Zeke began the meeting by thanking Mike and Lisa for hosting the meeting. Mike and Lisa thanked the grotto for a reason to clean their garage. Instead of quick introductions, Lisa invited everyone to share their names and the last cave they visited: Carlin (Island Ford), Andrew (Xanadu), Ken (Island Ford), April (new to caving), Elise (Hancock), Jeremy (NRC), Mike B. (Butler), Lisa (Butler), Zeke (Crossroads), Mark (a cave in Missouri), Pete (Island Ford), Emily (Island Ford), Lara (cave in Aruba), Andre & Kelly (Alabama caves), Louis Le (new caver), and Diana (Cave Ridge).
Zeke reminded everyone to pay membership dues at full rate either online or directly to Mike. Ken was silenced when he suggested that waiting nine days until July 1 would cut the rate in half. There was some question about whether cash dues would be going directly to the Durham Farmers Market, but apparently we just misinterpreted where Mike B. was depositing our funds. TRA grants cannot be spent at the Durham Farmers Market.
Elise didn’t have many web updates to share but invited members to go to the site and offer suggested improvements.
Emily reported on the trip to Crossroads Cave that she led, with faithful, vaccinated followers Pete, Carlin, and Ken. The trip was her first in a year, lasted over seven hours, and left her feeling sore that night. She noted that we spent most of the time single file, it was much easier with just four people, and that the group found really thick roots that were clean and looked like cables running through the cave. On Sunday she led the group to Island Ford Cave and found the bubbling silt pool.
Andre and Kelly traveled to three Alabama caves but could not recall their names. They did give us the following clues:
- The first cave had them cross a cow field and then spiral into a forest until they found the entrance. The cave had cool shell fossils and 5-7 drops down waterfalls. Andre found a broken STEN light there that he got fixed up.
- The second cave had fewer drops but they were longer. Andre wore a necktie there.
- They didn’t explore the third cave much beyond the entrance because they were hungry.
Upcoming trips include the following:
- Butler Cave—Mike and Lisa (BCCS) need help planning a future trip for a 73-year-old mom (early August with Lisa)
- Perkins Cave Survey (7/10 & 6/27)— Ken
- Perkins Cave camp trip —contact Carlin
- Hancock Cave trip—6/29—Mark D.
The July meeting will be held at Mark and Rhonda Little’s house in Cary (the museum has not yet notified us about affiliate groups meeting there in person again yet). Taylor wasn’t there to discuss the program further, but it may involve Pete and knots.