The One I Don't Remember

During my year long streak, I had to have a minor outpatient surgery performed. My surgery was scheduled for 8 AM and I assumed, incorrectly, that after an afternoon resting at home, I would be able to head out again and find my daily cache. During surgery prep, I was told I wouldn't be able to drive for a full 24 hours! Oh no! How would I find my cache? Five and a half months into my streak and all for naught if I can't get to a cache today.

"Manzana, I know you've already given so generously of your time to come and sit with me during my surgery. But, do you think you could take me to find a cache after this is over?"

"Of course, what are friends for?"

I am so lucky to have a friend like Manzana.

After coming around from the anesthesia, Manzana loaded me up and off we go. "There's one just up the street!" As we pull up to the cache, Under the Big W, I stumble out of the car and amazingly make it to GZ without getting hit by a car or running into anything. I say amazingly, because my ability to focus is pretty much nonexistent at this point. Seeing beyond my cell phone GPS dial is a bit beyond me at the moment. I just keep walking in the direction of the arrow. Right now, I am the least stealthiest person on the planet.

We pull the cache out of its hiding spot and I croak,"We found it!" Manzana desperately tries to shush me, as a neighbor walking his dog glances questioningly over at us, but I'm already starting to tip the contents of the cache onto the sidewalk. She grabs the cache just in time to keep it intact. "Let's just sign the log," she advises. Good plan.

Having successfully found a cache for today, Manzana and I celebrate over a quick breakfast before she drops me off at home to rest. Throughout our meal, I proceed to tell her all the post-op instructions the doctor gave me. She just smiles and nods.

Later that evening, I get a phone call from Manzana checking up on me.
"How you feeling?"
"Not too bad," I explain.
"Did you know that we found your cache and went to breakfast?" she asks me.
"Yeah, but I'm kind fuzzy on the details... could you fill me in?"
As she tells me the story, she laughs and says, "The best part was how you kept telling me all the post-op instructions the doctor gave you - when I was sitting right next to you as the doctor explained it the first time."

Thanks to Manzana, the streak lived on for another day. What would I do without her?

The One That Started It All

We all had to start somewhere. Who took you to find your first geocache?

My first geocaching experience was just that - an experience. Teenie_Allen, whom I called Redial at the time, was working at a summer camp where I ran the front office. Saturdays were our only real days off and she convinced me to go with her one Saturday in August 2009. She picked out a multi-cache called Bird Cage and off we went. We parked in a nearby residential side street and started searching for the first waypoint.

I had no idea what we were looking for. A container? A word? A clue? A sign from heaven? After wandering around like idiots for half an hour, Redial says, "Maybe we should choose an easier one." I stuck my head behind a fence post and noticed a little piece of paper nailed to the back. "Is this it?" Victory! We were back in business.

Plugged in the coordinates we found on the fence post and headed off in the direction of the second waypoint. Rinse, lather, repeat. Second waypoint, wandering around for half an hour with no idea what to look for, deciding to give up just about the time we discover the next piece of the puzzle. And so it went for each and every stage of the multi. Until the final.

By the time we gave up, the sun had sunk low in the sky and we were quite exhausted. As we approached my car, thoroughly defeated, I noticed something stuck on the drivers side window. It was a police officer's business card with these words written on the back: "Your presence is alarming the neighbors."

And somehow, geocaching still managed to become my favorite past time.

P.S. A friend and I finally found Bird Cage almost a year later, in June 2010 after several more failed attempts.

The One That Took Reinforcements To Find

As I come to the completion of a year long geocaching streak, I decided it would be good to capture some of my experiences over the past 366 days. Anyone who has been geocaching has a story to share, and I urge my friends and family who participate in this Amazing Bug Race to author blog entries of their own. After all, sharing stories and reliving the memories we've made along the way is what it's all about.

To start this series of blog posts, I'll pick up where I am today: The End.

In some ways, 366 days has come and gone in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, the challenge and commitement to find a geocache everyday has tested my resolve over and over again. There's no doubt about it - any attempt to accomplish something consistently for 366+ days straight takes a certain level of commitement (and craziness).

To celebrate the completion of such a momentous accomplishment, I decided to take reinforcements to a cache I've DNF-ed at least 5 times. This cache, Veterans Memorial Park, managed to allude me all year despite the 1/1 rating and several search attempts. The worst is posting your DNF (for the third time) and having the next cacher post: "Quick and easy find!" Argh. Someone just put me out of my misery!

It happened just as I anticipated. I gathered several of my co-workers who enjoy caching and we drove down to Veterans Memorial Park on our lunch break. As we pull up, the techies in our horde are already punching away on our phones, pulling up log information, coords, hints, etc. As I am reading the hint aloud for those without phones, Greatful1 says, "Do you think it's a small container like this?," and holds up the cache. Less than 3 minutes after rolling up, she's got the cache in hand. I know I'll never live it down, but truthfully my pride can take the ridicule - I'm just so overly excited to log the find.

As we pull away, headed to our celebration lunch at the KFC up the street (where there just happens to be another cache I couldn't find), I think out loud, "I don't have to come back here anymore." I don't have to find another cache, either. But I'm pretty sure I will...