Caching in Germantown, TN - 9/26/2009

This was the first weekend in a long while without rain, so I wanted to go on a nice caching trip. Saturday was a bit overcast in the morning so I decided to drive to the WalMart in Cordova and pick up a few of life's necessities and see how the day played out. Before stopping in, I picked up two caches: Ballerina by Berlan Eligab (GC1KCTH) and Just Slick and Tired by mgrommet (GC1W0XM). Both were park and grabs - the first one was behind Ballet Memphis and the second was behind WalMart. Easy grabs, but the WalMart one needed some stealth.

After leaving WalMart, I headed to Shelby Farms and hunted a cache near the dog park: Tour de Wolf by Berlan Eligab (GC1DW55). The cache was in a white container inside a dirty ziplock bag and I thought it was trash at first. I hid it a little better before leaving.

At this point, 11am, it was time to eat so I drove south a bit to Chik-Fil-A. There were a couple of caches near there, but I saved them for later. I decided instead to drive to Cameron Brown Park in Germantown. This is a really nice park with lots of activity going on. I parked on the west side of the park and hunted West Side of Cameron Brown by prontopup (GC1AE27) first. Once I got into the woods, it was a short hike, but the terrain was tough in spots. Not muddy, though, as I thought it would be. The cache was in a nice ammo can tucked in a good spot.

After emerging from the woods, I decided to walk the roughly half a mile to the next cache: East Side of Bob Hailey Complex by Prontopup (GC1AE25).

I found a new baseball just inside the entrance to the woods and tossed it out towards the nearest ball field. The cache was in another slightly rough terrain area, but easy to get to. I don't think I'd recommend the container as it held a little moisture. After leaving the woods and on the way back to the car, I decided to hike on the boardwalk.

It came out at a football field where two kids teams were battling it out. They had a concession stand, so I bought a drink and watched the game for a few minutes.

One notable thing about the previous two caches: The coords were dead on, but my GPSr insisted on leading me in a circular route (counter-clockwise) to both caches. Both caches were also fairly close to the Wolf River.

After driving a short distance east to Grove Park, I headed out to find Grove Park by ProntoPup (GC1BJDZ). Although the paved path takes you pretty close to the cache, I heeded the advice on the cache page and paid attention to all possible entrances to the woods.

This is the correct path into the woods. It is approximately 0.13 miles east of the cache. It winds up and down and around, taking you next to the Wolf River before leaving you just downhill from the cache location.

This area is very thorny for those who do not find the path. The cache had mosquito wipes, which I could have used, but I left them and just signed the log.

After coming out of the woods, I took a short break and sat on a bench facing the water.

My last stop of the day was a nearby Dairy Queen for a Blizzard, but on the way I stopped and found Germantown Greenway #2 by prontopup (GC1AHBX). It was the only spot on the trip where I had to be careful of the damp ground.

I had a great day. It was a little unusual for me to spend so much time relaxing and taking in the sights, though. Part of the reason was that I didn't have my route mapped out so I just hunted whatever I felt like. Another reason was that many of the area caches are puzzle caches and I forgot to bring my list of solved puzzles with me.

Cheating at the GeoRace???

I have been reading the logs for the 1st Annual Jackson Area GeoRace/Challenge by Bluff Boys (GC1TQBG) and it appears everyone had a good time. Prontopup of GOWT posted one of his photoblogs of the event on the GOWT forums that described some details of the event.

Something that struck me as odd after reading the accounts of the event:

Apparently yogi of Team Usual Suspects got a traffic ticket and was fined $575 dollars. His team subsequently came in second place in the georace.

The description text of the event states that all road and traffic rules apply and a violation may result in elimination.

Why wasn't Team Usual Suspects disqualified? Is it because they are all members of JAG? Is it because yogi is quite possibly a geocache reviewer for Tennessee? If a GOWT team had gotten the ticket, would they have been disqualified? Hmmm.....

I found the funny

Behold, the power of the world wide web.

Sometimes I discover priceless trinkets of humor out there, but don't mention them because they tend to disappear after I find them. This blog, however, was just too funny.

Here is a quote from an August 30th posting:

"The most popular coin of the day was Curt's iPhone. This is a very humorous tale in and of itself. Maybe I will blog about it one day, but for those on the "inside" we know the story and the giggles at the mention of the coin are enough for now."

The true "inside" to that story was that I placed this coin in a cache relatively near her, posted a picture of the coin on this blog, a link to the cache I placed it in, and a comment about how I didn't want it to fall into JAG hands. Three days after I made the post, jimmylogan and bashful from JAG swooped in and grabbed it. What a shock. In reality, my only concern about the coin was that it got logged out of the cache properly and moved on.

More humor from March 24, 2009:

I am thankful for a God like that. I am also thankful for our JAG Family. JAG's members are just like any other close friend or family member. You may go days, weeks, even months without seeing each other, but the minute you reunite, you pick right back up where you left off. We have some great people in our group. However, on more than one occasion we have been referred to by some as "a group of misfits and malcontents."

Looks like they still enjoy my blog. Chances are I'm the only one that refers to them as "misfits and malcontents". No one else cares about these losers as long as they put out caches.

Another quote from March 24, 2009:

First I must say that the "established order" from whence we came at that time, was anything but orderly. However, the misfit may be somewhat of an adequate term. True, we did not fit in with the environment/circumstances, but I don't think it was because we lacked the ability to adjust it was more a case of that we had too much integrity to "sell out/adjust."

The former group may be doing well and may be back on track. I have no knowledge of the group, nor do I have a desire to attain such information. I am most happy with my "misfit" friends. I fit right in with them. If honest, genuine people are what is considered to be a misfit, I am honored to be included in that number.

Bashful made a post on this "former group"'s website today. Apparently she changed her mind about "desiring to attain such information".

Update: September 8, 2009:
I see that Titansfan has some kind words for me:

"The 'resident stalker" aka 40-year virgin, ninny and crooked eyes messiah, found your blog. Don't let him get to you."

Wow. I'm in good company, though. It seems he doesn't have much respect for the President of the United States - his Commander-in-Chief - either.

Here is an example of someone using my friend jbgreer's blog as a way to visit mine.

I wonder who this might be... Perhaps a stalker. ;-) Whoever it is, enjoy the blog.

One last note about Titansfan: He used to spy on JAG for me and now apparently he spies on me for JAG. How funny.