Reliving my 2,000th find
Only Googlebot Reads This Blog I relived one of my most memorable caching adventures. It was so big it took four log posts to log this find. So check out
GC10DDH after you read my log it is a great cache.
Well this is a story about the diagnosis of OCCD*.
It was 2:30 on a Friday afternoon when Cache Assets called to tell me the airline messed up his kids’ flights so he was going to be up late at night and was wondering if I wanted to get my 2000 find while he was here. Without a slight bit of hesitation I said YES! The bad news was I was 32 caches away with only 220 caches within 50 miles of the house. For the average cacher it would have been a big road block, but for a cacher with OCCD* it was not a problem.
So at 4:30pm I headed up to Anatone to put in Mossman’s boat windshield before my adventure could start. That was the last thing that went right for the rest of the time.
Stop 1 Cache 0 Obstacle 1 Enee Menee Minee Rock I forgot the cords to this cache so we looked for a little bit at different rock piles but left empty handed.
Stop 0 Cache 0 Obstacle 2 The road across the Blue Mountains was very very muddy from all the rain and in my two wheel drive truck it was almost a no go. Slow and steady but we made it.
Stop 2 Cache 1 Obstacle 0 Brett's Birthday bash This was a text book find for me and the dogs loved it. The hiding spot was a little wet with all the rain but the cache was in great shape.
Stop 3 Cache 2 Obstacle 0 Lost in the Blue Mtns. Another quick find out in some beautiful county
Stop 4 Cache 3 Obstacle 0 The Sound of Music did blitz do that? Good spot for a cache but the fog was so thick we couldn’t see anything.
Stop 5 Cache 4 Obstacle 0 Misery Drift Inn the dogs ran all over on this one. A lot sloppy to get to but I had a no stop policy today.
Stop 0 Cache 0 Obstacle 3 Linville Ridge Rd This road was so muddy I almost wasn’t able to go down hill on it! I was sinking in the mudd three to six inches in places and was sliding around every corner. All the way down the hill there was spots were people would turn around and head back down because their 4x4 couldn’t make it up.
Stop 6 Cache 5 Obstacle 4 Rainbow Lake Revisited This was the worst cache of the trip. I drove up and down the road looking for the trail to the cache but it was dark and no such luck for me tonight. So we parked at the first camp site and followed some trials, one of the dogs ran off because she is afraid of water and the dark so I had to go back to the truck to leave the dog safe and sound in the truck. So back off to find the cache I went. I came to a spot in the creek were it was flowing over some rocks and not that deep. After crossing the creek I made my way away from the creek toward an imaginary trail that I thought should be just on the other side of the next sticker bush. I finally came to a spot were I ran out off dry land to walk on. So I started to use tree branches to stay out of the deep stuff. I was only about 65 feet away so turning back was not an option. I was now into “water” that was over my knee and smelled like cow crap but I was within 30 feet now. By the time I hit the trail I was bloody, wet and only a few feet away from the cache. It was a quick find and I was on the trail headed for the bridge over the creek. I crossed over the bridge and walked onto the road and turned around I really couldn’t see the trail I was just on. There was no way I would have found that in the dark. But I found it so that is all that matters.
Stop 7 Cache 6 Obstacle 0 Hopkins Ridge/Maloney Mountain This was a routine find for me tonight except for the mouse that almost ran across my hand.
Stop 8 Cache 7 Obstacle 0 Lewis & Clark Camp Nice cache I was able to stop and eat a little and also check my messages since I had cell signal again.
Stop 9 Cache 8 Obstacle 0 Pointing the Way quick stop and grab except for the traffic driving by.
Stop 10 Cache 9 Obstacle 0 Step Right Up...or Down very fast find
Stop 11 Cache 0 Obstacle 5 Flour Mill Park Cache Park is closed at night NEXT!
Stop 12 Cache 10 Obstacle 0 Touchet River @ Rose Gulch Routine find thanks
Stop 13 cache 11 Obstacle 0 Rest Stop Treasure Yes it was closed at night but you couldn’t see my truck from the road so off I went.
Stop 14 cache 0 Obstacle 6 Touchet River @ US12 20 mins and the clue with no find, Gone?
Stop 15 Cache 12 Obstacle 0 Touchet River @ Gallaher Road nice walk down the way thanks.
Stop 16 Cache 13 Obstacle 0 Whoop'em Up quick find must keep moving on.
Stop 17 Cache 14 obstacle 7 Wait This was a quick find in a field of star thistles. What was not quick was looking for the dog who followed her nose around the fence and couldn’t get back.
Stop 18 Cache 15 Obstacle 0 Learning Geography Thanks for the quick smiley
Stop 19 Cache 16 Obstacle 0 Gate to the Old Country Quick find
Stop 20 Cache 17 Obstacle 0 Eastgate Frontier routine find
Stop 21 Cache 18 Obstacle 0 EZ$ 2 Routine find
Stop 22 Cache 0 Obstacle 8 Waiting for a Ride To many muggles to look real well. Waited a bit but no luck with the muggles.
Stop 23 Cache 0 Obstacle 9 Menlo Park If the difficulty is really a 1 I need help. Or I am just a little fried and overlooked the obvious.
Stop 24 Cache 0 Obstacle 10 Memorial Pool Park As I pulled up a lady was letting her dog do it’s biz near ground zero
Stop 25 Cache 19 Obstacle 11 Xeriscape Revisited This one can be tough to get to if you are not going the right way on the right street and parking is limited except for the parking lot across the street that is also tough to get to.
Stop 26 Cache 0 Obstacle 12 Memorial Pool Park Was able to look this time but came up empty handed.
Stop 27 Cache 0 Obstacle 13 Organic Gardening Well we didn’t stop here since there was a bunch of people there this morning
Stop 28 Cache 0 Obstacle 14 Public Bench & Plaza How can anybody search in this spot? Waited for a few but a solid stream of muggles coming from the farmers market made it impossible.
Stop 29 Cache 20 Obstacle 0 Tektonik Shift Cache needs some help. Looks like it was a good one but the clue doesn’t work anymore since it has fallen apart
Stop 30 Cache 21 Obstacle 0 Tree City USA I found this one right away but as I turned around someone was coming up the path! Good thing it was just the cache owner. Had a nice visit and off to continue my trek.
Stop 31 Cache 22 Obstacle 0 Rose Parking Lot Quick find thanks.
Stop 32 Cache 23 Obstacle 0 EZ$ 5 Thanks as advertised
Stop 33 Cache 24 Obstacle 0 Washington Park Not as fast as I would have liked but still got it done thanks
Stop 34 Cache 25 Obstacle 0 Doctor's Waiting Room This is the way a cache run should go fast and not a lot of muggles.
Stop 35 Cache 26 Obstacle 0 Green Egg and Scram Water proof? Well it was thanks
Stop 36 Cache 0 Obstacle 15 Hit the Road, Jack! Way to many Muggles for me to get this one. But got breakfast instead!
Stop 37 Cache 0 Obstacle 16 Muffler Art Topped her to eat my breakfast and grab one last cache before I headed back to the quad cities. But people were everywhere so Down the food went and off we went.
Stop 38 Cache 27 Obstacle 0 Flour Mill Park Cache it is open during the day so this was a quick grab and potty break then go cache.
Stop 39 Cache 28 Obstacle 0 Reubens Roundabout After getting back to the valley and picking up some friends we were off to get three more caches so I could hit 2000. This one was just as advertised a quick walk great for the dogs easy to find and back to the truck in no time. This should be an easy finish?
Stop 40 Cache 0 Obstacle 17 The Ties that Bind Well as I had said before it had rained a lot so the southern road was impassable for a two wheel drive truck and the northern road came to a gate with no trespassing sign on it. Well since we were almost out of fuel and needed to get one more cache we went over to Winchester for cache and gas.
Stop 41 Cache 29 Obstacle 0 Kickin It At The Campground A quick cache to fill the void left by another cache.
Stop 40 Cache 0 Obstacle 18 SPYDER CAVES Well this one is my fault that we didn’t get. I knew the general location of the final from pictures so we just started hiking. And not lookin at our gps. Well I thought the cords that we had gotten were for the final so we walked right past the next set of cords. And just kept going. By the time we got back to the cords we didn’t have enough time to go to the final and meet my wife who came back from Spokane early for the demolition derby that was postponed (no cell coverage to call and tell her) so we had to abandon ship for now.
Stop 41 Cache 0 Obstacle 19 HGBP - Rookery After dinner and a little sweet talking we were on our way to the only cache in the valley for me to get to fill the void of the missing spyder caves cache. Wel it was dark but we were going to cross anyways with flash light we needed this cache! But even I had to call off the attempt when I saw how high the river had gotten from those stupid rains.
Stop 42 Cache 30 Obstacle 0 SS-1 Well there was nothing in the valley I could get so up to Moscow we went. It was late so no muggles around for this find but once I found it I was signing the log when some people came out of the video store. It was no big deal I was just writing on some paper…are you a geocacher? Me? How did he know I was only writing on some paper? It was the cache owner. We had a nice little chat and back down to Lewiston we went.
Stop 43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50 U-turn 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Phone a friend 1 (sorry guys I will never tell who) Cache 31 or #2000! Obstacle 20,21,22,23,24,25 Picturing a Piece of Lewiston Thanks Debbie this one was one I have been bugged about getting since before we moved down here. I always have wanted to do it but never took the time. So I thought I would make it my 2000 find. Yes Dale you were right I should have finished the puzzle before and just save the final it would have made it a lot less stressful. We found all but one picture but that is okay since it was the last number in the cords we would still be able to find it...I hoped. Well I guessed on the number and I was right. The cords put me within 1 foot of the container. Thanks for feeding my OCCD (Obsessive Compulsive Caching Disorder). This disease can not be self diagnosed but must be observed by a panel of your closes friends with the verdict being unanimous.
So that was my adventure and have found 8,000 more since then. This game sure is fun at times ;)
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