From the moment this began to kick off, I knew it was going to be a different experience for me than any other Mega has ever been. I’ve attended a bunch, probably working in half of them in one for or another, but this was the first one that I was responsible for putting on. I was running the show. To be fully transparent, I had a heck of a team under me. There were some people who did their jobs and I knew I could trust them to be completely independent. There were others who were instrumental in getting and keeping me on track when I lost focus. There were others who jumped on to take care of things that I didn’t plan for or, in a couple of cases, even know about. As far as I’m concerned, I only did two things right: I chose some really good people and I took care of strategic issues so they didn’t have to be bothered with such things. They did all the hard work; I just stood around and looked pretty.
As you can imagine, the day before was setup. My step count went through the roof as I was here and there and everywhere moving tables, helping vendors, hanging signs, and all the stupid details that go along with setup for an event of this magnitude. We were as prepared for the hundreds of people who where going to show up as we were ever going to be. In Friday afternoon before, we opened up the hall at 2PM for people to start gathering, to snack, to see wares at the tables, to pick up their swag packages and the like.
For me, that moment also marked a turning point. The TXGA started things off with a meeting open to the public and at that meeting, I stepped down as Central Texas Representative, a position I had held since Challenge in Round Rock six springs and a thousand years ago. I promised back then that I would stay long enough (assuming nobody else got elected in the interim) to put on Challenge and then allow someone else to take the post. I believe that organizations are better served by rotating leaders than entrenching people. Institutional knowledge is good, but I think that new energy and fresh ideas are often (though admittedly not always) better. Regardless of the philosophy behind my choice, the TXGA existed before me and it will go on after me. I’m just glad I got to sit in the chair for a while.
At 4PM, we held an Event to welcome everyone to Taylor and to induct the newest members of the Texas Geocaching Hall of Fame. I give you Rathergohiking, txgo4fan, and HiDude_98, the 2026 honorees! And deserving they all are! Huzzah!
Once the honors were given, it was time for another Event, this time of a barbecue variety. Taylor is home to one of the best places in the state (Texas Monthly has been putting it in their Best In Texas list consistently since 1973), so we had to bring everyone there. I had already met Californians, Illinoisans, Floridians, and Canadians over the course of the day. What could be more Texan that barbecue? This time, the restaurant believed us! In fact, they stayed open late just for us. And yet, though the prepared, they still faced the same problem. Who can truly be prepared when two hundred people show up to eat at the same time? As a couple of people told me, don’t fixate on the things that went wrong. If everyone’s having a good time, nobody will remember that.
The Girls and I took an opportunity to slip out and find an actual cache! Since there was a Mystery-based souvenir, we went out and got a Mystery so that they would get at least one of them. Our first attempt across the street from the barbecue place managed to stump a group who had gathered to find it, but another a couple of blocks away was good to go. Once it was signed and returned, we headed back to the hotel. We had an early morning ahead of us. I had to be there at 6:30AM so that we could all be ready for…
Geocaching While Black 