Another Day, Another Cache

Woo-Hoo!  Son agreed to ride with me again today to look for a cache.  This one was in an area of our community where I don't like to spend a lot of time by myself. Let's say it's "on the edge of respectability."

At any rate, the GPS kept saying the East side of the path, and the clue was that it was magnetic.  On the east side of the path were 2 big electrical boxes, a man hole cover, a metal drainage pipe and a not-quite-buried sewer pipe.  ALL would be excellent candidates for a magnetic stick-on.  Of course, he found it, and on the WEST side of the path, stuck to the ONE electrical box on that side. It was disguised to look like a bolt and completely blended in.

These things are amazing. This one was a "pico" -- smaller than a "nano."  If you wear a size 5 ring, it's bigger around on the inside than this cache. A dime is bigger around.  Here's a photo of the kind we were seeking:

Yeah - exactly.  The top unscrews and there's a log rolled up tightly inside.  This one had been painted the same color as the metal to which it was clinging.  AUUGHH!  Thank goodness I had son with me.

True confessions.  I had shamelessly bribed him. With this.

Hey, it worked. He got out of bed and helped me.  I love my son.

Successful Cache Pass

I've been working on a 3 stage multi cache for a couple of weeks. The way this works is that one uses the GPS to find the first cache. It has the coordinates for the second cache half the coordinates for the final cache. The first cache's hint was "Think Kohler."  When I found it, I started laughing out loud. It was lodged in a bowl created by the way 2 trees grew together, looking like a TOILET.  Hilarious, but I forgot to photo.  Followed the second set of coordinates to another brilliant cache.  This is it:

Click on the photo to see it up close.  Brilliant.

So now I had the coordinates for the final stage, which was about 2 miles away and the boy was hungry and tired so we paused for the day.  That was yesterday. Today we got on our bikes, remembered to take everything (except hand towels for wiping our faces - darn) and got moving.  This, too, was a brilliant hide. Our GPS was saying it was another 44 feet "that way".  My son climbed up on a rock to see where "that way" took us and said, "Oh! I see it!".  It was nearly at his feet.  GPS'ers bounce around a bit, so I wasn't surprised.

After we finished that one, we went to another one called "Magic Log."  I had brought long socks to put on if we were to bushwack so I could avoid more Poison Ivy.  Once they were on, it was short work to find it.  Along the way though, I ran across these interesting little things. Son (the Boy Scout) says they're mushrooms or fungi -- and hallucinogenic.  I decided to forego hallucinating and settle for a photo.

Again, click on the photo to see them up close.

Our final cache was in a busy location, surrounded by restaurants. Easy find and just signed the log. We sat and enjoyed our Starbucks treats before starting on our further quest.  We got as far as #4, and found it easily (it wasn't really even hidden). But as we started for #5, the geocaching app crashed and we couldn't get any updates, so we bagged it and came home. I HATE when that happens in the field. I need to figure out a work-around, but since we were 4/4 for the day, it was a good way to finish!

Somewhere along the way I made the mistake of asking my son, "Are you enjoying this or are you just indulging me because I'm your mom?" He said, "about half and half." I probably would have been happier not knowing. Be careful what you ask a teen, right?