No Words Needed

well, maybe just a few. the following pics show the reason for a forced hiatus from contact with the outside world. blogging from a temporary location, our power should be restored in 3 - 5 days. one of the joys of rural life. the tree across the road had the path cut in it by us. trees over the road in both directions and no help forthcoming from our marvelous road dept., so ya do what ya gotta do.







this is right beside the house, flooded for waterfowl hunting, which only has a couple of weeks to go, thank goodness.

Geo-what?

My best friend, Johnnie Claude (not her real name, of course) and I have discovered a new high! And wonder of wonders, this one is totally legal! If you had known us for the last, umm, several decades, you would understand why I make that distinction. But I digress. Our newfound adrenalin rush, addiction, obsession, is something called geocaching. Geocaching is a world-wide game of hide and seek. Headquarters and home for the game is at www.geocaching.com. The only equipment needed to participate is a handheld gps, and enough “inner child” left to remember the joys of “hide and seek” or “scavenger hunts”. You then visit the website, and can search for caches near you by several search criteria. A “cache” can be anything from a 35mm film container, with a piece of paper to log your visit, to an ammo box, Tupperware container, or any weather-tight container you can come up with. There are even virtual caches that require you to answer questions about the cache site to prove you found it. There are multi-stage caches, where the first coordinates you locate contain clues and coordinates to the next stage. Geocaching clubs have sprung up all over the planet as a way for cachers to get together and socialize. There are organized teams and challenges for those who like to participate in a group. You can participate alone, with friends, or make it a family pastime. It would take me all day to tell you everything about this new sport, so it is best to go to the home page, if your curiosity is piqued. Now, back to the reason for this post. I have owned a gps for about 2 years now. I bought it so I could have a record of all the places that we go to artifact hunt. I just tie it on to my rock pouch and it records every step I take. When I get home I download the tracks to the pc and open them on an aerial photo map and have a permanent record of the expedition. I can save waypoints if I make a good find, and use the aerial views to set waypoints of likely looking areas for future expeditions. And there is one added benefit. I can slip it into a cell phone mount in the vehicle, plug it into the cigarette lighter, and forget about getting lost. Well, I can still get lost, but now I can always find my way back. I discovered the website way back then, but didn’t really take time to look it over. The other day, I happened on it once again. I did a zip code search for local caches and I was amazed. Even out here, on the backside of hell, there are an amazing number of caches to be found. As I was checkin them out, Johnnie Claude called, just to shoot the shit. I told her about it, and she sat down at her computer and pulled up the site. She and I love nothing better than ridin around in the river bottoms and findin places off the beaten path, so I was not surprised when she took to this like a duck to water. We are both just kids who have somehow ended up in bodies that have attained a surprising amount of years while we weren’t lookin. The realization that this worldwide game was goin on even here in the boonies, without us knowin about it grabbed our interest, to put it mildly. Now, instead of just wasting gasoline by wanderin aimlessly through the bottoms, and on the back roads, we could be ON A MISSION!!! We jumped in with both feet. We read the logs of caches that had been found in our area, and read up on how to hide our own cache for others to find. Caches are traditionally filled with dollar store trinkets (schwag, in geo lingo). So Sunday, we set out for the first time. We had already decided on a unique location for our first “hide”. We loaded up at dollar general, then stopped a short ways down the road, and hiked down a neglected trail to score our first “find”. We took nothing, left some trinkets, and signed the log. Then we replaced and concealed the cache for the next hunters. We continued to Johnnie Claude’s house and assembled our first cache. We were as excited as kids just let outta school for the summer. We drove to the site we had chosen, got out, and negotiated our way through the undergrowth and friggin, ever-present sticker bushes to our chosen spot. Johnnie Claude concealed the container, and I took several readings and stored the waypoint, so we could submit the cache for publication when we got home. We got back to her vehicle, climbed in, and began to back out. Did I mention that there was one hell of a ditch on the side of the pull-off? No? Well, it certainly made itself known to us. I felt the vehicle begin to tilt my direction and before we knew it we were up on three wheels, and within a cunt-hair of rollin over, excuse my French. We were both leanin to the high side for all we were worth. I had forgotten my cell phone at home and j.c.’s was outta minutes. After we got our breathin and heart rates under control, she stepped on the gas a bit and we heard that sickenin spinnin sound of tires with no traction. She let off, and we regrouped while waitin for the truck to stop teeter-tottering. Then we remembered that we were in a 4-wheel drive. We tried 2 low first, but no help. But, hallelujah for 4 low! It took a bit of backin up, then pullin up,but, by gawd, we came outta there, shiny side up and rubber side down! We stopped, once we were back on the level, and got the giggling out of our systems. Damn!! This sport is custom made for us!! That evening, we logged in from our respective computers, and logged our first find. I submitted the info for our first hide as well. Any new hide is reviewed, and then posted on geocaching.com within two days or so. We kept checkin and Johnnie Claude called me to tell me our cache was listed on the site Monday evening. We were tickled and wondered just how long it would take for someone to search it out. We did not have long to wait. It was just after noon on Tuesday, when she called me again and told me we had been found!! The finder logged his visit, and left us a travel bug. Travel bugs are trackable items that are sometimes on a mission of their own. “ This Green Jeep Travel Bug is part of the 2006 Jeep 4x4 Geocaching Challenge.” Now how cool is that!! So far, it has been in Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky. If you’re interested in learning more, I’ll add the link to our cache page. We named it “Don’t Lose Your Head”. Our first finder was nice enough to take a picture and post it when he logged his find. Thank you, lewy, whoever you are.