Blog Template Musings about Geocaching: A trip to town to rescue a coin

Musings about Geocaching

Saturday, July 29, 2006

A trip to town to rescue a coin

Although I didn't need to drive that far during my trip to town to fill my water bottles and get some groceries, I decided to go to my "Rancho Mission Canyon" cache to rescue the coin a cacher dropped a few days ago. Since the coin and Jeep thief has been active lately, I didn't want another coin to disappear. In fact, a few days ago, I contacted a cacher who lives near that cache -- but he could not get there before the weekend.

I walked the short distance down the canyon and had to look a while to find the well-hidden container. The vegetation has changed since I hid it, so my hint is not particularly helpful now . . .

I opened the container with anticipation . . . and was soon disappointed. The only coin in the cache was a quarter that looked like it had been driven over on a gravel road for many months.

With the coin gone, I didn't want the cacher I contacted to make a fruitless trip, so I went to the nearest library, logged onto GC.com, and sent him an email. I also posted a "Note" to the cache page.

After that mini-adventure, it was "coffee time." I didn't feel well enough to do any serious caching, but I was near the Starbucks where "Golden Joe" is hidden.

First there was a woman sitting near the hiding place. After I got my coffee and walked outside, I saw a well-dressed, 80-year-old man sitting in the chair.

I thought maybe I could grab the container by pretending I was looking at the headline on the newspaper in the rack. However, it would have been rude to get that close to the man without saying something. Somehow my first statement led into what became a long, meandering conversation. I genuinely enjoyed talking to him and we covered many different subjects, including the benefits of solar and wind power.

Finally, his wife and their grandson walked over. She was beautiful. It was hard to imagine she was old enough to have been married almost 50 years. The three of them walked away to continue their errands before their long drive back to Boulevard in the far east County.

As soon as they were out of sight, I grabbed the cache and signed the log.

From there, since I was driving right by the park where "Three Billy Goats Gruff" resides, I decided to stop and take a picture of the wonderful container. Last spring when P.T. and I found the cache, I didn't get a picture.

I walked up to the cache location and looked for the container, but didn't see it. I sure hope it hasn't gone missing. Today, I posted a "Note" to the cache page. Maybe the owner, or one of the three people watching the cache will go out and check on it. I sure hope I am wrong and just missed it.

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The hot weather has been replaced by clouds and drizzle. If it is dry tomorrow, I will drive to Horsethief Canyon and see if the caches in the canyon possibly survivied the flames of the "Horse Fire."


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