My friend Kevin and I did this trip back in '76.
We'd made several exploratory trips and were all worked up to get as far in as
we could. We prepared with the gloves, pads and nourishment then headed off
early in the day. We made it past "One Legged Man" which I believe you
called "Karen's Crawl". I
remember this as wide at the top with a channel for one foot . The wide top was
only 3' from the floor so you hopped along on one leg with your torso and arms
forward and your trailing leg stuck out behind you.
From there we got through to "Sherwood
Forest" and past to what we called "Crucifixion Rock" and I
think you called it "Wire Wiggle".
This spot was shaped like a pipe below your sink. But the U space was filled with a large rock
that hung down and would catch your chest as you tried desperately to U
yourself through. It was cause for quite
a few hyperventilating panic attacks. It
was here that we turned around - supplies and time were not on our side.
Coming out at the end, 8 hours later, was
much like others described - muddy and dusty - looking like death warmed
over. We headed straight down to 19th
street (MLK today) and the Gatti's that is still there. At that time the Gatti's had the BRAND NEW
Pong game and copious amounts of Dr. Pepper and, of course, pizza. We
cleaned up, ate pizza, drank DP and played Pong as long as the quarters held
out.
Unfortunately uniformed service duty was in
my very near future and I never saw the low side of 200 lbs again. Sadly too large now to get through the birth
canal.
Glad y'all had fun and at least you had a
seasoned Vet along for the trip. We did
not - but we did have this neat map created by those same Aggie's for whom the
art gallery is named. The map was drawn
up by ASS...the Aggie Spelunking Society.