Busy Day

We had a busy day today. We started out this morning to go to Springfield to see Fantastic Caverns. Ed loves caverns so when we found out that this one is the only one in the United States that you ride through, we had to see it. This cave was found in 1862 by a farmer and his dog. Actually, the dog chased a raccoon into the cave. It wasn't until five years later that the first exploration took place: 12 women from Springfield, answering a newspaper ad seeking explorers, ventured into the cave. Their names remain on a cave wall today.



This is what the opening to the cave looked like when the farmer first found the opening.

We rode through the cavern in a trailer. It was really nice not to have to walk but it was even better to have someone telling you about the cavern along the way.

During prohibition, they had a speakeasy in the cave, and during the 1960's they had concerts in the cave. People like Buck Owens, the Springfield Concert Band and others used to play on the stage near the entrance to the cave.

We finished the tour of the cave and then it was on to Lambert's Cafe 'Home of the Throwed Rolls'. We got there at around 2:30 and we thought we would just get lunch. The place was packed and we waited an hour to be seated. But it was nice sitting outside while we waited. We had what we are now referring to as 'dunch', a combination lunch and dinner. Ed and I both got the chopped burger. This is what it looked like. It was really a lot and smothered with onions, peppers in gravy!!!



Needless to say, we now have enough for dinner tomorrow!! On top of all of this, they come around with extras like fried Okra, fried potatoes, and black eyed peas.
But the best is the rolls...The cart is full of hot rolls and you hold up your hands and he throws them to you!












It was a fun and busy day!! We have signed up to see some shows while we are here. I'll let you know what we see as we go!