Gilligan wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...

Joe wrote:
katy wrote:
Gilligan wrote:
"Charlie Morgan" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 7 Dec 2006 18:03:25 -0700, "Mike Manners"

wrote:

I'm not sure how I helped him out. I really have no idea what "MS
Keene
State"
has to do with anything.

CWM


A red herring. You have been quite helpful, but your secret is safe
with me!
I promise to smash the decoder ring if the commies ever kick down the
door.

Tell me about the hot tub!

Now get back to exposing stupidity where ever it exists! (and don't
say
you've been doing it already in this thread).



I know all about the hot tub and that's all I'm saying...

who don't now. Sorry Charlie..you blew your cover.

Joe

Ran into "Dead air" in a cave in Texas. It felt very strange and the
carbide got dim. We got out in a hurry.
Took a bunch of cavers from Atlanta into South Climax Cave in S. GA, we
all got histo.
Used ANFO in the mid80s in the entrance to a cave in S. Ga, filled a
paint can with it with a cap, buried it 4' deep in a mud plug, go far
away. It loosened the mud but no more passage.
Got malaria during a cave trip to Belize.
My wife burned all the skin off her hands during a rapelling accident
in TX, she fell 70' before I caught her by putting my weight on the end
of the rope. I decided that if she would do that sort of thing I'd
marry her and proposed the next day.
My days of "real" caving are over but my 10 yr old daughter asks every
night when we are going caving again. She has been on 4 trips to
"real" caves and loved it.


That's really neat. I've done very little caving but a fair amount of
alpinism. If you get the kids started at an early age they learn to love it
and tend not to get all the adult anxieties.

I did a lot of rock climbing and some mountaineering in the late 70s
and early 80s but soon it got to be fashionable and people started to
get really flashy gear. My old goldline wasn't cool. I took up caving
because it could never become fashionable (and due the obsession with
discovery). Cavers are always covered with mud and grunge so there is
no way to get good ad photos of cavers so gear couldnt get cool. We
used old seatbelt webbing to make our own harnessess, made our own
prusiks and most other climbing gear. My only concession to store
bought gear was a rack from Bob and Bob. Used old carbide lamps. For
boots we bought surplus jungle boots cuz in our grungy caves they would
last about a year only. The best packs were (and still are) surplus
army gas mask bags modified with fastek closures. We'd pool our money
to buy rope. Once bought 1500' of rope to do Golundrinas, had to wash
it to get the waxy stuff offa it (it'd be "too fast" otherwise) and you
shoulda seen the looks at the laundramat.
I'd re-use my "cave clothes" but would have to spread it all out in the
parking lot and hose it down with a huge red stain of mud running down
the street, people would just go by and stare and wonder. My friend
Frank would get his cave clothes by raiding dumpsters behind frat
houses and would show up at the cave in loose disco outfits. After a
trip he'd dump them in a moldering pile outside that was 3' high.