>From David Locklear
( Part One is a venting rant. Part Two is about my experience at TCR, so please skip Part One, or just hit Delete al ltogether to save you from 5 minutes of your life that you will never get back. ) PART ONE ___________ I am on I-10 passing the town Schulenburg heading due east for The Concrete Valley ( or as some call it, "The Concrete Plateau." ) Like many attendees of TCR, I just spent 36 hours immersed in a bizarre non-concrete environment ( although there was a tiny concrete path ). There at Paradise Canyon, I was subjected to warm-fuzzy feelings some call "cheerfulness." I am still in a state of shock much like an astronaut coming back to Earth. Some people believe this cheerfulness-thing is nurturing. But the side-effects from this shock will be far more intense tomorrow when I have to face the really unusual problems at work head-on like a 2-by-6 across the face, added on to the fiery-fuel of the increasing toxic environment at my estranged-wife's house. [ Sidenote ( please skip ): As I am typing this report, she just started texting me that I am crazy-evil for stealing her tiny Christmas nativity-scene, and for me to never speak to her again. Of course I have never touched it in 22 years, and have not seen it since she packed it away in February and threw it in her bizarre mountain of clutter ( that some might call feminine knick-knacks ). And she hasn't even lifted a pinky to look for it, before getting all psychotic wacko. ] But I digress. Plan A was to sleep there tonight, and try to briefly visit with my daughter. But it looks like now, I will have to conjure up a Plan B out of a magic hat. PART TWO ___________ So I just made a pit-stop and was reminiscing about all that cheerfulness at TCR. That was the most fun I have had in about 5 years. I have a new favorite rock-and roll band - The Gary Franklin Band. Their new young guitarist/keyboardist, herein known worldwide as, "The Maestro of Rock and Roll," simply blew the roof off the Paradise Lodge porch. Then he teased us with a chord from " Sweet Madam Blue." It appeared many attendees enjoyed the mud-wrestling. I thought the food was great. ( I do not think you can expect gourmet food at a volunteer low-budget mass feed ) The weather Friday and Saturday was about 2 degrees too hot in the day and 4 degrees too hot at night. But that made swimming more enticing especially at night, and the air-conditioned restrooms felt even more luxurious. The weather Sunday was awesone for camping. Numerous cavers went above the call of duty to make the event better than it normally is. Among them were Don Arburn. I can only guess that for his crew, TCR is a 5 day event. Here are some highlights: For one, The President of the National Speleological Society was available 24/7 to discuss a wide variety of topics. And he was busy, thru the NSS also had a booth of volunteers. GFB performed two awesome sets of bluesy old rock-and-roll and there were ample opportunities to twerk, shake and jump and do cartwheels or hula-hoop or the lambada to the groovy music had you wanted to do so. I really dug Gary's baratone twist on the sound. I felt it was similar to "Puddles Pity Party," but was grittier and more bluesy. Saj Zappitello killed it on the trumpet for "The Vehicle." Mr. Passmore, "The Godfather of Speleo-VR," let anyone go virtual caving off-trail in NBC. There is no doubt he is on to something none of us Earthlings can comprehend. The Hot-Tub/Sauna tradition continued on with a new generation of naked-partying cavers. I missed all that this year. The Viking Parade was a surprising hoot and the kids enjoyed it, especially those in the parade. Bob Bell from Fredericksburg brought a keg of awesome beer from the failing Pedernales MicroBrewery. That was the best keg beer I have ever ever had. Several old-timers graced us with their presence. Including most of the healthy members of the Society of Underground Cavers, Karstologist and Speleologist. Watching S.U.C.K.S. take a group photo was both an inspiration to me, and a moment in life to reflect on the passing of the baton. It was impossible to see and do everything and talk with everybody. I missed the activities around the vertical ropework. You have to get here on Thursday night and stay later on Sunday to try to do it all. There were several cavers from Houston area, mostly only those still actively caving. Don and Syd Formanek, myself, Charles and Adriana Fromen ( Adriana is drom Brazil ), and Ray Hertel. And a girl I have met, but can't remember her name at the moment. Also, Dr. Peter Druschke and his lovely family. It was good to see Ray Hertel volunteering at registration. He has been with GHG for at least 10 years. If he never was awarded the Chuck Steuhm Award, then he certainly deserves to receive it late. It is always great to see and chat with cavers that I first met from 1985 to 1987. ( Which was about 70 cavers there. ) Some of them were Cathy Winfrey, Gil Ediger, Tom Byrd, Carl Kunath, Orion Knox, Peter Sprouse, Pete Strickand, Jocie Hooper. Blake Harrison, William Russell & Katie Arens, Linda Palit and Allen Cobb. And it was great to see cavers that I only normally get to interact with over the internet like Rick Cornell, Rick Wolfe, and Steve Gutting. Any others I failed to mention that I probably saw at the last TSA Convention or at the last few NSS Conventions. It was great seeing a fresh new crop of cavers from both A&M in Galveston and College Station. I hope they come again next year and bring more new ones with them. What I am about to write is not meant to be mean-spirited, but just an observation. There were no former east Texas cavers from 1970 to 2016 - especially no former Aggie Cavers that I once knew that were active in the 70's, 80's and 90's etc. Feel free to correct me. I can relate. I show up sometimes at TCR, but do not actively participate in volunteering. I camped this year on a cot downstream in the quiet area. That would have worked great had I brought a thin cotton sheet and another citronella candle and a battery-operated fan. Instead, I just laid there the entire night swatting gnats and in the morning swatted flies. I was tempted to move my cot to the air-conditioned bathroom. I over-heard several cavers talk of doing that. This year my only health concern is a tiny pain in my lower right heal of my foot, which is pretty bad when I get out of bed. It did not bother me much this weekend. And that I am overweight and physically out-of-shape. My hearing is pretty bad, but I am hoping my ears just need to be cleaned by a doctor. I am certain I am healthy enough to float thru a cave on an inner-tube or tour any commercial caves. Or rappel into a cave that I can walk out of like maybe "La Ventana Jabali" or "La Cueva del Abra." TCR for me is more like New Year's Eve. It is a moment of annual reflection on people we all once knew who passed away. And a look at my accomplishments and failures since the last TCR. If you know me and missed TCR, there were many cavers that I would have liked to have said Hello to. To name just a few: Alan Montemayor, Bill Steele, Dr. George Veni, Dr. Andy Gluesenkamp, Ron Ralph, Julie Germany, Travis and Amanda Scott, Travis Kitchen, Katherine McClure, Crystal McLane, Carl-Philip Fromen, Lyndon Tui, Sheryl Reick, Kevin & Emily McGowan, George Sanders, Charlie Savvas, Tommy Joe, James Loftin, Joe Datri, Butch Fralia, Pete Lindsey, James Brown and many many more. See you all in October of 2018. Ref: https://youtu.be/PqfPKkchaBM This entire report was prepared from a road-side stop from memory on my LG G6 smartphone.
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