Yes, unfortunately, my old friend and caving buddy, Preston McMichael has been dead for a number of years. What ever happened to the Preston McMichael Caving Award? It was resurrected a few years ago but I haven't heard of it in recent years. Preston was quite a guy and the most gung-ho caver I ever knew. Fritz Holt [email protected] (Triple Creek Ranch)
Sent from my iPhone > On Sep 2, 2014, at 1:21 PM, Preston Forsythe via Texascavers > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dave you write a really good story. > > Preston...so far I only know one Preston in the tribe. > > ---------------------------------------------- > ----- Original Message ----- > From: David via Texascavers > To: CaveTex > Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2014 1:11 PM > Subject: [Texascavers] a road-trip story > > from David Locklear, [email protected] > > Have any of you had the unpleasant experience of having to abort a caving > trip ? > > I sort of had that experience, over the holiday weekend. > > > Here is a road-trip story from this past Sunday. > > Background info: > __________________ > > There is a cave that I have been wanting to take my daughter to while she is > still a kid. She will > be 10 years old in a month, and she no longer acts like a kid, but more like > a spoiled pre-teen. She has never been in > a cave, except as a baby on a commercial tour once. I felt my > time window had closed for that opportunity and was very concerned about > that. On Sunday, I had a 24 hour break in > my schedule, and felt certain that this was my final chance, to do something > about that. > > In the few moments prior to deciding to make the road-trip, it seemed > feasible to at least drive in the general > direction of the cave, and if time allowed, I would at least make an effort > to meet with the landowner, to see what his status > was, such as whether he was still alive, or in good health, or even still > owned the cave, or allowed people > in the cave, etc. I knew the chances of going in the cave were nearly > zero. But there were 2 or 3 other things in > the area that I wanted to do with my kid, and with a stroke of good luck we > might could get a photo opportunity > at the cave entrance. > > A little personal info first, for those of you who do not know me. My > daughter lives > with her mother, about an hour south of Houston, near the town of Arcola. I > live walking distance to downtown Houston. Her mother > and I have had a bizarre relationship for going on 19 years, where I just try > my best to tolerate her, and > more recently, only in an effort to spend quality time with my > kid. I am only making the point that it is extremely difficult to travel > with my kid's mother. > > So the 3 of us, got a much later start out of Arcola, than I wanted. > According to Google Maps, it is 200 miles to the cave, and > about a 3 1/2 hour drive, however, Google does not to take into account the > heavy traffic of Harris County, especially on a holiday like > Labor Day, nor the tropical rain storm, nor that > the passengers have to stop every hour for some reason. > > > It had been 16 years, since I had been to the cave, and had not even been in > that county, since then. But I had been there many times in > the late 80's and 90's, so I figured I could find the landowner's house > blindfolded, and besides my fancy new smartphone, could zoom in right > to where the cave was, within a few hundred feet. > > The Trip: > _________ > > We arrived in the vicinity of the ranch about 2 hours before sundown, much > later than I had wanted. We pulled up to the spot along the > highway where my fuzzy memory told me the entrance to his ranch should have > been. > > Nothing looked familiar. We could not get an internet signal from Sprint, so > I could not look it up on my phone. > > I drove all around for what seemed like an hour, back and forth over a 2 mile > stretch of highway. We passed it at least once, but the focus of > my effort was unfortunately one mile too far north, and my fuzzy memory was > completely wrong about 2 important details. > > All the landmarks in my fuzzy memory-bank, seemed missing, and there were > lots of new development. > > My stubbornness or hard-headedness would not give up, until I realized it was > futile ( We had an urgent need to get to our next > destination by dark, which was 45 minutes away. So I aborted the > cave-related portion of our road-trip. It felt horrible to to that. > > Ironically, the map to the rancher's house was readily available back at my > office. ( The link below is a sketch of that from 1998 ) > > > By the point of surrender, I was carsick and the crew was totally fed up with > the road-trip and demanded 3-star motel. > > I used to go to this cave on inexpensive day trips, but this one set me back > over $ 200, which at the moment is outside of my travel budget. > > Unfortunately, I was too far from the ranch to note what new construction, or > development has occurred in the vicinity of the cave. So that > part of our trip was a big disappointment. We did manage to reach 2 of > our other destinations. The only thing I think I accomplished on > this trip, is they want to go back to Martin Dies Jr. State Park, for an > over-nighter, and my daughter learned the fun of singing road-trip songs > like "Country Roads," while driving down the scenic rural highway. > > Here are 3 photos, from the state park that we briefly visited. > > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a16h1oa8k4v74o2/AACf2VmKNS0DFrkILHKmeZB7a?dl=0 > > > > > David Locklear > [email protected] > > Ref: > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/hgm62v0tb1ctrjx/Misc-map.jpg?dl=0 > > Sidenote: > > calling the owner a rancher is not the right word. If he is still alive, he > and his family operate a variety of businesses related to the use of his > land. One of those businesses is growing pine trees, to sell them to a > sawmill. Someday, someone will need to return here to verify the procedures > for planning an organized trip to the cave, and that will require talking to > the owner. I do not know when or if, I will ever make it back, as it is > quite a drive from where my daughter lives. On the map, there is a note > that says "Do Not Drive Across Dam" From there you can see the owner's > fancy house up on the hill. > _______________________________________________ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > [email protected] | Archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers > _______________________________________________ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > [email protected] | Archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
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