I assume that all the cavers that wanted to party on NYE found a party somewhere.
I stumbled onto a party of cavers on the far east side of Austin. I was not formally invited, but I was told of the party at the last minute by someone who could have chosen not to tell me had they felt inclined to do so. So I felt the least that I could do, was to show up for a few minutes and be considerate. The food and beverage was above average. The music was better than TCR. The camaraderie was first class. The host was awesome. The venue was awe-inspiring. I do not know if I made any friends, but I rekindled some old bonds with acquaintances. It was a very pleasant surprise to see Melanie Alspaugh from Switzerland. She has not aged in 20 years. There was a very light snow for a moment, and while naked cavers were outside in the hot-tub. There was a nice outdoor fireplace under a tarp and almost out of the bone-chilling northerly wind. There was a respectable fireworks show after the countdown. It looked like maybe those that wanted to get lucky, got lucky. I would like to especially thank the very talented GFB for playing a hit song by The Tokens - "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." That really cheered me up. They nailed it, having never once practiced it. About 12:30 a.m., I was pondering driving east towards my hometown of Arcola, when the GFB miraculously started a 4th set of wild crazy R&B songs. Special musical guest were Chris Vreeland, Andy Gluesenkamp and Andy Edwards. So about 2 a.m., I crawled into the back of my Sequioia and stuffed my lard-ass into my goretex bivy-sack and fell right to sleep. I had to wake up 3 times in the night to relieve myself and that was no fun in the bitter cold. ( I had not come prepared to camp in a wind-chill of 20 degree weather ) I assume that fragments of the party continued on outside in the freezing cold and also in the house till probably 4 in the morning. On a more personal note, The long solo drive home the following morning ( January 1st, 2018 ) really sucked. I stopped briefly in Brenham and frolicked in my rental storage unit. The unit that I am renting is 15 feet tall, so I am laying 1/2" thick pine boards across the tops of my 10 Gorilla Racks, covering the lumber in thick plywood sheets to make a makeshift second floor. So far, I only have 3 and 1/2 sheets of plywood or about 144 sq. ft. of usable floor( 1,300 cu. ft. for stacking boxes. ) It does not feel rickety. So whoever inherits this junk someday, will also get about $ 500 in quality lumber and lots of heavy-duty plastic tote boxes. I am not looking forward to January. I wish I could hibernate instead.
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