Fear the Banana

Which finally brings us to Wednesday, November 8

Wanted to knock some out of the way today, despite Contra coming out on Xbox 360 today. (I did make it back with enough time to beat the game!)

Dialed up Fear the Spear (GCX5MV) in the GPS and drove towards it. It was a multi-cache (of which I've had absolutely no luck with) but this one turned out to be doable. The coordinates took me to a handicapped parking sign, which had the coordinates to stage two written in sharpie on the back. They were very faded, making it almost impossible to decypher, but I ended up getting them inputted into my system.

Stage two was only .25 miles away, so I hoofed it over there. This was all around a community football field which was completely empty. It was very nice not having to deal with muggles. The GPS pointed into the woods, which made me silently curse to myself. I looked around for 15 minutes or so, and finally found it about 6 feet away from where my GPS was pointing. I was sort of pissed, but glad that I found it. I looked around inside but found nothing that was worth taking, so I just signed the log and re-placed it.

I remembered DIY (GCWYTD) being in the general vicinity of me, so I looked in my folder and found the location and drove over to it. It was a Home Depot, and I came by here one night, but wasn't able to get out and look for anything. This one proved to be fairly easy in the daylight. It was a 35mm film canister velcroed to the bottom of a gray box on the wall of the business (very low so noone would see it if they were looking.) I signed the log and headed out.

Was a good day for caching.

No 'Hiding' For Tuesday Caches

Tuesday, November 7

I was called into work at 1pm. When I got in there was absolutely nothing for me to do, so I left after an hour. Still having about three hours before I'd normally go in, I figured I'd do some caching.

Miranda (GCMGDM) was one that we tried before, but didn't have any luck (or flashlights!). It was on the way back home, so I stopped by. I found it within minutes, hanging from a drain. It used the same technique as DeepDigger tried to use for one of his hides on the USC campus. I took a pretty nice little necklace with a martini shaped charm and left another dinosaur figure. I'm so cheap.

After that I decided I'd give Park Hopper 1 (GCYFMD) another try. Last time there were lots of muggles there, and this time was no different. I don't know if I'll ever have the peace and quiet to find the first stage. I sent the owner a message hoping for some hints to aide my search, but no response yet.

I had time for one more so I dug around and found Hidden Garden (GCX9VD). I drove to the location, which was right near a voting place. It was packed with voters! The GPS took me around back to a Master Gardener demonstration place, and I found the cache with ease. It was meant to be an easy cache, just to show people the garden location. I took a really nice LED keychain light (for future hunts) and left a bouncy ball and a geocaching golf tee.

Oh well, fun is over. Had to go to work!

Starting the Week Off Right

Monday, November 6

Monday is our usual 'Caching in Fort Walton Beach' day, so I ran over to TinyDancer's house. We wanted another crack at The Library Cache (GCYEEY) so we went there immediately. This cache was quickly becoming the bane of my existance. Urban micro caches with muggles swarming everywhere=nightmare. We looked for this one for nearly an hour and a half, but finally, FINALLY, I found it. I signed the hell out of that log and took a few pictures and got the hell out. I won't miss that library at all.

Unfortunately, the time spent on that hunt wiped out most of the night, but there was another one we wanted to check out. Oak Tree Cache (GCH0V4) was one that perked our interest from the first time we saw it. She said she had heard of the park, but didn't recall exactly where it was, so we got the coordinates and headed over to it. The sign read that it was closed dusk to dawn, and it was clearly dark, but we didn't care. We snuck in there with our flashlights and looked for it. We turned up a string hanging from a tree where a cache may have been at one time, but was empty now. We were going to look some more, but two cops with flashlights were at a nearby house and spooked us out of there. Hopefully someone can verify if the cache is still there or not.

It was pouring rain the rest of the night, but TinyDancer is obsessed with this damn sport. She wanted to find Cannon Shell (GCQB99) because it was at a place she knew about, the Indian Temple Mound. Out we went, into the monsoon. We looked for that damn cache for probably 20 minutes, getting completely drenched the entire time, but eventually I couldn't take it anymore and asked if we could leave. I won't mind looking again, in the dry weather, maybe even in day light. Yeah, that would be nice.

Who Needs Church On a Sunday ...

Sunday, November 5

Sunday was our day to try to find a civil war geocoin for DeepDigger. He's a civil war nut, so I wanted to get these for him. Unfortunately, one of the geocoins was on a military base, and in order to get to it, you need a pass. No passes are given out on Sundays, so we were out of luck. Also unfortunately, the other civil war geocoin was picked up on Saturday, so we couldn't get that one either. Hopefully it will turn up in another cache.

We were really looking forward to caching, though, so we took off down the Interstate towards Crestview. I remembered reading about two caches at rest areas when looking at Crestview caches, so I made sure to get some printouts of the coordinates. They weren't at the rest areas I originally thought they'd be at, but rather at two rest areas on the other side of Crestview, about 10 miles past. I didn't mind the drive, so we hit them up. The first one was Crestview I-10 Eastbound (GCMBJ2), since we were going east. It was a camo box hanging from a tree near the off ramp. There was a travel bug in there that consisted of socks. The story read something about two people who used to live in Africa together, and the socks needed to get from one person to the other. I don't remember, but I wasn't about to take a sock travel bug. We took a little dinosaur figure and left some dice.

Then we drove across the street to Crestview I-10 Westbound (GCMBJ4). This one was actually a little difficult. We parked and ran into the woods and hunted around for it for about 5 minutes. Finally I saw it, but I wanted the Dancer to find it, so I waited until she found it to say anything. We took some jacks and left a Star Wars Burger King watch.

After that we visited my mom for a little while, but Dancer was still aching for more caching, so we looked up one more from my moms house. The Evil Empire Comes To Florida (GCXF9C) turned out to be right near Wal-mart, but we sure couldn't find it. We gave up after about 15 minutes because there were some workers there who were semi checking us out. Hopefully we'll find it another time.

Again, no pictures. :)

Saturday's All Right For Caching

There is so much to catch up with. I'll try to group it by trips.

Saturday, November 4.

TinyDancer came to visit me at work, and she was determined to pull me away to do some geocaching. When I had some downtime, we ran over to try our hands at Miranda (GCMGDM). Unfortunately, she forgot the flashlight from my apartment, so when we went out, we were in the dark. We came away empty-handed, but it was nice to see the area. It would make the return trip easier.

After work, I dragged her out in the blistering cold for a try at Whitmire Ghoul (GCRYE4). We bundled up and headed out to another cemetery. (She really hates cemetery caches.) But there are so many of them! This one was recommended to do at night, making it extra spooky. I had a blast, but she was totally rushing me to get out of there. We had to find the tombstone of this guy named Jim the Woodsman. His gravestone was shaped like a treetrunk! It was so cool. We got the final coordinates by using his birth/death date and I found the cache behind a tree at the back of the cemetery. We took a million dollar bill out and left Xi the travelbug (link can be found on the right column of this page.) Didn't grab any pictures.

After Whitmire Ghoul we tried Welcome to UWF (GCTDC0), which has been quetionable for some time. Lots of people are coming up empty-handed, but the cache owner has yet to go out to see if it's still there. We didn't spend too much time on it, merely for this fact. We left to try our hand at UWF Val Soccer (GCYQJM).

We pulled up to the UWF Soccer field, but the coordinates were pointing into the woods. I poked around in the woods for a few minutes, but it was kind of creepy so we took off. We'll have to try that one again in the daytime.

Smooth Sailing for 'Rough Rider Cache'

Woke up to see I had a couple messages from the duo that handle a majority of the caches in the Pensacola area, tufer & tufer2. I had tried to find the Rough Rider Cache (GCHKH1) last week and turned up empty handed twice. They found it had been muggled, and finally had a chance to go out today to replace it. Well, I was more than happy to get it out of the way.

I drove the car down to the county park, parked in my usual spot, and ran into the woods. Upon entering the trail, I saw a tree about 100 yards to my right bend, crack, and shake like crazy. All I can think of was that a bear was bending it. I can't imagine anything else having that kind of strength. Needless to say, I was scared to death, but I decided to try to push through it. I wasn't about to leave a third time.

I made a right turn towards the cache and followed the GPS for about 150 feet and found the nuts, which the clue spoke of. "You'll go nuts over this cache." Well, last time I saw them, they were just laying on the ground. But this time it looked like something could actually be under it. The clue finally made sense.

I pulled it out and realized it looked very similar to the last cache I found. It was very well stocked. I was going to place the Lost $2 in it, but realized I forgot it somewhere (and I still can't find it ... oops!) so instead I put an ugly train bead necklace that I got out of a different cache. In return I took a little frog... thing.


I was quite happy to get out of the woods. I hope I never have to go back.

And I sure as hell hope I find the Team Lost $2 Bill.

RBTL

Cache Titles Are So Appropriate Sometimes

I'm Muggling You! (GCYCDQ) was an adventure I decided to take after work tonight. When I say adventure, I'm definitely not using the word lightly. It's amazing the difference you feel when you are caching at night as opposed to daytime. A lot of it has to do with the way muggles look at you at night. If you're out in the woods waving around a flashlight at 2:00am, they're gonna wonder what the hell you're doing, and they're sure as hell not gonna go inside without spying on you for as long as they can.

On to the story.

After following the GPS around for four miles or so, it finally began to clock down. I pulled into an apartment complex, got my flashlight and pen out (as I've learned to do since so many caches have no writing untencil) and made the trek across the road into the woods. The woods were standing on a beautiful lake which held the light of various street lamps and the moon. I found the spot where the GPS said it was and started waving my flashlight around, looking for anything in the tall weeds. In the summertime this place must be a haven for snakes.

I finally spotted a big gray box and found the best angle to pull it out. It was an ammo box, very similiar to the first cache I found (which also included a strange muggle confrontation) and it contained a lot of goodies inside. I pulled everything out and decided I'd take the Star Wars Emperor Palpatine Pez Dispenser. I didn't really have anything to put in return, but I figured it was okay since the cache was so full, so I signed the log and closed her up. It was at this moment when I realized I forgot my camera from my car. DeepDigger gets cranky when I don't take pictures, so I knew I had to go back and get it. I closed the cache, leaving it in the middle of the woods in plain sight and headed back to the car, knowing I'd be right back.

As I approached my car, I noticed a black suv was parked next to me. As soon as I got close enough, the suv started its engine as if it were scared I was walking towards it. This freaked me out because I realized the suv had a perfect angle to have been watching me the entire time. I tried no to act nervous, but I couldn't very well walk back across the street with a muggle watching me at 2:15am, so I decided I'd just get in my car and drive away.

I drove around for a bit and came back and, sure enough, the black suv was still parked in the same spot with its parking lights on. I believe he was waiting to see if I would come back, so I continued driving and came all the way home.

I got home and figured while I was here, I'd find something to put in the cache in return for the pez dispenser. I don't have much, but settled on throwing a few guitar picks in there. I then tried to decide if it would be a good idea to hang out awhile and hope when I got back the suv was gone, or if I should just chance it and head back immediately. I decided on just going for it and getting it out of the way, so I drove back. The suv was still parked there, but there were no lights on and it looked like noone was in it. I drove past and parked behind a gas station. I found another entrance to the woods and walked around the lake to the cache spot. This trail hid me behind the trees at an angle that from where the suv was, they wouldn't be able to see me.

I opened the cache, threw the guitar picks in, closed it up, took a quick picture (praying it was in frame) and tried very hard to hide it back where I found it (without turning a flashlight on in the pitch dark.) I did the best I could, but I know I didn't hide it as well as I could have had it been daylight, or had I not been scared to death that I was being watched.

I'll go back soon (in the daylight!) to see if I can hide it better. Not that it was hard in the first place, but I'd hate for the original hider's vision to be ignored.

Perhaps I won't go out at night alone anymore. :)

Chugging Through 'Don't Steam On By!'

Every day, on the way to work, I see a train sitting in the middle of Garden Street. Well, not in the middle, but in the median between the eastbound/westbound traffic lanes. Recently I learned that a cache, Don't Steam On By! (GCTHRP), called this location its home, and I was anxious to get out and locate it. Unfortunately my first two tries beared no fruit, but the third time's a charm. I realized I had about 10 spare minutes before work, so I pulled the brake lever and stopped my boxcar along the way.

It's a bit unnerving trying to poke around in a bush while traffic is blasting by you in both directions. I'm sure I looked like an idiot, but this is the way it goes when people decide to put caches in muggle-filled zones. Luckily it proved to be a quick find, as I was probably in and out in 2 or 3 minutes.

edit: Here's the long awaited image. I don't know if you can really see how small it is in the photo, but it is pretty tiny. I could barely fit the log back in it when I was done signing.

Nothing Out Here But Us Grass!

After heading out to Rough Rider Cache for the second time this morning and again turning up empty, I decided to message the owners and ask for some clues. They said it was an easy cache, and couldn't imagine someone having this much difficulty, so they went out to check on it. Sure enough, it was muggled. Turns out I wasn't quite as bad as I thought I was. Will be happy to get this one out of the way after they put another cache out. :)

Caching Newbie Comes Out Strong

After two straight days of no finds, I figured a change of location was in order. I recruited the help of Team Lost's newest unofficial member, Tiny Dancer. And I tell you, she had the hot hands tonight.

I wrote down the coordinates for three caches, got a few things together, and headed out. First on the list was S4, Jesse Rogers Cemetery (GCG77F). We approached the entrance to the Cemetery and quickly read the sign that said "Closed From Dusk Till Dawn." Being the night before Halloween, and realizing the wonderful reference of a horror movie title, I decided I didn't care. We headed in.

The cache consisted of finding birth/death dates of a couple people and plugging in numbers in order to find the coordinates of the cache. The GPS was apparently bouncing off the spirits of the dead, because it was going nuts. After 20 minutes of searching with a single flashlight, we managed to find the numbers we needed. Unfortunately we plugged in a birth date instead of a death date, so we were headed in the total wrong direction of the cache. Tiny Dancer figured that out after the GPS was pointing to the other side of a fence. We quickly went back to the headstone, found the correct numbers, and headed in a more appropriate direction.

Closing in on the destination, we poked around in some bushes for a bit and didn't see anything. I rarely print out the cache sheets, so I didn't have any clues or anything to go on. I figured I'd use my phone-a-friend to call DeepDigger, and as I was asking him for some clues, Tiny Dancer proclaimed "I think I found it." Sure enough, I looked over and she had the cache in her hands. It was a micro. I let her sign the log since she was the finder. We quickly replaced the cache and took off. We didn't want to stay in a graveyard in the dark on the eve of Halloween. (Also we forgot to take pictures of this one, sorry!)

En route to destination #2, Nan's Kitchen Cache #2 (GCQHNH), we were in good spirits. I told the Dancer that we were going to a park, and she realized the direction we were headed was a park she used to play in as a child. Sure enough, she confirmed this when the GPS clocked down. We hopped out of the car and followed the arrow that we've come to love and hate. It pointed to some bushes and ... wait. What happened? Oh, looks like the GPS has breathed its last breath. Karma from poking around in a graveyard prior? Who knows. As I was about to suggest turning back to get more batteries, I heard what has begun to be a familiar sound: Tiny Dancer gloating about another find. "I see it!" she said, heading around the fence to the cache and out she came with a huge tupperware box.

We popped her open and you could see stars in her eyes as she looked over her first cache with inventory. She poked around and took out a pencil with a snowman eraser. In return we left gorilla-my-dreams travel bug. I was sad to see him go. He had a long trip to Florida from South Carolina. I wish him well.

I was really enjoying the night. It had been so long since I had found a cache and here we were two for two! We left and stopped at a gas station to get some fresh batteries for the GPS and another flashlight. The Dancer also wanted to buy a little something to leave in a later cache, so she bought a 8 pack of dice. I believe she may be getting addicted. :)

Time for cache #3, Don't Tread on Me (GCTE5G). I remembered reading the details, and it was under the Brooks Bridge. We drove around until we found our way under there, and parked. Be weary, those who dare venture down to this one. You'll find some nice stuff on your shoes if you're not careful. We smelled this one for the rest of the night.

After about 5 minutes of looking around with our flashlights, Dancer said "I have an idea!" I don't know what she was on, but I need some. Boy was she on tonight! Of course, I didn't discount her for a second. It didn't surprise me a bit when she came out with the cache. That was three in a row for her! Am I that bad? She popped open the small bottle and pulled all the contents out. A travel bug! Without a thought she pocketed the bug, threw in some dice and signed the log.

Having found three caches, we decided we had time for a couple more. Called up Deep again and got the coordinates to one I saw when I was looking on the site earlier in the day. Fort Walton Landing, another micro. Woo freaking hoo. She knew where the landing was, so she drove there as I put in the numbers. Parked as close as we could and hoofed it to the location. Read the clues to ourselves over and over, but couldn't figure out anything. We gently pulled everything we could get our hands on, but nothing came out of the ground. We almost gave up three or four times. As I climbed the hill to leave, I saw one last thing to pull up, and out it came. Yes! I finally found one! One out of four isn't bad, right?

As I called Deep to gloat, Dancer unscrewed it and pulled out the log. It's my turn to sign! Yeah! Signed it, felt good inside and placed it back. Four for four. I couldn't believe it.

Having a little bit of time left, we got one more set of coordinates from the Team Lost Headquarters (Deep's house as he tried to eat.) The Library Cache (GCYEEY) was at a Library (appropriately) right up the road. We parked at a car wash and made a short walk to the library. We looked for about 30 seconds as we realized there was a homeless guy shuffling around near the library behind us. Being the safe geocachers that we are, we decided it would be a good idea to leave. We walked (quickly!) to our car and made the drive home.

Was a great night. Can't wait to get out again. I wonder how I'll fare without her?

'Pin Cone, Reclaimed' Claimed

It was sprinkling again this morning (after a tremendous downpour all night) but I was determined to get out today. I searched the site for a suitable cache that I'd be able to find fairly quickly, but I wanted to explore a place I'd never seen before, so I found a cache called 'Pin Cone, Reclaimed' (GCP7T7). It was a 2/1.5. I plugged in the coordinates to the parking lot and the cache itself, grabbed my camera and I was on my way.

It was about a 4 mile drive, and again, Google Earth threw me down a street that I didn't need to go down. I turned around and followed the GPS and arrived at a water reclamation project. Parked the car and headed through a gate that read "Gate closes at dark." Good thing it was only 2pm. As I made my way through the gate, I was struck with how beautiful the woods were.

I was on a trail heading right through them. I looked at the GPS and it said I had to walk a little more than half a mile, so I buckled down and started hoofing it. I quickly came upon a boardwalk, which continued all the way to the cache (and past!). I'd never seen a boardwalk so vast, but then again I haven't been on too many. The scenery was beautiful, and the water under the boardwalk was nice, and at one point became totally covered in algae.

I saw a couple ducks and water pipes and finally zeroed in on the waypoint. Took me about 30 seconds to find it, since there weren't too many places it could have been hiding. It was hanging on two nails under the railing of the boardwalk. As soon as I found it the rain started coming down a bit stronger, so I opened it up, looked at the contents and left.


I didn't have anything to put in (it's a lapel pin trading station) and I forgot my pen, so I just closed it up and left. I'll come back again soon to sign the log.

RB[TL]