So, thanks to a birthday party, a spontaneous playdate, an unexpected sleepover, and the inconvenient kindness of people who love me, I was in danger of not getting a cache today (actually, as of the time of publishing, a few days ago, but that’s neither here nor there). Accordingly, I ended up setting out really late for it. I decided to take this opportunity to avenge a DNF. There’s a bridge over Town Lake (or Lady Bird Lake for the Austin noobs) that has a cache that eluded me the first time I visited. I had good reason to believe it was magnetic and figured it was a nano on these iron railings, but I couldn’t find it. So I ended up coming back with a friend a few days ago and it turned out to be a magnetic key box. I was right about it, but I just hadn’t gone far enough down the rail. I didn’t claim it right that moment, though. Since I’m trying to get one a day and I still have transportation issues, whenever I’m with a friend and we find something fairly easy to get to, I remember where it is and come back on a day when I need it. Well, when it’s 11:00 p.m. and you need one, well, this is the kind of thing you do. So I did. I went downtown and claimed it, avenging my earlier dishonor or some kind of crap like that. On the way there, however, I checked my email to find that a new cache had just been published about a mile from the one I was headed to. Hmmm… A First To Find in walking distance? And if I did it after midnight, it would cover me for the next day as well? Can’t say no to that!
The low building to the left is the Austin Amtrak station. While I can’t be entirely sure, I think the building to the right is the building it replaced. Though the various graffiti makes it interesting, it was hard to be sure of its function in the dark. I wasn’t going to look too closely, either. I found it, I signed it, and I logged it a little after midnight. FTF! W00T! That makes #8! And, in addition, this was about two blocks from a mystery cache I had previously solved so I walked by it since it was on the way. Yes, the cache was there! No, I didn’t claim it. I think I’ll save it for another day when I need it…
And the moral to this story? I don’t mind night caching. I just prefer to do it in an urban environment that I’m familiar with, not in random fields in the middle of nowhere in towns smaller than a postage stamp. That’s all.
Geocaching While Black 