So, the challenge is to write a 1,000-word log for a simple lamp post cache. On June 19th, 2011, I went out on Father's Day and spent half the day driving around CT looking for caches. Most were park and grabs but there were a couple of others mixed in. Here's the log for GC2247R, "Holiday Shopping." Please forgive any grammatical errors, I tend to type my logs as the words pop up in my head.
Ahh, one of these caches… I gave myself a challenge regarding this type of hide and I think I'll tackle the challenge right now. Here is the story of how I got to this cache and why I’m writing this log.
It’s traditional in my family to have the whole weekend off from parenting duties during parent day weekends. Therefore, I had yesterday and today off from being a dad. It may seem counterintuitive but it’s my day(s) and I’m taking them. On Saturday, I was all set on filling in some Delorme squares and going for 50 caches in one day; my previous record was 25. So, I went to geocaching.com and started setting up pocket queries. Unfortunately, I only got one query e-mailed to me. Four queries had already been sent to me earlier in the morning. The 5th query only had 10 of the caches I wanted to do so I’d have to send the remainder to my GPS manually. After inputting 10 or so, I figured I should just give up and leave the adventures for Sunday. (I did go out and grab a few other caches including some FTFs, I couldn’t just toss the entire day, right?) I changed the timing of my PQs and awaited Sunday morning.
So Sunday morning came around, the PQs came in just fine and I sent them to my Dakota. How long should 50 cache really take? It’s too bad I already used up the power trail in Wethersfield. I drove down Rt. 2 to Marlborough and Colchester before coming up Rt. 85 through Amston into Chaplin; the day started off pretty strong. I grabbed a few traditionals, a couple of multi-caches, and 3.5 hours later, I had found 13 caches.
(to be continued)
(part 2) Lesson #1, if you’re going on a numbers run, don’t do multi-caches and stick to expressways, not back roads.
It wasn’t until I was in Ashford on Rt. 44 where the caches started to fall into place. I didn’t venture far from the highways and worked my way over to Pomfret and Putnam. Woohoo, there’s I-395. I left the house around 8:15 this morning and now it’s probably close to 3pm. I’m averaging 3 caches per hour due to the horrible travel schedule I set up for myself in the morning.
I start grabbing a bunch of P&Gs along 395 and realize there’s no way I’m reaching 50 and getting home at a barely decent time. The stress was also zapping a lot of the fun from the whole trip. I kept on driving south and eventually got through Norwich and over to I-95. While the numbers goal of 50 was now unreachable, a shot at 40 was still doable. Also, the Delorme boxes needed to get filled in even though I knew I was at least 90 mins. from home. Since I was now free from trying to grab every cache I had on my list, I skipped a bunch of caches while trying to keep the actual finds within 15 miles of each other (I hope that was right, I haven’t checked yet).
It wasn’t until I was in Ashford on Rt. 44 where the caches started to fall into place. I didn’t venture far from the highways and worked my way over to Pomfret and Putnam. Woohoo, there’s I-395. I left the house around 8:15 this morning and now it’s probably close to 3pm. I’m averaging 3 caches per hour due to the horrible travel schedule I set up for myself in the morning.
I start grabbing a bunch of P&Gs along 395 and realize there’s no way I’m reaching 50 and getting home at a barely decent time. The stress was also zapping a lot of the fun from the whole trip. I kept on driving south and eventually got through Norwich and over to I-95. While the numbers goal of 50 was now unreachable, a shot at 40 was still doable. Also, the Delorme boxes needed to get filled in even though I knew I was at least 90 mins. from home. Since I was now free from trying to grab every cache I had on my list, I skipped a bunch of caches while trying to keep the actual finds within 15 miles of each other (I hope that was right, I haven’t checked yet).
(part 3) Drove through Old Lyme and then through Madison and finally, I am here in North Haven (this is North Haven, isn’t it?). Whoa, what be this near the cache? There are two people hanging around GZ. Considering the location of the cache, the chances that a muggle is about to ruin my search is pretty low. Oh, one of them is holding a GPS. I thought so, muggles don’t hang around lamp posts during the day (nighttime is a whole different matter and is best left to the police to handle). I drove the car around the post and parked it near the cache to act as a shield from curious eyes. I didn’t park too close because I didn’t want to freak out the cachers. When I got out of my car, I made sure my GPSr was visible in my hands. It’s like walking around and showing off your badge. It’s okay, folks, nothing to see here, we’re all just caching and acting suspiciously in a strange location. Carry on, now, carry on.
I don’t know how long they had been searching but I sensed a little frustration begin to creep in. I looked at the hint and knew immediately where to look. So, I checked that spot. There’s nothing there. Now my cocky, over-confident demeanor makes me look absolute stupid. It’s not the first it has happened so I’ll move on. We searched for a few more moments and then I decided to check my guess again. I did not have a mirror in hand so I abandoned all regard for safety (well, not really, just safety against possible insect/animal attacks). Groping around like a drunk college kid in the dark, I was able to find the cache.
I signed the cache and passed it over to the two-person team for them to sign. As I took the logbook back to replace it, I took a peek at their name. Jester of Tortuga. … see, that’s a cool name. I wish I could change mine. It’s just one of those things you can’t take back. Anyway, we, (Jester and I) said good bye to each other. I got back in the car and checked off this cache as #38 of 40 today.
With two more to go and home being miles and miles away, getting to 40 should be easy. Hopefully, this cache is far enough south on I-91 to fill in the bottom most spot of the map. With a couple of spots in Wallingford, I should be able to hit 40 before the sun sets. It’s been a long day and I just want to go home. At 8:45pm, I finally made it. Jester, please forgive me if I ruined your hunt in any way today.
The contents of this cache are in good shape, there’s plenty of room on the log. Thanks for the cache and being part of my Father’s Day adventure!
I don’t know how long they had been searching but I sensed a little frustration begin to creep in. I looked at the hint and knew immediately where to look. So, I checked that spot. There’s nothing there. Now my cocky, over-confident demeanor makes me look absolute stupid. It’s not the first it has happened so I’ll move on. We searched for a few more moments and then I decided to check my guess again. I did not have a mirror in hand so I abandoned all regard for safety (well, not really, just safety against possible insect/animal attacks). Groping around like a drunk college kid in the dark, I was able to find the cache.
I signed the cache and passed it over to the two-person team for them to sign. As I took the logbook back to replace it, I took a peek at their name. Jester of Tortuga. … see, that’s a cool name. I wish I could change mine. It’s just one of those things you can’t take back. Anyway, we, (Jester and I) said good bye to each other. I got back in the car and checked off this cache as #38 of 40 today.
With two more to go and home being miles and miles away, getting to 40 should be easy. Hopefully, this cache is far enough south on I-91 to fill in the bottom most spot of the map. With a couple of spots in Wallingford, I should be able to hit 40 before the sun sets. It’s been a long day and I just want to go home. At 8:45pm, I finally made it. Jester, please forgive me if I ruined your hunt in any way today.
The contents of this cache are in good shape, there’s plenty of room on the log. Thanks for the cache and being part of my Father’s Day adventure!
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