just above the water surface, showing skills of the pilot.

C130 Hercules and B52 bombers are humongous planes, which merely did a fly past yet stunned with their sheer volume. There was also a demo by a power boat, much like the ones used in racing, which was in use by the Navy.

Full list of planes; better closeup shots of the planes.

Thunder over Louisville-Fireworks

Spectacular would be an understatement. Two separate barges, along with a bridge, were used to launch the fireworks. Half an hour of lights - different colours, huge bangs, the largest area of fireworks - and, this was only on one of the barges. The other barge was afloat on another side of the bridge and was in near sync with the one closest to us.

The Trip

S, R, the other S and myself were the originally planned persons for the trip, but the other S had to drop out, due to illness. Not wanting to send out a last minute call for a replacement, we set out early in the morning with a GPS receiver to boot. I used the time between when I declared myself ready and when S said he was to pack some grapes and strawberries which would undoubtedly go rotten over the weekend(the strawberries have). Songs provided by V kept us from listening to the radio. Breakfast, we planned at Columbus, where we chanced upon a Ohio Department of Taxation building, but alas, the Taco Bell right next to it was closed(around 9 am). So after a couple or exits we made ourselves comfortable at Waffle House with a sufficient breakfast.

Downtown Columbus was nice, with the highway providing a good high ground to have a look at buildings. After the long drive was downtown Cincinnati, which was even more splendid, with a stadium and bridge to another state adding to the view.

What was so different in Kentucky? Not much... apart from the traffic light-boxes being all black(yellow in Ohio) and the speed limit being slightly relaxed.

Following instructions provided by AP, we headed to Shalimar(North Indian restaurant) via high-traffic highways. This restaurant, for a very reasonable $8-$9 had ~15 dishes, which was more than we had even imagined. Add gulab jamun and halwa and ice-cream, well, no comment. After roaming around a near by store, we headed to the river front. The instructed by-lane was closed, so we headed out and parked at 8th Street parking space(Public Parking) for $20(had to swallow this cost as entry fees to the airshow). Policewomen guided us to a nice spot where we could get a good sight of the river and the bridge(which was actually a small area on the lower level of the Galt hotel). It was already well occupied with many bringing folding chairs and SLRs. I noticed an elderly gentleman wearing an Asphalt-Association cap dozing on and off, woken by the loud roar of the flyby aircraft engines.

Seating was nonexistant, though any open space closer to the edge of the river(no beach) was quickly being taken up. S and R moved there, while I tried sitting on the ledge and wait for the next plane.

Towards the evening we alternated between the top level and the river front, but as 9pm approached we huddled together in the increasingly crowded space, waiting for the fireworks, which as I mentioned was the most spectacular I have ever seen.

To be honest, capturing planes on either video or still images is easier said than done. With a simple P&S given the farther object, one has to zoom in a lot; then catching the plane as it comes across is highly demanding. For video, a plane moves in a 2D plane with reference to the camera. On this cloudy day, as the planes climbed, squinting and capturing the tiny speck by straining you neck was a happy challenge: lose it, feel sad; bring it into the frame again, feel satisfied. As with all electronics today, memory and battery power were severely restricting. I had to go for normal quality for the fireworks, but then the battery finally sputtered out towards the end. And, a tripod or a placing on a flat surface is a must for fireworks.

Around 10 pm after half an hour of colour in the sky, we had to head back to our car. That was when we realised the multitude of people gathered. An estimated 700000 people witnessed the fireworks, I would say we were in a crowd of about 100000. R and S mentioned a certain 4th street, so we headed there realising getting our car out would take a while. Walking across barricaded streets, 4th street presented itself in the form of a brightly lit guitar along with the '4th street'. There was a nightclub with attractive persons outside, obviously baiting passersby(cough cough), a couple of pubs, a mall since closed and then the 4th street experience came to an end. Unmoving cars on the street pointed clogged traffic, we decided the time we took to our car would provide time for the traffic to ease.

S probably jinxed the trip saying "I want to see more of Kentucky". Well, a lot of diversions, a couple of missed exits, a few incorrect instructions by the GPS reciever, a handful of tough words back and forth and an hour later, we finally made it to AP's house for the night. We had actually crossed the bridge into Indiana tyring to figure out the exits.

AP wasn't surprised it took us this long; we went to have 'dinner' at Taco Bell only to be informed only the drive through was open. So we went back in line, ordered stuff and retired for the night.

What an amazing day.

Mammoth Caves was following CST, probably they are at the western fringe of the time zone, while almost the rest of Kentucky was on EST. So that meant our 8 o'clock alarms-snoozed-to-10 o'clock got us to Mammoth just after 11.30 CST. A debate ensued for the most affordable tours(by time, strain and of course money). It was decided that Historic entrance would be the one, for which tickets cost $12.

Formed naturally by water, the caves are long and tall; we saw only a section of the cave system. Nitrates deposited from bat dung were once mined; it was only later that caves were a tourist spot. Walking along in a temperature controlled closed environment was akin to being in the biggest opera houses: huge empty spaces yet all in stone.

Lit by artificial bulbs switched on at the beginning of the group and switched off at the end(2 rangers accompanied us), there were short opening to step down backwards, narrow passages where you had to lift your hands and walk without hitting the sides, followed by a huge drop, right below, all carved by water. Towards the end there was a circular shaft akin to a massive silo, with water still dripping from the ceiling above.

The cave tour was belittling in the sense that this process started way way before any of us, still continues to take place, with a grandeur that is unsurpassed. I(we) were sad that we couldn't check out all of the cave, for that would take more time, given that home was an additional 1 and half hours away, after the 5 hours from Louisville.

Lunch was at Pizza Hut for S and R, Subway for me(cheese!!). I pay them after a tuna sandwich and they are still waiting for their order to arrive. Looking around the place, there were portraits of a few Confederate high ranking army men, not surprising given that Kentucky was a major flashpoint in the civil war.

Somewhere after this the rain Gods decided it was time to dish out an impromptu 6-hour driving test for S and R. On the highways, at close to 70 mph, the water running off the wheels is instantly vapourised, adding to the misery of the pouring rain and the overworked wipers.

For dinner, it had to be Chipotle, as Mexican or Indian food is the only filling type. We found one in downtown Columbus, also noticing known-in-Akron Alladin's too. A nice bol later it was another one and half hours on the road. The rain Gods were so successful in their meticulousness that neither of us noticed that gas had to be filled soon. It's so uncanny that that is when you hit a stretch of wilderness without a gas station anywhere to be seen. Was quite a distance, though.

And that is when S discovered that is credit card was inoperative because it was scammed. The next day he would tell me that his card had been blocked by the issuer. Ah well, he would say, what hasn't happened to me in this strange land.

Louisville was one hell of a ride.

For anyone planning a trip during Thunder over Louisville, you will have to bother mainly about staying overnight, making plans for Sunday, wherein Mammoth Caves would be a good idea.