You know, David, George and I considered going, but we aren't NSS members and I found the cost prohibitive and couldn't really figure out what I was getting for that kind of money. I would rather spend it going somewhere besided Alabama. No offense to those from Alabama.
Sheryl --- On Mon 07/11, David Locklear < [email protected] > wrote: From: David Locklear [mailto: [email protected]] To: [email protected] List-Post: [email protected] Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:37:31 -0500 Subject: CaveTex: NSS Convention - Trip Report <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2668" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></style> </head> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Instead of writing one long trip report I am going to post</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>several mini trip reports.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>First of which, is a complaint to the NSS.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When making my plans to attend this event, I decided to bring my </font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>wife and mother-in-law along. My plan was for them to hang around</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>the vicinity of camp all week, while I attended a few of the convention</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>highlights. </font><FONT face=Arial size=2>( I was not expecting</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>them to attend the convention, but I would have taken them to see the photos and</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>the maps if they really wanted to see them, and just purchase a day pass. )</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Upon arriving at the campground, I was told they could not enter with me unless</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>they fully registered for the whole week as non-members. I was told I would have</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>to pay an additional $ 260.00, in addition to the $ 130.00 I had already paid for myself,</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>meaning for us to attend this convention would cost me $ 390.00. Because of</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>our late arrival to the campground, I had less than 30 minutes to decide how I was going</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>to scrape up the money to do this; or if I would be better off to leave them in a hotel</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>all week while I went to the convention.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I returned to my car to ponder the problem, and STRONGLY considered blowing off the</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>convention, after driving so far to get there.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As I was sitting in my car, just on the other side of the fence the Howdy Party was getting</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>started. I was disappointed. My wife and mother-in-law where unaware of what</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>the problem was, or why we were just sitting there in the car with me pulling my hair</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>out.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have been to 4 previous conventions, but this was my 1st to bring in other people with</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>me, so in hindsight, I clearly made too many assumptions on this part of my travel plans.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>With less than 5 minutes before registration closed, I decided to FORK UP the money,</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>knowing that the rest of my vacation was going to be very short on funds and that my wife and</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>mother-in-law were not going to understand why I did this or why there was no money to buy</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>anything during the trip.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In my opinion, it was not fair or reasonable that I should have had to pay so much money for </font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>them to camp with me. I want a partial refund of that $ 260.00. </font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That being said, since they were registered, it seemed logical for me to drag them with me where</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>ever possible to the convention. They did see the part of the Slide Salon and did eat dinner</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>at the Howdy Party. They saw the maps and the photos and even part of the video of the</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>McBride's cave rescue. They enjoyed the Rocket Center program, eventhough, they could</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>not read the english descriptions of the museum exhibits. However, they would have</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>preferred to sit at camp and relax and play with the baby, and I would have preferred to spend</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>this money on new cave gear.</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></font> </div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>David Locklear</font></div> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>NSS # 27639</font></div></body></html> <p> _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to mailto:[email protected] with the following message--unsubscribe cavetex. For help and information go to www.cavetex.net. List administrator: mailto:[email protected]
