2007 NSS Convention July 23 - July 27

[Squirrel Girl]

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Howdy Party was held tonight:

The Howdy Party *was* held tonight???? Dood, I'm typing this at 10:41 pm and the Howdy Party is just getting STARTED!

[Wayne Harrison]

Yeah, it was going strong when we left. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and wasn't up to staying too late.

Went to some sessions today and then Bruce Smith helped Margaret get into some vertical gear. We bought his On Rope book and he autographed it, too.

Here's one of two Cavechat signs that are up at the convention (one in the entryway and the other in the NSS Bookstore room):



Tomorrow, we're going on an all-day canoe trip on the nearby Blue River (tickets for NSS convention members are half price, as are tickets to Marengo and Wyandotte Caves.

[wendy]

woo hoo i am having a great time. pooped today though. am supposed to be caving with caverdoc later today if I can find him. CAVERDOC where are you?

[Tim White]

I’m back in the office today. What a whirl-wind trip. I picked DJ Walker (the NCRC South Central Region Coordinator) up at the Atlanta airport Sunday at 7:30pm. We made it north to Bowling Green before getting some sleep. Rolled into Convention around noon Monday. Stopped by the Vertical Section Climbing Contest, said to vendor friends, did a quick tour of the Speleo-Art display, the Print and Map Salons, etc. Some great work there!! Found a spot to park for the night by the famous Ken Laidlaw that was close enough to the Howdy Party and waited for the food, beer and fun to begin.

Now who from Cave-Chat did I see?? Scott, Martha, cavedoc, Randyrn, wendy, Cheryl, anyone else? Sorry that I did not get the chance to see/meet more of you. DJ and I left yesterday after the NCRC Board meeting.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the week!

[wendy]

Let's see who I have seen from cavechat at convention:

Wayne, Tim White, Cheryl, hewhocaves, NZcaver, Scott McCrea, Muddman, Martha Mills, Caverdoc, there were a few others, can't remember very well right now, just got back from caving. woo hoo

[Scott McCrea]

I posted some pics from convention on my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccrea/set ... 003827595/

I went caving with Wendy today. We did Lost River Cave. Fun stuff!

[Tim White]

Oops! forgot about NZcaver....during the NCRC Board meeting I even nominated him for some como/phone research task .

Scott- post more photos! ...and all those flies...you are at a 4-H facility after all. i.e. cows and pigs

[Darklight]

I was talking to Ben Hutchins at Convention, and he was updating me on some cave trips, when suddenly he said the wind was blowing all their camping gear away. Later I spoke with Mark Phillips who said the campground was utter devastation from a thunderstorm. Camping equipment everywhere, vendors row blown apart. Sheriff and EMS on scene. No injuries as far as he could tell, but what a mess! Anyone have any updates?

[Wayne Harrison]

Looks like a microburst... they made an announcement at the photo salon which was held underground at the warehouse that a storm had hit the campground and 70 percent of the tents were destroyed.

Many tents blown away, ripped apart. Large "lakes" of water. At least one injury.. a woman hit by a flying tent pole. Was rushed to a medical facility by ambulance... I was told she needed 7 stitches...

Many tents that did remain standing have water in them...

They've set up an emergency shelter and food at the school for those who lost their tents.

[Wayne Harrison]

Thanks to the Tri-State Grotto, the Stars and Stripes still wave over the convention camping site... as they used their wrecked canopy structure to display the flag after the storm:




Here are some other photos of damaged or wrecked canopies taken this morning:




(that last one shows a pole that was straight before the storm hit)

It is overcast and there is a 50 percent chance of rain today.

In an unrelated note...

According to signs posted in the campground and in the Crawford Harrison Underground Gazette newspaper, there is a $500 reward offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for thefts in the campground and the school (prior to the storm) and a $100 reward offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for setting fire to a campground portajohn. Dave Haun is the person to contact with information.

[Carl Amundson]

Crap, Tri-State is my Grotto...

It looks like we will have to get a new canopy before OTR.
The one in the picture is our new one, I think this was the first time it was put up.

[Scott McCrea]

I added some storm pics to my Flickr site. Tarps are mangled, gear is wet, but everyone is in good spirits... or already left. Now, we are just waiting for the next round of storms this afternoon. Oh, and for the banquet tonight.

[Wayne Harrison]

Severe Thunderstorm Watch in effect until 10 p.m. and it's raining again. Radar shows more rain headed our way.

[Squirrel Girl]

Wah. That's sad.

Thanks everybody for the pictures they've posted. Good and sad.

[hewhocaves]

Yeah, I was there - for the first half anyway. Some CCG members and I ducked into Marengo for pizza during the second half. We came back and the grotto site was literally gone.

My tent was destroyed. A flying grotto tarp went through it, shredding it and turning everything inside it into a lake. clothes and what not can be washed / replaced. The bummer was that my brand new digital rebel xti was in the tent. I'm still not sure how salvageable it is.

It could have been worse - I had everything else moved to the car prior to the storm (about $200- worth of books bought at convention and my laptop.) I honestly thought the camera was in the car as well. I had forgotten I moved it back to the tent to get some pics of Wyandotte the day before.

Lacking a tent, a sleeping bag and any dry clothes I packed it up, helped CCG move some of the things, added my shreds to the growing tarp pile and headed home :(

However it WAS an excellent and FUN convention and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!!!!