Geo Chillin’

Nice view of the small lake at Fearrington Village, near Chapel Hill, NC

It was a cold weekend for geocaching, though — thankfully — a tad less bitter than last weekend. On Saturday, I headed after the second of friend Rhodorooter’s (a.k.a. Dave’s) fairly extensive multi caches in Mayodan, NC, just down the highway a few miles. This one — tbbiker 10K Tribute Multi Cache (GC9KVF9) — pays tribute to friend tbbiker (a.k.a. Todd) and takes the hunter to five locations around town, several at local cemeteries, which I always find enjoyable. The calculations necessary to acquire the coordinates to each stage are kind of a pain in the ass, especially when you’re shivering, but that’s fairly typical of this rightly evil cache owner. In the end, I solved the puzzles, made the find, and earned a smiley. That’s what it’s all about anyway.

This morning, Three Old Farts — Old Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Old Rob (a.k.a. Old Rob), and Old Rodan (old me) — set out for Fearrington Village by way of Chapel Hill. Our primary target was an Adventure Lab cache called Gardens & Green Spaces of Fearrington Village, which took us to five different locations around Fearrington. A lovely little area this is, with some attractive residential areas, numerous shops, and a handful of dining establishments. Our gang had visited Fearrington a few years ago to snag the caches there at the time, so it was nice to have some newer ones to go after. We got in considerable walking, which was good thing, since we ended up having big honking burgers for lunch at a pub called Town Hall, a short distance up the road from the village. Big honking good burgers, I might add.

Coming up, I’ll be looking at my last full week of work at The Mailbox, which I expect to be bittersweet. Beyond that, a lot of unknowns, but the one thing I’m certain of is that I will not be bored.

A bit of ice atop the stream that flows through the village

Big bugs

Fear in Fearrington

After a week of precipitation that pushed this part of NC into all-time record territory, we finally had a day of sunshine. So, the usual suspects of Team No Dead Weight—Old Bloody Rob (a.k.a. Rob) and Ms. fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie)—packed ourselves off to the almost-wilderness of Orange and Chatham Counties, NC, just south of Chapel Hill. There were geocaches aplenty on the menu, and we intended to grab our fill of them.

We didn't exactly get off to a rip-roaring start. The first one we stopped for, at the Morgan Creek Trail, turned out to be missing, so we had to log a dreaded DNF (Did Not Find). Womp-waah.

On a happier note, the next one we went after, which had several DNFs logged on it, turned out to still be there. We were just about to give up on it when Ms. Fish gave that joyous cry, "Found it!" Yay for Ms. Fish!

A jolly old fellow in the woods

We then deployed to a little southern village called Southern Village, just off U.S. 501. Here, we found several nice caches and a very old, certainly haunted graveyard, around which the village has been built. After clearing this area of unfound caches, we hunted down vittles at Town Hall Grill, which proved satisfying in the extreme. A very spicy bloody mary and a turkey burger served Greek-style in a pita made for a helluva fine lunch.

For afters, we rode five miles or so down the road to Fearrington Village, where a fairly extensive trail system offered a number of nice caches. Here among the woods, we found a trove of artistic treasures, many of which appealed to my creepy nature. I don't know who the artist(s) are, but I heartily approve of the adornments to this pleasant, expansive wooded acreage. We finished out the day with no more DNFs and some very fun hides under our belts.

One thing I discovered—which I had totally forgotten about (because I might be a little old)—was that Fearrington Village is known for its belted cows. They're tubby bovines with stubby little legs. Very cute. And the signage around the place was more than a little familiar. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, when I worked for (long-defunct) Precision Typographers here in Greensboro, the ad agency that designed the Fearrington logo and associated typographic materials was one of our clients. I had typeset that stuff way back when, and here it all was again, right in front of me. What an unexpected rush of memories.

The holiday season has already been busy, and the next few days will be even busier. But hopefully relaxing as well. For the sake of my sanity, I must—must, I tell you—work in some more geocaching before it's time to go back to the office on Thursday. I must, I must, or I shall bust.

Happy horrordays.

There were thingummies watching us everywhere we went.

The sprawling, bustling Fearrington Village Post Office

Two-thirds of Team No Dead Weight killing time amid the graves

Leave the sheep alone, Rob.

Bagged a ten-pointer.