kengr

I don't care if it's "only a few steps away". If you are out in the woods, even close to civilization TAKE YOUR WATER WITH YOU.

I almost became an example of why you need to do this today.
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After hauling some stuff to the Post Office to mail, I tried to find a couple of nearby caches. (Near me, not the PO)

First one showed up about a week back. East Park Blocks I took the bus to within a few blocks (hey, my transfer was still good)

Found it without *too* much trouble, though the co-ordinates point to an [object] about 40 feet north of the [object] where the cache actually was.

I've intended to place a cache several blocks north of that for some time. I'd had the container and log prepared for months, and I had it with me. I just wasn't too sure about the spot I intended to hide it.

But halfway between that spot and the East Park cache, I saw an unusual bench in the park. And while sitting on it to rest a minute, I spotted several possible hiding places. Much better than what I'd intended. So I hid the container in one of them and marked the waypoint.

When I got home I went thru the process of submitting the cache, and a bit ago it was accepted. So, my first cache is out there.
Sit a Spell

I then walked over half a mile to Keebler Cache which I did manage to locate (you have to look in the right direction from the right spot to see it)

Walked back to Prescott and used my still good transfer to get home. Total walking was about a mile, plus a lot of standing in line at the PO. My legs were not happy. I'll live.

Now waiting to see how long it takes to find the cache. :-)

ETA (@ 7pm) :it's been logged and the logging person says they *just* missed out being the first to Find. :-)

...since I posted about caching.

I did 19.6 miles over about 5 hours on Monday. In 90° heat (not the best idea in the world). Ran out of fluids earl;y on and had to stop at a gas station and buy some gatorade (which I really should be cutting 50 with water since I'm diabetic, but....)

3 of the hours were spent moving accord to the GPs. So obviously the rest was searching and resting. Found 5 caches.

I also was very wiped out. It was a struggle making it home from the last cache. And when I got home, my t-shirt was stuff in places from sweat (and had a white rime of salt crystals around some of them)
( more caching on more days )

Wednesday Chrissy dropped off the new tube for my bike.

Proof that it pays to check the details before ordering from the net. The place the tube shipped from was less than 2 miles from here.

I got the tube installed (after performing an inch by inch inspection of the inner surface of the tire to find any thorns I'd missed.

Fay and had the usual fun watching videos and IMing links at each other. We're down to the last two episodes of Galactica. I think I'll load Ultraviolet and Connections.

Thursday, I went to make a trip to the airport PO. And to check out a couple of caches, one of which I *knew* had been damaged but which was now repaired.

So I'm tooling along on the bike, getting near the caches and Bang! The new tube blows out.

Since I'm close to the caches, I walk the bike to them, figuring I'll call Chrissy after I look for them. No sense wasting the trip.
( cut for possible cache locating spoilers )
I made a suggestion on how to make it easier to get the rolled up logs out of microcaches like his (stick the end of the roll into the lop of a bobby pin. Roll it up and insert with the "forked" end of the bobby pin sticking out. That'll not only give folks something to grab onto, it'll also make unrolling the log easier.

Shelly and Rick offered me a lift home, and I took it. (hey, I'd mentioned I lived *really* close to the Son of Earl cache (which is also theirs) so they knew the way. :-)

Rick mentioned in passing that another cache was by their place.

Today, after it started to cool off, I made a try for a cache on foot. It's a mile and a half away, but it's a straight line.

I decided to see if one of my pairs of sandals would work okay for the walk. But I was smart enough to stick a pair I knew I could walk that far in (except for slightly sore feet) in my gear bag just in case.

Chrissy called before I left and she'll be by in a few days to get the dead replacement tube and complain to the company.

GC1AM4Z Bus Stop 2

The walk out was hot, and the bag was heavy. Otherwise not bad. I had to check the info for the site a couple times before I spotted the cache. Definitely have to point Fay at this one. She'll be able to get it even without the GPS.... if she's careful. :-)

I stopped a couple blocks into the trip home and swapped sandals. I had sore spots on both feet. Need some moleskin or something on a couple of spots where the straps are a problem. Maybe some vet-wrap?

There are several other caches in other directions that are "as the crow flies" closer than the one I hit this evening, but if you follow the roads, they are about the same distance. I'll be trying some of them in coming days. I picked the one I did today because I *knew* where the bus stop was, and because there aren't any other caches at all close to it. So since it was going to be a one-shot search anyway, I might as well get it rather than one where I'd have to come back another day to look for others nearby.

Oh yeah, about halfway home I spotted a possible hide for a cache. Have to see about rigging a log book for a microcache.

The two missing caches I'd gone looking for have been replaced. And I decided that one was close enough to try for on foot.

So I headed off for GC1PMPJ Who Flew the Coop... eaarlier this evening.

It's 0.9 miles away as the crow flies and not a lot farther as the Shadow stumbles.

I'd figured on taking a slight detour on the way back to hit another cache. This was changed from a maybe to a definitely when three blocks from the cache, I found a grocery cart from the store I live next to. I could use it as a sort of "walker" if my legs objected too nuch.

But when I found the replacement cache and told the GPS the cache was found, it popped up a different with the "find next?" question. It was the one I'd forgotten to check the clues for the other day and thus missed the cache.

Since I knew I'd have the cart to help me, I headed off for that cache (a bit under half a mile away).

GC14XWY O.I.C.U. Found-R-Cache
Yep, it was where I'd realized it had to be. I took a look for the tree the beavers had taken down (about 100 feet west). They'd not only finished the job, they'd been working on other trees. While trying to take photos of them (most of which didn't come out), I heard a particular sort of loud splash from the slough. I'd never heard it before but I knew it had to be a beaver warning others of danger (namely, me).

I started back to the cache (I'd spotted it, but figured I could check it on the way back from checking the beavered tree). And then I spotted a beaver swimming in the slough. I took a lot of pics but only a few came out.

Got back to the cache, dug it out of its hiding place and opened it.Signed the log and hid it again.

On the way back up the street I saw some horses in a corral that I'd managed to not notice all the times I'd biked down the street in the past. Pics of them didn't turn out well either. Did get an ok pic of the dog that was in the corral with them. But he was objecting to my presence, so I continued on my way.

By the time I got back to the cart I'd seen, I was glad it was there. Mind you, much of the discomfort was due to poor choice of footwear. I need to break in the other pairs of sandals. This pair is ok, but on long walks, the heel compresses enough to stretch my Achilles tendon a bit more than it is used to.

Dropped the bag with my water, clipboard and other caching stuff into the cart and headed off for the third cache (the one I'd intended to be the second).

GC1KT61 Shelrik's Happy Cache Inn
This one was another easy find. I'll have to go back sometime when the light is better and take some pictures of the inside. Very neeat. Made up like a sort of dollhouse.

Walk back home went ok. My calves are mildly unhappy, but not anything serious.

Total trip distance 3.6 miles. Averaged 2.1 mph walking. Not bad. And that gives me an idea of what I can do until the new tube for my bik tire gets here (Thanks, Chrissy!)

I forgot to list the *first* cache * looked for Sat.

GC14XWY O.I.C.U. Found-R-Cache

I think this was my fourth attempt. And it wasn't until I was reorganizing the "cheat sheets" that I noticed the clue on the one for that cache. Worse. I realized that I'd *seen* what it was talking about.

So why didn't I find it? Because my GPS had told me it was farther down last time. And I hadn't taken out the cheat sheet.

Arrrggghhhh!

At least I know *exactly* where to look next time I get down there. Which may be a while.

Oh yeah, while looking in the wrong spot, I spotted a tree that'd obviously been cut down fairly recently by a beaver. Took a couple of photos. If they came out ok, I may post them in the afternoon.

This is a tree near my place that I encountered while geocaching. It's almost 11 feet around (130") which means it's almost 42" across.

I had the shopping cart in the pics for scale. I'll need to go back and make some distant shots to try to get the whole thing in the picture.
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