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Health & Fitness

The Travels of A Cave Man

This Blog will let you know what adventures I'm up to lately.

In the spring of 2010, I had a meeting with my publisher.  At the meeting he asked me to write a book about Missouri tour caves. Places like Meramec Caverns, Onondaga and so on. I said “great idea”, then added, “Why don’t we add Arkansas, double the territory and call the book, Tour Caves of the Ozarks.  And while I’m at it, I’ll write a book about the Black Hills too.”  He agreed. We shook hands, and then we had lunch.  Since then I’ve been running around the Black Hills and the Ozarks checking out tour caves and some other sites, such as tour mines and museums. 

I’ve been having lots of fun doing this. Sometimes I take the regular cave tour. Some other times I’ll spend the day underground getting a personal tour from the manager or owner.  Often I get muddy.  One tour through the cave involved a jeep ride, while another tour required a small boat.  Animals within my campsite have ranged from a cougar to skunks. Have seen plenty of bats but the only one that bothered me at all was in a motel I was staying at. The research for the book requires me to visit each cave personally. This requires a lot of travel. Along the way to the point of interest, if I come across another adventure or interesting place, I must check it out. Sometimes it’s go-cart riding other times it’s a canoe trip. For example, I floated Beaver Creek last May while checking out caves near Springfield MO. It was a good spring float. Right now it’s the Ozark fall colors that are adding to the enjoyment of my latest road trip.

For the Black Hills book I’ve also been checking out a number of tour mines, museums and a mammoth dig site. The museums I selected deals with archeology, mining and paleontology.  The mammoth dig has a resident paleontologist and he granted me a lengthy interview. There is a chance I’ll get to join the dig for a short while next summer.  Hope to have both books ready for release in the spring of 2012. Then I’ll take a book tour during the spring and summer. I’ll cap it off with an appearance at the National Cave Association convention in Deadwood, South Dakota during September. 

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As always, check out my website:  www.theghosttownhunter.com

Next time:  Fall trips and Halloween Plans.

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