I took the day off to visit Taylor yesterday in anticipation of the big show in a couple of weeks. There’s always last minute things and stuff involved in a venture of that nature. But before I headed back home, I decided to go ahead and grab a cache since I was well outside of my normal hunting grounds. Full disclosure, I faced the idea with a little trepidation. Taylor has traditionally been the back yard of our most cantankerous hider, someone I have referred to on a number of occasions. He has a tendency towards especially difficult hides, often a point above the stated Difficulty or more (as I have stated in the past, he has a 2.0/2.0 down here that I still haven’t found in years of trying). He has had a pretty big hold on the area (at least until the newly placed caches start dropping in the near future, but what could I possibly know about that?) so it was pretty much one of his or take my chances on the way back to Austin. I chose the Taylor risk (I say as if the other option wasn’t available if I failed). I attempted one in a cemetery (there always is one) but it came up with bupkis. I wasn’t entirely surprised; I had heard some talk on the grapevine that the cemetery may have nixed hiding caches inside, but the cache hadn’t been archived so I didn’t know how to go. After consulting the map, I found another cache that wasn’t rated exceedingly hard and left this cemetery for another one. Once I arrived and entered, I was faced with a possibility that I had not predicted. Our resident curmudgeonly hider had placed a 1.5/2.0 that was, in fact, a 1.5/2.0. I kinda wasn’t prepared for that. Knowing it was his, I actually took an extra minute because I didn’t believe with would be that easy. But it was so I did the things I do and voila! My cache for the day was covered!
In the near future, I will be getting another dose of the unexpected. As you can imagine, there are going to be a bunch of new caches dropping in the area around Taylor soon. Thing is that I haven’t been the one hiding them. I know who has and I know they’re dropping soon (at least two Geoarts, hundreds of challenges, and a whole bunch of other caches of various types all around the area). I also know that the existing Geoarts around the area have been maintained at the same time. I know it’s coming, but I don’t know quite when. I’m a little giddy with anticipation of them, but I also realize that I have no earthly idea when I’m going to be able to go after any of them. There’s still quite a bit to do in preparation for the Mega and I’m going to be busy throughout so caching won’t be on the menu for me. Now that I think of it, the last time I just went and cached during a Texas Challenge was probably during my first one back in Seguin. I know I grabbed a few at Challenge in Cisco, but I’ve usually been too busy working the Mega to really just enjoy it. That is one of the things I will enjoy about stepping down from the TXGA Board: I don’t have to work during a Texas Challenge. In fact, I think next year I’m going to go and just be a caching bum, attacking back roads for days on end because why not? No duties or responsibilities detracting from my caching? I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to handle that, but I’m sure going to try. But first, let me get through the looming one in two weeks!
Geocaching While Black 