Busted Teeth and Bigfoot Trailin' Days

Yessir, it was raining real water out there. Dumping, as a matter of fact. So I got wet on the trail
At least Bigfoot didn't get me.

But for the threat of ultimate doom hanging over our heads during the COVID-19 pandemic, this working at home/social distancing/minimum travel thing would be downright agreeable.

Apart from occasional trips for groceries, which we've mostly managed to get via the express pickup lanes, Ms. B. and I are keeping a lot of distance between us and the rest of the world. Well, except for today. Today, I had to make a trip to the dentist for a minor emergency: last night, just before bedtime, I busted a tooth. Took a bite of cereal, and — DAMN, that sumbitch was crunchy! Oh, wait. That's not cereal. That's half a freaking molar. Yep. So, first thing this morning, I hollered at my dentist; woke her up, even. Despite being a little grumpy at the disturbance, she was able to get me in at midday, round off the jagged corners, and fill the gaping gap with some composite material. The tooth will need a full crown, but we're hoping this patch will keep me in jawbreakers until such time as her office can re-open for crowning achievements.

Map of the Bigfoot (a.k.a. Bill Craft Trail)
at the Taylor-Richardson Preserve

Three days straight I've made it out to the Bigfoot Trail (a.k.a. the Bill Craft Trail) in the Taylor-Richardson Preserve just north of Greensboro. Happily, several new geocaches have come out there over the past few days, courtesy of friends Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) and his wife Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda). Our local reviewers have wisely spaced out these releases, timewise, so there won't be a mad rush for a slew of caches all at once. As it is, these newest are located in an area that is generally little-traveled. (It's entirely possible that Bigfoot may have thinned the herd.) On Sunday, I put in over eight miles on the trail; yesterday, about four miles; and today, about two miles. My feet have complained a little, but otherwise, it's been most invigorating.

Yesterday, after knocking off from work, I headed out to the northernmost trailhead, intent on hiking after the newest published cache. I had no sooner arrived when the bottom fell out, so for the next twenty minutes I sat in the car while the bright, clear blue sky dumped tons of water and rumbled with thunder. After a while, I said fuckity-fuggit, pulled out my umbrella, and set off down the trail. After another ten minutes or so, the rain stopped and the steam began. It is one winding trail, I can tell you. Anywhere along the way, if your GPS indicates your destination is a quarter mile away as the crow flies, you can count on hiking at least a mile. Anyhoo, I did snag another nice FTF (first-to-find) after getting a couple the day before.

I had just scrubbed up, signed the log, scrubbed the container, returned it to its hidey hole, and scrubbed my hands again when I heard a Bigfoot approaching. Oh no! But wait... That's not Bigfoot. It's just friend Night-Hawk (a.k.a. Tom). OH NO! Anyhoo, we commenced the social distancing, and some pleasant social distancing it was. Once back at the trailhead, the goats at nearby farm started hollering friendly greetings at us. One of the little guys was up on the roof of a small shed, and he made like he wanted to come visit with us, except he couldn't quite figure out how to get down.

Nice little goat taking the air near the trailhead

Today, another new cache, another trip out to the Bigfoot Trail. This time, as I much anticipated, friend Robgso (a.k.a. Old Rob), being retired and all, got out there midday to snag the FTF. No matter; a cache is a cache is a cache. This one resides near an overlook platform just above the marsh out there. Now, yesterday, Night-Hawk and I got the idea that one of the upcoming scheduled caches might just be hidden by that overlook. So, on our hike back to our respective socially distanced vehicles, we detoured to the overlook and gave it a pretty good once-over to see if we could find a container. Alas, we did not. Had we expanded our search area just a tad, we almost certainly would have found it in advance of its publication at geocaching.com. But I claimed it today, and I quite relished the opportunity to get out in those woods again. There's at least one more cache out there, just waiting for publication, so I'll have soon another trip to look forward to.

And, this evening, it's back to working on New Hampshire: Ghosts From the Skies, on which I'm making slow but steady progress. I think this is going to be one fun little entry in the Ameri-Scares series.

Stay well, you.

The woods around the marsh. Bigfoot lives around here, doncha know.

Overlookin'

A view of the marsh from the platform