On Monday, May 24th I decided to take a friend of mine and her son to experience "caving". We talk about caving often and have lots of photos hanging around our house of various caves. Being this was their first "non- tour" cave, I decided on Jennings. Also, this was one of the first caves we went to when Brian Williams introduced Team Vinzant to caving 4 years ago.

We arrived at Jennings about 11 am. Man, was it getting hot already. Andy went over and rigged the drop, while I helped Carol and her son Danny gear up. After everyone had their gear on, we walked over to the entrance drop. That is when I really could see all the work that the Brintons, T-baggers and various FSS’ers had done. Last time I was here, we had to slip between huge boulders to enter, Now it looks like a "New cave". I was impressed.

Andy dropped in first to belay. Then Danny had his first rappel. He looked really comfortable. Next was his mom, Carol. She wasn’t quite as comfortable as Danny on rope, but she sure was excited. I followed the group down and slipped through the gate that Andy unlocked.

We crawled and ran all over the cave. Andy wasn’t quite as fast going through the worm hole as he used to be, but he did it. He took Danny down to the lower level. Carol decided she wasn’t quite ready for that yet, so I waited with her. The four of us crawled through the bedding plane and up to the sloped room and down. On the way back out, Andy and I pretended to be lost. Carol didn’t find it quite as funny as the rest of us did, but soon we were all just running and screaming down the various passages. It was so much fun to just play and be together.

After about two hours , we locked the gate and climbed out. We packed up our gear, loaded the truck and made a short trip over to Rainbow River State Park for a picnic. The cold spring felt real good after caving. It made an awesome combination.

Again, thanks to those who put so many volunteer hours to restore this wonderful little cave. You are so appreciated. Thank you!