Back Porch Blues by Canoe Guy (GCQEGW)
The location of this cache is an information center just off of I-40 in Brownsville. I struck out on this day, but came back 3 weeks later and found it.
Metal and Magnolias by Canoe Guy (GCQEGZ)
This cache was in the heart of Brownsville and was a two-stage cache. It's funny now that I remember the second stage more than the first given the oddness of the structure at stage 1. In fact, until I re-read the logs, I had completely forgotten about the 1st stage!
Good Hope Cemetery by i_am_wood (GCPX4E)
This cemetery was located just outside of Bells, TN. The only thing I remember about this cache is that I had problems finding the general area of the second stage....
Bailey Park Multi by Titansfan (GCPQ4Y)
This was a quick two-stage cache placed by my buddy Titansfan in a nice little park in Humboldt. I'm pretty sure that this was my first find in Humboldt as it seems I passed through that town a lot while going to cache elsewhere. The second stage was a tough find for me and I didn't know at the time what the hint referred to.
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Cypress Grove Nature Park CITO by BigDaddyD (GCQCBW)
I had been to this park once before (in August) to hunt Bird's Eye View by Canoe Guy (GCQ0EN). It's a really cool nature park that has long elaborate boardwalks to take you around to various areas/observation points. Lots of big caged birds on display. On this particular day, I arrived a little after 10am and just in time to help haul stuff back to the worksite. Our job was to paint an observation structure with grey latex paint. Mattalbman, who I think is a painter by trade, brought ladders and brushes. It was a tough structure to paint due to its height/size and the fact that the wood soaked up a lot of paint. We painted for a few hours and took a break for lunch.
I didn't bring anything to eat so I bided my time watching a raccoon stealing food from one of the tables. Door prizes were awarded - I won an aluminum hiking stick.
After lunch we went back to work - mostly touch-up stuff to finish out the day. Several pictures were taken with the GOWT banner and the proud work crew. It seemed like it took more trips to haul stuff out than it did to haul it in. I'm not sure if some people left early or if we just packed stuff out in a more inefficient manner.
Right after we packed all of the stuff out and people were leaving, it started to rain. Since it was still light out so I looked for a caching buddy. Pcsenn was the only one who wanted to cache. Thanks to his log notes, I know what time we hunted each cache.
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Savannah Williamson Park by Mattalbman (GCQNHB) found at 5pm
This cache was a quick find for us. There were basically two places to look and pcsenn picked the right one.
Hear That Harmonica by dalls (GCQ38F) found at 5:30pm
We took a rather circuituous route to this one. Pcsenn's autorouting laptop really came in handy for this cache. The location was definitely interesting. It was near the gravesite of a blues singer and the tombstone was adorned with harmonicas. When pcsenn had his 1k event nearly two years later, I gave him a harmonica to remind him of our hunt for this cache.
At this point, we hunted a cache near a church that pcsenn had on his list - I had done it before, but don't remember the name of it.
Medon Trails by dalls (GCPKJD) found at sunset (6:30pm?)
This was a three-stage cache (at that time) and pcsenn had already found it, but he graciously accompanied me on my hunt. I had been here before and had struck out at the first stage. It turned out that the approach was important. The first two stages weren't that difficult on this trip, but it was getting dark as we got to the 3rd stage and I know I wouldn't have found the cache without his help. We still had problems even with pcsenn knowing the approximate location of the cache.
After this cache, we headed north to Jackson to hunt a few more before parting ways.
Fountain for A Legend by Mattalbman (GCQHKN) found at 7:30pm
I couldn't even describe what this fountain looks like as it was very dark at this time. I actually found the cache just by feeling around. Given the size of the container, I was very lucky to find it!
When Love dies... by Mattalbman (GCQDP5) found at 7:45pm
This was the perfect time to hunt a cemetery cache. It was dark and stormy which added to the eerieness of the hunt.
Road Closed 2 by yogi and dolphin (GCQE4H) - found at 8:05pm
This was the last cache of the evening for us. Like most of the caches in the "Road Closed" series, I remember absolutely nothing about it two years later. I'm sure I enjoyed it, though.
All in all, it was a long and fun day. I often wonder if the rain messed up the fresh paint on the structure but never went back there to check it out. This was one of GOWT's better CITOs, in my less than humble opinion. This was the last time I saw Mattalbman and Taterdude - they soon afterwards went on a mission to Albania (I think). I enjoyed caching with pcsenn after the event. It was the first time I saw someone cache using a laptop for routing. [I will probably flesh this story out as I remember more details]
1 comment:
That was a great CITO and BDD did an outstanding job setting up that event. I had a good time and like the author, I was concerned how the paint job was after the rain began. I have been back to the park once more to find a cache at the entrance but have not returned to the CITO site.
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