Fun in All Directions

02022020: a palindrome, a sequence that reads the same backward and forward — today's date, for example. So, the brain trust at geocaching.com, as it is inclined on certain, usually random occasions, offered a virtual "souvenir" to geocachers who log a geocache find or attend a geocaching event on February 2, 2020. I believe there were a handful of events in the area, but to earn the day's souvenir, I joined the Usual Suspects — Cupdaisy (a.k.a. Shoffner), Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), and Old Robgso (a.k.a. Rob) — for one of our regular Sunday geocaching outings. This time, we hauled ourselves out to the American Tobacco Trail in Wake County to see how much of a new train-themed geoart series, placed by friend NCBiscuit (a.k.a. Linda) we could claim. Geoart simply means that the geocache icons form a specific pattern on the geocaching overlay on Google maps. This particular example resembles the front of a steam engine barreling right at you. There are forty caches in the series (plus a bonus), which occupy about a nine-mile stretch of the American Tobacco Trail. Mind you, that's one-way, start-to-finish, so since we were hoofing it, we were pretty sure we would not be completing the entire geoart. (Some of us are old. Some of us are really old.) And we didn't. But we did put in a good eight-mile round trip, and we did make a fair dent in the numbers (we claimed 28 out of 40). By the time we arrived back at Ms. Fishdownthestair's cache mobile, we were traveling on some reasonably sore dogs.

Somewhere along the line, someone decided that, rather than go by our usual team monkers, such as Team No Dead Weight or The Usual Suspects, we should call ourselves Groundhogs. So we did.

Much to my surprise, at the end of the day's geocaching, my total cache count turned out to be a palindrome as well: 11711. Figure that!

Jackelope!

After our big old trail hike, we stopped at a nearby cache called "The Jackelope" (GC8GH1V), which provided us with a nice chuckle. Then we procured a very late lunch at The Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro, which has become our regular stop for vittles when we're caching in that area. Decent stuff, to be sure.

Now, lord knows this old fellow needs the hoofing-it mileage more than the brewery fare, but I can testify that by this time we were sure enough suffering from The Great Starvation. (Just ask my cats how awful this condition is.) When I first started geocaching, in early 2008, I was still smoking and carrying around something in the neighborhood of 210 pounds — which, I can tell you, is about 30 pounds too much for this weenie frame. As I dove whole-heartedly into geocaching, with the associated hiking and various physical challenges, I stopped smoking and lost over 20 pounds. For a good five years, I kept the weight off, maintained a reasonably healthy diet (wine doesn't have any calories, does it?), and exercised constantly (even above and beyond the geocaching, at least on occasion). However, in more recent days, since I have to travel farther and farther afield to claim caches, the exercise is a bit less frequent, although — most often — just as intense as ever. Still, I fear I have not correspondingly reduced my calorie intake or maintained a regular non-geocaching exercise regimen. Thus, some of that old weight has found its way back onto these old bones. As much for vanity's sake as for my health, I figure I really should shed some of this re-accumulated bulk. At least I'm still hovering  just under 200 pounds; still a a good bit less than my maximum, least-healthy weight.

Okay, so I had a beer at the brewery. OKAY, SO I HAD TWO BEERS AT THE BREWERY. I promise won't do it again.

Well, at least until I'm back in Pittsboro.

The Groundhogz! Left to Right: Old Man, Old Rob, Old Scott, Ever-So-Slightly-Less-Old Natalie,
Older'n-Fookin'-Methuselah Shoffner