Another day of geocaching and my first flat tire
After an appointment in town, I took the opportunity to find a few urban/suburban caches. I found one, and then another, that I had looked for in the past. The coordinates were quite a bit off for both of them, but using the clues I managed to find them. The next one was another by T.R. Violin who places his caches, and writes his descriptions, with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. This one, "Another Magnetized Altoids Tin" cache, was very easy to find, once I made it across the busy road. Of course, it wouldn't have been quite so life-threatening if I had used the crosswalk at the intersection, instead of jay-walking, but what would have been fun and adventurous about that?
The next cache was actually nearby, but I took the wrong road and circled around and around. By the time I got back in the neighborhood, I wasn't in the mood for the cache-hider's opinion that not giving parking coordinates, or even the coordinates to an access road, was part of the challenge. In the hilly regions of San Diego with all the dead end streets and cul-de-sacs and private roads -- not to mention the price of gas -- that is not appreciated by this Geocacher. If there was only some way to know how disappointing a cache like this is going to be before I start the hunt, I wouldn't even start out . . .
After I found that cache and turned around in the narrow alley, I took off towards another cache location, for which much-appreciated parking coordinates were given. This cache was located at the end of a short walk up a hill to the north of El Cajon and it provided a great view of the valley.
Unfortunately, the cache was all wet and moldy because the container was not waterproof. I wrote in my log it needed a maintenance visit. Since the cache has been out there for a while, I hope someone takes care of it, because it is in a cool location.
When I took off from that parking spot, the car made a noise I didn't recognize. I stopped at the location of another cache, but couldn't find it quickly enough so as to not attract attention from a group of people across the street. So I took off, and this time the noise was really evident.
I made it to a 7/11 where I put $.50 into the air machine, just as a guy came over and told me I didn't need to do that because he told the attendant to turn the machine on because he saw my terribly-low tire when I drove in. While I put air in the tire, he disparaged the low-profile tires on my car and said I shouldn't even have tires like that because they are for the "young kids."
Did he think he was being helpful?
I finally got the tire filled and hoped I could make it all the way home, a distance of more than 15 miles.
After I got home I used some "Fix-a-Flat" on the tire. The long deck screw I found in the tire was too much for that, so I called AAA to have them come out and put on my spare. I probably could have done that myself, but my AAA membership is available for times like these, and since I got this car two years ago, I haven't had to use there services until now.
When I think about where I went during the afternoon, I think I picked up the deck screw in the alley where that less-than-exciting, difficult-to-access cache was located . . .
The next cache was actually nearby, but I took the wrong road and circled around and around. By the time I got back in the neighborhood, I wasn't in the mood for the cache-hider's opinion that not giving parking coordinates, or even the coordinates to an access road, was part of the challenge. In the hilly regions of San Diego with all the dead end streets and cul-de-sacs and private roads -- not to mention the price of gas -- that is not appreciated by this Geocacher. If there was only some way to know how disappointing a cache like this is going to be before I start the hunt, I wouldn't even start out . . .
After I found that cache and turned around in the narrow alley, I took off towards another cache location, for which much-appreciated parking coordinates were given. This cache was located at the end of a short walk up a hill to the north of El Cajon and it provided a great view of the valley.
Unfortunately, the cache was all wet and moldy because the container was not waterproof. I wrote in my log it needed a maintenance visit. Since the cache has been out there for a while, I hope someone takes care of it, because it is in a cool location.
When I took off from that parking spot, the car made a noise I didn't recognize. I stopped at the location of another cache, but couldn't find it quickly enough so as to not attract attention from a group of people across the street. So I took off, and this time the noise was really evident.
I made it to a 7/11 where I put $.50 into the air machine, just as a guy came over and told me I didn't need to do that because he told the attendant to turn the machine on because he saw my terribly-low tire when I drove in. While I put air in the tire, he disparaged the low-profile tires on my car and said I shouldn't even have tires like that because they are for the "young kids."
Did he think he was being helpful?
I finally got the tire filled and hoped I could make it all the way home, a distance of more than 15 miles.
After I got home I used some "Fix-a-Flat" on the tire. The long deck screw I found in the tire was too much for that, so I called AAA to have them come out and put on my spare. I probably could have done that myself, but my AAA membership is available for times like these, and since I got this car two years ago, I haven't had to use there services until now.
When I think about where I went during the afternoon, I think I picked up the deck screw in the alley where that less-than-exciting, difficult-to-access cache was located . . .
posted by Miragee at
8:17:00 PM
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