February 25, 2010 Work Release!

I spent all morning working on the computer, trying to get business organized, and make sure I dotted all the I's and crossed all the tees. I needed a break... Right on cue, BojaB starts publishing new caches, by Kleetus, out near Chulota on the new section of the Florida Trail. I check out the first one, and read that you can find one set of coordinates to a third cache??? I am thinking I will wait to see if BojaB publishes all three, which he finally does about an hour later. Now, I am ready to get some exercise, and this is perfect.

I tried real hard to get Mimi to come with me, but after her experiences with the Florida Trail last week, there was just no amount of coaxing that could get her to budge, not even Dipsters! So I load the caches into the Colorado, including another cache of Kleetus on the Trail, and one nearby that Imtomcat hid, and headed out to see if I could get the FTF on the three new caches. Luckily, Kleetus also included parking coordinates, and the waypoint in the Colorado uses the street maps to give me turn by turn directions to it.

Good sign! NO cars are parked at the parking coordinates. I grab a pen, and stuff a bottle of water into my pocket, put on my flannel, and head down the trail. I get to the GZ of the first cache, Rock Salt, and start looking. The cache description tells me its hidden next to a big tree, and also that its an easy find. I spend about a half hour going from tree to tree to tree and back again, and there is no cache to be found. I am sure that something is wrong, so after a long internal battle, I break down and call the cache owner to verify coordinates. The internal battle stems from the belief that there should be no hints or calls until after the cache has been found.

Sure enough, Kleetus had posted the wrong coordinates on the cache page, and when he gave me the right coordinates, I was 450 feet away. I follow the new coordinates right to the cache, he was right, it was easy! I write down the west coordinates furnished in this cache for the puzzle cache, Fringe, and head out to find the second new cache, Buck Shot. On the way Kleetus calls me and says he is going to hike down and will meet me at the second cache. I grabbed the cache Gold Lag on the way, and found the second cache pretty quick, took down the north coordinates, and back tracked until I met up with Kleetus. We hiked toward the puzzle cache, "Fringe", and chatted about how Kleetus had helped cut this new trail last year, and had helped them build the walk bridges a couple of weeks ago. Once near the GZ, I walked right to the cache, and signed the log. Like I planned, three FTFs on one hike, plus another cache and a Terracache.

The last picture shows the cache owner with his hands in the goods. I don't remember why he returned to the cache, but he must of had to check something. We started the return trek back to the cars, only two miles or so, and Kleetus gave me the coordinates to a terracache located on the Trail, as well, that I grabbed as we passed. We stopped at the bad coordinates and he left a note there with the correct coordinates in case someone came out with bad coordinates.

I spotted a really cool spot to hide a cache on the Trail on the way back, and if Kleetus does not put one there soon, I will definitely put one out there.

We said our goodbyes, and I grabbed the quick cache, "Don't Fence Me In", and then made the beeline to Dipsters for their fabulous dipped soft serve ice cream cones. YES, Jarrod88, they are as good or better that Twistee Treat! Off to the homestead.

I always enjoy meeting up with fellow geocachers, thanks Paul, for the fun today!