The Run-Up To…

I hit town Wednesday night and faced a minor dilemma. My hotel room was booked for Thursday night, and they didn’t have a room open yet. Consequently, I opted to spend the night in my car, as I have on many nights in many places. But I had some time to kill, so I did some Adventure Labs in town. One series focused on the town’s history and the characters who made up that history, while another was devoted to frequent visitors Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Both centered around an old friend …

… the Montgomery County Courthouse. I had more than a bit of consternation because, despite all my bragging about the low light capabilities of my current phone, it wasn’t able or willing to focus on anything any distance away. The issue resolved itself eventually, but I was quite upset for a bit.

The next morning, I went to the Thursday morning Event at a restaurant at the Conroe Airport. The log for the Event turned out to be the top photo. The hallway to the restaurant was lined with posters depicting various airports. Logging required marking every airport you had been to with a signed post-it note. I had been to five: Dallas, Boston, San Francisco, and the two airports in Houston. I met a couple of people who had been to all eleven, including all the foreign ones. Sure, they had multiple German airports, but no Gatwick? Killing me, Smalls … Once I had some breakfast, I went out to get some more Labs.

I ended up running a series that led to a neighboring town. But with all the Labs I had done, I felt like doing some more substantial caching.

I picked up some Traditionals and some Virtuals. At one of the Virtuals, I ran into something new.

I’m used to seeing the seals of the Five Forces, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen the Space Force in the real world. Eventually, caching gave way to another Event that was slightly better attended.

It was amazingly well attended for a Thursday night Event. Thanks to the time of cholera, it’s been a while since we were quite as open about being this close, but it seemed like everyone felt the drive to open themselves up and return to the things and people they missed. Even I felt it. I was one of the few who was masking, but I felt less inclined to wear a mask. I still did, but I certainly felt less worried than in the past. Equally important, I ran into my friend and a recurring character in this narrative, Razorbackgirl. We had been talking about a project for the weekend for a while, but here at dinner, we firmed up plans for our monumental task. We parted, intent on recombining at Friday’s breakfast Event the next morning.

Again, a bunch of us reconvened at a local bakery residing in a small former theater (that I had been to the day before because it was the focus of one of the Adventure Labs). There she and I ate kolaches and then set off for our goal …