Weekly Wandering in Missouri - With a Ton of Friends!

What a weekend!

When I met Jim, I was introduced to a group of people (the caving community) that I can't imagine life without now. They accepted me as the "newbie" and over the past 10+ years I have come to love them as family. They've actually become family.

This past weekend was one of the business meetings for the mid-Missouri(ish) grottos of the national organization. The business meeting is important and we have them twice a year. Which is fantastic because the business meeting consists of 150+ people camping/caving/canoeing or just socializing for a weekend. The business meeting is held on Saturday early evening but the remainder of the time is ours to do with as we wish. The meeting changes locations but is normally located near a river and/or caves. There are cave trips planned, map presentations and a variety of social activities.

Side note on cavers and cave mapping: Without our cavers, there would not be maps of the caves. The cavers walk, crawl, slop through mud, fit into holes in the caves they shouldn't and find all the treasures of our caves. They take measurements, they sketch the caves and then they come back and report on what they found. Their finding are all submitted to Cave Survey groups who document them and create the historical documents. Not only are cavers mapping, they are also doing biological studies of what animal life exists in caves, hydrology to understand how water moves below the surface of the ground and the overall makeup of a cave.

(this is my official kudos to all real cavers who do the work!)

Jim and I have not been to one of the meetings for a couple years. Little things like cancer and Covid have gotten in the way. And the fact that we live in Nashville. This time, we decided no matter what, we were going.

We arrived on Thursday and left on Sunday. It rained at night, it was cool and cloudy during the days, yet we had the best time ever. I love these people so much and I can't wait to see them again. As an added bonus, Jim's daughter and her boyfriend showed up and stayed a night with us!

Below are a few of the photos from the weekend. Fun was definitely had!

Peace and love to all! <3