Chatter! About 15 years ago, myself and three others took a 3 day trip inside the second largest cave in Missouri. The purpose of this trip was to be the first persons in the universe to ever bring videotape to the outside world showing the wonders of this cave. The cave,(Carrol Cave, in Richland)
The cave has only one way in, and that consists of wading through a 1/4 mile entrance that is approx 5 1/2 feet high filled with 5 feet of water. We loaded two flat bottomed boats with equipment and the four of us preceeded to push ourselves off the 6" of air space between the ceiling of the cave and the water until we got to the main room. At one point the other boat got hopelessly stuck under the ceiling and it took the four of us to move forward. The next two days were spend treading through the 12 mile long passage until we ran out of light and video-tape and had to prepare for the trip out. Unfortunately, the snow outside had turned to rain and the water started raising the level of the cave and left a mere 3"s of air-space! It was now impossible to lay in the boats and move at all. We had to wade toward the entrance with our mouth glued to the ceiling and one eye out of the water following the passageway. We got to a point where the ceiling raised up about a foot and the four of us gathered there to have a look. I turned my head 360 degrees and could only see water lapping at the ceiling in all directions. I turned to Benny and told him I thought we were trapped, beacuse I could not see the way out! Benny hollored out, well God d--it Look again! In the midst of chaos, we all started laughing and decided to be perfectly still and quit sloshing the water. By the sheer grace of God, I did look again and saw about an inch and a half opening! Beyond that, you could see the ceiling heightened into a passable way. A few minutes later we were out and reflecting on the experience.
If there is a moral to this story it is this, That day,I climbed my Mt Everest. I believed in myself and others that I trusted and the reward was worth the gamble.
IDX and the market are the same to me! In the midst of this chaos I laugh and trust my instincts and research. I trust my friends on the thread and know that together, we will keep moving forward. Someday, we will reflect on these experiences when we meet in CABO!
Good luck all, hope this didn't bore you! |
