Can anyone top this? (also posted under Travel Bug Topic)

[PamHicksHunts]

STORY: I am a brand new geocacher. I found my first cache near my current home in Valley Cottage, NY on March 23. The next week I traveled to West Lafayette, IN, my hometown, to visit biological family. While there, I introduced various family members to geocaching. Everyone loved it, of course!

 

My very first cache find in West Lafayette (& second cache find over all) was with my niece Arinna. In it I found a Travel Bug attached to an Elmo head. I took it thinking that it's fun for the trackable items to travel long distances. I returned to Valley Cottage with the Elmo Travel Bug.

 

Although I logged our five West Lafayette cache finds & related information on the hotel computer, I didn't look up further information about the Elmo Travel Bug until this past Sunday after I returned home. What I learned astounded me.

 

It seems that this Elmo Travel Bug has been lost since June, 2009 (last logged in CO). It was originally placed in a cache in NY by....get this....someone who lives in Valley Cottage, NY, his hometown.

 

I contacted this far more experienced geocacher & he seemed equally astounded & delighted to learn that the Elmo Travel Bug has been found. I will place it in another cache sometime soon.

 

Just to add a little "icing" to this experience, when I took a look at the Travel Bug owner's cache log, I noted that his most recent cache find had been one that was set up by the husband of the person who first told me about geocaching a month or so ago while we were commuting together on the bus.

 

So, my friends...what are the odds?????.....I find a lost Travel Bug in my hometown & return it to my current home which happens to be the hometown of the Travel Bug's owner!!! My head is still spinning.

 

I have to say that this whole experience is one of the coolest synchronistic events of my life - WOW!! When I first learned of geocaching, I immediately felt the appeal of a worldwide network based on healthy activity. I never dreamed that this concept would be brought home to me (literally!) in such a profound & unique way.

[+J the Goat]

Neat-o.

[Amo_Angelus]

That is such a cool story.

[+Sytar]

Very cool. I wish someone would find my missing TBs.

 

As I was reading your post I thought you were going to say that you found a travel bug, brought it all the way across the country, just to find that it was headed to a destination cache only a few miles away from where you found it.

 

Overall, great story and series of events. I am glad that you are enjoying caching, and I hope that some of your family learns more about it and figures out how to join in on the fun.