The Admin's Blog

On this oh so spooky holiday, we have the pleasure of showcasing this not so creepy camper. It’s covered in bats, but they are the friendly “bite the bug before it bites you” kind. This super cute camper belongs to our fellow caver friends John and Brenda Shultheis of Hoosier Cavers.

 

Brenda designed and completed the custom paint job herself. “All it needed was paint and some bats!” – Brenda

 

The entrance to the bat cave...erm camper.	The front of the camper.
The rear of the camper with the flap down	The inside of this teardrop camper is decorated, too!

 

 

“This is a home built model. It has a stove and oven built-in.  It also has a bed, 12v lights, and vent fan that has 3 speeds: light, storm and hurricane. It can run on AC with shore power, so we can backwoods or campground camp. It’s so totally awesome and very, very comfy.”

– Brenda Shultheis

 

 

 

 

While this rig is more than capable of getting to just about any boondocking location, you will most often find it parked next to a hole in the ground. That is because the entire Shultheis family believes in cave conservation. They organize and participate in cave clean ups and restorations all throughout the year.

What is a cave cleanup? It is exactly what it sounds like. It is removing all of the stuff that doesn’t belong there. You see, there are these big holes in the ground called sinkholes. For decades, perhaps centuries, people have been treating them as if they were giant trashcans. They have thrown all kinds of stuff into them including cars, baby diapers, cows, washing machines, cans, clothing, mattresses, needles, and a whole host of other things. If you can name it, it has probably been tossed down a sinkhole. The people who tossed the stuff in didn’t think anything about it. Out of sight, out of mind. What they didn’t know is that they were possibly poisoning themselves by polluting the ground water. The same ground water that their wells provide them. In addition, caves and sinkholes offer a habitat for a variety of species such as cave beetles, cave spiders, cave fish, cave crickets, cave salamanders, bats and woodrats, just to name a few. When pollutants are introduced, the inhabitants can become ill or die. Many of the creatures living in caves cannot live above ground. Some of them are only found in one specific cave.

Here is a video and pictures of their last clean up. If you would like to join Brenda and John on a clean up or just want to help out in some way, please do not hesitate to visit their website for more information.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Have a great Halloween!