I don’t know if you knew this or not, but there was a big celestial event (small “e”) a couple of days ago. Maybe you heard about it? I had been anticipating and preparing for it since before I even started geocaching. In 2017, some friends and I went up to Kansas City to see the last big eclipse over North America. The experience was amazing, except we got thick cloud cover six minutes before totality. This time, we stayed home instead of traveling. Since my friends live between Austin and Johnson City, there would be almost three minutes of totality in their backyard. The girls came down from Longview, and we all spent the night at my friends’ house to avoid the expected traffic heading to points west, Fredericksburg most of all. Of course, that meant the girls and I would grab some caches on the way out and back.
We picked up one on the way out of Austin at a hidden beehive. The CO placed a few caches around the area during the “Time of Cholera,” dedicated to the horrid virus that locked us all down. We mostly managed to avoid stepping on the wildflowers. It was easy enough to find the cache, but we couldn’t put ink on the log because it was jammed shut, and we (like the last couple of finders) couldn’t get it out. We logged it, and I let the CO know it needs some TLC. But we got to enjoy the warm afternoon and the buzzing of the bees flitting about. The girls don’t like most insects, but they’re mostly OK with bees.
On the way back the next day, we stopped at a convenience store. After spending the afternoon staring at the sky, we were a little tired and looking for hydration. It was easy enough to slip into the parking lot and find the cache, a little magnetic tin devoted to the Austin music scene. We chased our little victory down with some cold drinks. There was talk of ice cream, but we settled on the cake awaiting us at home.
Oh, and as for the other thing that happened?
Clouds didn’t stop us this time! It was pretty epic, especially after all these years of waiting! And dare I say, we’re even thinking (though more fantasizing) about catching the next one. Spain 2026? Could be? I’ve never been to Bilbao…
Geocaching While Black 