Not exactly a diving buddy

[ghekhuis]

I have to preface this by saying I can't talk very well anymore, let alone walk, so this is will have to do for speech. I plan to go to the CDF Social at Ginnie Springs, and I won't be hard to recognize, I have a beard and wear a NSS-CDS hat, and of course use a cane and don't say much. I drive a white van.

I used to be a "dry" caver (NSS 9294) for some years up around the Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, etc. area. After the University of Virginia retired me on disability, I moved down to Florida via North Carolina and then Mississippi. I wound up just north of Dunnellon. Thanks largely to information from this board, it looks like I'll be moving shortly up to Live Oak.

Anyway, this is sort of a weird "cave diving buddy" type posting. I *can't* go cave diving. You don't stand a prayer of enticing me into any cave or spring, no matter what. What I can do, however, is sit topside and keep an eye on cars or gear. I have a chair and (safety in caving carries over to sitting) even a back-up chair. Not that I could do much, you understand, but the mere presence of someone (even a gimp) often deters folks from doing stuff they shouldn't. I can even watch over beer and stuff, what with the way I walk and talk, I figure I'd better be able to blow a 0.0 if a cop ever pulls me over. Just be sure I have to drive somewhere afterwards, otherwise all bets are off.

I have a phone, but the number won't do anyone much good,as I never answer it. I have an answering machine on the line, but I often don't check it more than once every few days. I do have an email address (ghekhuis@earthlink.net) which I check usually 2-3 times a day, often more. I don't have any spam filters but I don't recommend putting in the subject line how to re-finance my mortgage or how I can lose weight if you want your mail read. (I don't have a mortgage and I'm 6 ft 140# -- I need all the weight I can get.)

So if you see some weirdo who doesn't talk much and seems to be giving you the eye, just remember he's pretty harmless.

[caver]

I have to preface this by saying I can't talk very well anymore, let alone walk, so this is will have to do for speech. I plan to go to the CDF Social at Ginnie Springs, and I won't be hard to recognize, I have a beard and wear a NSS-CDS hat, and of course use a cane and don't say much. I drive a white van.

I used to be a "dry" caver (NSS 9294) for some years up around the Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, etc. area. After the University of Virginia retired me on disability, I moved down to Florida via North Carolina and then Mississippi. I wound up just north of Dunnellon. Thanks largely to information from this board, it looks like I'll be moving shortly up to Live Oak.

Anyway, this is sort of a weird "cave diving buddy" type posting. I *can't* go cave diving. You don't stand a prayer of enticing me into any cave or spring, no matter what. What I can do, however, is sit topside and keep an eye on cars or gear. I have a chair and (safety in caving carries over to sitting) even a back-up chair. Not that I could do much, you understand, but the mere presence of someone (even a gimp) often deters folks from doing stuff they shouldn't. I can even watch over beer and stuff, what with the way I walk and talk, I figure I'd better be able to blow a 0.0 if a cop ever pulls me over. Just be sure I have to drive somewhere afterwards, otherwise all bets are off.

I have a phone, but the number won't do anyone much good,as I never answer it. I have an answering machine on the line, but I often don't check it more than once every few days. I do have an email address (ghekhuis@earthlink.net) which I check usually 2-3 times a day, often more. I don't have any spam filters but I don't recommend putting in the subject line how to re-finance my mortgage or how I can lose weight if you want your mail read. (I don't have a mortgage and I'm 6 ft 140# -- I need all the weight I can get.)

So if you see some weirdo who doesn't talk much and seems to be giving you the eye, just remember he's pretty harmless. Sounds like you would be a better buddy, than some I've had in the past.----Look forward too meeting you sometime. :D

[DeWayne]

Ditto 8) I don't get down that way as much I would like to but whenever I do come down I would be more than happy to have you tagging along. If I am able to make it down for the social, I will be the other old guy with a funny walk and a cane. Hope we get to say hello.

[FW]

What years were you in the VA WV area? I was up there from '74-'78.

Forrest

[ghekhuis]

What years were you in the VA WV area? I was up there from '74-'78.

Forrest

I spent most of the time in the mid to late 70s hanging around with folks from PSC (Potomac Speleological Club) and was at the 76 NSS Convention in WVa. There is a picture of me judging the Beer Drinking Contest at http://www.varegion.org/var/theVar/history71/pg268Gallery.html for what it's worth. There wasn't a whole lot of cave diving that I was aware of at that time. At least not that far north.

[FW]

There wasn't a whole lot of cave diving that I was aware of at that time. At least not that far north.

Sure there was :-)

We did several dives into Organ cave in '77-'78, Sheck Exely came up for 2 of them. We found over a mile beyond the Bowen Siphon. We connected Simons Mingo to "My Cave". We also pushed Judy Spring to a mile, all world records at the time.

[ghekhuis]

There wasn't a whole lot of cave diving that I was aware of at that time. At least not that far north.

Sure there was :-)

We did several dives into Organ cave in '77-'78, Sheck Exely came up for 2 of them. We found over a mile beyond the Bowen Siphon. We connected Simons Mingo to "My Cave". We also pushed Judy Spring to a mile, all world records at the time.

I didn't mean to imply cave diving wasn't going on, just that I wasn't aware of it much. To me and the people I went caving with, a sump was the end of the cave. The only "divers" I knew of then were the Lockridge brothers, who opened up Refrigerator Spring, now known as Aqua Cave out in Virginia. It is kinda funny that you mention Simmons-Mingo. My first introduction to that system was the Simmer Project (76?) and one of the last caves I was in was Stan's Blowing Hole, carrying tanks for the divers who were going to "push" the system. It eventually was linked into the whole Simmons-Mingo system. (The divers called the dive after about 45 min and left. The dry cave support group was supposed to mop up the mapping of the rest of the cave. We didn't get to leave 'til almost 24 hours later, and the leads still weren't all pushed.) At the 1984 NSS Convention in Kentucky I got to camp with some cave divers. Later, a dry caver (who also worked at the University of Virginia) became interested in cave diving. I can remember several many times he and I would go out to the local quarry, so he could dive and try out new gear and I could sit topside and ponder what I considered to be a foolish endeavor.