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You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up....


DocDiTTo

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I've had a couple unique caching experiences, from being flushed out of a storm drain to being accused of trying to steal a commercial air conditioner by a Uni-Mart clerk. But here's another one that also sticks out as one of my unique caching moments....

 

I was at work when I got a call from a local cacher and buddy of mine who was looking for a new cache but lost his personal cell phone, somewhere between car and cache . Luckily he also has a cell phone for work, which is what he called me on. So he asks if I would come help him look for the lost phone. Well, it was a nice day and just about lunchtime, so I couldn't say no. I hop in the car and drive across town to his location. As I arrive, I see a car load of other cachers pulling into the parking area behind me. There was my buddy Dave, as well as the owner of the cache, and a few folks in an ambulance all chatting. Turns out that they found the cell phone by the time I got there, but the cache was missing. Dave, the car load of 4 cachers and the 2 cachers on the ambulance team were all there for the FTF, but the cache owner heard that the cache was missing so he showed up to check it out. The cache owner left, and the rest of us decided to try for the FTF on a rather difficult multi not far away. So there we go, 3 cars plus an ambulance parading to a local park. Once there we all parked on the grass and hopped out, all of us in business casual clothes except the ambulance crew who were in uniform. We proceed to hunt down the multi for about 45 minutes with no luck at the second stage, but we managed to "brute force" another stage and continue on from there. Eventually we found the final and all had to run since we each ended up taking a 2 hour lunch break. Never before have I been part of such a large, unplanned caching crowd (or one that included an emergency vehicle) . A unique caching day to be sure.

 

Now let's hear yours!

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Well, speaking of caching events that aren't Events, we had a little gathering this last weekend to find a cache. In all twelve people showed up, with ropes and harnesses and all sorts of climbing gear, all to climb a tree :antenna:

It was great, it all started with me posting a note on a 5/5 cache that I had solved the puzzle and was planning an assault on the cache and that anyone that had solved the puzzle was welcome to join in. If I'd known what type of turn out it would become I would have planned an Event to go with it :ninja:

After conquering that cache we all went after the final cache of another puzzle cache by the same hider. One of the other cachers believed he knew where to park to have the shortest hike, which was probably true, but we ended up climbing a nasty, but short, hill, walking along an active railroad, going back down another nasty slope, going under a freeway, and after finding the cache (and a beehive in the log next to the cache), back through all that again. What an interesting Saturday morning :antenna:

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This is my log from one just yesterday... not major, but a good insight into the mind of a compulsive... :antenna:

 

FTF! This one was a great big comedy of errors & pain in my booty! LOL! 

I attempted this one before Grandpappy Point & made my first grand realization of the day... never, NEVER wear Birkenstock clogs to a 9Key Cache, no matter how low the star rating!!! I came up from the bottom & down from the top, poked everywhere I could think of with a stick, displaced 14,728 fallen leaves, but just could not find... turns out my GPS was playing tricks with me... SIGH!

 

Ignoring my breakfast sitting next to me in the car, I headed to Grandpappy Point, where I ended up getting a thorn in my foot & one in my tush (go figure ), but ended up with a mighty fine FTF prize of a TX Geocaching coin... #311.

 

Went back to this cache, sat on a big rock at the cache site & tried to eat my (now cold) breakfast & think about things... I just knew 9Key would do something tricky... even with a clue!  I put the GPSr in time-out & made it sit quietly on a rock next to me, hoping it would start telling the truth... and it did!!! I dug out the container & noticed another FTF TX Geocoin in there.

I don't know the etiquette of Geocoins, but I know I would be grateful if someone left one in the cache if they had another one, so I did... BUT... I noticed that this one had #318 on it...

 

Now, my hubby's best friend is a mathematical genius and always sees numbers in their "simplest" form, and from many a conversation with him, I *KNEW* for certain that #318 was better than my other #311 coin... after all, 18 is three squared times two, and 311 is... well, 311. So, I skied my way back down through the leaves, cursing this compulsion to have the numerically superior coin, and traded the coin out, grabbing some micro swag from a kid's backpack while I was there at the car.

 

So... now... I have the grandest of Geocoins & I left another one, one that any other sane geocacher will love, regardless of its numerical inferiority!

 

Happy Cachin'!

Lori V.

TeamVilla5

Edited by TeamVilla5
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December 30, 2005 by snowfoxrox (33 found)

Ok, I have looked three times. I thought the third time would be the charm...umn no, it isnt. I'm not so sure I like Costco anymore either. Funny thing is that as I was poking about, a CHP drove by and looked at me kinda funny. I smiled big and waved. He drove on. About 10 mins later he came back- yes I was still looking through shrubbery methodically with a flashlight. He pulled in next to me and asked if everything was ok. I explained what I was doing, and he offered to help. 10 min more pass with both of us looking and he says, are you *sure* there's something here to find. I assured him there was.(although at that point I wasnt 100% sure anymore) He said he had to get back to work. I gave him the geocaching web address. Nice guy, prolly thinks I'm nutters! Hahaha Maybe the 4th time will be the charm! Arrgghh.

 

This is a DNF in my Pre-Gps days. You just had to see the look on his face! an epilogue to this story is that I told him where I *KNEW* he would find one not too far away as he was leaving. 10 mins later I passed his patrol car parked near the other cache! haha! Hope I passed on the addiction!

~SFR~ :antenna:

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Now, my hubby's best friend is a mathematical genius and always sees numbers in their "simplest" form, and from many a conversation with him, I *KNEW* for certain that #318 was better than my other #311 coin... after all, 18 is three squared times two, and 311 is... well, 311. So, I skied my way back down through the leaves, cursing this compulsion to have the numerically superior coin, and traded the coin out, grabbing some micro swag from a kid's backpack while I was there at the car.

 

Can't believe you traded 311, one of the better prime numbers, for 318. With 2, 3, 6, 53, 106, and 159 as factors, 318 is much to complex to have any value beyond it's absolute numerical superiority.

 

Prime numbers are very rare and should be cherished and conserved when found. They are much too fragile to be treated as though they were mere baubbles.

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Can't believe you traded 311, one of the better prime numbers, for 318. With 2, 3, 6, 53, 106, and 159 as factors, 318 is much to complex to have any value beyond it's absolute numerical superiority.

 

Prime numbers are very rare and should be cherished and conserved when found. They are much too fragile to be treated as though they were mere baubbles.

Beat me to it! LOL :antenna:

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This is my log from one just yesterday... not major, but a good insight into the mind of a compulsive... :antenna:

 

... never, NEVER wear Birkenstock clogs to a 9Key Cache, no matter how low the star rating!!! ...

 

... I just knew 9Key would do something tricky... even with a clue! 

 

Happy Cachin'!

Lori V.

TeamVilla5

So true, so true :antenna:

 

Of course, the other thing you can always count on with a 9key cache is a quality cache!

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Of course, the other thing you can always count on with a 9key cache is a quality cache!

 

Absolutely... the reason for my being so eager to nab that FTF!

 

I was looking closely at my stats for the very first time the other day... First find? A 9Key Cache... First DNF? A 9Key Cache (to my credit, it was really missing :D )... First (and only) 3 FTF's? All 9Key Caches... First found Geocoin? A 9Key Cache...

 

IMHO... he da man! LOL!

 

Happy Caching!

Lori V.

 

P.S. Now if someone doesn't get their hineys out there today, after 2 days, to find that other Geocoin, I'm rescinding my generosity & going back in after it! :D

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Back in November we decided to camp in the National Forest and do the Blood Campers Cache. On the second and final day of our hunt, we found ourselves on top of the mountain in the midst of a thunderstorm and an incoming cold front. We refused to give up, which paid off, since we did finally get the final stage; although by the time we got there our team had gone from 6 people and two dogs down to 2 people and 2 dogs. On the long hike back to basecamp from the final stage, the wind was really starting to pick up. I noted how it was blowing so hard the treetops were banging against each other. Hermeaness corrected me, saying, "They're not just banging against each other, they're falling down!" Indeed they were, and when we got back to camp it was a fast-paced packing job, as we found ourselves dodging widowmakers left and right. As we attempted to leave the National Forest, we found the roads blocked by downed trees everywhere. We had to stop 4 times to clear the roads enough to get our vehicles through. We likely would never had made it out if we hadn't had all the manpower to move them.

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Our latest adventure was on New Years weekend in the White Mountains area of New Hampshire. We were attempting a multi-cache near a beautiful set of water falls and quickly learning how difficult it can be to "walk 276 yards at a bearing of 93 degrees" and come anywhere near the next point. But since we were already down that direction... we tried another cache nearby. As a lot of cachers have come to realize, finding a cache near any moving water will almost always put you on the wrong bank of a creek, river or pond. We walked a hundred yards upstream before finding a semi-submerged crossing on icy rocks. We wore our crampons so crossing was ok, but that's where it all goes downhill :D We make it back downstream and begin searching. It took all of about 30 seconds before I fell head-first off the bank and into the creek! Fox was trying to be very helpful by not laughing and insisting we get moving since it was only 20 degrees out and we had at least half a mile hike back to the parking area. Luckily we were dressed for the elements and managed to get wrung out and still find our cache before leaving. We ended up having a good time and learned a good lesson while we were at it. Go with a partner and be prepared, but most important, if there's a chance you might fall in...don't lean out holding onto that branch :lol::D F&tH

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