[Texascavers] NSS Convention - airports
Has anybody ever flown to Evansville, Indiana before? DFW has direct flights from American Eagle# 3679 and return flight # 3806.Cost $ 324. ( DFW to EVV ) The drive from Evansville to the convention is only about 40 minutes longer than the drive from the nearest airport. The drive avoids the traffic of Louisville, and appears to be a easier route to follow. It also takes you thru the Hoosier National Forest, which I assume is more scenic than the other route - Hwy. 64 thru New Salisbury from Louisville.And you get to avoid Kentucky allowing you to spend the hole trip in Indiana, if you wish. This route comes within minutes of Holiday World and Lincoln State Park. The price out of Houston is about the same as flying to Louisville, but requires the layover in Dallas. I like the idea of landing in a smaller friendlier airport. There should be less hassle ( assuming the layover at DFW isn't a nightmare ). David Locklear - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] NSS Convention - airports
Summery: It's a fine, but small modern airport. Long winded: I have flown in to EVV about 20 times. It's a smallish airport, and if you cherish 737s and enough overhead storage to keep your briefcase and laptop bag from under your feet, the flights can be a little cramped. Another way to look at it... Sometimes ALL the seats are isle seats AND window seats... They DO land 737s and 727s there, but if you don't like small planes, check with the carrier before you buy a ticket. The airport itself is modern, and you don't have to walk forever to get anyplace. Last I was there they had a lighter exchange program. You drop your cigarette lighter off before you go through security, and pick one up when you return from your trip. The snack bar has limited hours. They have rocking chairs overlooking the tarmac (before security). The people in the car rental offices, across from the two baggage carousels, cover for each other, and Hertz (I assume the others too), stay until the last flight comes in. Usually that's about 10:00 PM, but I have had weather delays that put me in at 1:00 AM, and a bleary eyed rental agent gave me my keys. I always felt bad (but grateful) when it turned out they were waiting just for me. You walk to the cars, it's about 100 yards from the airport. I have rented Jeeps and other SUVs at the airport. One thing I have NEVER seen since 9/11, except at the Evansville airport, is they let you park and leave your car right in front of the terminal for 5 minutes, with a practical limit of 15 minutes. It's just enough time to stop and check your bags, so you don't have to lug them 100 yards back to the terminal. Short term parking is close to the terminal, and I belive is free for the first half hour. They do have a guy in a golf cart that will shuttle you to the rental lot, but in all my trips, the timing has never worked out such that I got a ride. I think it's a fine airport, with friendly people. Cheers Rob From Michigan, who mostly flew in from Upstate New York. At 05:57 AM 6/16/2007, David Locklear wrote: Has anybody ever flown to Evansville, Indiana before? - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] NSS Convention - Indiana scenic places
There does not seem to be a lot of travel books about Indiana, at least not at Half-Price Books. Here is a hiking book: http://books.google.com/images/cleardot.gif There is a nice preview of the book at: http://books.google.com Can you guess where in Indiana are these scenic places: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hoosier/images/special_places/hemlock_waterfall.jpg http://www.ecoindiana.net/places/pix/fallcrk2.jpg http://www.ecoindiana.net/places/pix/turkey.jpg http://www.ecoindiana.net/places/pix/dunes.jpg This park below sounds like a nice place to visit: http://www.ecoindiana.net/places/springml.shtml Here is a nice park that is less than 15 miles from the convention if you take the backroads. http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hoosier/docs/history/pioneer_moms.htm David Locklear - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Going to Tucson
Tone, It was great meeting you and thanks for helping survey my cave. It was a fun weekend - I couldn't move for a week.But it was worth it being underground again. Good luck with your ventures in the Sonoran Desert. It is so beautiful. There's Saguao National Monument on both sides of Tucson http://www.nps.gov/sagu . I worked at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Mexico border (1989). http://www.nps.gov/orpi/ That, and the nearby Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/cabeza.html are great photo opps places - especially when the desert is in bloom. I used to have some friends in the Escabrosa Grotto out of Tucson. Maybe that's a good place to start looking for cavers. http://www.escabrosa.org/ Good luck to ya! AM Annmarie Mikelski Coastal WGSD Rescue Referral www.zazzle.com/coastalwgs* www.coastalwgsdrr.org www.cafepress.com/coastalwgs www.cafepress.com/wgsdstore www.cafepress.com/caveformations www.caveformations.com www.cafepress.com/lymegreen Texas Lyme Disease Association www.cafepress.com/txlda - Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when.
[Texascavers] Raumer Stick-Up directions illustration
Published with permission from Raumer. Note I have one of the newest models of the Raumer Stick-Up ordered and will post some step by step pictures of the actual device in use. You will notice that the upper biner on this new model has been replaced with a piece of rope. STICK-UP ARTIFICIAL CLIMBING SYSTEM The STICK-UP artificial climbing system is a method which makes it possible to climb in complete safety both on walls in the open and on cave pit walls, effortlessly and very quickly (average speed 30 m/hour). In order to do this you need an electropneumatic drill with storage battery. The climbing system requires the use of the following items: 1. One STICK-UP superlight alloy bar (provided with a piece of rope 50 cm. long), art. 201; 2. One special stirrup, art. 202; 3. The small ALIEN plate with two holes, art.118; 4. The SPEEDY ROCK hang fix acc.M8C/M8L, art. 123/124. You must comply with the following instructions to climb safely: • There must be at least two people; one carries out the real climb, while the other holds the safety rope (either by means of a GRI-GRI, or of a figure-8 descender, or with another suitable means); Note: It is also possible to climb solo using a Gri-Gri as a safety device, for example. It goes without saying that only people of proven experience and high-level technical skill should do so. Nevertheless we absolutely advise against solo climbs, given the high risk this entails. Those who decide to do so just the same must accept all the responsibility with full awareness of the risks they are running. • You must use a good dynamic rope, CE or/and UIAA approved, as a safety rope and use a static rope for the descents (to recover plates, change climber, replace batteries, etc.); • You must have the complete climb kit which includes: - One STICK-UP bar complete with a special stirrup: in particular, the length of the first step (fig. 6, part A) and of the short stirrup (fig. 6, part B) must be as shown in the figure 6. It is possible to find the right length for your own stature by lengthening or shortening the position of the knots below the two steps. The special stirrup is also provided with a big stirrup (fig. 6, part D) connected to the bottom step of the stirrup and usable in the sequential progression of the STICK-UP method. The STICK-UP bar must be fitted out with 2 parallel alloy karabiners without metal-ring as specified in figure 6. - At least twelve small ALIEN plates (art. 118) with two holes. - A sufficient number of HANG FIX for the planned climb (arts. 123 – 124). - At least twelve alloy karabiners with metal ring (CR = 25 KN min.) to be used for the safety rope. - A static service rope. - A drill with drill-bit and batteries (charged), a hammer with a hexagonal box wrench n. 13 (an ACTION stainless steel hammer. art. 100 is ideal) and the whole kit for a rope climb (with the descender!). STICK-UP CLIMBING METHOD: DIRECTIONS 1. When you have tested the rock with the hammer, make a hole with the drill at a fairly convenient height for fixing the HANG FIX . The STICK-UP bar and stirrup must be positioned as shown in figure 1. 2. Drive in the selected HANG FIX and tighten the nut using the hammer wrench. IMPORTANT NOTE: Before starting the climb you should put the HANG FIX into the hole in the ALIEN plate and position the M8 nut in such a way that you don't have to carry out this operation on the wall. If you prepare at least a dozen ALIEN plates in this way you will save yourself a lot of trouble and gain a lot of time overall. 3. Insert a safety karabiner into the lower hole of the small ALIEN plate. Get the safety rope from your companion and pass it into the safety karabiner, and then close the protection ring. 4. Remove the karabiner of the big stirrup from the safety karabiner and hook it back on the karabiner as soon as you have arranged it. 5. Warn your companion to tension the safety rope and, when you have unhooked from the bar you are suspended from, slipping the piece of rope of the bar off the ventral blocking, climb with one foot on the step of the big stirrup, supporting it and keeping it in equilibrium with one hand on the knot of the big stirrup (see fig. 2). Now that it no longer bears your weight, the bar can be removed easily from its anchorage and repositioned on the ALIEN plate just prepared, inserting the middle karabiner into the top hole. Plaque ALIEN (pictures 2 and 4/A) 6. At this point, climb the stirrup with the three steps, place your feet respectively in the last step of the stirrup and of the short stirrup (figs. 4 and 5), and fasten yourself to the bar running the piece of rope of the bar through the ventral blocking as shown in the figures 4 and a/A. 7. Now repeat the procedure from point 1 (fig.5). NOTE: The safety rope must be fastened to the MAVC (semi-round fastening link of the harness) by means of a figure-8 knot made as shown in figure 4/A. Once you have used up all the small plates, fix the static service
[Texascavers] San Marcos to preserve Spring Lake and Sink Creek :
San Marcos raises nearly $5.1 million to buy Spring Lake site 251 acres will be preserved as parkland By _Molly Bloom_ (mailto:mbl...@statesman.com) AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, June 15, 2007 SAN MARCOS — The City of San Marcos has raised almost all of the $5.1 million it needs to buy 251 acres of environmentally sensitive land once slated to be the site of a hotel and conference center. A $360,000 check from Emmett McCoy, retired chairman and chief executive officer of McCoy's Building Supply Centers, and his wife, Miriam McCoy, on Monday was the most recent contribution to a fundraising campaign to preserve the land on hills above Spring Lake as parkland. About half the land lies over the Edwards Aquifer's recharge zone, and Sink Creek, the uppermost tributary of the San Marcos River, runs through the heavily wooded site. This project will offer a legacy that will last for generations to come, San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz said in a written statement. In 2004, the city and companies of hotelier J.Q. Hammons and landowner Terry Gilmore unveiled plans to build a hotel and conference center on the land. Some residents objected, concerned that runoff from parking lots and rooftops would hurt the aquifer and pollute the lake. The site is also considered habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler, a federally protected endangered species. In response, the location of the hotel and conference center was shifted to a site owned by Gilmore on Interstate 35 at McCarty Lane, about a mile north of the outlet malls. The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit conservation group, agreed to provide interim funding for the purchase of the Spring Lake land from Gilmore while the city raised enough to take ownership. Contributions came from: passage of a 2005 city bond that raised $2 million; $700,000 from a Hays County parks and open space bond; $1 million from the U.S. Department of the Interior; $355,670 from the Meadows Foundation; $400,000 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; $200,000 from the Lower Colorado River Authority; and $100,000 from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. Some of the donations may not be able to be used for land purchases. Also, Gilmore sold the land for $1.1 million less than its appraised value as a donation. We're 95 percent-plus of the way done, said Jeff Francell, director of land protection for the Nature Conservancy. The city expects to raise the money by summer's end, spokeswoman Melissa Millecam said. With advice from Texas State University-San Marcos and the National Park Service, the city plans to preserve the land as undeveloped green space with a few hiking trails. The city and Texas State also plan to offer educational programs and birding activities on the site. _http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/15/15smpark.html_ (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/15/15smpark.html) ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
[Texascavers] digital topo maps by state
I was in Half Price Books yesterday, and they had a clearance on the software for topo maps of various states. The price was around 4 dollars per state. The states wereFlorida, Mississipi, Colorado, Washington, Alabama, and one or 2 others, and they had several copies of some of them. Can this software be loaded on the hard-drive, or do you have to carry around the CD all the time? Can you put all 50 states on one 50 GB blu-ray disc or on some other portable media? I assume 4 dollars is a bargain. Is there a new version that is better? David Locklear - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] digital topo maps by state
My wife works for Half Price in San Antonio. The CD's are from National Geo. If you buy them read the box closely some are for Mac some for Windows. I've found here most of them are for Mac - Original Message - From: David Locklear dlocklea...@gmail.com To: texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 3:20 AM Subject: [Texascavers] digital topo maps by state I was in Half Price Books yesterday, and they had a clearance on the software for topo maps of various states. The price was around 4 dollars per state. The states wereFlorida, Mississipi, Colorado, Washington, Alabama, and one or 2 others, and they had several copies of some of them. Can this software be loaded on the hard-drive, or do you have to carry around the CD all the time? Can you put all 50 states on one 50 GB blu-ray disc or on some other portable media? I assume 4 dollars is a bargain. Is there a new version that is better? David Locklear - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
