I planned to take my car to a repair shop in Olive Branch that I have used before. Knowing that there were eight new caches in the area since my last visit, I decided to take my GPSr with me in case I had time to cache a little after the repairs were done. I had done very little research on the caches I wanted to hunt, but knew most would be simple park and grabs.
After I left the repair place, I went after two caches a short distance away. Zoned out by fzxfazer (GC1FZT5) was a skirtlifter at a nearby AutoZone and was a quick find. Headache Fix #1 by fzxfazer (GC1FCPT) was at a nearby Walgreens. Another skirtlifter on the edge of a parking lot that had just been repaved. I'm not sure if you can be observed from the drive-thru pharmacy window, but took a chance in going after this one.
Next, I headed after three near Olive Branch City Park. First, I hunted Home Run at Maples by Fairchase (GC1G0F3). I parked at Maples Memorial Methodist Church (which was busy on a Wednesday morning) and was surprised to see the small ballfield below the parking area. The approach I took deserved a high-terrain rating, but at least the location of the field was out of sight of any muggles at the church. The cache was in an interesting container and nicely tucked away. Coming out of the area, I noticed a much safer way back to the parking lot, but I went back up the way I had come.
I detoured back to the area of Heartbreak Hotel and Cache by tinksdad01 (GC185HX) and checked out the area. I knew the cache was hidden in the owner's yard, but wasn't interested in being spotted by the neighbors or anyone else, so I moved on.
There were two caches to find in Olive Branch City Park. I had been there at least three times before and had hunted other caches in different areas if the park. The first cache I went after was The Air Force's Best Kept Secret by Sprout (GC1FKP7). Had I read the cache description, I would have known about the nice hiking trail that leads you to within 100 feet or so of the cache. Instead, I cut across the woods and stumbled upon the trail just a little bit before having to go back off trail to find the cache. After signing the log, I took the trail south towards the next cache on my list: Home Run at The Park by Fairchase (GC1G0F5). When I got to be roughly 400 feet from the cache location, I discovered I had two obstacles. The first was a woman and her kids picnicing just off of the paved path I was standing on. The other obstacle was a groundskeeper on a tractor less than 50 feet from the cache location. I waited out the groundskeeper and made the find without the picnicing muggles watching me. I had a bit of a hike getting back to my car and observing a police car patrolling the area.
My next cache was Mmmm Mmmm Good! by Fairchase (GC1G0EW), located near an ice cream parlor. The parking lot was empty except for a car parked at the cache spot. Good thing it was a park and grab. No time for ice cream, though, I had one more cache on my list. I drove to the area of A Sticky Entrance to The Meadows by Fairchase (GC1G0ER) and decided it would be too easy to be spotted by the neighbors so I drove off. It was another cache where it turned out that the neighbors knew about it, but I really don't care to be observed while caching.
Having found 6 caches in roughly 45 minutes, my work was done and since it was lunchtime, I drove over to Chik-Fil-A for a quick lunch before heading back to Memphis.
All in all, it was a good morning. My car problems were fixed (hopefully) and I found six caches before lunch. My one regret is that I didn't have my camera with me on this trip.
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