C.A.T. Dos And Other Things

This was a weekend of peopling for me. Saturday was the second annual TXGA CITO Across Texas. A number of CITOs happened all across the state at the same time so that we were all relieving the burdens of Mother Earth together in spirit or something like that. I don’t know entirely how many there were, but I know that there were a few in the Houston area, a few in the DFW, one in Marshall (which was a little too far for the Girls to go to since there wasn’t one in Longview this year), a couple out west, and even one in Lubbock with a single attendee. I know there were more, but I didn’t exactly memorize them all. I make special note about the one in Kerrville, considering they’re still cleaning up in the aftermath of the July flooding. We had three to chose from in my own immediate area: Georgetown, Pflugerville, and Austin proper. I chose the Austin one for several reasons: it was not far from home, it was in a park that I didn’t even know existed, and (most importantly) it was our host’s, 2025cachingbrothers, first Event ever! How could I say no? Several familiar faces joined us there, including friends of the site Buckandi and Razorbackgirl. We even had a new face attending her first CITO, recent-ish arrival Hray27. We all split up into small groups and took the nature trails. I got a chance to use my new extra long grabber to grab things that were farther off the trail than I might have liked to go, but realized a minor length-based logistical issue putting what I had grabbed into the bag I was carrying. Being that it was in a wealthier neighborhood, I experienced one of the oddest things I’ve ever run into at a CITO: muggles thanking us for our cleaning efforts. While it was a well-meant gesture, it also felt completely unnatural considering I usually try to avoid muggles. And, of course, the ultimate sign that we were in a wealthy neighborhood? The main trail ended at a street and across the street was a moat-garage. Yes, it was a waterway with garages for parking your boat to take it to the nearby lake. Or maybe it was a band name (sure, I saw MoatGarage open for The Boxing Lesson and Married A Mouse at Hole In The Wall). Regardless, we made the world a prettier place and then gathered back together to show what we had found and snack on tacos. And, despite it being too early to be sweating quite so much (thanks, stupid humidity!), a good time was had by all.

Sunday was Razorbackgirl‘s annual autumnal equinox Event. I felt a certain requirement to attend, considering I put on the solstice events. It’s not like I wouldn’t have gone anyway, so who am I kidding talking about compulsion? Once again, we had a good group, double our CITO the day before. This time we convened at a food truck park. We ate and talked about the previous day’s CITOs, among other things. We also got some more time with cachingbrothers (both of them were in attendance this time) and Hray. I will take this opportunity to note that Hray mentioned that she hadn’t done that much, having just over 250 caches to her name. Small number compared to many of us there, but she started a year before I did, and has found caches in ten states, Quebec, and Japan! Not one of us there had Japan among our souvenirs. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: every cacher’s adventure is unique and just about every cacher I’ve ever met, no matter how many or few caches they’ve found, has done something that I’m a little envious of. Tragically, the time to part came too soon. We all had stuff to do before returning to our daily grinds on Monday. Laundry and dishes are not, unfortunately, going to do themselves. So pretend I said something about the importance of community here. I feel I won at it this weekend.