This post is about the vendors and some of the items that
were available for purchase.
There were numerous books available for sale at the convention. The
usual books were there. But also Mr. Kunath's new book was
available. Someone indicated that the price of that book was about
to go up? Did it sell well?
AMCS had a fine new publication - Activities Newsletter
Number 31 ( ? ).
http://www.amcs-pubs.org/cat.html
Bill Mixon has been managing the booth for years, but other cavers
sit in to help keep an eye on the books.
During the Auction a book about the caves of TAG went for $ 140.
I was going to bid $ 6, as I really wanted it. Emily Davis ( of
Speleobooks )
told me the book was hard to get a hold of and that some caver usually
had to die before you could pry it from his hands.
http://www.speleobooks.com/
The auction did sell copies of grotto newsletters pretty cheap by the box.
The NSS Bookstore was there. An attractive girl named Stephanie
has been running the store for as long as I have been going to conventions.
I think they said the Bookstore has a new employee. They auctioned
her off to. Which some people thought was a little awkward, but they
laughed anyways.
"Inner Realms Books" was there. ( The Wolfert's who run the store
sometimes comes to TSA Spring Convention. )
Terry Raines had some books for sell that he printed several years
ago. He had a hard-bound copy
of Sotano de Golindrinas. I would have bought that, had I had some
extra money.
I saw several other books I thought I needed in my library, but I will
have to
wait till ICS or Vermont to purchase them.
There was a vendor selling soap. I passed by this several times without
even noticing it. Then I finally stopped to see what all the hoopla
was.
It turns out that not only are the soaps homemade by cavers, but some of
the flavors leave you smelling like you just left the cave.
One of the most popular vendors, that causes cavers to say "ooh and aah"
is Michael Kehs Woodworks:
http://www.michaelkehswoodworks.com/gpage.html
One of his art pieces went for over $ 200 at the Auction.
The most hard-working vendor is B&C Wunderwear. The lady that runs
this
booth is dedicated to making cavers feel
comfy in caves. Her overalls are simply the best in the world.
Not only that, she will let you customize your over-alls no matter
how extravagant you want to make them.
http://www.bcwunderwearinc.com/
I believe she will be set up again at OTR and the TAG Fall Cave-in.
Howies Harness is another popular vendor. He spends the convention
dedicated to making custom made to fit caving harnesses. He is
a great guy and full of information. He has a new flashlight that
I haven't seen anywhere. It is by Princeton Tec. It is an LED
light,
but is unique in that its lens has a high watt LED's and also
3 small low watt LED's, to save battery power or for reading maps,
or doing things around cave camp. It is also waterproof to 3 feet.
Howie also sells Italian gear made by company called Camp.
http://www.camp-usa.com/products/new-2008.asp
Other vendors there were On Rope and Inner Mountain Outfitters.
I think I mentioned them and their gear in a previous post.
I didn't see any vendors at the campground, but I didn't look.
I heard a rumor that the vendor's profits at this convention were
the lowest ever. Not only did they have to pay high gas prices
to get to the convention, but they may have had less sales due to
the low turnout.
So send the vendors some business.
On a related note,
I presumed that since this convention was near underwater caves
and that cave divers would be there, that there might be some
demos or displays on the latest cave diving gear. However,
I didn't see any cave diving gear for sale. I also didn't notice much
different
at this convention on the subject
of cave diving. There were advertised dive trips, but it didn't
look like a lot of people signed up for them. I did overhear
some cavers say they were going "cavern diving." Which
means they plan to stay in the twilight zone of the underwater
cave.
I will let someone else fill in the information that I left out.
Any related comments?
David Locklear
Fort Bend County
