I came to this realization yesterday. I am ridiculously slow when it comes to finding caches. I have a method, and I will find the cache eventually, but 15 times out of 18 somebody else finds it first. This is a fact, because that's what happened yesterday.
So, yes, I marked my 250th cache find. But am I proud of it? Not particularly. It's ok, I still celebrated with a flaming bundt pan filled with alcohol.
Please note: I'm not asking anyone who caches with me in the future to let me find the caches, because that's worse than me not finding them at all. But this is my blog, and I can whine about it if I want to. Plus I'm sure a few of you know exactly how I feel.
Anyway, this is how it went down. EyeoftheSeeker (EOS) invited us out for a day of caching, but I was left with the responsibility of planning out the route and driving. The planning part was frustrating because geocaching.com still isn't working properly since the last update, and EOS has 5x as many finds as me, making it difficult to find places he hasn't been. Oy. I ended up giving myself a starting point and searching out caches in the general direction I wanted to go. Alas, it was still an epic fail because EOS forgot he'd been to those caches until we started visiting them.
One of the first caches of the day was one we visited back in May when we were still very new to geocaching. So new, in fact, that the cache's description mentioned a bison tube, and I was looking for something resembling a tiny buffalo. So yeah, we weren't even close last time. This find went to EOS, but was well worth the second visit.
In case you can't tell, that's a camo-taped bison tube sticking out of the lizard's neck/shoulder. Certainly one of the cuddlier caches I've seen. And then, for the second time, a cache tried to eat a member of Team Evelev.
We moved on to the next cache, which Brian found quickly. I've seen similar hides, but nothing quite like this. It appears they used a crapload of glue to seal this 35mm film canister into a fence cap. Genius.
Then we visited a travel bug hotel...cool. And then we grabbed lunch at the White Wolf Cafe, which was awesome. The next find went to EOS. Want to guess which bolt (below) is real and which one is the cache? This should be super easy, but it would have been tougher if the hider hadn't hidden the cache right next to a real bolt.
At this cache we also came across our first letterbox. I don't know anything about letterboxing except that it's similar but older than geocaching, and uses stamps. We signed the book, sans stamps, and I plan to try to log it.
The next cache we would never have found if not for EOS having already been there. The cache is located on this portable sign, which was moved a good 50 feet from GZ. Brian found this one. We'll definitely go back to grab a gyro.
We grabbed a few more super easy number-padder caches. I found one of them, but only because EOS had already found it, and Brian wandered around the car.
The next one went to Brian, which was well-deserved. While EOS and I were following our devices around in circles, Brian followed his geosenses right to the cache. I've seen plenty of pill bottle caches, but the camo tape made it a tad different.
This is the view from the aforementioned cache, which was too pretty not to include.
Next was a cache I missed due to my tunnel vision. The description hinted heavily towards it being a piece of bark, so I patted down the tree like it was getting a cavity search. EOS spotted it on the ground, right where I had just been standing.
Unknowingly, the following cache was my 250th. But since I never keep track of how many caches I've grabbed, I didn't realize this was my 250th until I was logging it last night. Oh well, Brian found it anyway.
The cool thing about this area (for me) was the local bird population. When we approached the cache we were greeted by some very noisy well-fed geese. Also present was a flock of ibis.
The cache resides somewhere in the picture above. I'll give you a hint: it's not decent or legal. It would have taken Brian and I a long time to find this one if not for EOS mentioning that he'd seen something like this before.
While you ponder, enjoy this picture of Brian and the ibis eyeing eachother cautiously.
It's called a cypress knee. It grows out of the water surrounding the cypress tree. Supposedly it is illegal to cut them, though I can't find a solid confirmation of that. It's possible that this one is fake (thought it didn't look it), or cut before this was illegal. I suppose you would classify this as a bison tube, since that's where the log was, wedged in the center of the cypress knee.
Technically I found this next cache, but I think Brian passed it by intentionally because he felt bad for me. Basically I was the organizer/photographer/chauffeur for their little bromance escapade. Anyway, the above cache was made from a jerky can. I'm a little surprised it hasn't been sasquatched.
It wasn't until I found the next cache (which I think EOS wandered away from intentionally. Yes, I am that paranoid), that I thought about my 250th. We did a quick count and thought this was it. So we snapped a publicity photo, only to find this was my 252nd. Oh well. It's kind of like when your birthday is on a Thursday, but you celebrate on Saturday.
After that we passed by a cache because a bum was sleeping near it. Then we found this one that has amazingly not been muggled. It's not like it's in the middle of nowhere. I guess people see stranger things that film canisters strapped to No Parking signs around here.
We couldn't help but notice the Barnum & Bailey train cars nearby. According to Brian, they walk the animals from the train station to the arena two miles away. Fascinating, huh?
You probably noticed my new header above. You will also notice my lack of effort on the html front...I'll work on that later. I created that for this cacher-community website that is currently offering free advertising. Well, let me tell you, I got denied because I'm not selling anything. Of course, if I'd like to pay for the space, I'm free to do that. But people who are actually making money and have a budget for advertising? No, it's free for them. For a couple of hours they had a spot on my sidebar, but they won't be making another appearance here. So much for cachers helping cachers.
Since I'd like to end on a somewhat brigher note - FTF Geocacher has gone to print! If you haven't signed up for a subscription, you're running out of time.
Very funny. Bromance? Lmao
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