The Longest Year by Gary Roberson

I mentioned that, while we were at Indiana Caverns, I picked up the book, "The Longest year" by legendary caver Gary Roberson.  Roberson has been a major player in most of the Southern Indiana show caves over the last several decades- as a developer, manager and owner.

This is really a very one of a kind book in a category of its own.  In this volume, the author gives the story about his efforts to develop Indiana Caverns, and to open it as a show cave.  It is an interesting story, and I can't think of any other books about getting a cave up and running for tourists..... especially a new show cave.

It was also fun reading this one after we visited the cave.  Getting those boats into the cave involved lots of planning and help!  Oh, and that crazy spiral staircase wasn't simply bought stock from the local box store.

Gary, along with a small group of friends spent a little over a year getting the cave, the visitor center and parking area in order and up to code, which, when you think about it, seems crazy.  They really work themselves into physical exhaustion on the project.  They do hire others towards the end to help with the project with very mixed results.

Roberson works on the books as he struggles to deal with budget issues, payroll, retooling cave fixtures, etc.  The whole time he is working with a deadline to get the place running in time for the summer tourist season....; and if he doesn't that could bankrupt the project!

All sorts of things happen along the way, including moving a pile rocks back and forth, the cave getting broken into, and valuable machinery stolen.

Gary keeps his faith though, and works non-stop to reach his goals. 

I asked Gary to sign my copy when I bought it.  He very kindly did, and he gave me a little bit of a warning that the book needed some more editing done.  Well, he was right... technically, there are some noticeable issues with that in the book.  BUT, I have to say that it doesn't take away from the story at all, and anyone should be able to read this book, and enjoy it, pretty easily.