Rain and the "Rain Man"

I was busy all week and didn't expect to do any caching this weekend. I got a call from jbgreer on Thursday reminding me that we were going to a gun show in Southaven, MS on Saturday so I ended up mapping a few caches for us to hunt while we were down there.

Jbgreer picked me up at 8 am at my place and we headed south. Our plan was to hunt a few caches and then meet up with a friend of his at the gun show. Our first stop was the location of the gun show at Hwy 51 and Goodman. We marked the coordinates of the location and since we had an hour or so before the show we headed off in search of caches.

Our first destination was Sitting with Dad by chimps8mybaby (GC17P68). This was a simple LPC, but it is always good to start the morning with a quick find. We noted that across the street was a much more interesting location for caches and moved on. Our second stop was GO Park by littletfarms (GC193V2). This was in a nice park, empty at this time of the morning. The container was hidden in a typical spot but was much larger than we expected. While I was signing the log, jbgreer noticed that someone was watching us from a nearby house. Our third stop was at Greenbrook by cgeek (GCW71M). I had found this one before so I let jbgreer get out and make the find. The immediate area was abuzz with teams of young girls getting ready to play baseball (or perhaps softball). Next we headed to the nearby cache Just Another Ballpark! by QLaymon (GCW4XB). We had both been all over this spot twice before with no luck. This time jbgreer walked right up to the container. A lot of the area was trampled so it was easier to move around.

We had time for one more cache before heading back to the gun show. We arrived at Vincenty's Revenge by Sprout (GCTRD8) and was surprised to find all of the "No Trespassing" signs everywhere. In fact, the cache was technically on private property although you can grab it from outside. Since this was originally a Chance Encounter cache, we were surprised at the container size. Anyways, we signed the log and headed back to where the gun show was being held.

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We met up with jbgreer's friend and toured the tables of rifles and handguns and miscellaneous other things. I had a very narrow interest, but looked at pretty much everything they had there. Interesting crowd at the show and lots of interesting displays. They had a pair of binoculars with a built-in digital camera that I liked, but I ended up not buying anything.

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As it was getting to be past my lunchtime, we decided to hunt one cache and then grab some lunch. We picked Highway 51 Multi by dsherard (GCXDZD). We had no luck on the first of two stages the last time we were here, but reading the cache page helped. We were quite surprised to see where the final stage was (no spoilers, though). We had a little trouble deciding where to eat so we stopped at a Pizza Hut that we ate at the last time we were here.

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After lunch we decided to hunt the rest of the caches on my very short list. Our first stop was What's Shaking? by cusec (GC10EWT). About the time we found it, it started to rain. We were hesistant to do anymore because the rain was getting heavy and the next two caches were in good-sized parks. We took the "chance" though and hunted two caches in two nearby parks. First was Otis Redding Park by Chance Encounter (GCZXRT). This was a nice looking park given the surrounding area. We waited out a brief heavy downpour and made a quick run into the woods just off of a paved walking trail. After signing the log and putting the cache back, we heard what sounded like a siren or a car alarm. We got back to the cachemobile as quickly as we could and moved on.

Our final stop was Dalstrom Park by Chance Encounter (GCZXRF). This was also a really nice park with what appeared to be a horse farm behind it. Since it was raining, I had left my camera in the truck - otherwise I would have taken pictures of this beautiful area. Since we had no more caches in the immediate area and it was still raining we decided to call it a day. 8 finds for me and 9 for jbgreer. Not like the old days, but neither of us are really in it for the numbers anymore.

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Speaking of rain, this past Thursday and Friday I was at a conference and met Kim and Fran Peek. Kim Peek was the inspiration for the title character in the movie "Rain Man". It certainly was an interesting experience. He has prodigious-savant memory abilities in 15 subject areas, and I meant to ask him if he knew anything about geocaching.

Easter Weekend 2008

This would have been a nice weekend to do nothing but hunt geocaches. The weather was sunny and cool - perfect for hiking.

Saturday afternoon I had to be in Tipton County to celebrate a nephew's 13th birthday. I spent the day kind of leisurely. I got up late and drove to the Oak Court Mall to buy some new clothes for a conference I will be attending soon. I picked this place because it was close to Vance & Chance #3: Holiday Inn by itcomagic (GCY4VE), my first caching find of the day. This cache had been recently replaced and it was easy to see why. The location (the site of the first Holiday Inn) was good, but caches hidden in landscaping don't last long because people actually landscape here.

I had planned to hit some caches in Arlington and actually made it out there but I ran out of time and had to head on to Rosemark, TN to eat birthday cake. I left my family earlier than expected and grabbed a few caches on the way home.

Mudville Country Market by minismiths (GC150XW) was really close by from my starting point. I had tried this one before on a much gloomier day with no luck. This time I found it within seconds. I actually got a hint from the picture in the cache logs, but the coords were good as well. Next, I headed south to FTF Pirate # 7 - Boltn' Loose by magicrock (GC1344H). This is another one that I had hunted before (last Christmas Day) with absolutely no luck. This day, however, I managed to find it. This is some of the most incredibly effective and original camo I have ever seen! I took some pictures for my personal archives and headed back out.

I had just over an hour of daylight left so I headed southeast to Arlington. I scouted the area for You Can't Buy Ice Cream Here by cgeek (GC11PZR), but couldn't stop there. I then headed to Look Again by cgeek (GC13H0M) which was a quick LPC. Next, I struck out on Old School NBA by masmason12 (GC12BWC) making it 1-for-3 in beautiful Arlington. I headed northeast to Braden where I hunted Fishin' at Braden Station by Tiger130 (GC15HWW). This was an interesting spot andI found the cache quickly, but I could not get the top unscrewed. I almost giave up when I remember that I had picked up a twisted hunk of wire next to my car that morning and hadn't gotten around to throwing it away. It worked perfectly to open this cache! I took a few pictures of the gravestones nearby and headed northeast to my final find of the day, XXX. This was a cache near Bozo's Restaurant in Mason, TN. I think I got lucky because it was getting dark, and I had trouble seeing the cache. Pleased with my day, I got back on the interstate and headed home.

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On Sunday, I had plans to go back to Rosemark for Easter dinner with my family. I had more time early in the day but I chose to spend a lot of it sleeping and just lazing about. I didn't hunt any caches on my way north to Rosemark, but coming home, once again, I had some daylight so decided to hunt two caches I had missed the day before.

You Can't Buy Ice Cream Here by cgeek (GC11PZR) was an easy find with a really cool container. I had skipped it the day before because it required pulling off to the side of what can be a busy rooad. Today was much calmer so I made the stop.

My second and last stop of the day was at Old School NBA by masmason12 (GC12BWC). I had hunted this the day before with no luck (I think the coords may be a bit off). I found it on this day well-hidden but soaking wet inside. I took a couple of pictures of the park and took I-40 back into Memphis. Another weekend passes in the blink of an eye.

JAG's One Year Anniversary

This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the founding of JAG. They are celebrating with an event: Hey JAG, Happy Anniversary Baby!! by Jackson Area Geocachers (GC18F54).

JAG, as many people who read this blog are aware, was founded by a disgruntled group of GOWT members who felt that crap should rise to the top instead of cream. My original assessment of the new organization was that they were comprised largely of all of the worst members of GOWT plus a few Jackson-area locals who didn't know any better. I later discovered that they didn't get quite ALL of the worst members of GOWT.

I will say that if you like caching for numbers, wearing clothes that label you as a doofus, and eating large quantities of fried foods and/or roadkill, JAG is a good organization to consider being a part of.

Update: 3/19/2008
Looks like they had around 35 folks in their group photo, many fewer actually logged the event. I heard they drew straws for the cake that the JAG philosopher brought. Just kidding. ;-)

Cache Me If You Can

One thing I may do during my caching downtimes is post pictures of places in the Memphis-area that should have a cache nearby but for some reason does not. Here is my first submission.


This is a cool family-friendly place that has a few caches nearby, but none in an area as interesting as this. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why don't YOU put a cache there? Well I'm not terribly interested in placing any caches in the near future. But I know of lots of neat areas with no guard rails, lamp posts, or gas stations so I think I'll post some pictures from time to time and let the enterprising locals decide whether to place caches there or not. Oh, and I may or may not post specifics as to where the picture was taken.

Snow Day

Today was the start of a three-day weekend for me. Two years ago at this time, I was in Florence, AL on a three-day cache run with the goal of reaching 1000 finds. I had given some thought to making a big run this weekend to some cache-dense region, however, the weather folks predicted snow for today and we got some. It now looks like I'll be spending this weekend working on some solving some puzzles for the remaining caches I have to find in Memphis/Shelby County. I enjoyed watching the snow fall and took my camera outside in the afternoon to snap a few pictures.


There were a couple of geocaching events scheduled for tomorrow. The Real Reelfoot GOWT CITO 2008 by pcsenn (GC18FY2) was canceled at the last minute due to weather and will be rescheduled (possibly in mid-April). CITO events are usually a lot of fun and the Reelfoot Lake area is an area I have not yet been to. I hope to get up that way for a cache run some time this Spring. There is also an introductory geocaching course being sponsored by the Germantown Parks Department in Germantown, TN. One of the teachers for the course is prontopup, the GOWT Leprechaun, thus ensuring that the diligent use of a "phone-a-friend" list will be an important part of the caching lesson.

West Memphis, AR - March 2, 2008

The last time I cached here was December 3, 2006 with jbgreer. We came here and found all but one of the caches in the area. Since that time the area has been replenished with a fresh supply of geocaches. Most of these new caches in the West Memphis area were placed by Abiectio.

Today was a great day to go geocaching. It was a bit windy, but the temperature was around 70 degrees by the time I finished. I woke up bright and early this morning, but took my sweet time leaving the house. I gathered together my materials and left just after 9am. I picked Sunday rather than my usual Saturday for a cache hunt because I figured the traffic would be lighter.

My first stop of the morning was For Bruce by cgeek (GC175Z0). I had planned to leave this one until last, but it turned out to be on the same route as the next cache on my list. Thankfully this was my only "gas station" cache of the day. Cache number two was One Year Later by Abiectio (GC153M8). It was at a small park and had convenient parking and no muggles. I was expecting a different type of hide so I spent a bit of time looking in the wrong area. As a last effort I looked where the cache actually was. I have found several of this type but always smile when I see one like it.

Just down the road was Fallen Heroes by Abiectio (GC153C8), a two-stage multicache. I got the necessary information at the first stage location, took some pictures and headed for the second stage location. I must have gotten something wrong because I couldn't find a cache at the projected location. No worries though, because I was not too terribly far away from my next two finds. [Update: I miscounted the number of stars on the front of the monument, D'oh!]


Who is Tilden Rodgers? by Abiectio (GC153BE) was a quick find and I managed to get in and out before muggles arrived. The next cache, CAA I-40/275 - Tilden Rodgers by Abiectio (GC1597W), was at the other end of the same park. After finding it, I took some pictures of the birds on the lake. The water was a pretty color, kind of a light turquoise. After checking out the nearby ball field, I got back out on the road heading north.

After a wrong turn or two, I got on the right road for American Lifeblood by Abiectio (GC15989). I found the cache quickly and got back in my car before the oncoming truck in front of me had a chance to stop and ask why I was stopped in literally the middle of nowhere.


Next I headed north to Crittenden Memorial Cemetery. There were two caches there - Old Glory by Abiectio (GC11HEJ) and Pet Land by Abiectio (originally by Arkansas Bugman) (GC173V0). The first one took a little more time than the second. I took some pictures and moved on a short distance to the west where I hunted PVT 544 Engineers by Abiectio (GC1598Q). This was a cool two-stage multi. I appreciate it when the stages of a multicache are within walking distance. I took pictures of several interesting headstones. Some appeared to be homemade.

I headed east to Foul Ball by itsmebigd (GC19AP3) which I found quickly. I struck out at Esparanza Bonanza by itsmebigd (GC19B5N) which sucked because I had problems finding the right road to get to the site. Once there, I read the previous logs and saw several DNF's in a row. I looked for a bit and moved on. [When I got back to work, I found this cache had been archived.]

I then headed east on the road to Mound City and found Lonesome by Abiectio (GC11P04) and Lonesome Pine by Abiectio (GC11NZC). The first of those two was at an area with some construction debris lying around it. Interesting only in that this one big tree had survived the nearby construction. There were a few grave sites just to the east of the cache. The second of the two was a little roadside pullover and was a lot more "scenic" and a good place to relax for a minute. At this point I realized I had plenty of time left so I headed back into West Memphis for one more cache.

The last cache I went after was MLK Park Multi by Abiectio (GC153N5). This was a two-stage multicache that required waypoint projection. My projection results were rough so I ended up searching several likely spots before finally spotting the container. I walked back to the monument and took a picture before heading off.

Before leaving town, I stopped at Popeye's around 2pm and picked up lunch to take back to work. All in all, it was a pretty leisurely caching day. Most of the caches were in interesting (to me) spots, and I saw areas of West Memphis I don't remember seeing the last time I cached here.

There are three other caches in West Memphis that I did not attempt to do. I had solved the puzzle for Greyhound by Abiectio (GC11P1H), but decided to wait until I had the information to go after Beaver Crossing by Abiectio (GC1105K) and Lord of the Ring Series - Return of the King by mashey (GC15JB3). Since the latter requires finding three other caches first, it might be awhile before I get back to these.