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Old Man and the Tree (one of us is holding on for dear life) |
No, not my weight — or age — you wisenheimer... just a geocaching milestone. Grabbed my 6,000th cache today, in Huntersville, not far from Charlotte. Ms. B. had an art class down that way, so I decided to go along with her and spend the day caching while she was making nice pictures. I tell you, North Carolina is no longer a temperate state; it's subtropical all the way. I don't recall when I've been out in such consistently high heat and humidity. My spectacles steamed up constantly, and even where it hadn't rained for a while, the trees continually dumped water on me. Not to be swayed, of course, I put in several miles of hiking at several different parks before heading to the one called "Wrap Your Legs Around This," which I had targeted for my 6,000th find.
The cache is located in a good-sized tree, not that far off the ground, but such that it's tricky to reach. Getting to the first branch required using the car as a stepping stone, and then I had to scoot out on the limb about fifteen feet or so to grab the container. The cache placement is nowhere near as high as "Up, Up, and Away" (see "Fear Is the Mind-Killer," Sunday, June 2, 2013) but is perhaps more precarious, as there are no supporting branches to hold onto. Some might consider it foolhardy to go after this thing on my own (some did, as a matter of fact), but it was hardly the first time and won't be the last that undertaking the physical challenge is just too much what it's all about.
Several of the other caches I found were quite fun in their own right. One is called "The Bates Motel," and it's at... yes... an abandoned motel along Old Statesville Road. My kind of creepy, it is. Another was a little puzzle hide called "Put Me In, Coach," after the John Fogerty song. I tell you, this is my very least favorite Fogerty song, but now I can't get it out of my head. The only solution, I expect, is to start wailing "I Can't Get It Out of My Head" by ELO.
All in all, Kimberly and I quite enjoyed the day in Huntersville. I picked up 22 caches, bringing my overall count to 6,007. After she was done with her class, we had a couple of glasses of wine at The Corkscrew, a decent-enough wine bar in Birkdale Commons, and then some acceptable sushi at Eez Fusion, just across the way. Happily, there was also a movie theater nearby, and as we'd been wanting to see World War Z, we did exactly this thing. The movie isn't wonderful through and through but proved an enjoyable enough way to spend a couple of hours. Much of it is reminiscent of 28 Days Later, if a bit less gory. The musical score by Marco Beltrami quite stood out for me, which is a rare thing these days.
Back home to Greensboro, and now off to bed, for the old man is tired and sore, but at least not ornery. Not right now, anyway.
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| The setup. |
The
cache.
Looking down.
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An imposing structure near the cache. It's not much evident in the
photo, but it's high enough to be just about dizzying. |
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| A sprawling greenhouse complex near one of the caches. Pretty sure this is where they grow pod people. |