Hidden Places

So I went out for my daily cache. Yes, I’m still managing to do it. Going out to roadsides in the middle of nowhere or deep into parks, or some such suitably remote locations make it reasonable to cache about. Besides, I’ve cached a lot of central Austin so I have to get a little farther out anyway. So I was out in a neighborhood that used to be a fairly wealthy suburb but has become more middle class over the years, driving down a road I’ve driven a hundred times before. I popped over to the side of the road to grab a cache, but I realized that it was a lot farther off the side of the road than I expected. I couldn’t go over land thanks to the fence of a business so I took a closer look at my map. I noticed that there was a hike and bike trail the I never knew existed running back through the property. So I went for a walk and found the cache pictured above (containing a couple of little traveling buddies, no less).

Now, this is nothing especially extraordinary as caches go. I’ve easily seen a hundred like it. But never here before. Never in this place I’ve been over and over for years. And that’s one of the things I adore about all this. I’ve lived here all my life (technically most of my life) and I never knew this was here. I’ve seen so many places I’ve overlooked, so many that I never knew were there, both near and far. So since we’re living in the time of cholera, I’m going to more places and finding more gems. And the surrounding towns, too. Round Rock. Leander. Manor. Elgin. Kyle. Webberville. Lakeway.

Happy Good Friday, you all. I get the day off so I may be taking a little trip out to the hinterlands. I hope you get to find something, too. In days like these, we need to indulge the things that bring us joy, no?