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A TRULY SPONTANEOUS
HAPPENING  The
Encampment |
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For a number of years, those who hosted VAR meetings did not concern themselves with providing camping facilities. Most meetings were attended by only a handful of participants, and those that did need an accommodation could be easily housed at a caver's home or apartment.
When the fall VAR meeting was held at UVA in 1966, no place was specifically provided for camping. Most of us from VPI expected to be able to crash on someone's floor or possibly a back yard. The party was held at Roger Baroody's duplex house, and we were under orders to hold the noise level down. However, one thing led to another, and soon Mason Sproul was frolicking in the back yard with a sweet young thing. Everyone else was either in their cars with their headlights turned on the scene, or with their noses pressed to windows. About this time, the police showed up. The party closed down immediately, and we were left without a place to spend the night; and it was definitely too far to drive back to VPI.
Coming to our rescue, Tom Vigour called his parents in Waynesboro to ask for permission to bring a few friends back from a cave meeting in Charlottesville to spend the night. Tom's mother writes about that night:
"A number of you went to a VAR meeting at UVA and having no place to stay, camped in our backyard. But, instead of a few VPI cavers, there were several more out-of-towners who found themselves stranded in Charlottesville without a campground.
"The most extraordinary thing about it was that you were all so quiet! I knew you were coming and expected to hear noise, but I heard only a few foot steps and tent pole clinks. I probably wouldn't have waked at all except that a car turned around in the street and its headlights flashed in our bedroom. When I looked out in the morning expecting to see four or five people, the whole yard was covered with bodies and two tents.
"It amazed our neighbors as well to find that a silent encampment had sprung up overnight. They still talk about it.
"I remember it as a very pleasant experience. There were camp stoves set up here and there with breakfast cooking. We were very glad to have been useful."--Letter from Betty B. Vigour, January 22, 1976.
What Mrs. Vigour forgets is that she and her family served' most of us juice, coffee, bacon and pancakes in shifts until we were all well-fed! We certainly are grateful for their hospitality and have stored the experience away in our bottle of memories!-AW
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