But Where's the Blow?

by Larry Hart Thanksgiving, time for going to friends home for turkey, talking, digesting, and football on TV. Sound like fun? Well, the truth is, a caver can only take so mu ch turkey, talking, digesting and football. What a caver wants is holes with mud dy, cold, wet, and new challenges. Can a caver have both? Certainly! Thanksgiving morning was spent packing the truck. Mid-day was spent cleaning our selves up, and by 5:00 we were well into the turkey. By 7:00 p.m. hugs and kisse s had been dispensed, and Brandi, Jason, and Larry were on their way to Bob. Bob was cold. He'd frozen sometime in the past few days. The jugs of water in the h ouse were mostly ice, as was the mouse that fell into the drink left by the last visitors. The stoves crackled to life, as did the lady bugs and flies, and by m idnight, all were toasty and warm. With a few Zee's, we'd all be ready for cavin g in the morning. Two fruitless calls to the owner of Porter's Cave changed the plans the next mor ning. Looks like it will be Paxton's this day. "I've only been there once, who's leading" asked Dad. "No problem" was the response, "We've been there twice. We' ll lead" was the response. "Better pack some extra food" thinks Dad. After all, this is the densest maze cave in Virginia, right? We wrote a note for the cavers expected later that day that if we're not back by 7:00 p.m. they will hopefully be able to find us in Paxton's. So, off we go to Paxton's. The problem is there's another cave along the way we've been wanting to try. We stop at a store and talk with deer hunters to see if we can find where the lando wner lives. No problem. We go to the door and are met by a very nice lady who sa ys "Sure" after I explain we are NSS, have the needed equipment, and are experie nced. Off to Blowing we go, hoping those that may be looking for us in Paxton's won't be too upset to find we're not there. Try #1 to penetrate Blowing was a bust. The passage just led back to a second en trance. Tries number 2 through 5 ended in the same result. How do you get into t his cave? It sure would have helped had Blowing been blowing. But, all was quiet this day. Back outside we went to rethink this thing. What had we missed? There must be an entrance somewhere. Try # 6 was the ticket, but I can hardly believe the whole cave lay beyond such a small opening. Soon we found the cave protection sign, so we know we're on the right treck. But, it sure was small. Lots of crawling, and poking around trying to find the ones that go. It reminded me of a story one of the NCRC people told me about my twins. It seems they were introducing themselves, and revealed they are twins. When ask ed who the oldest was, Jason said it was Brandi, because he pushed her out first with instructions to "find out if it goes!" Blowing opened up into what we called a small "Dune Room" (after My Cave) and fr om there is was larger walking passage. It was up and down slick mud slopes. We had a ball scratching our way up the slopes and sliding back down. Sometimes, se veral tries were had before we were able to climb up some of the mounds. We fina lly found the stream passage, but only Jason was willing to get into the water. I guess Brandi and I are getting either soft, or smart. I think smart is the rig ht answer. Jason found the stream sumped about 100 feet upstream. When he went back downstr

eam he went under a large pile of mud-covered breakdown with many holes going al l the way through to the stream below. Brandi and I had a fine time pitching mud bombs down the craters, in front of, behind, and on top of Jason. He backed out of the downstream exploration. We'll save that for another day. We had a leisurely 5-hour trip in Blowing, and saw most of its 3000 feet. It's a neat cave, and we certainly want to go back some time when it's warmer and wet clothes from the stream passage won't seem so cold when we exit. Hopefully Blowi ng will be blowing the next time we go. Larry Hart NSS #44791