In Search of Elk Antlers

The day began like any other. (fussing over this and that) We finished up with our normal morning of Bed & Breakfast tasks and determined that we must go in search of, No, Not a geocache, but Elk Antlers !

Now mind you that at several points during the day I thought to myself that it was crazy to be out going thru all that we did just to find Elk Antlers ! But I kept telling myself that for over 4 months and alot of miles across the country Mike has been patient while I was searching for geocaches and I tried to pretend to be excited.

Only moments from the house my little jeep began to steam up and smoke from under the hood. Yesterday the huge pot hole there as you leave CVS pharmacy was more than it could take. What was probably a crack in the radiator before this moment was now a full on hole ! The little cachemobile was down.  (Mikey & I inside calling for help) Repairs were made by Mike, the trusty husband who is not exactly what I would call "handy". One of the most intelligent men I have ever met. THE worlds greatest father. A fantastic salesman. A brilliant thinker. But "Handy" he just aint !!! lol

So with my looming reservations about repairs that he made himself already as the day began I made my usual nags. He insisted and within 5 miles of the house, The smoke came pouring out from under the hood. Pouring almost like the rain that was falling from the sky !!! The rain that I didnt want to be walking home in !!!

The fussing began about there. Lets turn back. Why must we continue I pleaded my side of the fight !

Out of the jeep standing in the rain, He scratched his head, looking at the steam coming from beneath the hood. He looked almost as if he understood something, anything, about what made the engine run ! Only again, "Handy"  he is NOT !!!

We had a fresh jug of radiator fluid that we put inside. The second jug that day. Why could this be happening ? If only we had a "real repairman" I fussed.

With my arms crossed and his stubborn determination now driving us we continued on into the distance. (I was very certain at this point that it was going to be an unpleasant day)

Mikey is now upset because the Ipad has lost its charge and we have driven long into Martin County on roads that were so wet and muddy that a four wheel drive jeep was buried up to its door panels in mud. Not only now are we once again sitting in a cloud of smoke from under the hood but we are MILES and MILES from anyone, the rain is pouring and we are stuck in a ditch of mud that he just slid us into !

Okay, first things first, We managed to work our way out of the ditchline and get ourselves turned around and heading in the right direction. We pulled over, raised the hood, let the rain fall on the engine to cool it down because now we are overheating. Standing there, with our heads wet and with mud up to the back of my knees, complaining about how "I TOLD YOU" we should have turned around !

Now at this point I have to tell you that my frustration didnt come from his lack of knowledge about how to repair the jeep. My frustration came from his inability to admit that he didnt know how to fix the jeep ! LOL

We again filled the radiator and he continued to drive further into the No Cell Service, No People, No Help Zone that we were in. 20 More miles and at the top of a mountain, we got out again to inspect the radiator and why it was loosing so much steam and overheating the jeep when we realized that he had not put the cap back on it when filling it with fluids !!! Ya know, Mr "Handy" had forgot to tighten the cap :) I just crossed my arms. I said calmly to him. "I dont mind the mistake. But what I mind is your inability to admit that you are not "Handy" !!! LOL

Now on the road with the radiator doing its job (atleast for the moment) we continued to search up hollers for elk. In a holler, Up a side road, back out, up another road, to this coal mine, then out and down another road, for hours. For 8 hours we searched for Elk.

And finally I reached over and said, STOP THE JEEP !!!!

There standing no more than a hundred yards away in the field off to the right was the most beautiful, the most proud, the largest dang beast of an animal. Easy, be very still and enjoy ! We did it. We found a herd of the most beautiful Elk.

He said to me, I will go around this ridge line and I will walk and move them up the ridge so you can see them. Now excited myself at the thought, Mikey standing in the seat looking out the "porthole" window we waited as he walked thru the field behind the massive herd of 13 Elk. None of them with antlers atop their heads. This is a good sign I thought to myself as he walked.

And then he did it. He bent over and off from two hundred foot away he smiled. I saw his body change. I saw the joy take over him. I saw him shrug his shoulders and come up with the most beautiful set of Elk antlers in his hands !

Excitement filled me as I jumped out and went toward him with the camera in hand. Most people live their whole lives and never walk in a field behind a herd of wild animals larger than my jeep. Most people are lucky to ever run into them and most people are certainly never going to bend down and pick up a freshly shed Elk antler. I was so proud of him. He got into the car and I insisted that he go look one more time incase there were more closeby  so we would have an extra one to gift to Pastor Chuck. No luck but we tried. The three of us now searching in the pouring rain for just one more antler !!!! lol

In the jeep now heading off the mountain I was going on and on about how proud I am of his find. Oh my Goodness I cant believe you found them. Most people will never ever find a set of Elk Antlers in the wild. I was bragging on him and praising him and felt such joy over his find. He was proud of himself and the jeep was running smoothly and we were smiling and laughing and enjoying our day. We even managed to find two geocaches while making our way back out. (always a good thing)

He said to me, Did you see how fast we went from fussing to praise. You never know what the day is going to be he said. We were driving and along side the road at that moment was a huge, bigger than Mikey, Blue teddy bear covered with flowers and crosses in a memorial made there by the road where someone had lost their lives in a car wreck.

I couldnt help but say, That person thought that they were going home. They thought that they were gonna live forever. Atleast they thought they were going further than the curve along side the highway.

Our days never seem to turn out like we think they will. Some days we fuss and some days we say things we dont really mean to say. Somedays we search for Elk Antlers and somedays we search for geocaches.

But today we learnt that sometimes you think you are going after one thing and you find another. I thought we might find antlers but it never crossed my mind until pulling in the driveway tonight that what we really found was a place where we agree. What we really found was a fun adventure. I have said many times to my friend Kelly that I would rather die out on an adventure than die sleeping in my bed.

What a wonderful day of fussing and breaking down and antler finding we had :)

Alone with God

Sitting here on a high mountain al alone. Thats what I thought I was until moments ago when I realized the alone was so thick it became so silent that I could hear that God was near to me.

The mountain is still. Only the sound of distant cars and a single bird singing God's praises beside of me.

I cant help but sit here in the silence and reflect upon the past few days and how hard they have been. I cant help but to think of the lonliness of the world without others in it.

To feel loved or to know the touch of anothers hand is such a wonderful thing.

But there are moments in life like these. Here alone and still sitting on a rock atop a high mountain overlooking God's creation when I am thankful and joyous and like the little bird next to me I feel a need to sing out praise to God.

I dont think I am going to find the geocache I came in search of. But its ok. When I left home this morning I was searching for something and at this moment with the wind blowing gently against my face and a sense of peace about me I realize that I missed the cache but I found what I was looking for.

Im gonna climb down now. Smiling even without my smiley.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:On a rock on top a mountain

I love my brothers :)

Tonight I dont have alot to say about alot of things but I do feel the need to just say to the universe how much I love my brothers. I sat in the services tonight for my little cousin David Oliver and I was moved again by how many people were there to show sympathy for the Oliver & Alley Family's.

(little Dee in Kindergarten)

Davids life was short. It's not fair. It is unacceptable and not understandable at all to me how he can be gone. I do not know why or how this can be. My lists of questions about how God has allowed this to happen is so long.  I trust God. I accept God's Will but I am not able to say that I understand it. I dont understand it. I look at my cousins who have lost their brother and my heart wants to bust open with tears.

(My beautiful Cousin David and his baby girl)

(Tatar, Dee & Wendy)

I am so proud of my family. I looked at my cousin Kim and I was moved by how grown up she is and how beautiful a person she has become. I see my uncle Robert and my Aunt Pam and I feel a safety in just knowing they are there. They have always been there.

(The Oliver & Alley crew 2010)

I see all my Aunts and Uncles and their children and grandchildren and I am amazed at how many of us there are. I see the children of children of children all from my Grandma and Grandpa Alley and I miss them. I remember my mama and her fishing with us as kids and Phyllis & Dale and the kids and me and my brothers and mom and dad all playing on the creek bank at their feet. I find comfort in those memories. We go long periods without being together in a room but there is such a peace about moments of sorrow or joy and having all of us be there as a family.

I have made my mind up that I am going to get My Family, Tatar's Family, Dee's Family and we are going to do Photos of us all together. We must must must do a photo of all of us together while we are all here. I need to have that.

(My Tatar Bug)

I watched my Uncle Dale hold his boys and scoop up his grandbabies and watched his brothers and sisters rally to his side for strength at moments when he broke down and I was filled, overflowing, with love for him. I love to watch him with my brother Tatar and see their bond for one another. I love to hug my Uncle Dale and feel his strength and the power of his love for me even at moments when I am supposed to be helping him, he comforts me.

(Christy,Uncle Dale, Me, Uncle Robert & Austin at our last family gathering)

All I could think thru the whole night was how blessed that I am. All that I could think was how my skin aches at the mear thought of loosing my Tatar or my Dee. I have two brothers and I love them and am filled with pride over them and I know they are both very sick of hearing me say, "I love you" the past two days but every time I looked at them I had to say it. I just wanted to tackle them like when we were kids and set on them and say, pay attention to me, I want you to know this, Please do not ever forget this,

I LOVE YOU !!!!

(Wendy, Tatar, Dee)

I ache for Dale Lee, I ache for Danny, I ache for Missy, I ache for Libby, I ache for those babies who lost their beautiful daddy.

Missy said to me, "Wendy, promise me to tell Tatar and Dee you love them while you have them " and I know that both of them must have thought I lost it tonight when I just felt myself saying over and over to them, I love you. I love you. I love you Tatar. I love you Dee.

I dread tomorrow. Did I say that I love Tatar and Dee? Did I say I am proud of my brothers and their families ?

(Dee, Me & Tatar)

Did I say that I love them ?

A day in my life :) A good day

I dont know where to begin. I woke up and I knew that it was going to be a great day. Most of us dont have days where its just all about "me" But today was that day for me. It was about my 1000 geocaching finds, even though I worked so super hard trying but couldnt get there just yet to make it to 2000 !

I dont know when I was happier than today in such a very long time.

I set out to find a cache that would make the day something I would never forget. Something special. I looked at doing the SBCP cache since it was him who got me "hooked" on this silly thing that I am so in love with but as I was driving that way, it hit me, the day would be perfect if only I could find that crazy cache that I had searched for at the top of the Moses Case turnoff at Sidney. Could I climb up that one again and with the ice and the snow against me on this run actually FIND the dang thing. So my jeep pulled off to the side of the road I took a large breath and sat out on the journey.

I found the climb this time to be much easier. I wasnt looking at the gps this time but just carefully making my way back to the spot where I knew it just had to be.

(Me & Mr Blue&Gray today)

I made it up to the top in no time it felt. I could hear myself outloud talking to Mr Blue&Gray. I was saying all sorts of things to him on this trip. I started to be angry with him before ever I got to the top ! Knowing in my heart that I was just NOT GOING TO FIND it ! But I wanted to try so here we are at the top, again.

I spent about an hour and a half at the top before I did the usual "phone a friend" and send out requests by email and text to every cacher I know who might be able to tell me just the size of the container that I was searching for ?!!! Is this another one of Mr Blue&Grays standard, tiny little micro hides ? Is there an ammo can up here that I am looking directly at and just cant see because I am too excited ?

The reply came from Jumpin Jack first, I dont know the size of the container he said ! Oh no !!!

Then SBCP came through. Breath he said. Just stop and think. You are there and you are too excited to find it. Slow down and use your "geosense" he said. I was setting on a large rock at the moment and I hung the phone up and said....Well I said some things to You know who....lol...that I cant repeat here...Then I looked all around me. Where is this thing. How can it be "that" size and me missing it ? UGH

I got up and walked to the center of the gap and let my gps think. Then I did what Spongebob had said. I took a breath and went to the direction that the gps said and then put it into my pocket and just started to look, search, frisk the area ! I can hear myself and wish only that someone else was there to have heard me, When I screamed in excitement at the sight of this container ! HA!!!!! MR BLUE&GRAY !

I hope that I never forget the smile that I felt across my face as I made the little happy walk out of the gap ! I called my geo friend, Brady, and shared the moment with him. I AM HERE and I DID IT ! lol

I called my husband and son and said Drive right now to Sidney and take a photo of me standing on top of this mountain ! Which he did but turns out he doesnt know how to work the camera so my pics from the top of the gap will have to do ! hehe

I left inside on of my pathtags and I took a toy girl figure which I thought was perfect for my geocaching junk jar so that everytime I pass it I will remember the day and how happy I felt in the success of the find.

Then we went to the 1k party being held for me in Pikeville at the Gattiland cache, that started my whole addiction to geocaching.

I will never forget that sciencecacher made the long journey down to spend a day with me. I just love you "Steve Briarpatch the Marshall Man" You are one of those "guests" for the B&B that make owning a B&B so very worth the trouble :) lol

Puddle Jumper it was so nice to meet you and I look forward to many many more events with you in the future.

Jumpin' Jack, I cant put to words how sweet you are. You act all tough but I already know you are a teddy bear. And I dont care what the guys tease ya and say,I know you are just a sweetie :)

Mtmanva2, It was fun to cache a minute or so with ya and I so enjoyed all your tales from the trails. I hope to find every single cache that you have out there just one at a time,I am tired of the push now I want to just cache and enjoy it. I will be searching for yours and enjoying them along the way.

Ky3, Wildcat Angel, CatAngel, I have enjoyed caching with you and meeting your family. Thanks so much for making the journey to the event and for all the fun :)

Wizard Austin and Granddad Brian thanks for coming on the trip with my buddy Steve :) It was so nice to meet you both and I hope that in the future we can do some real caching :) It seems a bit odd that I took you to two caches today and both were of all peoples.Blue&Grays ! lol One find out of two is okay I guess ! I am thankful now that someone besides me is gonna be able to say that there just was nothing under there !!! lol hehe

Chef, You may be the biggest teddy bear of them all. I love love love my pathtag. It is my very favorite pathtag so far ! It is adoreable, Just like you. "the lady" will ride with you anytime :)

DMFlyer, it is wonderful to finally meet you and I must say that I am totally impressed ! You are somewhat of a geo-king and I have signed alot of logs in crazy little spots and seen your name many times and I am so very thankful to finally meet you in person and say I know the man !

Kelfay97 &Vollyballgirl#1, You both know that I love you. Kelfay97, My life without you in it....well....I hope I never ever know what my life is like without my bestest buddy ever :) I love you girlie !

Innkeepermichaelj, thank you ! Thank you for being the cachers husband. The guy who just gets stuck jumping on airplanes and flying off to far away lands to cache even though you really do not enjoy it :) (he says he does but he realllly doesnt, he is just going along with me as usual)

littlemikey2, I am sorry that mommy has been so crazy this past three months. LOL I hope that I have given you a lifetime geocaching hobby. I hope that (once mommy gets all the logs in) You enjoy your brag at school that you are ranked in the top 40 geocachers in the state of WV :) Mommy loves you !!!!!!!!

Mr. Blue&Gray, I seen you from afar today and I knew that you were sorta kinda thinking...is she going to hug me or hang me ! I told you today and I will say it again.....I have shared every find with you. I think of you,I curse you, I bless you, I talk to you like a crazy person when you cant hear a word that I am saying, I say prayers for you even if they are sometimes not nice but I repented all of those today when standing at the top of the gap #4 and holding that crazy cache in my hand, giggling like a silly fool without another person around, screaming to the top of my lungs......HA ! TAKE THAT MR BLUE&GRAY !!! LOL You keep hiding them, please, and I promise to keep searching for them. Of coarse you dont really even need to hide anymore because I may never find the ones you have out there already ! hehe My family was happy to meet you. Your name is spoken in this house pretty much on a daily basis. They were glad to put a face with the name.

And Finally, To SBCP, I cant think of what to say to you....how do I tell you what I want you to know ? YOU are the reason that this madness has came into my life. YOU are the reason that I cant stop ! YOU & That Gattiland cache made my life crazy ! It was appropriate that we held the event there at that cache ! I just love you for bringing this into my life :) Logs are fun with you. Going out in search of the next cache is fun because of you. You have inspired me in so many ways that I cant put here in words. I remember thinking....SBCP is a geocaching GOD ! ( I have since met Brady who has 21,000 finds and now I know that you are just a "menion" as Mikey would say) But to me, I will ALWAYS tell the story of how I found that silly string (which Kandis dropped down into the pipe, oops) (needs repairs) on the Gattiland cache and how I walked away from there knowing that My life was never going to be the same. I would always be looking for another one of those moments of joy that I found right then when I pulled it up out of its hidin' spot and went....Gosh he is clever ! You have become my "wing" man when I cant find them and I appologize for the many "phone a friend" moments that I have had with you at you know who's caches ! lol You make me wish I were a boy ! Then I could just jump in the car and go caching with ya and no one would think it was not okay ! hehe Thank you is all that I can think to say ! Just thank you :)

To everyone....just thank you for the wonderful day and for how tired I feel right now. The feeling of a task complete. The feeling of happiness.

Life last year was horrible. Some of you were there for that. This feeling of joy is not a feeling that I remember having many times over the past year and I must admit....I like it :)

I later cached with my new found friends and the ones that have been with me for a while. I even searched for a Mr Blue&Gray cache that I couldnt find ! LOL

I will lay my head on my pillow tonight and feel joy and happiness. I like it.



A little thank you to the Big Sandy Area Geocachers :)

Hey guys, (The Members of the Big Sandy Area Geocachers Club)

 

I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, I mean to tell you ALL that I have cried, like the girl that I am over the event page in my honor for my 1000th find. I was logging in some finds from today just now and using the map to retrace my tracks when over there out the corner of my eye I saw a new event and clicked on it to find what you have done ! I know who you are and I will promptly wrap my arms around you (both) and hug your necks when I do attend this event on the 22nd. Each of the boys that I have had the honor to meet have touched me in different ways.

I have said more than once in the past couple of months since starting this caching thing that I have a love/hate relationship with each of you. Some of your caches (Spongebob's Gattiland cache and Blue&Gray's Stupid Gap #4) are the reason that I can NOT focus and can NOT stop searching for the next one !

(I have a good little record going now with police muggle stops)

On days like today when I went in search of "respect your elders, by SBCP" I am literally moved with excitement and as I said to Spongebob, Filled with respect for "my elder cachers" This cache to me was so cleverly done and the moment I discovered it I felt a little tingle of excitement and a smile came over me that I couldnt stop. The same smile that I had the day I fished out Gattiland and the day that I climbed to the top of the Moses Case cut through with the Blue&Gray.

 (lights out where I discovered my need for a jeep)

 (my family enjoying the hunt for the Gattiland cache)

(flat stanley)

The kindness of each of the men that make up this club has overwhelmed me today. Pikeville Cacher, Cachemaster Yoda have been very kind and Its been an honor to play this game with you. And of coarse Ky Trio who helped me to hurry late the night before the run to Nevada to gather up the needed info to plan the trip. I didnt even know how to do a Pocket Quiery for heaven sakes without him or how to cache along a route. Thanks Mike.

(the boots)

Some of your caches I have yet to stumble upon (jumpin'jack) but I am excited to reach and know that I WILL get to them. Then there is ones like Mr Blue&Gray...sweet Mr Blue&Gray...lol...who hides caches that I know were hidden long ago without me even in his mind when he hid them but when I am on the hunt for them its almost as though we are on a date. (lol) I spend the entire time searching and usually not finding them and thinking about him and what moved him to be so rotten !

(the Alien Highway)

I Go looking for Chef's and I think of him and how sweet he was the first moment I met him and he said..."Boys you can jump in the back of the truck and the lady can ride up here with me" (hehe)

I have had conversations with each of you in person, over facebook, on the phone and in my head (sometimes even out loud) while on the side of rock cliffs and in pipes with rats chasing me and I am always thankful for the moment that I fished out that Gattiland cache and became "hooked" to this sport.

Thank you boys for this little honor. I told SBCP the day that I met him that I would for sure someday set across the table from him and say that I was just one ahead of him and I swear to you all I wont stop til I am !!!!! LOL Then I heard mention of the ammo can and I must confess the SBCP personal coin promised me at 1000 caches and within hours I was on a plane to Nevada ! Patience is not a virtue that most of us girls have and once I knew it was there I had no choice but to have it for my very own ! My husband offered to purchase one immediately for me in order to avoid the flight and expense and wear and tear on his back needed to accomplish the task of gathering the alien highway series but that was not going to do ! I needed the Big Sandy Area Geocachers Golden Ammo Can and once it is mine I am not sure what I will do with it but I assure you that I will ALWAYS have it and every time that I look at it I will think of the boys in the back of that truck the day I met you and I will smile

Geocaching has brought to my life more people than I can possibly mention here. Jumpin' Jack said to me on facebook yesterday that "its not about the numbers" and tonight I am clear that he is correct ! "It" is NOT about the numbers. "It" is about how I feel right now. "It" is about the Honor of the game and the pride in the find.

Tonight I am filled with Honor and Pride over my finding you all :)

(the alien, Curtis)

(me) *thinking to myself, Golden Ammo Can !!!!!

-Wendy

The Nevada Alien ET Series Trip :)

I found out about this series of Geocaches in Nevada about a week ago. Hopped a flight from West Virginia and hit the trail on Christmas Day 2010.

(the journey across the country)

My husband and 5 year old were to be the drivers (and company) on what I thought would take me the rest of my life to complete. The day began and we soon figured out how to get into the groove. Getting close to the post for the jump out and learning what the caches would look like in advance of the jump soon became routine all to well known by all three of us.

Mike swung in and I opened the door and thru the right leg out on the ground and carrying in my hand the container with our names already signed and ink pen in mouth I ran for it and the most important part, bent over to pick it up, thats the part that makes my legs so super sore now....the bending over to pick it up....lol....then we/I jumped back into the rented cachemobile and took off to the next one signing the log for that one and replacing it into the container in the thirty some seconds you had before the .10 of a mile was up and you were already looking to locate the next cache. Occasionally getting behind in order to throw a banana or cookie into your mouth and swallow a drink of water. Sometimes the view around you would be so beautiful that you would have to just stop and soak it up for a moment before saying...Okay I must move on if I am to finish this !!!

At this point...I must confess that I am a new cacher with only 360 finds under my belt before attempting this run...there are quiet a few things I do not know..... So I am not totally up to date with how the gps works ! With that said, I'd tell you that I flew from WV without any of the ET Series Caches actually loaded into my gps !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *embarrassed

So finding the caches would be an additional degree of difficult. I didnt even have a gps now on a gps based game ! Geosense would be very important now. I could find other caches locally when in Rachel and Tonopah and Vegas with what was loaded onto  my gps from before I left home but I didnt have any of the series I had came to get loaded inside. I didnt even have the heart to tell my husband that I had not brought the cache information along with us. When darkness fell it would be next to impossible to find them. Once we got a system together we figured out that we could press the button down on the jeep and reset the odometer at the cache we were on and go about .10 and start looking randomly until it was found. Luckily the snow had fallen and the rains had came the week before and it left tire marks in the dirt along side the road at most caches that we could use as a way to get more information on where they would be found.

The first day the weather was beautiful. We couldnt believe how much work that RXWRANGLERS (the guy who signed in before us )had put into replacing each and every container. The trail had been laid out for us the previous day perfectly. Thank you RXWRANGLERS. I would also like to say thank you to Marcipanek who left gas cans the week before with coordinates and it was a little fun to go in search of these once we were on the ground at the airport. We passed them on when we were done with them.

I/we were totally impressed with what Clay4 and whtwolfden had done with the this lonely stretch of desert highway. Some of the most amazing land that God had ever made. Way to go guys !!!! One of the greatest adventures of my life. I turned my spot tracking device on during the trip and you can see that we made our way from Vegas to Alamo and began our search. We searched thru number 515 and it was well after dark when we said it was time to give it up for the day.

The first day we began early, as early as we could get there from Vegas, around 10:03 am we picked up the first cache. We worked non stop thru the day eating only what we carried with us and between log signs. Our gas situation was great. Had no need to use any of the spare gas that we were carrying. Driving a four wheel drive jeep 4cyl. We ended the day around 7:30 atleast three hours into the dark at cache number 514. Headed on in to Tonopah. That took another hour and a half or so when driving a desert highway dodging cows !

I must confess that there were alot of interesting things along the way on the trail to keep us laughing and after a few hundred caches we had it going along smoothly except for a few times that we got messed up and had to do a u turn and fix mistakes.

We Spent the night in the hotel in Tonopah and there was no thought of snow when we went to sleep at the end of the long day. I had brought with me a muscle relaxer because I had been told that it was hard to walk after this pushing day....it was and I was soooo thankful to have it when I finally got out of the jeep to find that the hour plus drive on in to Tonopah was just long enough for my legs to realize what they had done that day !  The hotel wasnt horrible but it certainly was not what I would call Clean ! ooowie !

We Began the second day by waking up and looking out to see that the 6400 elevation in Tonopah had been covered in snow during the night. Defeated. I felt so Defeated. I cried. We came all this way. We ate and discussed our plans and my husband made the suggestion that we give it a try. We set out to drive the icy, snow covered highway very slowly to number 515 and start back in the direction of Tonopah again.... Thinking with the elevation change that we would get out of the snow at some point.

Soon into the journey we ran into what apeared to be tracks at the caches on the Tonopah end. We picked up Maybe twenty before we caught up with the cacher in front of us. We were so happy to see someone else caching and making tracks for us to follow. Especially since we were gps-less ! HeHe. The stranger in front of us was signing logs as "DM" and after a while we could not stand the suspense and skipped up two caches to catch and meet him. What a wonderfully nice man. We traded swag. Discovered each other. Talked some Geo=junk and got a plan and hit the series again working together. We worked with him thru cache number 515 going in the "cross the road path" backwards thru the series. This route is a little more difficult but it was working for us because we didnt know how far we would get in the snow.

Thank you "DM" for a fun filled day. I wont tell the story of our meeting the ET Alien....I will just say his name was Curtis and I dont think I like him !

I didnt want to post this part on the series as to avoid any trouble from the locals for future cachers but we were asked...no...told....about half the way in that we were destroying public property and that we were not allowed to be pulling off the higway and that we were not allowed to stop on the road. Curtis was a very unfriendly local who we believe is not a geocacher. We told Curtis that we had came from WV to do this series and spent loads of money and time in order to make the journey and that it was a very sad thing that in a stretch of highway where there were probably no more than 10 cars in two days (two of which were ours) that anyone would have a problem with our stopping along the right of way on the road. He told us that we would need a permit to continue...blah blah...in the end we did continue our journey without to much of a bother and some reasoning by "DM" who was far calmer in the situation than Mike & I were.

As we were standing at the final cache for our day and the completion of the series late that evening after dark another man drove by and stopped to see if we were okay. He was going to start the series the next day. (nice guy) We warned him about Curtis. I stole the log and container for the last one for me and drove up to the next one just to double check that it was where I had ended the journey the first day. Success !!!!!!! With the caches I picked up along the way and over the trip I had in my hand 1035 caches and would go home to WV with my goal of ranking someplace in top 100 in the state.
I can not express how much my family enjoyed this series. I think we made geocachers out of my husband and 5 year old who both signed the logs and now have a pretty good amount of caches to start their journeys as geocachers.

We thank everyone, the people who went before us, the men who set these out, even the alien Curtis, who I do NOT like, and to "DaMuggler" who made the second day much easier for us working as a team.

Gas situation the second day was that we put five gallons in from the tanks that we had picked up from Marcipanek and the coords that he left from his trip a few days ago on the logs. That took us on in to Rachel where we filled up and ate and made the trip back to Vegas. The other gas can was given to "DM" for his trip on in and the last one was left at the spot where we filled up our jeep so that the next person could run up on a tank of gas if needed.

There were lots of adventures along the way and I will put those in on the logs after we are back home from Vegas at the end of the week. Logging in three people for 1200 caches will not be nearly as fun as getting them ! ( I did drop three or four pathtags along the way for the next to find )


The photos are uploading sideways so I put pics up on my open viewing facebook profile so if you click this link you can see the pics even if you dont facebook and then I will put them on here when I get time to set down :) just click on the photos tab and the file for the Nevada trip.

While out there we did play a bit of the slot machines. I put in a total of 160.00 and brung home around 468 bucks that I won from that and played every night a few minutes on the original money spent.

Mikeys favorite part had to be the Circus Circus Spongebob adventure. We saw a 4-D movie there and he loved it but boy was it real. He cried at one spot in the movie because Spongebob wrecked the bike we were riding with him and a board came up and hit us in the face (lol) Scared him to death !!! hehe

We also took the time to drive out to see The Hoover Dam which I thought was super beautiful. The new bridge will take your breath away when you stand under it. It was amazing :)

(the trip back home)

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