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Even Vertical Bill was a novice
One thing I can fairly well keep in chronological order is some things about Bill Cuddington. First I ever heard of Bill was on a caving trip with Earl Thierry down in the Ward's Cove area of Tazewell. One cold wintry day, the sun was shining and we were trying to find a place to cook a meal out of the wind. We'd found this overturned tree at the edge of a churchyard and we were cooking at the stump end of the tree in the sun. Earl Got to laughing and I asked, "What's up, Earl?" He days, "This fryin' pan here belongs to a new caver that caved with me a couple of times there in, Roanoke. I don't know whether I'11 ever see him again. I reckon he'll come back after his fryin pan." "What's his name?." "oh, you never heard of him. A young fellow by the name of Bill Cuddington."
Next time I was caving and heard of Bill, Bill was on the trip. It was a trip to Higginbotham. II, and we rigged it with ladders. On the first level was a very ripe dead cow and the ladders hit right on top of it. Bill and, myself didn't go down the second pitch. We stayed on the first level and explored around, climbed pretty near back out of the cave or a side of the entrance pit. But all the time Bill was complaining about climbing the ladders, saying, "That was terrible, terrible." He couldn't do it. He wanted to get out of that cave. "Ladders are terrible things." I said, "Bill, maybe you don't know how to climb this ladder. See, you keep your arms on the back side and one foot on the back side and you can climb it pretty well." And we got out of the cave, and Bill got a bit more enthusiastic about ladder work. As a matter of fact, later he borrowed 125 feet of cable ladder from me while I was in the army and kept it for a couple of years.
Another early trip with Bill was to Bare Hole in Monroe County, WV. This was a B A R E hole, and quite so. The only thing of any importance there, I reckon, was the pile of junk at the entrance. It certainly didn't go anywhere. One outstanding fact, though, it had a sheer drop about ten or fifteen feet on one side. Somebody threw down a line, anchored it, and started rappelling practice. Well, Bill was curious. He was a bit hesitant but finally he got into a body rappel and backed into the hole. That did it! Ol' Bill went down that rappel a dozen times or more and he was really hooked from then on.
"I'd say that the person who inspired me in caving the most was Earl Thierry. I was a young kid then, and I know he worried some when I'd go caving alone. Then, Roy Charlton had a lot of influence on me. I learned rappelling and stuff, and worked out on quarries. But I was doing it the wrong way, running the rope wrong, over my shoulder. One day over in West Virginia, we had done Mott Hole(this was the historic second trip where we all went to the bottom. I remember I had my cloth hat, and Bob Handley sold me an old hard hat. Went over to some cave, a fifty foot pit, and we rigged a ladder. I got to talking to Bob Barnes about rappelling. You could get into the rope at the bottom and get a five foot rappel. So I got in the way I'd been getting in; it was all wrong. Bob showed me the right way. He suggested I try it, so I climbed up the ladder, and got into rappel. Some of them thought this might cure me of rappelling, so I wasn't offered any safety at all. So I got in the right way; both Handley and Barnes showed me how to hold my hands. I remember I was kinda scared; someone said to lean back. I did. Someone said hop, and I started hopping, and next thing I was having a ball! At the bottom, I jumped out off the rope, sailed up the ladder, and down again I came! I did that three times, and someone finally said STOP!"
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The Court Wes and Lynn Thorneoutside the court Lewisburg, WV. Photo by T.B. Vigour |
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In accumulating information about the various eateries favored by VAR cavers, we cannot forget the Court Restaurant in Lewisburg, West Virginia. In talking with various cavers who frequented this palatable palace, we discovered that the biggest reason for inhabiting the restaurant was because it catered to hunters and others who were up at odd hours. It was open early, had lots of good food, and was probably one of the first restaurants to have a caver's register. In addition, the window displayed a sign, "COME AS YOU ARE;" thus challenging the cavers to come in as grubby as possible. Tom Vigour relates an experience in eating there after a caving trip:
"In March 1965 Henry Stevens, Ed Morgan, Alan Armstrong and I went to Lewisburg to 'do' the 120 foot pit in Grapevine Cave. After the trip, we went to the Court to take advantage of their 'all the spaghetti you can eat for a dollar deal. We planned eat until they closed up. The first plate was a monster, and we ate it. The second plate about half as much, and the red haired waitress was right put out when three of us (Henry dropped out a that point) requested a third serving. She carried the plates back to the kitchen, returning empty-handed to tell us that had had 'all the spaghetti we could eat for a dollar'. Boy, were we pissed! As we paid our bill, Morgan gave the cashier (the same redhead) only half of what he owed. When she asked Ed why there was only half, he replied, "Because I only ate half of the spaghetti I wanted." That really jacked her Jaw and she started yelling at us, so we threw her our money and left. The following week the 'all you can eat' part of the sign was covered up and what they advertised was a spaghetti dinner for a dollar."--
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