Relocating...but to where?

[Herman Miller]

Lol, I know many people can ever really throw up a list of places they could move if they wanted to but being as I am in the military I am afforded the opportunity and was hoping I could get the groups consensus as caving more or less dictates my off-duty activities followed by hiking/camping and scuba in that order.

the following is a list of possible states Im interested in:

1)Memphis, Tennessee - I't would be great living in Tn though from my understanding memphis is several hours from any real great caving and there is isnt much for scuba either.

2)Maryland - This area caught my eye awhile back just due to its proximity to the heavily karsted area of NW WV.

3)S Indiana - While I missed this years convention and have never personally been in the state its my understanding that theres good karst and the ky karst is just a few hours distant.

4)Virginia - Much the same as TN, all the locations I could be stationed happen to be right on the coast and several hours from the karst in the west side of the state. Though much speaks for both the hiking and scuba.

5)SE Georgia - Alas more the same, the location I could live is a stonethrow from Florida on the coast and several hours from TAG.

I do hope I havent bore anyone to death and yes I apologize for waisting 5 minutes of your life just looking for a lil ensight to verify my assumptions are correct on the various locations listed.

[David Grimes]

I am in Harrison County, In which is in the south central area and we have plenty of caves. There are allot of small caves and quite a few 1 mile + caves so I thinks it is a great area for caving. Kentucky also has lots of caves allot of which are very long. I have to say the majority in my area are small pits.

Where would you be sent Fort Knox maybe or actually in Indiana?

[NZcaver]

Aside from the options you just gave... have you thought about Hawaii? Lots of postings there, and plenty of opportunities for the big 3 interests you mentioned.

There's always the Pacific Northwest or the desert Southwest as well, although probably not much scuba going on with the latter choice.

[NoRegrets]

Bremen, what branch and where are you stationed? I just got out of the Marine Corps.

[MessedUpMike]

Maryland isn't so great IMHO. Depending on you budget you can get a comperable place in Va, for a still respectable drive to the WVa area. Maryland taxes are also a pain in the butt, and if you have any interesting in handguns at all..........it's difficult at best.

[tncaver]

bremen66,
Are the cities you mentioned your only choices available?
Almost any town from Nashville, Tn eastward in that state is within
two hours of hundreds of caves. Even Fort Campbell, Ky would be
fairly close to lots of caves in both TN and KY. The nearest caves
to Memphis are in Arkansas.
Some of the best caving states in the mid to eastern part of
the country are Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and
West Virginia.
North Georgia isn't bad either. As is Virginia. Unless you are a cave
diver, your best bet for scuba in those states would be in quarries
or lakes. Plenty of those too.
Some of the Western states have a lot of nice caves too. New Mexico
and California come to mind.

[Phil Winkler]

How about San Antonio? Either Army or Air Force can go there and the caving is great, too.

Eglin AFB in Florida is good, too.

[Herman Miller]

lol i didnt expect so many responses so quickly, I seperated from the airforce a few months ago and I will be joining the navy asap hence its really hard to find an inland base. I spent 6 years stationed in Las Vegas and caved extensively with the southern nevada grotto and I must say I've been to the handful of "known" caves within several hundred miles.

Dark storm - the one location is in indiana namely crane, indiana

NZ - as far as the SW is concerned theres zip for naval stations off the coast, the one exception being fallon air station in northern nevada. And as far as the northwest the caving is heavily clustered around the large volcanoes and, lol, lava tubes are sharp on the knees and dont catch my attention like limestone :).

Mike - handguns or anything is for that matter isnt a problem as local laws have no effect when I have several fully automatic assault rifles in my gun cabinet on base. the same goes for the local cost of living a little bit. The military pays a housing allowance based on what it costs to find a decent house in the local area ie when I lived in Las Vegas I was getting over 1400 a month.

Tncaver - I see our views coincide though my main objective was to get over into" the eastern us somewhere.

thanx all for the views expressed and the time given.

[SofaKingCool]

Sugar Grove, WV has a Naval installation. There are over 100 miles of cave passages within an hours drive.

[Herman Miller]

ohhhhhhh thats quite interesting as it isnt listed on any of the gov sites i've perused, thanks alot SKC

[Scott McCrea]

If it would help to have a contact at Sugar Grove, I have a buddy, a civilian, that works there.

[Herman Miller]

lol thank you very much scott but no need, I'll put it on my dreamsheet (a list of desired places to be stationed) though its a longshot as it is quite a small installation in terms of total ppl allocated there but boy wouldnt it be crazy to go from the tiny caves in NV to the motherlode that is germany valley :)

[Cheryl Jones]

At the TOP of your list B66! Almost heaven!

Cheryl

[Herman Miller]

lol yeah its beyond my wildest to even think i could be so close to germany valley and beyond that the TRA grounds :)

[SofaKingCool]

Germany Valley is great and all but Highland County, VA is even closer to Sugar Grove. Highland County is the premier caving spot between Germany Valley and Burnsville Cove.