WHY DO WE CELEBRATE OUR AGE?

In 1982, when I first met Paul Moeller, I gave him a cat my daughter hauled home from a goat show. He didn't want to take the cat without his wife seeing it first, but he did. Then he kept me informed and sent pictures of the cat's antics for the rest of its life. He lost his wife two years ago, and at lunch yesterday, he told me, "I reach for Martha's hand each morning before I'm fully awake. But our cat likes to sleep where she slept and I touch fur instead. It comforts me."

In 1983, he talked me into joining a Public Access group. Happiness for Paul is producing video of what goes on in the community. He loves to find raw talent, put a camera in someones hands and send them out to do video with minimal instruction. Learning comes later. I reluctantly at first, and then enthusiastically helped him produce around 80 videos. Paul has done thousands, so my part was very small.

Paul has suffered a stroke, a car accident, a broken femur and he can no longer drive. He is still happiest when producing videos for the Public, so he hires a driver to take him to the shoot, and at 86 years old, he still produces video. His driver is my housemate, Karen.
I learned a great deal from this man, and I treasure him as one of my best friends. It doesn't take much to realize that life is a journey and keeping active, no matter how hard, is what we do to make it all worthwhile.

Later in the evening, Karen and I drove to the Pizza Factory and joined my two brothers to celebrate my birthday. Theresa and Clark, me, Bill and Karen.

The same photo with Jan.  Some friends are as much a part of the family as family.  I'm fortunate to have three brothers out of five still living. So, we count our blessings and say, life is good, and then we make it so. Stay as healthy as we can, do for others, overcome adversity, smile and be happy.

PUBLIC ACCESS IN THE MOTHERLODE

When I first moved to the Mother Lode, people would ask me, "What do you do?" Inherent in that question was another, 'aren't you bored?' Nobody asks that anymore, and, I've never been bored. Paul Moeller is known in the area as Mr. Community Television. He started Calaveras Community Television in 1983. He went on to help nearby Amador, and Tuolumne Counties start their access programs. He taught video classes at Columbia College and at every school in the county. He promoted building a studio and it was built with the expertise of a volunteer contractor and volunteer labor. A stunning achievment. Paul is an indefatigable producer recognized everywhere he goes. He has produced 5,000 shows for Public Access in Calaveras County. At 82 years old, he is still shooting every week.
Here he is taping myself and the Ramblin Man, Jim Jaillet and interestingly, Jim has produced 95 Public Access programs for Olympia Public Access in Washington State and I've worked on over 85 programs for Public Access here in Calaveras County, mostly as an anchor. There are activities for every interest in the Motherlode. I'm probably biased but I think Calaveras County is the jewel of the Motherlode.

Lechuguilla, Planet Earth, Young Friend From Murphys

The Planet Earth video showed the most pristine cave in the world, right in our own backyard near Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Discovered and discarded as a nothing place it's true scope came to light in the 1980's. Travis Deem of Murphys, Ca., at age seventeen was one of a lucky group of cavers who were allowed the privilege of joining an exploration team. In a recent letter to me he talks about that experience and how it shaped his life.

"It is hard to believe that it has been almost 20 years since my first trip to Lechuguilla. I have also seen the footage from the Planet Earth series and it is spectacular, almost like being there.

I have not been to the cave since the early 1990's. Despite all the time that has passed there is seldom a day that goes by that I do not think about the early days of exploration at Lechuguilla and the amazing privilege that I, and several others from our caving group have had as part of it.

The article you wrote had several pictures to accompany it, one of which has two of my teenage friends Greg Stock and Kyle Fedderly entering a cave. Both of them went on to become world-class cavers, not only participating in numerous expeditions to Lech (Greg was there this spring) but also to Europe and Borneo. I spoke with Greg ( whom I had not seen except in pictures from caving magazines since we were in college) just about two weeks ago. He is now the first ever park geologist for Yosemite National Park. During our brief phone conversation he remarked about how those days were instrumental in shaping his life and I have to agree the same is true for mine. In an age were every surface of this planet (and several other planets) has been mapped, I take heart in knowing that common people can still venture into the unknown and make discoveries that can astonish the world. Those who have been blessed with the opportunity to enter Lech have all, in at least some small way, taken their place with the great explorers of other ages. I know that sounds a little melodramatic, but I believe it is true. I asked Greg if Lech has paled in comparison to the other adventures he has had caving all over the world and he assured me that both for himself and other Lech veterans it still stands out as the jewel in the crown of speleology.

As I get older I sometimes find myself wondering if it all really happened, did a bunch of kids really get to engage in exploring the most significant cave discovery of the 20th century? Did I really walk through those rooms filled with forests of crystal and sleep over 1,000 feet below the New Mexico desert? I recall very well waking up on Christmas morning 1989 along with Greg and Kyle in an area called the Western Borehole where all the floors were covered with snow white gypsum, that is one white Christmas I will never forget. I cannot overemphasize the grandeur and beauty of that place. As you can probably suspect, I would go again in a heartbeat.

The exploration that occurs now is much more regulated than in the old days. Although that probably means I will never return I believe it is for the best. Some past practices did real harm to certain areas of the cave and, once damaged, the cave has no means of healing itself. Exploration will go on but now the groups are small and their activities are limited.

I do still cave, now with my own children. I hope that their own experiences will shape them to appreciate the natural world, to be brave, but not foolhardy, and to treasure the fact that they live in a world where there is still a frontier to explore.

Travis Deem

Thank you Travis for enlightening us once again with your experience at Lechuguilla.