Gary,?

So sorry to hear you are Ill. I know everyone will miss you at camp! Get well soon!?

Best,

Marcus and Ashley

On Wed, Nov 2, 2022 at 11:15 AM Rick Olson <rickardolson16@...> wrote:

You know, this late in the game people like you and I start thinking maybe we are going to slide by. So far, I still am.

Now just hope for no long civid.??

Best, TOR?

On Wed, Nov 2, 2022, 9:36 AM Gary via <garygibula=[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Resto friends,

I had some bad luck and will be unable to join you all for the upcoming Restoration weekend.

Although I received the 3rd Covid booster shot (on Sept. 14), I have come down with the virus --for the first time throughout the pandemic.

I spent last weekend audio sound-engineering at a large event in the ballroom of the Hilton/St. Louis that had 166 people from across the U.S. and several foreign countries in attendance. I took a self-test on Monday that indicated 'negative' for Covid. But then my health took a 180-degree turn for the worse overnight and (yesterday) I tested POSITIVE. :(

I'll be quarrantining for the next five days, including this weekend.

I wish you all a great time, hope you get a lot done and I'll see you at the Spring weekend!

cheers,

-Gary

As most of you know for weekend camps, we usually head to El Mazatlán on Saturday night. Well guess what, the ferry is down so we are going on Friday. Instead of having to drive to Maple Springs after a long day of work and then having to head back to Cave City for dinner on Saturday, we are going to make it easier and head to El Maz on Friday.

?

Anyone that is on their way to Maple, already in town, friends of the camp, or just wants to have some good Mexican food we will be there Friday starting at 5:30.

?

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

?

Brian

Can you send us a selfie to PROVE that you're in Malta?

Perhaps at the grocery, holding some Malta vinegar... or at a pub with some Malta liquor... or at soda shop drinking a chocolate Malta?

PS - does Malta have any caves?

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian <macarestocamp@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Mon, Jan 30, 2023 2:11 am
Subject: [MACAresto] March Resto Camp

Greetings from Malta! Don’t forget that this Wednesday is quite possibly one of the most exciting days of all of February. It’s March camp signup day. This year the camp takes place on March 4th and 5th. Hope to see you all there. Signup info can be found on or at the Eventbrite page here

Brian

For those who might be interested in a more detailed play-by-play, here's what happened at Resto Camp on Friday, Mar. 3, 2023.

Most of the few who made it to Maple Springs told me they experienced bad weather getting there --no surprise-- but here's my tale.

As I approached the Interstate 24 'on ramp' at Paducah, Kentucky, I rolled down my car window a bit because I thought I heard an ambulace siren that strangely sounded unlike any Chicago-area ambulance siren.

But it wasn't an ambulance--it was a city-wide tornado warning siren!

I got onto I-24 anyway, thinking I would 'out run' the dark grey clouds in my rear view mirror.

I was wrong.

Heavy rain overtook me like I'd never experienced it before. Yes, my wipers were on 'high' the entire time, but it nearly didn't matter. Yes, there were cars parked beneath the highway overpasses with their flashers turned on.

It wasn't just rainy, but it also was windy like I'd never experienced. All you could do was slow down, be safe, and get there alive --was the mindset of everyone on the road, both car and semi-truck alike.

About 30-minutes into the harrowing drive East, there was a medium-sized SUV right in front of me (in the left lane), but a moderate distance ahead, for safety. As the vehicle began to slowly come even with and overtake a semi-truck in the right lane, I watched in horror as the rear of the SUV suddenly got blown to the left.

Keep in mind the torrential rain and the incredible wind. The SUV hydroplaned on the water-soaked road and seemed to purposely drive across the right lane, then across the paved shoulder, and then straight into the ditch --by then going backwards! (This is happening right in front of me!) As I passed the poor motorist, the car careened up the other side of the embankment, sideways, with muddy water and pieces of sod flying wildly into the air.

But the car did not flip over, and it seemed the driver lucked out. It was too treacherous for me to see much else in my mirrors--my heart was pounding and I was gripping my steering wheel for dear life.

A couple miles down the road was a highway weigh station, where I saw a State Trooper do a U-turn, presumably heading to assist the one-car spinout accident. Wow.

Although the rain seemed to let up a little when I exited the interstate and headed toward Nolin Dam, the wind was still blowing hard.

As I made my way down the 2-lane roads to reach Maple Springs (the 'back way'), there were no fewer than four times traffic came to a stop or serious slowdown due to giant trees that had fallen across the roadway.

One tree was about three feet in diameter, and there were about 10 vehicles stopped in both directions. Luckily, however, a guy who had a chainsaw in his pickup truck had just finished cutting through the massive log, and several other men rolled the logs to the shoulder.

I arrived at Maple to find that the electricity had gone out a couple hours prior. Ugh.

Brian pointed out how a section of a very tall, dead tree right in front of the Maple Springs barn sliding door had crashed down and damaged the eave of the barn roof.

As several of us stood around, there were massive blowing gusts that made so much noise in the teetering trees all around us, we had to keep a constant watch as twigs, leaves and sometimes small branches rained down on us (and parked cars).

At that point, due to the danger of more trees falling onto cars parked in the little gravel parking area, Brian recommended that the vehicle owners more their cars to the front lawn, well away from any trees that might fall over.

Suddenly, a massive 80-foot-tall tree between the rear of the Maple Springs barn and the 'bat house'? uprooted and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing the rear of the barn.

A little while later, Brian received a phone call that some Resto cavers were unable to reach Maple Springs due to fallen trees on the north Green River Ferry Road (toward the former 'Forks' convenience store).

Two vehicles containing Brian, John Kirk, Dave and Dee Boerma and Gary set out down the Maple Springs Loop road and turned left at the stop sign. But we stopped in our tracks because we coud immediately see massive fallen trees across the Green River Ferry Road in BOTH directions. We were 'trapped'!

A short time later, Rick Toomey informed Brian that a decision had been made to close Mammoth Cave (and the entire park) for the rest of Friday AND for all of Saturday, to leave roadways open for forestry workers to clear all the fallen timber.

We heard that the back roads near Cub Run had downed power lines and that all county roads were nearly impassable.

As a consequence, Resto Camp was canceled and we were asked to leave the Park property.

It took about three hours from when that decision was made for foresters to cut through trees across the Green River Ferry Road in at least a dozen different spots to create at least a single-lane escape route.

By 6:30pm, we were all cleared out of Maple and directed to the Green River Ferry, which was operating just for us and the foresters.

Brian remarked to me how we've had 'bad luck' at the March Resto Camp for the last three years, in one form or another.

Thanks everyone for understanding about the cancellation, but there's nothing we can do about such acts of nature.

See you in May!

OK, resto cavers how are we possibly going to top March Camp? I know, let’s make it into the cave! But you can’t make it into the cave if you don’t sign up. Sign up for May Camp starts tonight, or more precisely tomorrow at 12:01 AM. You can find the signup link below or at .

For the May camp, we will be staying at beautiful Hamilton Valley, home of the CRF. We will be sharing the facility with a small group of CRF cavers so if you are not camping or staying in town you may need to bunk up with a friend.

While I don’t know everything we will be working on I do know there is the possibility that we will have a pretty awesome objective that will be new to everyone. As I get more details I will share it with the group, but what I do know is that we will need to prepare to get muddy, and not just a little muddy but a lot muddy. If getting muddy in Mammoth sounds like your jam, this is the camp to sign up for.

Can’t wait to see you all at Mammoth.

Cheers,

Brian

--oops, the Subject line should have been the MAY Resto weekend

also, after further consideration, I'd estimate the total buckets of mud were 150-200 (not 300-400)

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary via <garygibula=[email protected]>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, May 9, 2023 6:41 pm
Subject: [MACAresto] March 2023 Resto weekend

Resto Director Brian will provide the official report, but I'd like to offer my account of what happened this past Saturday and Sunday at the 2023 May Mammoth Cave Restoration weekend.

Due to asbestos remediation taking place at Maple Springs, we gratefully accepted the kind accomodations of the Cave Research Foundation at their Hamilton Valley Facilities. --thanks, CRF!

After getting settled, a couple dozen of us (incl. Larry Matiz!) convened at 'El Tapatio,' the former Sahara Steakhouse which is now a Mexican cuisine restaurant located a short ways from our traditional Cave City eatery, El Mazatlan. Although Tapatio is a bit smaller, the atmosphere, service and quality of food were comparable.?

On Saturday morning, we met as usual for the 8:30 briefing at the MACA Visitor Center picnic area pavilion. In addition to Rick Toomey, we were joined by Chuck and Mary Schubert, Rick Olson and MACA official 'Ed' (--sorry, I forget his last name).

The group heard all about our work tasks for the weekend:? to scoop buckets of mud/water from the bottom of Crystal Lake, hoisting them up 70-feet to the Frozen Niagara path and transporting them out of the cave.

Another team pressed the mud through mesh screens and picked coins and other objects from the muck as it was washed with water from a tank on the back of a pickup truck.

While that operation got underway, a team including Brian, Chuck and your humble narrator took pump sprayers down the 'New Entrance' stairs and lightly applied a 4:1 ratio of bleach solution to any greenish algae-ified spots we came across.

Along the way, Brian pointed out the amazing work that had been done at Grand Central (new pavers and benches), the re-done stairway, another re-done area where original flagstones were uncovered and integrated into the path, and some incredible work done at Lover's Leap.

We ended up at Frozen Niagara, where Dave Boerma was expertly operating an industrial-strength drill being used to hoist the mud buckets.

?John Kirk reeled-in the buckets and Dave Seng de-harnessed the containers and staged them for transport out of the cave.

The 'dirty work' down at the bottom of the hole was being done by several individuals, including supervisor Rick Toomey, but Teresa Boerma deserves special recognition for her efforts. Nice job, T!

Although several individuals helped transport the buckets of mud from the work site to the Frozen Niagara entrance, Roy Van Hooser (along with Deb Nelson and John Sides) did some tireless work for this stage of the operation.

After the mud buckets were brought over to the screening area, Dee Boerma, Linda Bundy and Pam Saberton got themselves plenty dirty and wet as they ran the water hose and filtered through the muck. Special mention also should be made of Missy Sides and Rick Olson, who helped identify artifacts worth saving and categorizing.

Saturday's dinner was a 'pot luck' back at Hamilton Valley, which featured burgers and brats expertly grilled by chef Dave Boerma (--who also makes a mean biscuits-and-gravy).

Sunday was more of the same, except we knocked-off by 12 noon due to some nasty-looking storm clouds that were rolling in. We got done just in time as the rain began falling.

All in all, I'd estimate 150-200 buckets of mud were hoisted out of Crystal Lake and sifted/screened. Great job, everyone.

See you in August!