Milestone: HeadHardHat Reaches 300 Finds

Taking a quick break to note I finally reached my #300 find yesterday. Now granted this is microscopic compared to many of the other cachers in North Carolina, I am extremely determined about my continuing voyage to the four digit mark.

As an important side note, actually, I am more proud of this than my milestone. My daughter Geoness (Amanda) is six shy of her first hundred finds. How fast they grow these days. So kudos to her will be coming out soon.

TimMcGrawlookalike is Mess'n With My Old Suede Shoes

Came home last night from another successful evening run in Smithfield, NC and did a quick glance at my email to see if any new caches published; and what to my wondering eyes did appear? Not one but two new caches just a few miles from where I work in Oxford. The posts came rather late and in a secluded part of the country so I was pretty sure they were not going to get found until today. Especially since both of them were from TimMcgrawlookalike and he is the only cacher that I know who has a working pair of night vision goggles. For now...

Anyhow, I get up this morning and drop daughter Geoness off at the bus stop. Yes I did remember this time to completely halt the forward motion of the vehicle so she didn't have to do that death roll thing again. She looses her lunch money every time she does that. We said our farewells as the gleam of the red flashers approached. I could feel my palms grip the steering wheel just a little tighter with the sound of the bus echoing in the distance. "Lets do this", I thought to myself and I stepped on the accelerator. The engine whined from the strain, tires lurching forward and I was pressed hard into my seat as my car lunged ... to a safe and legal posted speed as all good driving citizens should. "Morning officer", I said and waved when I noticed the police car driving just up the road. Have to stop watching all those spy movies.

But I digress, did my 60 mile venture to the cache sites and had a grand time playing follow the bouncy arrow in the tall wet grass. Hey they were First to Finds and what's a little water when it comes to suede? The first cache was a unique tin can hidden in a nice cozy spot. Opened it up to find a brand new log book and best of all clean sheetz! I happily signed the white papers and moved on for number two.

The second was one of those mean little caches that I just hate. You know the ones that are hidden in plain sight. I knew it was there but could I see the darn thing, oh heck no. Coords were just a bit off but that was expected. I could feel the moister of my now soaked shoes seaping through my work socks. A few more minutes passed and then booyah - success. Signed the untouched log and then jogged, well okay skipped to my car so I could get to work.

So that was my morning so far. Sure I now smell like wet dog and it will take me an hour to pull all the burrs out of my pant legs but when it comes to finding First To Finds. I may be a bit obsessed...

Post From HeadHardHat's Phone

Yes went caching in rain.

Yes soaked and smell of pine.

Yes in woods.

Two days without a cache. Going through withdrawals and can't help myself. Plus add $4.00 a gallon gas my pickings between work and home is getting pretty well picked. But sometimes ya just need a quick grab and go.

I'm not obsessed... Right?

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men

You can't escape the reality of caching. You start out making plans to do some specific cache hunts and sometimes stuff just happens.

Wanted to do some caching on my home from work today. You see I go one way to work in the morning and another way at night, mainly due to the volume of traffic at those times. So that means there are bunches of caches available on my going to work route that I never have much time to find. So yesterday I thought I would put up with the extra traffic and have some fun caching in the mean time. Well.....

My route takes me from Oxford, NC down Hwy 96 to Hwy 1 (Capital Blvd.). This normally takes me about 30 minutes or so and the only caches available are the Barnyard Fun Series I set up a month or so ago. So not much joy in the caching department there. Eventually though I come down to Hwy 1 and the joy, or so I thought, begins. Started out okay finding the one cache in the area with TBs available. Traded up the last of my current stash and started what I thought would be a fruitful adventure.

That was when my phone rang.. Spent 20 minutes talking some family chit-chat. Normally would not mind at all but when I have the caching bug going I have a one track mind. C'mon, taking too long, (fuzzy static, sorry losing you, fuzzy static, will call you later, bye.) okay I know the blow in the phone/talk partial words trick is stale but hey I'm burning sunlight here.

Found a cache, quick micro bison tube in a tree, two for today but want more.


Phone rings again, it's the wife. First thought that flows through my mind is, "What did I do now?", turns out everyone wants to go out to eat and they are all are hungry. Hint - Hint. My eyes roll up and I know that I have another 45 minute drive ahead of me. Sigh. Okay I may stop for one more as a chaser and then drudge home.


I watch the sun on it's march for the horizon and know that my caching day is done. Heavy sigh. Three for the day. Hardly the effort for putting up with the extra traffic. I now remember why I go home the other route. I can feel myself get a little angry. You can't cache if you are playing beat the clock. You end up frustrated and give up on caches you don't find instantly. I decide enough is enough and that there will be another day. Doesn't make it any easier though when you make plans and they get blown apart. I know this makes me look selfish. I know I have responsibilities. I also know I have X amount of time in a day and when I designate it as my caching day there better be smoke, blood and lots of it to be interrupted. Not always the case though. Sigh. I'm Not obsessed... Right?