Country Mouse, City Mouse

I had Juneteenth off. I wanted to do something with the girls. My older daughter, the cacher, mentioned that, since she was here with me and I cache every day, there was no reason that she couldn’t make it to the Out and About Medium souvenir. I told her about the Solstice one that required getting twenty-one caches in a week, which for her is a lot. I realized the easiest way to get cracking on it was to take a drive in the country. There was an Adventure Lab series focused on the Swedish communities of the area that I had long wanted to do but had never gotten around to. The most scenic location was a church. As we well know, I don’t mess with a church on a Sunday, so if I lollygagged on Saturdays, I wouldn’t make it out there most weekends. But Mondays are a different matter. So, we got up early to beat the heat and went for a drive out to New Sweden, Texas.

We cruised the back roads winding through the farms, seeing the growing corn and soybeans. The aforementioned church was gorgeous, sitting out in the middle of nowhere, while the towns of Manda and Lund (named after related settlers) offered their own little bits of history. We ended up stopping in a couple of cemeteries to grab some Traditionals as we wound our way, finding three of four caches attempted. I couldn’t help but point out the rolling fields and enjoy the pre-oppressive warmth of the morning. I remembered my youth, riding with my grandparents out to my great-uncle’s farm. I couldn’t remember the drive itself, so I wondered if it had been like this. I wondered for a bit if I should tell the girls about that. Maybe one day. I tell them about so many things regarding family that they never met. I decided to keep this one until they have a desire to know more. One day, but not that day.

We ended up taking a back route into the more substantive town of Elgin, legendary for its hot sausage. It also had an Adventure Lab series devoted to the town’s history. Unlike the New Sweden series, they were spread out over blocks instead of miles, so we parked, got refreshing beverages, and walked around the historic downtown. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying proper attention. We were so focused on the Labs that we missed a couple of Traditionals. At least one of them, we were literally on top of and didn’t know it until after. It didn’t matter, though. After a little more walking, we headed back to Austin with thirteen finds for the morning. For me, that was nothing. For my daughter, though, that was a 50 percent jump in her find total.

The following day, we opted to stay closer to home. After I got off work, we went to see a movie and then find a cache. We ended up going to downtown Austin and another of the mural series I had recently found so many of. Unfortunately, the cache wasn’t in the shade of the murals but across the street from them. In the morning, it would have been great. In the afternoon, the Spear of Apollo was gently but consistently poking at us. Luckily, it didn’t have too much of a chance to assail us. Once the cache was found, we quickly retreated into the shade to do our necessaries before returning the cache and going home. As we talked about the mural, I could only think about how the country and the city offer different experiences, but for people like us, they offer the same allures.