Return To The Scene Of The Climb

It was a little unnatural for me to be in a parking lot at 5:00 on a Saturday morning, not because of the hour (though not not because of the hour), but because I am usually on my way somewhere else. Many of my road trips begin in the middle of the night, bound for some other place. This time, however, I was traveling with a small group to attend a far-flung Event, the Texas Two Step County Challenge Kick Off. I have mentioned the Texas Two Step previously. It’s a challenge to find both a Traditional and Non-Traditional cache in each of Texas’s 254 counties. The challenge will reside in a park near the geographical center of Texas, between Brady and Brownwood, so the Event was made to celebrate its publishing and the early cachers who completed it and made its publishing possible. Together, several of us caravanned northwest into the early morning.

The trip itself was uneventful, but it stopped momentarily for my sake in San Saba. We delayed so I could jump out and take a photograph of something I both had and had not seen before, the San Saba County Courthouse. When I saw it all those years ago, it was surrounded by scaffolding, receiving some needed TLC. I hadn’t had reason to pass through San Saba, so I hadn’t seen it in all its repaired glory. Had I seen this building the first time, I think I would have been quite effusive in my praise for it. All these courthouses later, I still appreciate its striking appearance, which maintains a certain robust delicacy.

A couple of hours after leaving Austin, we arrived. I had been here only a few weeks before, so I knew the place already. We were early (the first attendees to arrive) but not by much. Within twenty minutes, a few other cars had arrived. Within thirty minutes, the lot, meant for a small number of passersthrough, was full, with cars parking up and down the route in. Contingents from San Antonio, Dallas, and even a few other states converged! While waiting for things to officially kick off, many people grabbed some of the caches already there, along with ones that had just dropped to coincide with the Event.

It all began with a couple of announcements and then a listing of the first folks to complete the challenge. The first and second were a couple from Germany, so we livestreamed it to them. We also arrayed the early finishers along the tower in the park with signs of all their names, but I didn’t get a good picture of it because I played Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film for one of the finishers who couldn’t make it out. I spent several minutes lounging on the tower steps, covering my face with another person’s caching handle. Once that was done …

… the rest of us got our chance to sign the challenge ourselves. I chuckled to myself that, having visited twice, I would have to come out here a third time so my caching daughter could sign it. After a few more announcements, the Event was over, and we got to some more seriousish caching.

A Geoart had dropped the night before, a giant heart surrounding the park. To be fair, we were literally deep in the heart of Texas. Some of the attendees had gotten some of them the evening before, but my contingent set out for them now, running as Team Heart of Texas (HOT), not to be confused with Heart of Texas Team (HOTT), another (rival?) group finding them at the same time. When the Mysteries and Whereigos had been inveni-ed, inscripsi-ed, and reposui-ed, we grabbed some other caches of various types and provenances on the way up to Brownwood …

… where we gathered for barbecue, cold drinks, and stories. I had been to the restaurant once before, on the way back home after “The Incident.” The first time, its dinner ambiance had seemed like some sort of Lynchian set piece in the vein of Twin Peaks. This time, it was more of a friendly lunch spot. Funny what a difference sunlight and a better mood can make. We closed it all out with a CITO in a nearby park and then began the long trek home. We were all tired, sweaty, and full of meat (and potatoes). Of course, once I logged everything from the day (I usually log caches as I find them, but I bulk log Geoarts or other large runs in the evening with my laptop, thanks to GSAK), I realized something. I’m a hair’s breadth away from nine thousand caches! I hadn’t planned to do anything special for it anyway, but I thought I’d grab something locally interesting for the milestone. That said, I’ve already gotten everything highly favorited (200+) within seventy-five miles, and I don’t feel like going down to San Antonio on a weekday for one. More importantly, it means I need to start thinking about what to do when I hit the big 10K. I did Mingo for 2K and HQ for 5K. Where do I go from there?

Finally, yesterday, after getting some rest from the previous day’s activities, I went to an Event for a local cacher returning to the fold after a recent hospital stay and convalescence. We talked about upcoming travel, the insanity of a recently published challenge (350 souvenirs? Really?), and I got bonked by a dude’s pole during a display of its length. (Get your minds out of the gutter, folks! This is a family site!)

All in all, it was an Eventful weekend. Or some kind of crap like that.