Birthday Cache

This week we had to delay our caching trip for a few hours because Fish's wife rudely insisted that Fish attend his son's birthday party. The nerve of some people...

The son in question is Vorin, who you may remember as the World's Most Fabulous Secret Agent from our post Geocaching Hootenanny. Here's a birthday picture, for those of you who like that kind of thing.



Since we were in Murfreesboro for the party anyway, we decided to just do some caches around the area. Our crew this week is me, Fish, Mad Mike, and Ashlynne. Tserof was absent today, saying something about having to work or something. The nerve of some people... Our soundtrack for today is "Live and Loud" by Cross Canadian Ragweed.

Our first was a multi called 4-H TB Inn. Ashlynne, being an old 4-H vet, was happy about doing a cache that was set out as a 4-H project. The multi seemed to be right in the parking lot of the 4-H building, which was great for the rest of us, having had enough snakes and rocks to do us for a few weeks. Nothing terribly eventful in the first two. Mad Mike found the first one and I found the second. I won't give away the hide other than to say it's a good thing we've been listening to Frodo on all those events as I didn't even know those things weren't screwed in. The third promised to be a "gallon jar". We figured that would be an easy find right outside a parking lot and headed for the spot, only to find... rocks.

We hate rocks. Days of nightmares from Green Mountain come back to us. Still, these rocks seem harmless enough but they certainly don't seem big enough to hide a mayo jar under. We cast about and finally decide to send Fish back to look at the coordinates he put in from the last ones and he literally stumbled over it. Very, very cool camo on this one. Simple, but it sure fooled us. We'd have probably DNF'd it if we hadn't tripped over it. Great example of being able to give urban park and grabs some challenge.

Unfortunately, there were no travel bugs in the travel bug inn, so we dropped off a couple we picked up at the Sheffield event and the one Rick618 dropped in Wabbit Season this week.

Next up was Puckett's Guard. Pretty unremarkable one here. Park and Grab right beside the road. You know when the Zen Bassmasters say it's easy, it's pretty darn easy.

Next was From Tiny Acorns. It promised an old historical house but, as we headed in the direction of it, it looked more like it would promise a mugging. Through the projects we drove, thinking that maybe we didn't want this cache anyway. But we pressed on and found, right in the middle, a little park. On the other side of the park was... you've figured it out if you've been reading this blog for very long... a road to the park that didn't lead you through the ghetto.

We headed for the treeline and found the cache relatively easily. We also found our first injury as Mad Mike somehow managed to ram part of a bush INTO his ear. Not sure how you manage that, but he did. Fortunately, it wasn't too serious and we pressed on.

Next up was Benevolence, which was advertised as a cemetary cache, but seemed to point right to the railroad tracks. We pressed on, wondering if we had the coordinates right or if the cache was listed wrong. Sure enough, we found a little cemetary near the tracks. Or, at least, we found the sign for a cemetary. The whole area was completely grown up and looked like it had been abandoned for years. I did some research just now and found this link that gives the history. Kind of sad.

Next up was "It's a Party!", which was by an old mill. Neat little spot and an easy enough find. Nothing terribly remarkable here except for looking at the old mill area. Go check it out if you like old stuff or history.

Next was Chief Black Fox. Another fairly easy find near the highway. The only remarkable thing here is that we found my first tracker bug, called "An Old Memory." It was a bug attached to an old ram stick. Being a geek, the RAM drew me in. The bug wants to visit historical places, so we're either going to run it by the Berlin Springs cache or we may place it in one of our "History of Lincoln County" caches (more on that in a bit).

Next was Millersville Cemetary. Another park and grab. Very easy find. Again, nothing terribly remarkable here.

Our next cache was "Prosthesis" and it was another great hide. Again, I won't give away the find other than to tell you that everything you need to locate the cache is listed in the title (well, except the coordinates, which are on the website, but you know what I mean). Someone did some work on this one and it showed. Awesome hide and a cache I'd recommend going to do if you get a chance.

Our next was "Amber Waves of Grain." This was another that confused us in the beginning. It promised to be a cemetary cache, but the coordinates seemed to lead right into a cornfield. We pressed on anyway. Sure enough, right in the middle of the cornfield, is a little cemetary. Well kept up too. We commented that the name of the cache should not be "Amber Waves of Grain" but "Children of the Corn" as that's what it looked more like. We joked that all of the gravestones were of people 25 or younger. Cache was an easy enough find.

Our final cache of the day was Tom's Miniature Donkey Church. The name alone was enough to make us want to do it. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, as the caretaker of the little church there chose that moment to mow. Drats! Foiled by muggles.

But, all in all, a good day. We found all but one and that one wasn't really our fault.

The other news this week is that we've placed the first of our History of Lincoln County series. The first is not terribly historical, but a good jumping off point. The cache listing can be found here. Go check it out if you're in the area and drop us a line about what you think. I'd tell you to stop in for a cup of the really good coffee if the place is open, but according to the listing-Nazis at geocaching.com, that's advertising and an illegal cache, so go to the general area and find the cache, go inside and check out the history book, say hi to the owner (who was fascinated by geocaching when we got permission for the hide). The odors from inside will do the rest.

Until next week...

-Gryph