Re: [Texascavers] Just reminscing - part 2 of 3

[John Brooks via Texascavers]

There is a first time for everything. 

Several words I swore I would never say..come on David Locklear ! 

Post the final chapter of this Ill fated journey !

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 25, 2017, at 1:56 AM, David via Texascavers 
>  wrote:
> 
> I left out the part that I was renting a room in Wild Bill Rupley's townhome 
> in west Houston.  I am sure he regrets that.  Wild Bill was still working in 
> his grandfather's fur-coat business ( yes, In Houston if you can fathom that 
> )  That is his story to tell.   It is my theory, that he helped fuel the 
> campfire rumors then that maybe some of my marbles were slightly loose.
> 
> Anyways,
> 
> Rolf Adams and his girlfriend Anne agreed to meet me at Terry Raines' ranch 
> around mid-December ( I think ).   I just recall a fuzzy memory of a 
> dome-shaped wooden structure with a grand piano and some old clutter.   I 
> think that might have been my first real formal introduction to Terry Raines, 
> although I had met him and read dozens of his adventures.  It was dark when I 
> got there, and I think that I had spent an hour just trying to find his house.
> 
> I recall a female caver maybe renting a bungalow there that was maybe a 
> Jazzercize instructor ??
> She was good-looking.  I forgot her name 25 years ago.
> 
> I arrived there from Houston in "The Speleo-Stationwagon."  A 1972 Ford 
> Country Squire with a 1976 400 cu in ( actually 6.6 liters ) V8 that I had 
> proudly installed by myself.  The money and time that I spent on that car 
> over a two-year period was way way beyond super-retarded.  But in those days, 
> I could not afford an Isuzu Trooper or other fancy SUVs that cavers were 
> purchasing.  I had purchased it for $ 200 from my grandpa in 1987 and it was 
> my first car.   So I had some really weird sentimental attachment to it, 
> partly because he and I had years of memories in it prior to that.  It once 
> had an 8-track player mounted to the floor, and a CB-radio.
> 
> 
> Upon arriving at Terry's ranch house, things were quite chaotic.Terry was 
> very intensely preoccupied with the finishing touches of his newest book - 
> one that he was hoping to present two weeks later at the First Mexpeleo in 
> Ciudad Valles, entitled - "The Caves of Mexico."  
> 
> Terry quickly showed me the rough draft, and I can't tell you here what my 
> first impression was.   But it was or would have been today the equivalent of 
> 100 Wikipedia articles on the major caves of Mexico - had he had some 
> assistance and more time ro work on it.
> 
> The 2 Aussies were no where near ready to leave and suggested waiting another 
> day - maybe something to do with their newly acquired beater jalopy - a 
> Datsun pickup ( $ 400 ?? ) [ ~ 1977 ]
> 
> So I drove into San Marcos to get more supplies.   There, suddenly my 
> drive-shaft fell off after the rear U-Joint shattered.I spent most of the 
> night by myself in a parking lot of AutoZone in San Marcos fixing that.  ( no 
> internet or cell-phone )
> 
> I drove exhausted back to Terry's ranch only to break the front U-joint about 
> a half-mile from his ranch.
> 
> Someone claimed you need to replace both U-Joints.   I have no memory of how 
> I fixed that or even if I did.
> 
> It must have been morning time by the time I made contact with the Aussies 
> that I had a unexpected setback.  I was so wiped out.
> 
> The rest of that day and the next gets very fuzzy, but wherever I abandoned 
> The Speleo-Stationwagon . was across the street from Nancy Weaver's house.
> 
> Maybe she has a better memory of that than I do.   She was not a happy 
> camper, as I think it was abandoned there 3 weeks ( or maybe 3 months ?? ).  
> Plus it was in a fairly ugly state of modification at that point.   Meaning, 
> it belonged in a junk-yard crusher.
> 
> I guess the 2 Aussies and I and the Datsun pickup left Terry's ranch 
> uneventfully.  I rode in the back of the camper in a fetal position in a 
> space not any bigger than a large suitcase while breathing toxic fumes.
> 
> I am guessing that was my 2nd of four times to cross the border by car at 
> Matamoros.
> 
> We drove 18 painful hours non-stop to a beach just outside a very tiny town 
> called Nautla in the northern part of the state of Veracuz.
> 
> We camped alone on a very secluded remote beach with no worries whatsoever of 
> being beheaded by a cartel member.   We never saw anybody there.  
> Unfortunately, we slept the whole 5 hours that we were there and never saw 
> the pretty beach in the daylight, except we probably left just after sunrise. 
>  I doubt I pitched a tent, but they did.
> 
> https://goo.gl/maps/AvaNxXw5TCH2
> 
> That area sure looks very tourist-friendly on the Google map link above after 
> just 28 years.
> 
> Our next stop was a quick lunch at a taqueria in Orizaba where we quickly did 
> our final shopping.At that point, I recall wasting money, that I would 
> need later.  Had I just had 

[Texascavers] Just reminscing - part 2 of 3

[David via Texascavers]

I left out the part that I was renting a room in Wild Bill Rupley's
townhome in west Houston.  I am sure he regrets that.  Wild Bill was still
working in his grandfather's fur-coat business ( yes, In Houston if you can
fathom that )  That is his story to tell.   It is my theory, that he helped
fuel the campfire rumors then that maybe some of my marbles were slightly
loose.

Anyways,

Rolf Adams and his girlfriend Anne agreed to meet me at Terry Raines' ranch
around mid-December ( I think ).   I just recall a fuzzy memory of a
dome-shaped wooden structure with a grand piano and some old clutter.   I
think that might have been my first real formal introduction to Terry
Raines, although I had met him and read dozens of his adventures.  It was
dark when I got there, and I think that I had spent an hour just trying to
find his house.

I recall a female caver maybe renting a bungalow there that was maybe a
Jazzercize instructor ??
She was good-looking.  I forgot her name 25 years ago.

I arrived there from Houston in "The Speleo-Stationwagon."  A 1972 Ford
Country Squire with a 1976 400 cu in ( actually 6.6 liters ) V8 that I had
proudly installed by myself.  The money and time that I spent on that car
over a two-year period was way way beyond super-retarded.  But in those
days, I could not afford an Isuzu Trooper or other fancy SUVs that cavers
were purchasing.  I had purchased it for $ 200 from my grandpa in 1987 and
it was my first car.   So I had some really weird sentimental attachment to
it, partly because he and I had years of memories in it prior to that.  It
once had an 8-track player mounted to the floor, and a CB-radio.


Upon arriving at Terry's ranch house, things were quite chaotic.Terry
was very intensely preoccupied with the finishing touches of his newest
book - one that he was hoping to present two weeks later at the First
Mexpeleo in Ciudad Valles, entitled - "The Caves of Mexico."

Terry quickly showed me the rough draft, and I can't tell you here what my
first impression was.   But it was or would have been today the equivalent
of 100 Wikipedia articles on the major caves of Mexico - had he had some
assistance and more time ro work on it.

The 2 Aussies were no where near ready to leave and suggested waiting
another day - maybe something to do with their newly acquired beater jalopy
- a Datsun pickup ( $ 400 ?? ) [ ~ 1977 ]

So I drove into San Marcos to get more supplies.   There, suddenly my
drive-shaft fell off after the rear U-Joint shattered.I spent most of
the night by myself in a parking lot of AutoZone in San Marcos fixing
that.  ( no internet or cell-phone )

I drove exhausted back to Terry's ranch only to break the front U-joint
about a half-mile from his ranch.

Someone claimed you need to replace both U-Joints.   I have no memory of
how I fixed that or even if I did.

It must have been morning time by the time I made contact with the Aussies
that I had a unexpected setback.  I was so wiped out.

The rest of that day and the next gets very fuzzy, but wherever I abandoned
The Speleo-Stationwagon . was across the street from Nancy Weaver's
house.

Maybe she has a better memory of that than I do.   She was not a happy
camper, as I think it was abandoned there 3 weeks ( or maybe 3 months ??
).  Plus it was in a fairly ugly state of modification at that point.
 Meaning, it belonged in a junk-yard crusher.

I guess the 2 Aussies and I and the Datsun pickup left Terry's ranch
uneventfully.  I rode in the back of the camper in a fetal position in a
space not any bigger than a large suitcase while breathing toxic fumes.

I am guessing that was my 2nd of four times to cross the border by car at
Matamoros.

We drove 18 painful hours non-stop to a beach just outside a very tiny town
called Nautla in the northern part of the state of Veracuz.

We camped alone on a very secluded remote beach with no worries whatsoever
of being beheaded by a cartel member.   We never saw anybody there.
Unfortunately, we slept the whole 5 hours that we were there and never saw
the pretty beach in the daylight, except we probably left just after
sunrise.  I doubt I pitched a tent, but they did.

https://goo.gl/maps/AvaNxXw5TCH2

That area sure looks very tourist-friendly on the Google map link above
after just 28 years.

Our next stop was a quick lunch at a taqueria in Orizaba where we quickly
did our final shopping.At that point, I recall wasting money, that I
would need later.  Had I just had about $ 40 more, I would have managed the
trip without any bad memories.

We eventually arrived in the capital of the state of Puebla, and traffic
was insane - much worse than other small cities I had visited.  Volkswagen
beetle bug-taxis by the hundreds.  All white ??

Then we continued south towards the rural base-camp area that I can only
assume was an "ejido."

I think we set up camp in the dark, however we had very little in the form
of camping gear.

I seem to recall waking up in a giant hilly pasture