Before I tell you about our triumph, we first went to one of the two we couldn't find last weekend. Since last time, I've perused the Geocaching.com's forums and re-discovered a handy little free computer program I already have on my computer called Google Earth. With this I can literally fly anywhere I want, with either a physical address or using the laditude and longitude for geocaching!
So I copied and pasted the coordinates from this elusive cache and Hunter pressed the Enter button on the keyboard. We zoomed acrossed our computer screen north east of our house and a little box ressembing the target on an arcade shooting game soon focused on a spot closer to the road and to the right of where Hunter and I were looking the first time. We wrote that in our traveling journal and then entered the coordinates of our second hope to find of the day and saw an overhead view of an intersection and some buildings, two with good sized parking lots. Google Earth doesn't know what the buildings are, but that small box gave us the general area and what side of the road it would be on.
When I told my hubby about using Google Earth, he chortled that it was cheating, but I disagree. Maybe if I pick up a more geocaching friendly GPS device I'll say it's deceiving to use Google Earth because that type of GPS will lead you to within just a few feet of the hidden cache. My particular system is meant for driving, not walking. I'm still trying to figure out the features so until I get used to it, Google Earth is my friend and Hunter was impressed with how quick we could zip from one place to another like a super hero.
My hubby's four wheel drive truck was the last parked in the driveway, blocking our one car garage where my van stays dry and snow free. He agreed we could take his pride and wet dog smelling joy after promising we'd fill his tank before he quickly closed the door behind us. (Was he so fast to keep out the cold or was he grinning like a cat about to pounce because I was taking with me the one remaining child that was awake?? :) )
We went to the cache we failed to get last weekend first. Since that attempt we've gotten a foot of snow but we were dressed for the change of weather. The only thing in the area Google Earth showed us was a telephone pole with a small electrical box on the side. We trudged through the snow and avoided riding on our backsides into the ditch between us and the road. Once again we assaulted the area with our eyes and brushed at the snow with our gloved hands, but we didn't find anything. I asked Hunter if he though maybe the cache owner removed this one when the weather got cold. I've read that many cache's are simple Rubbermaid or Glad containers that are inexpensive and easy to use, but although they do a great job in the warmer months, they crack and leak when the snow flies. So I've sent an email to the owner and asked if he could check that the cache is still there.
There is a way to plan a route with Richard, our GPS, but I haven't figured that out yet, so Hunter typed in the coordinates and Richard took us a to the next cache in a completely different way than I would have gone had I not had an electronic map in my possession. Even though the snow had stopped earlier this morning and the main roads were wet but snow free, the route we set off on was mostly back roads made narrower by snowplows who passed through once, never to return. With a flick of my wrist I was able to initiate the four wheel drive. We passed quite a few Amish buggies and I commented on the branches of the trees above us dropping clumps of snow as we drove by underneath. Hunter spends a lot of time focused on what's in his hands and not what is out the window.
Before we set off we read up on this second attempt of the day. What attracted me to this one was what I read in the online log by previous finders. This cache was put together by some firemen and was within walking distance of their building. It seemed unlikey to be buried by snow and was described as "creative", "cool" and that finding this particular one made someone's day.
After driving eleven miles in about 20 minutes, Richard announced we had arrived. Hunter and I looked around and saw the fire department on our left. We didn't want to park nearby because, as noted in the cache details, it was a high muggle area. Across the street was a library. Perfect! We parked the truck and put our hats and gloves back on. In my pocket my camera was ready and Hunter clenched in his hand our purple sack full of trade items.
The clue was, If you were a dalmation, this would be a pit stop. Well, a dalmation is a dog and a "pit stop" could be a tree, post, mailbox, just about anything a dog could pee on. However, since this was created by firemen, Hunter came to the correct conclusion that it was probably a fire hydrant. We immediately saw one to the right of the fire hall, in front of a split rail fence. We crossed the street and casually walked by, studying it. Geocaching involves a bit of stealth because you don't want anyone to see what you're doing. We were in a small town about 2:30 on a Saturday. There were a few cars going by, but no people in sight. I gave Hunter the all clear and he started brushing off snow on the top while I cleared away some at the bottom.
When I first looked at this fire hydrant, I did notice it's shiny red paint job, like it had just received a fresh coat and thought it curious that it was more symmetrical than your typical fire hydrant. It also had four protrusions on the main body; two on the sides and one each on the front and back. The top was round but flat with a lip around it with a thin small linked chain attatched to the middle top that hung down the back where it was joined there as well. We stepped back and I made Hunter continue walking with me so we wouldn't attract attention. We looked for other hydrants as we walked to the end of the block, crossed the street and headed back the way we came. We didn't see any other dog, more specifically, dalmation, friendly items, so we crossed the street again and back to the hydrant.
I was still five feet or so from it when I saw a small spot of yellow on the front piece. I looked closer and it said "geocache". This was it! It suddenly hit me that this wasn't a real, working, fire hydrant, but actually a clever copy made to be a cache! I pulled and I twisted at the piece with the sticker and Hunter did the same to the sides. I looked back at the top and the chain seemed to make perfect sense then! I positioned my fingers under that lip and with a bit of force I popped the top off with a soft hissing sound and the chain caught and held the lid from hitting the ground.
Since this was our first find, my intention was to let Hunter discover and open the cache, but in my excitement to find it myself, I opened it. Hunter was the first to see inside though and his face just lit up like a child first laying eyes on the treasure under the Christmas tree. This cache was as deep as a fire hydrant is wide and it had quite a few small objects which Hunter immediately started sorting through. On top of it all was a small log book zipped securely in a plastic bag. While Hunter pushed around a truck wheel, a fireman figurine and a map of an Ohio park, I pulled out the pen, notated the date and wrote what a great cache this was and how creative and fun it was to find. I signed it The Cache Checkers and as I fumbled to get the notebook back into the cold baggie I told Hunter to make his choice because we didn't want to stay much longer in the cold in front of a fire hydrant with the top off next to a main road! Hunter grabbed some Silly Putty in a red egg and left behind a ball that looks like an eye.
Excited and satisfied with such a resourceful and imaginative cache, we returned to the truck and back to the house. Oh, and we didn't forget to get gasoline so hubby wouldn't be left out in the cold!
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