My Life Flashed Before My Eyes A Couple Dozen Times

I tend to think that I can handle all sorts of situations. The first night I was ever in Los Angeles there was a 7.1 earthquake at 3:30am and I was riding my bed on the 25th floor of a downtown hotel - no sweat. Then there was the time I was rock hunting in the upper peninsula of Michigan and came within 20ft of a full grown cougar in the wild, piece of cake. Venomous snakes in North Carolina? Pllllease. Yesterday though I truly felt I was in some real do-do.

The whole point was to grant a Christmas wish for my daughter Miss Geoness. She really wanted to spend the holidays with her family in Michigan. It's all she really wanted and I was dead set to getting her there. Until I saw on Thursday about the blizzard that was going to go through directly along out path. The only possible solution was to leave REALLY early on Friday instead of Saturday and try to beat the storm. If I couldn't make it back to Raleigh until Sunday then no big deal but at least Amanda could make it to Michigan.

The plan was pretty straight forward. I would leave 4:00am and drive straight through to Marietta, Ohio and meet up with the Grand Parents. That was a little more than half way and they could take her back to their house. Then I would book it back to North Carolina and try to beat out the storm. Ah the greatest plans of mice and men. The first part went very smoothly and we were out the door and travelling as expected. I was listening to the weather reports telling me how western North Carolina, Virginia and southern West Virginia were expecting anywhere from 12 to 28 inches of snow later in the day. This was not giving me that warm fuzzy feeling by any means. Yet I felt good when I made it to Marietta in just around 6.5 hours and it was only 10:30am. I said my greetings and gave my daughter the biggest hug before watching them drive north. Now it was my turn to drive into the belly of the beast.

Heading south I listened to each and every weather report I could in West Virginia. It sounded like the storm wouldn't be hitting Charleston until around 7pm so I was pretty confident that I wouldn't get stuck in a snowbank anywhere in West Virginia. It sprinkled slightly every once in a while in the mountains but no major concerns, onward I drove. Then came Virginia. Like someone flipping a light switch the heavy snowflakes came down and visibility dropped to about 100 feet or so. I knew this was the area that was going to get it the worst and I had to just buck it up and get through it.

"I can do this", I said to myself. Then I hit my first 5% truck grade. In all my driving experience I have never physically soiled myself but if there was ever a time that this unfortunate condition was going to transpire, this was it. Looking down the very long slope which just happened to end in sharp left turn with nothing but a guardrail and the promise of eternal sleep waiting at the bottom. I put my car in Low Gear #1, slightly applied the brakes and prayed. Much to my delight the car stayed where it was supposed to and did not slide as I expected.

Phew that was hill number one of many. I wasn't worried so much about my driving but all the

other idiots around me and there were whole

ditches filled with them. I seriously lost count after the first 50 or so. Everything from those little half tennis shoe looking cars to full sized tractor trailers laid waste before me as I puttered along.

Long story short I made it home between 8:30pm and 9pm in an exhausted heap. Which means it took me 10 hours to make it back. Thank the Big Guy upstairs all in one piece. I quite frankly never want to be in that situation again. I will fly to Michigan again before I take another adventure in the Virginian hills during a blizzard.

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

My Early Morning 1/1 Geocaching Nightmare

In the geocaching world there is a rating for how difficult the terrain surrounding the cache site (or getting to it) is and another for how difficult it is actually hidden. The range for both is from one to five. So if you ever look at a geocache listing you will see references like D3.5/T2. The easiest of geocaches to find is a 1/1. Normally a cache of this ease is accessable by wheelchairs and usually is wide open or has obvious where-a-bouts like flashing neon arrows and the like.

So when I saw two 1.1's publish last night my first assumption was - cool, piece of cake. Ever see the comedian Benny Hill talk about the word ASSUME. The punch line is how assuming makes an ASS out of U and ME. Well hee-haw for me cuz that's what I felt like by the time I got home.


Geocache #1. Drove into the parking lot near ground zero and after reading the description I walked over to the geocache site and immediately noticed that the terrain was not correct and anybody with a wheelchair better have 4x4 mode to get there. Not completely terrible but definitely not a 1. That little .5 makes all the difference. Started looking around and was greeted by a host of dense bushes. Thought sure no problem and started looking for the small container, and looked and looked. Bush after bush with nada, zip, nothing. Expanded my search even though there was nothing else around and still found nothing but a good soaking from the well rained on bushes.

Well shoot. Checked out the hint that said "Under RESPECT" which made no sense. I figured a sign or some other clue to point me to this simple park and grab..... and bupkis. Okay fine, I wasn't pleased with myself but hey there was a second FTF prospect and so I would go check that out and come back for a second swing. Little did I know that my temporary grief was going to get worse.

Geocache #2. The second geocache was about ten miles away and even though the early morning traffic was increasing it was not all that bad as I pulled into the parking lot. The ground zero was about 140 feet from the parking lot across a grassy yard and pointed to a large tree. Now again the difference in terrain is only slight but would need to be adjusted in my humble opinion and no biggie.

Walked to large oak tree which had a nice crown in the center and nothing else. Looked around and found nothing. Looked in all the reachable places and nothing. This was another small hidden by the same hider as my first geocache today. A pattern was forming in my head. I looked around one last time and expanded to the fence that was about twenty feet from the tree. Nothing. Eventually I figured that maybe the geocaches were posted before the hider realized that they needed to be in place. Didn't know at that point and started walking back to my car. That's when I saw the blue lights and heard the quick "whoop!" that told me the law was behind me. I turned around and smiled while walking over to the car.

The officer was very nice and asked what I was doing there. I informed him about the geocache and that I was just leaving. He then pointed out the white No Tresspassing after hours sign that was on the outside of said wooden fence. I told him I didn't see it from where I came from and that I hoped the hider had permission from the business owner to hid it here. He said no problem and promptly left but it was just one other thing to have to deal with this disaster.

When I went home I wrote to the first time hider and explained a few things including what had happened. For me I am just going to put it behind me and if anything it once again makes for a good story. I do know though that in the not to distant future I am making a GeoSnippits tutorial on some tips for first time hiders. I am hearing more and more about geocachers who have almost no experience and then trying to do hides without knowing the proper procedures and etiquette's. All part of the fun of the game I guess. Then again I have a twisted idea of what fun is.

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

Bed Time FTF Snack With A Side Order of Cops

The owner of the Geocache that I went for tonight said to be careful because the police like to hang around the same area as the cache site. So when I hopped into my geocache-mobile at 10:30 at night I was not surprised to see two police squad cars sitting right where the geocache was supposedly hidden. Now I am not going to let the law slow me down from getting an FTF if I can help it.

I simply drove up next two the two cars with my dome light turned on and rolled down my window.
"Evening officers, sorry to disturb you but I am a geocacher and if it was okay with you I would like to look for a geocache that was just placed about 80 feet over there. Would that be okay?", blank stares return towards me as I start explaining what geocaching was.
"You are more than welcome to join me if you would like. Shouldn't take more than five minutes or so", I say as calmly as if asking for directions.

"Well I unfortunately have a run to go onto but he may be interested", stated the young officer.
"Sure I heard of geocaching but never tried it before", said the other.

So off we went after I showed him the printed off geocache page. I told him roughly what we were looking for which was a regular sized geocache and it was hanging in a tree. We walked down a slight slope and within a few minutes I spotted it and showed the geocache to the officer. He examined it and I showed the log book and other trinkets that were inside. After signing the log and putting everything back in place it was time to leave so I thanked him and went on my merry way. What fun this evening adventure was. Not only was it fun doing a night time FTF but having a police escort made it that much more exciting.

Hopefully I have added one more law enforcement to our ranks of geocachers. If anything it makes for a great story which is starting to become the norm for me.. Just loving it...

CO-FTF on an Early Morning Night Time Cache Hunt

When you know that there are several very competitive FTF hounds in your area the urge to be first can be very compelling. For me, depending on where I am during the day and where the newly published geocache actually is will tell me who I am up against and how drastic of measures I need to take to achieve "clean sheetz".

For example, the posting to a particular geocache went live at 9:30 last night. It was about ten miles away and so I actually debated whether I just go out and get it or wait until morning after I drop my daughter off for school. After contemplating the effort that would need to be taken to tell my wife I was going out geocaching - again - or getting a good nights sleep in an actual bed. I decided morning would be best.

After booting my child out of the car and speeding into the night..., err, after waiting for the school bus to arrive and pick up my child from the bus stop I carefully and safely merged into traffic on my way to the geocache site.

Upon arrival I realized that it was still pitch black out and this would be a night hunt. Fortunately the area did not have anyone around so I was free to search undisturbed, or at least that was what I thought at the time. After taking my flashlight and blackberry with me I stumbled in the dark hoping for a quick grab and go. Unfortunately this was not the case and the geocache was well hidden in an area of multiple hiding spots. About ten minutes of searching and I see a car pull up and park behind mine. I was pretty sure it was not the police and I suspected a high probability that it would be my FTF nemesis Ikraynak.

"Ian, is that you", I called into the darkness. The return snickering told me that my suspicions were correct.

We combined forces and began searching the rather large, target rich geocache site. Another five or so minutes go by and I spot the geocache.

"Found it", says I.

Ian retrieved the small geocache and we looked to see if our efforts were in vain or not. We were not disappointed this time and the FTF was ours.

After a short chit-chat it was time for both of us to head off for work. Funny how we both get so much enjoyment trying to beat each other out in being first. That I personally had even more fun looking together with a common goal. Well okay I technically DID find it first anyways but that is not the point... TeeHEE... Until the next time.

Farewell To Winter - Hello To Spring Geocaching Event

It was a gloriously beautiful Spring day. The kind of day that made you easily forget that just a few days earlier we had three to five inches of snow on the ground. No this was more like what North Carolina can bring in early March. Sunshine filled and the highs around 80 degrees. You just couldn't have picked a better day for a Spring themed geocaching event.

The name of the event was called Farewell To Winter - Hello To Spring hosted by our own Hi Tech Rednecks (Tatortott and Harley Hound) and was held in Princeton, NC. The event itself was on Tatortott's farm land which seemed to stretch out forever.
One of the more interesting features was a bamboo garden which consisted of hundreds of live bamboo trees close together and cut paths that ran through them. Apparently the land was so thick with bamboo that a lot of it had to be bulldozed to make room for their house. The garden path ends at a beautiful gazebo and all surrounded by lush green trees. Breathtaking to say the least.

The event officially was to start around 10 a.m. and to have an afternoon of geocaching based classes given by a bevy of local geocaching instructors. Around 5 p.m. would begin the feast that is known in the south as a Pig Pick'n. Think of it as a huge party with some of the most amazing food on the planet. Lessee if I can explain a couple of quick terminologies so you know what I am talking about and please keep in mind that terminology is regional and so allow some differences.

To the eastern half of the state of North Carolina the word BBQ is something completely different than pretty much everywhere else. For you the term BBQ and grilling usually means the same thing. It refers to the device you are cooking on - a BBQ grill. This also means most of the items that are grilled are covered with a sweet hickory molasses like sauce.

BBQ in North Carolina means only one thing - pig. This particular BBQ is pork served in a certain way. Take your large steel drum and cut it in half top to bottom. Turn it sideways and support it with legs. Hing the sides together so you have a top and a bottom. Put a grating over the bottom half and fill with you favorite wood/coal combination. Insert one whole large prepared porker and cook for hours (we are talking skin and all). The end result is some of THE most succulent pig you will ever taste. Then take a large portion of the meat, chop and add a special southern vinegar based sauce. Serve and enjoy. If you are used to the molasses based sauce it does take a bit of getting used to but who-boy is it delicious.

Now why do they call it a pig pick'n? When the pig is being cooked it is split down the middle with the skin side down against the grill. There is a reason for this and I will explain in a minute. When it is done and ready to be prepared most of the meat is taken away and chopped as explained above. The rest of the pig including some of the best parts stay on the grill and everyone comes up and picks pieces of meat right off the remainder of the pig. Think of it as southern appetizers before the main course. The really great part is something called Cracklin. Ever hear of pork rinds? Cracklin is the original pork rind and is actually the caramelized skin of the pig. You break off a piece which is very brittle but not burnt. Peel off the pork meat and then eat the cracklin which is crispy like home made jerky. You have to try it to believe it and for all you health conscience people out there I am not even going to try explain this. All you have to know is it's some kind of yummy and once tried you will be hooked. Guess I veered off a tad on the food, typical for me.

To sum up the day, Miss Geoness and I was able to do some geocaching in the Princeton area and picked up about twenty geocaches. That was a good thing because she is now just shy of her 250 finds mark and I have a special geocoin and pin waiting for her when she does get there. We had a blast driving around in the very micro enriched town.

The rest of the day we spent at the event itself either attending classes about GSAK, creative geocaches, planning high number geocaching trips, etc. or talking with about fifty fellow geocachers. Some I know and some were new faces as well. Before we knew it the dinner bell rang we feasted on pork, potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans, venison stew and a host of other delights. Tatortott really pulled out all the stops on this and to enjoy this in the beginning of March, pure heaven.

As night came many of us sat around a very nice fire and just chit-chatted. The only difference between a star filled sky this day or one in June was the complete lack of bugs. Again just a magical time to sit back relax and enjoy yourself.

The time unfortunately came to say our goodbyes but not before once again thanking our hostess . Tatortott explained straight out that this was her way of thanking the geocaching community for being the kind spirited people they are and for all the really great hides we do. What a fantastic ending for a wondrous day..

FTF - What The Heck Was I Thinking?

(note above my shoe bottom left and the ice just above it -HHH)

I am typing this rather interesting little story to you in wet and sandy socks. My work shoes are drying next to my desk and though quite damp, no longer dirty from my geocaching escapades of yesterday. The reason they are no longer dirty, yet moist and a bit sandy is due to my obsession with geocaching FTFs or First To Finds. If you read my blog on a regular basis you will see many postings of a happy smiling me showing clean log sheets of some cache with either my name on top or soon to be signed. Today was a smidge different than my normal routine thus the wet shoes, socks and my right pant leg.

Let me tell you of my adventure. It started out innocent enough. I received an email last night telling me of a new geocache that posted in the Creedmoor, NC area. 1208Zuni a geocaching friend of mine was the owner. Zuni is known for some downright crazy geocache hides and I prepared myself for the possibility that this would be a tougher find.

It’s 6:45 am and I pull up to the cache site. It is on a fairly busy road looking over a stream which goes under the road itself. The base of the stream is a good twelve feet down with a steep snow covered slope. We had just received several inches of rare March snow that still had not melted and it was only about 27 degrees out. I figured out a way to get down but it would take a bit of a walk around to accomplish, no problem. About half way down was when the police showed up. I waved, he waved, I thought to myself, “well – shyte!”.

“That your car”, the officer asked from his rolled down car window.

“yessir”, says I.

“Whatcha doing down there”, says he.

“Why Geocaching Sir, there is a new one that was just placed here and I’m trying to find it. Is that a problem”, says I hoping this will end quickly yet without being arrested.

“No problem, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t an abandoned vehicle. Have fun”, with that he rolled up his window and drove away.

“Well that was interesting”, I thought to myself. No big schpeel about what geocaching was and I still had time to find it before heading off to work. Cool!

With the threat of incarceration behind me and after a bit of bushwhacking I reached the small stream and though there was a lot of vegetation there were two areas to cross if I was careful. Checking my BlackBerry and Geocache Navigator I realized that the cache was indeed on the other side of the bubbling waters. After making sure that my phone would not end in the drink I made a leap that did not end in tragedy. Being in work shoes that is always a good thing. Actually I was pleased that I had not already broken my neck after walking downhill on the snow covered weeds.

The cache site was a concrete spill drain that controlled the stream itself. There were several hiding areas for a micro which required me to stand on some ice covered rocks while straddling the hillside. This was not a very comfortable way to be for a rather girth prone person such as I am. As I poked and prodded with my now frozen fingers I held a wonderful cataclysmic thought in my head of landing straight on my butt into the icy cold water behind me. I could feel my legs ache from the cold and precarious position while trying to keep my balance. Minutes seemed to slip away as my frustration level increased. Maybe it was in the stump that was six feet up and out of reach, maybe in one of the drain holes that I could not see far enough into? Drat, where could it be? As usual just before I give up I look and see the well camouflaged geocache.

SUCCESS! I quickly but carefully take out my Blackberry and snap some photos all the while remembering that I was standing over water. I sign the clean sheets and put everything back where it was. That was when I heard something rustling about 30 feet above me and to my left. I look up and there was Zuni smiling ear to ear.

“Did you find it”, he asked.

Now any other time I would think that a 300+ fat man straddling the side of a hill and standing on frozen rocks over a flowing stream may have caused a slightly different reaction from anyone else. Except Zuni knows me and he knows what I have done in the past for a FTF so this was pretty much business as usual in the geocaching world.

“Yup all signed and put back, oh, and you suck Zuni”, I said with a grin. He laughed.

Zuni came back over to make sure everything was in place for whoever was fool hardy enough to try and find this particular geocache after all the rain and snow. We chatted a bit and he told me that another geocache will be opening in the area soon. First thought, cool. Second thought, getting my keester off of these rocks and onto solid ground before something bad happens.

Zuni had to take off himself so we said our good-byes and I tried to figure out the best way to get back to my car. The route Zuni originally took to get down here was way too snow covered and steep for me to try in my work shoes. So I decided to go back the way I came. Unfortunately on my attempt going back I slipped and landed on a sand bar like ground which looked at the time rather firm. It wasn’t and my foot sunk down to above my ankle in thick quicksand muck. The cold was intense and as I jumped from right foot to left the second foot placement was not much better. It too found a soggy spot though not as deep but deep enough to soak that foot as well. It is amazing how your mind just disengages when you realize that you screwed up big time. All I could think of as I trotted up the now even slipperier path to my car was how the water washed away the red North Carolina dirt off my shoes from yesterday. Needless to say I could not wait to get into work and at my desk where I can hide till everything dries.

All of this for a First To Find. I wonder if Zuni’s other geocache has published yet? Hmmmmm.

But I’m NOT Obsessed…. Right?

A Little Chilly To Be Lifting a Skirt

There were two new geocaches placed in Oxford, NC this weekend and I wasn't about to let a little rare winter snow slow me down. Did I mention it is supposed to be near 80 degrees this weekend? By the way if you are wondering what the title means with all of this that is a light pole behind me and where there are light poles there are skirt hides...

When You Gotta Go...

Rare snow geocaching in North Carolina. Interesting specimen of a geocache choice. Where's my hand sanitizer? Yeah I know the owner of this little guy and if you notice he didn't bother to even take off the label... Yuckie... At least it didn't have a name etched on it and yes I know the rule about eating yellow snow...

The Potty Talk Series Continues

This was number one of number two FTFs in the Creedmore, NC area. But I digress...

This morning brought a laugh and for a Monday that is saying something. I had read last night of three possible FTFs (First To Finds) on my route to work. The first which was closest to my house would have been the target to go for if it weren't for the two other FTF possibilities up by where I work. So I decided to go for the two near work and somebody else can snatch the close to home. Anywho about halfway to work I get a phone call from a fellow geocacher asking if I went for the FTF near my home. I thought it quite humorous that they wanted to know if it was worth going for the early morning find based on my actions. I'm not THAT obsessed am I? Oh who asked you ;)

As I approached Creedmore, NC I had everything ready for me to pounce on the first of two. Sure enough I made the quick park and grab with little effort yet still noted the unusual geocaching container. That TML sure is one sick evil dude! He assures us that the "container" is not a retread but I still want to wash my hands after putting it back. Icky.

Number two of this morning's FTFs was only another mile or so away and I made quick work of it and signed the clean sheetz.

Doing geocaching really perks me up in the morning and gets the juices flowing. See now all I can do is think about TML's geocache... Gotta go wash my hands again... yuck.

A Geocache By Any Other Name...

Well it can't be said that TimMcGrawlookalike doesn't have a great sense of humor. He is in law enforcement which gives him privy to all sorts of goodies. Like those night vision goggles I want so bad I can't stand it... but I digress.

Anyhow he has a really good idea that I am going to help with in which we are going to populate the Creedmore, NC area with some great geocache hides. His first attempt utilized a special geocache container. Now if you take a look at the photo you will most likely figure out what it is. It's definitely waterproof with no spills and fairly durable... Know what it is? Let's just say if you have been to your doctors lately or needed to comply with a drug screening you will know it very well.

When I first opened the geocache I looked at it. Thought, "no couldn't be", and promptly put it back into it's hidey spot after signing the log. Then when I was sure it was what it was I called Mr. TML to tell him how much of an evil, sick man he was.. I loved it.

His remark back was, "at least it wasn't used", ummm yuck.

So you see it takes all kinds when it comes to creative geocache placement and at least this one didn't have to go into that little hiding spot behind the medicine cabinet door. Ewwwww.

Next To Last of LunchTime Geocaches

Ever go to a geocache site and it was so quiet the silence was deafening? This little key holder cache was on the far side of Henderson, NC off a little known highway in the middle of nowhere. The white noise of in my head made me feel I like I was under water, almost a pressure of sorts. Weird. When that subsided you could hear all sorts of birds scurring around in the nearby briers.

Anywho, this is next to last of the geocaches within lunch time reach. Heavy sigh. Here's hoping for more placements soon.

Java and a Nightime FTF

Morning. Add another FTF to my ever growing list.

I saw this one pop on the radar just before midnight last night. Came really close to just going out and getting it but I decided to take the chance and wait until after I dropped off my daughter at the school bus stop before heading out into the darkness to find this beastie.

This nighttime find had me freezing my fingers looking under all sorts of rocks. Luckily the area was pretty muggle free with only a few cars driving by.
After about ten minutes of scouting via flashlight in hand I soon was signing the clean log sheetz.

Tried out a new coffee brand this morning and a FTF ta boot - I'm lov'n it!

News Flash!!!! Thought that I had lost my good flashlight on this little adventure. I was so into getting the log signed and on my way to work that I did not notice the lack of my illumination tools.

It sat there all day and I gave it about one chance in ten that it would still be there by the time I made it there.

Bingo, sitting right out into the open and in perfect condition.. Bad Flashlight, Bad.

Oh Yeah Baby Ammo Box And More.

Had a nice day off today. Was a bit cold in the mid 40s but times of wind made it brisk. I started out with attempting two FTFs that did not turn out the way I wanted. Hey, it happens. I headed out to Cary, NC and was hitting my first geocache when my phone rang. It was my wife who just came out of the gym and wanted to go out for some sushi. Well I never turn down sushi and besides it was just down the street from where I was and it gave me enough time for a couple more finds before she would get here.

The first was a quick 35mm hide near the restaurant parking lot and a fine park and grab. The next was a bit more challenging as shown above. It was a good 250 feet of bushwack through some serious brier patch. The growth was thick, fresh and yet somehow I managed to work my way through with a minimum of scratches. Did I ever mention the importance of wearing a good hat when in a brier patch situation? If I haven't.... wear a hat, your scalp will thank you.















The end result was a fine medium sized ammo box and before I knew it, it was time for sushi.

Lunch came and went and I really did not mind the lapse in Geocaching. My wife and I can talk for hours about a whole lot of nothing and that is great for us. We always had that ability to just jabber and since my daughter was in school it was just us. Next thing you know 90 minutes have blown by. Good Times.

The rest of the day went fairly well but the weather was deteriorating fast with the wind picking up and the temps slowly dropping. I managed to find thirteen for the day with only 3 DNFs. I think I found every color of the rainbow when it came to bison tubes and a goodly share of skirt hides and smalls. When it came to ammo boxes I found several and that is always good.

Below is a nice slide show video of some of the hides and finds for the day.

Day For Finding Past DNFs

Well today seemed to be a perfect day for taking previous Did Not Finds off my list. This geocache I attempted last fall and the area way very swampy even for horse trails. Went out today and walked right up to it. Not bad for a Friday the 13th.

Blustery Skirt Hide During Lunch

I couldn't stand it anymore. Henderson is a bit Northeast of where I work in Oxford, NC. For the past six to eight months the absolute worst traffic was caused as they worked on I-85 between these two towns. Needless to say we did not travel to Henderson much because we wanted to be back from lunch sometime before it was time to go home for the day.

With the construction finished I had to venture out of the bubble of which I call my cube and go out into the sunshine. That would be that big shiny orb in the sky for the people up north in the frozen tundra. Like say New Jersey. Anywho the winds today were pushing 40 mph but that didn't slow me down for this quick skirt hide in Henderson, NC. I found two park and grabs which actually will leave me with only two other hides in the area that I have either not found or I have hidden myself. Those will be for another day.

I do have to note that on the way back I found a rather cool place to put a geocache hide. I drove by it by accident and literally turned around and drove back. I instantly fell in love with the cache area and set up the cache. It's called "Who Will Own The World?" (GC1MM6X) based off of an old calculator game I had known as a kid. Should be a real toughie. We shall see...

A Geocaching Record of First To Finds ( FTF's )

What an unexpected surprise of events of which unfolded for me today. I would have been quite happy with the quick lunch time geocache find I had earlier. Yet what awaited me were four just published geocaches. My phone alerted me to the new emails and I quickly scanned them. Normally they are all over the place and way out of my driving range. Yet these were clumped in two's and fairly nearby so out the door I flew, a puzzled look on my wife's face and then a roll of the eyes. She will never understand...

With my BlackBerry and Geocache Navigator in hand I quickly pull up the closest one and ZOOM at an Earth shattering safe and posted speed. Why do the police always show up when I want to be slightly reckless? But I digress...


FTF #1:
The first geocaches were out in a wooded area and at the end of a dead end road. I searched for about ten minutes and was able to find a type of geocache that I have only seen a couple of times. The more interesting tid bit was that there was No Log Book inside! Hey we are all human and I will be the first to say DOH! So I went into the trunk of my cachemobile and pulled out a spanking new log to fill said geocache. After signing it was placed back in it's very clever hiding spot.



FTF #2:
The second geocache was about .13 of mile down the same road I was on. What I mean is it looks like half way down the original road they put a guardrail up so you couldn't go any further but the rest of the road just continued on. Sure it was broken up over time but you could still see the yellow line going down the center. Found that odd and yet this is not the first forgotten road I have been on in this state. As I walked I could see dozens of large white tail deer everywhere. They were curious about me and most ran as I walked but the amount of deer was truly amazing. I have seen several deer in my back yard but nothing like this. Before I knew it I was at the geocache site and the find did not take as much effort as the first one. I saw all sorts of Cardinals, Robins and Thrushes chasing each other everywhere, quite fun to watch. After signing the log and putting this regular sized geocache in place it was on to number three.



FTF #3:
The sun was definitely going down by now and I had to hurry if I even had a chance at the last two caches. Fortunately for me this one was behind a small shopping center and ended being a quick find. My luck was still with me and if only I could make it to number four I would have my record. Okay maybe I was getting a bit greedy at this point but if you're going to be obsessed you might as well go all the way.

FTF #4:

The sun was down by the time I reached the my final destination and I grabbed my GPS phone and a flashlight as I exited the car. It was still partially lit out but that wasn't going to last long. Fortunately for me the geocache site was in a field and not near any muggles. I was just going to turn on the flashlight when I spotted my final prize hanging in a Cyprus bush. Figuring someone had to have beaten me to this one I was pleasantly surprised to again see clean sheets. Signing the final log and placing the container back in it's hiding spot I hustled back to my car. Triumphant with my new found record and yet still had to come up with a good enough excuse to tell my wife why I took so long and that my Salmon, rice and Broccoli were going to be ice cold. Another night on the couch I can feel it but woot what a rush.

I'm not obsessed.... Right?

Lunch Time GeoCaching

What a sweet hide. This one actually took me a couple of minutes to figure out the geocache hidey spot. There are severa areas of possiblity and you know me. Even when I read the heeds of the owner I still have to find the most difficult way of finding the cache. This was no exception and I have the bleeding pokes to prove it.

Once I figured out the spot and had cache in hand I had not a single DOH but a Double DOH moment. The first moment was when I reached down to my pocket to pull out my writing utencil and realized I left it in the car which was about .15 of a mile away. DOH! Then I actually was desperate enough to think I could use a stick to at least mark HHH on the log sheet. Then I realized I had already taken my geocaching carrying pouch which of course had several pens. DOH - DOH !

Needless to say we are glad to see a new hider in the area and look forward to more geocache finds.
Signed log and took nothing but the 20 sided die was very tempting.

Regular Cache in a Brier Patch

All I can say is ouchie! Those thick brambles can really getcha. Back to those in a minute.

What a day we had today while out Geocaching. We started out fairly early which turned out to be about Eightish. Headed straight towards our first cache in the Southern Raleigh, NC area. Wouldn't you know it that just down the road was a North Carolina original and an addiction to me. Yup the Krispy Kreme donut store was within smelling distance and we had to stop by and get them fresh and oh so yummy.

After I came out of my sugar coated stupor we moved on to the rest of our planned Cache Raid and took on twenty seven geocaches. Unfortunately two of them were DNFs but thems the breaks. We had an absolute blast and yes even when we get scrapes from those nasty brier patches it some how does not hurt so much when you are staring at an ammo box.

All part of the fun and I couldn't think of a better person to go geocaching with than my daughter Miss GeoNess.

Nice Geocache Find in Gnome Hole

On lunch break in Henderson, NC. Found this little guy snug and happy in an ivy draped gnome hole. There is something a little scary about them. You never know what you are going to find be it a snake, geocache or a pot of gold.

In the south and other areas in the east coast homesteads kept their most prized gold and monies in gnome holes and other secret spots in the woods. Especially during war time. There have been reports of found treasure... Yarrr.

Finally Another DNF Found

Phew, another DNF off my list today. Tried this one four times and a PAF to finally get it. It was a whole this or that side of the fence sort of thing. Doh, okay I thought the property was private...

This is a great example that the most direct path to a geocache is not necessarily the correct one. Let me divulge the meanings of my statement. The geocache shown above stated in the description that there was indeed patch of private property nearby and to beware. I parked about 100 feet from ground zero in what I ASSUMED to be the correct spot. Sure enough there was a wire fence near the cache site. With some heavy trees overhead and ground zero appearing to be only a few feet on the other side of the fence I ASSUMED it was just off a few feet and the micro I was looking for was somewhere on the fence itself.. Do you know the Benny Hill-ism about the word assume? That it can make an ASS out of U and ME.... Well...

I scoured the place and found nothing.. Few weeks later I repeated the perplexing ponderance. Another week again, the same thing. Put out the PAF in an email which was sent back to me and then months went by before I tried again. Only this time it was different and with the subtle hint (like - Hey HHH drive down a 1/4 of a mile and drive to this spot.. note lines and arrows) I parked on the correct spot and walked to ground zero.. yes, yes it was on the other side of the fence and still not on private property. After a quick walk and thrusting myself through some really rosebush thick Charlie Brown kite eating tree like thorn bushes I eventually made it to the cache and my prize. Hokey - Smokes...

So again a little hint from the HeadHardHat. If you are out and about geocaching and your GPS is not getting the job done no matter how hard you try. Come back around from a different angle. You will be surprised how the correct pathways will open up to you and your new found smiley...