Cavernous capades

[L Roebuck]

Cavernous ’capades
Speleology convention brings love of caving to Columbia County.
By TONY BRITT

Caving is a sport where dedicated members travel to remote locations and have the opportunity to set foot on sites where less than a dozen people have ever been.

Many cavers have no problem recognizing people just by the sounds of their voices or the movements of their body.

On Monday, vehicles with license plates from Georgia, Ohio, Virginia, Texas and other states filled two Lake City Community College parking lots. Several of the cars had bumper stickers with silhouettes of bats. Other cars had messages singing the praises of spelunking and some of the cars even had vanity plates with the words “CAVERNS” and “CAVES.”

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[Azurerana]

Cavernous Capades...well, here goes:

21 hours to do an 18 hour trip due to road construction in Nashville and Atlanta.
Fire ants in the convention campground, which ATE through our tent, stung me about 25 times, 5 of which got infected.
3 days solid of rain. Feet were wet constantly from Tues to Thurs. Water in the tent, leaking in when it was driven from below. Probably had 5 inches of rain, and this was the week before Faye.
Winds 1 Canopy 0. Brand new canopy (first trip on the road) which snapped in estimated 35-40 mph winds. Mfgr is replacing plastic part, so it's not a loss.
Husband stepped down from CCMS treasurer. New treasurer Sandy Cowan.
Husband wanted to see what sorts of frogs were calling after the photo salon. Wedding ring went sailing. Picked up by frog named Gollum, who took it into the pond. Wrestled Gollum with a metal detector the next day, and retrieved ring 15 hours later.
Car entirely loaded with camping gear Friday morning (when we found the ant holes in the tent floor) driving to the college when the serpentine belt snapped. $70 car repair in a strange city just to get home.

Florida cavers were very hospitable, and asked a half dozen times by FL natives,"Whatever are you doing in Lake City in the summer?"

Never going camping in Florida again, though I would still like to see the Gulf Coast.

[L Roebuck]

So you are saying the NSS Convention was an adventure, eah? Sorry to hear hubby stepped down as CCMS treasurer --he was a good volunteer!

[Azurerana]

Aug 25, 2008 10:09:14 GMT -5 L Roebuck said:

So you are saying the NSS Convention was an adventure, eah? Sorry to hear hubby stepped down as CCMS treasurer --he was a good volunteer!

I'll tell him that. We're both burned out with wrestling with bureaucracy and certain personalities. I'm secretary for another year, but that's a non-job...4 things to do a year. Membership is down, largely due to lack of newsletter, we think, though irrelevancy contributes, plus the fact that efforts to differentiate the section from the Division continue to be quashed. There were only 3 non-board section members at the meeting, and 3 board members were elected in absentia. (Only Jut Wynne asked to be retained, so Brian is off, too. )

[Brian Roebuck]

Glad y'all survived. We considered going but had too many obligations this year. Anyhow I am no longer a director of an organization that I am still unsure has a real purpose. So much for me trying to wake a few people up last year. No matter - I'll still do what I can for caving, conservation, and the NSS.

Free at last......

[L Roebuck]

CCMS used to have a "hell of a great newsletter"!

Actually it would very beneficial for the Section to be differentiate from the Division -- or at the very least the Section should develop its own identity and not remain lurking in the shadow of the Division.

Ummmm...but as you know identity theft is rampant these days. ;D