What I Missed

Yesterday, after I got off work, I went out for my cache of the day. I had evening plans and some errands to run so I had a short window of time in which to find it. One of my errands took me to a mixed-use shopping development so I decided to take another swipe at one of those caches that got away. About six months ago, I took a shot at getting FTF on it when it first popped into existence. I failed. I arrived again at GZ, a pocket park between two restaurants with a service alley running behind them all. I parked in the alley and then walked over to the spot. Everything was the same: the planters, the railings, the electrical equipment. Nothing had changed from before. Well, that’s not entirely true. One thing had changed: the cache had been found. So before I started feeling up every ferrous surface I touch all those months before, I took a little pass through the logs. A number of cachers I knew had found it so in a pinch I could call one of them for a hint. That didn’t turn out to be necessary. One cacher was kind enough to photograph the fat nano itself so I knew what to look for and, more importantly, where it would not blend in. Another mentioned the need for a stick to get it out of its hiding spot. That narrowed things down even further. I went to the place where the photo had been taken, guessing that the photographer had not strayed far from the spot, and looked around. I immediately realized that I was on the other side of the alley from where the coordinates led, just on the outside of the 30 feet of possible error that GPS is known for. In fact, I was standing on the other side of my car from the pin on the map. I just as quickly noticed some piping running along the side of a building with a few crevices where a nano could live. I looked in a couple of holes and spotted my quarry hidden behind one of the larger pipes. I reached my fingers in and was able to touch and move it, but it was far enough that I couldn’t actually grasp it and pull it out. I grabbed my recently replaced magnet on a stick from the car, attracted the nano’s magnet to my own, and pulled it out. It turned out to be a little more difficult than its Difficulty of 1.5 would suggest, but I’m not going to quibble about that. Inveni, inscripsi, reposui. I could have kicked myself a little for missing it the first time, but what was the point? Some days you win, some days you lose. A past victory would have denied me an easy find yesterday when I needed it more. Besides, I still don’t really care about FTFs in the greater scheme of things. And just as quickly as I had arrived, I was off again. I had stuff to do and dinner to eat before I did stuff with friends. At least one of the things I checked off my list was a joy, not a chore.