Hyperlocal Knowledge

I continued on my quest for all the digital doodads. Though a selective collector, I am still predisposed toward “getting them all,” no matter what “them” happens to be. And don’t say this surprises you. Why do you think I’m collecting counties? A better question is, Why am I less concerned with souvenirs than I am with treasures? I’m sure a therapist could tell me, but that’s not important. What was important was that I wanted to get a Multicache to continue my collection. I’ve mentioned before how a buddy of mine created a series of Multis based on fictional counties from literature, television, and film. I hadn’t gotten them all, so I decided to go get one. I was in Round Rock already, so why not?

The description made it seem easy enough: at ground zero, there was a building with a sign, and I had to get “Michael’s” phone number from it, fiddle around with some of the numbers, and then my corrected coordinates would be revealed. Unfortunately, at some point between the previous finder in February and my attempt, the building had been demolished. The sign was still there, but it was blank. For a moment, I was disappointed, but I thought that having lived here all my life, I could figure out the problem myself. My train of thought, however, was as flawed as that premise, considering I’ve lived in Austin, not Round Rock, which only feels like home because of proximity. Based on whose phone number I had to find, well, I immediately thought about the craft store of the same name and, though the demolished building was nowhere near large enough to house said business, called another location in hopes that they would have an old store listing with the phone number. Of course, they couldn’t help me because it’s difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially when there is no cat. But a hero has friends. This hero made a phone call to one of those friends, who happened to have the phone number because (a) he makes notes on everything, and (b) he knew that the phone number was for the office of one of the building’s longtime tenants, Michael Something-or-Other (possibly of the New York Something-or-Others). With the phone number, I could ascertain coordinates and find a pill bottle hanging in a small grove of trees nearby. I was rewarded with a miniature matryoshka egg that would have been the envy of the House of Fabergé.

Yesterday, I chose to get an EarthCache. Traditionally, I leave them alone in the area so I have them available on International EarthCache Day, but I didn’t want to wait until October because that hole on the virtual shelf would offend me. So I popped over to another town that has been absorbed into the megalopolis, Sunset Valley. I parked at a big-box store and walked to a nature preserve across the street. With a quick climb over a low fence, I was on my way to see a karst feature (yes, this entire region is filled with the karstiest karst that ever karsted a karst). What I found at GZ was a cave (safely closed off) leading into the various cave systems in and around the region, eventually leading water into the Edwards Aquifer. I had lived in the area before and even been inside this preserve, but I had no idea the cave was there. Luckily, it was not a deeply involved EarthCache, only four simple questions, two of which I already knew because I learned everything I know about karst from EarthCaches. I have no doubt that I was wrong about my estimation of the depth because I’m terrible at judging distances. I can only do it over land, thanks to a trick I stole from Napoleon, and that only works if I’m wearing a hat. But I also understand that EarthCache COs are kind and gentle people, willing to give leeway to poor sinners such as myself. Other than the possible bites from insects in the damp wood, I’m pretty sure I’ll be ok. And, for my travails, I received another bejeweled egg, leaving me with only one empty spot on my shelf. All that’s left is the Virtual (as opposed to virtual) egg. That will require a drive because I’ve long since done all the Virtuals in town, but I’ve got a couple of good options within thirty miles, so I should be able to complete that collection soon enough.