Attack of the KC88

Old fart in a jon boat. Photo by Linda Enders Roberts

Earlier in the week, the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars had plotted a geocaching outing for today — a challenging tunnel cache in the Raleigh-Durham area. For various reasons, that plan fell through. However, fortuitously, friend NCBiscuit (a.k.a. Linda) gave a shout and asked if any of us would care to go join a little group going kayaking after a bunch of new caches on Lake Holt, over near Butner. Friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I, being the only two available from our initial gangsome, decided a day on the water might be just the ticket. So, off we went.

Partway there, I received a message from Linda that kayaks at Lake Holt had gone scarce, and I might better call to see if I could reserve one. As it turned out, all the kayaks were accounted for. My only option was a motorized jon boat, so I decided to go for it.

When we arrived at the lake, both Scott and I were quite surprised by the magnitude of the caching group that had gathered — a total of twenty folks, I believe it was. Mostly, it was friends and familiar faces. I made a handful of new caching acquaintances, which is always fun.

Someone suggested the team name KC88 — for Kayak Crew, August 8 — and it stuck. The jon boat, with its little trawling motor, could barely keep up with the fastest kayakers, but while our numbers spread far and wide over the lake, no one got left behind.

Well, not entirely, anyway.

By the time we had conquered 16 or so of the caches, the jon boat's battery decided it had had quite enough of this functioning business. Little by little, it began to wind down, until...finally...I was moving so slowly that kayakers were circling me at high speed, trying to whip up a current sufficient to keep me going.

Somehow, the boat made it all the way to the end, for a total of 21 caches — ten of which the team claimed first-to-find honors, since the cache listings had been published only yesterday. Fortunately for us, no one had yet gone after those on the west side of the lake.

Anyway, Scott and I finally hit the road for the return trip to the Triad — hot, exhausted, and a little sunburnt. Maybe the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars’ next outing, though, will be that challenging cache in the cool darkness of the underground. That's a whole different kind of cool.

Heading out on Lake Holt

Friend Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) claims his 17,000th geocache find on the lake.
I wonder whether friend Tom goes geocaching a lot.

Friend Colleen84 (a.k.a. Colleen) whizzes past poor schmucks in jon boats

Friends CJZimmie (a.k.a. Cheryl) and Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) about to get lost
in the tall grass surrounding one of the lake’s islands

About half of Team KC88

The Big, Beastly Bison and Others

Three-quarters of Team COG on Lake Townsend: Fishdownthestair, Diefenbaker, and Old Rodan,
with Old Bloody One-Eyed Rob behind the lens

This past week, three new geocaches came out on Lake Townsend, all of which required a boat to access — unless one might be inclined to do some serious wading, as friend Ranger Fox, a.k.a. Christopher, did at one of them earlier this week. Today looked to be a beautiful, if somewhat scorching day for a paddle, so a number of the usual suspects — Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), and Old Bloody One-Eyed Robgso (a.k.a. Rob) — gathered this morning to see if we might make short work of the three caches, and perhaps get first-to-finds on the two as yet unlogged. One of them — The Big, Beastly Bison (GC8AD72) — looked as if it might present some physical challenge, as the published description put it some distance up in a tree whose limbs were not fit for climbing. So, we chose it as our first target.

Diefenbaker preparing to retrieve The Big, Beastly Bison

Once at ground zero, we spotted the container quickly and considered our various options. Diefenbaker had brought ropes and tackle; Fishdownthestair came with her prodigious height (roughly 5' 1"), which we figured sufficient to conquer any vertical challenge; Old Rob brought his customary bad attitude; and I had built up a substantial reserve of sheer brute strength after enjoying a couple of bottles of The Old Infuriator with Ms. B. late last night.

In the end, using a combination of the aforementioned tools of the trade, we soon had the cache in hand. And hot diggity, the log sheet didn't have a mark on it. It does now. From there, we paddled on under a hot sun, occasionally relieved by a fair breeze. We made short work of "Temptation"(GC8AD6G), the one Ranger Fox had already found, and scored another nice FTF at "Turtle Point" (GC8AD2E). On the way back to the marina, we stopped at a handful of other caches some of our group had yet to find. We are nice that way. Except for me, I am told. I am merely that villainous scum at the front of the pack.

Afterward, three of our number, sans Old Rob, sallied forth to Uptown Charlie's, not too far away, which has been the customary destination for lunch when our crowd is dripping wet after a geocaching outing. Their chicken wings with suicide sauce are to die for. I wouldn't be surprised if the staff wonders why, every time a certain group comes in, watery footprints appear on the floor. It is all rather ghostly.

Since the owners of the new lake caches — Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) and Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda) — live very near my route home, I made a brief stop at their place to offer my regards and thank them for the caches.

And now, so many things to do and so little time. Au revoir, mes amis.

The Old Man and the Sea... er... Lake

Damned Rodan taking a breather

A Nano on the Lake? Seriously?

The mad Arab, Abdul al-Rodan, taking a breather under bridge after having summoned
the Great Dagon from his lair beneath Lake Townsend in Greensboro

Why, yes... very seriously!

After a memorable and invigorating geocaching outing in Chapel Hill yesterday (see "Taberna Ferramentorum and Others"), three of the four members of Team No Dead Weight — Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), and Abdul al-Rodan (a.k.a. Me) — gathered again this morning to take on a couple of paddle caches on Lake Townsend, in northeast Greensboro. Today, for our collective moniker, we opted for Team No Dead Fish. After waiting considerable time for Diefenbaker, who had made the mistake of listening to the lady navigator in his GPS and ended up at the wrong lake, we left the marina in our respective kayaks and made our way to "Goose" (GC807N1), a neat little hide placed by friend Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda) about a half mile from the marina.

Then came the big paddle. From there, we had to go almost the length of Lake Townsend — over three miles — to "A Nano on the Lake" (GC7ZYGF), hidden by Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom, a.k.a. Linda's Exceptionally Old Man). It is, in fact, a nano (a magnetic container about the size of a pencil eraser) attached to the sheath around the base of an electrical tower in the middle of the lake. It took some time and fair effort to get out there, but get there we did, and it wasn't long before we found the container, happily in good condition. Once we had scrawled "Team No Dead Fish" on the logsheet, we began the long paddle back to the marina.

For afters, we planted ourselves at Uptown Charlie's, my favorite destination for chicken wings. Their Suicide Sauce is the bomb, almost literally.

Today's lake journey was my second longest lake paddle, the longest being on Philpott Lake in Virginia, when I went after my 8,000th geocache in 2015 (see "All Alone in Goblintown"), and Ms. FDTS's longest. I'm fairly certain that at least one of us is going to feel the burn tomorrow. Maybe even from the exertion.

Tomorrow, it's back to the office... and such a shame. I've been going great guns on my latest work of short fiction, and I'd sure love to spend the day making forward progress on it instead. Alas, the sadness overcomes me.

And they're off! Diefenbaker and Fishdownthestair race toward the cache.

View from under the bridge at Yanceyville Road. Our destination is visible in the distance.

Almost there.

Another Fish at Lake Higgins

Since November of last year, six geocaches have lurked out on Lake Higgins in northwest Greensboro awaiting my attention, so on a scorching hot June morning, Team COG — Robgso (a.k.a. Bloody Rob, a.k.a. Old Rob, a.k.a. Old Bloody Rob), fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), and Old Rodan (a.k.a. me) — set out in kayaks to turn unfound caches into found caches.

Ms. Fish had never been in a kayak before, so when she arrived at the marina, Rob showed her the ropes by handing her a bunch of rope. She was now all good to go. She kept up, steered the craft with aplomb, and scored her 1,000th cache, so I think the young lady had a decent morning on the lake. (I'm told that Natlie's geocaching handle comes from when she was a youngster and her favorite thing to do was ride a big inflatable fish down the stairs in her house, much to her parents' displeasure.)

We old dudes had a good time as well. We found caches. Didn't lose any electronic devices, didn't fall in, didn't drown. That's a fine day.

TFTC.

Old Bloody Rob signs the log at "78 Michael" (GC727B6)

Ms. Fishdownthestair on her maiden kayak voyage, just after finding her 1,000th geocache

Heading to "Float Your Boat" (GC727B1)

Heading into a nice, shady cove after "73 Michael"(GC727AX)

Old Rodan resting for a few in some much-needed shade at "73 Michael"(GC727AX)

How to Conquer Quicksand

Damned Rodan with a couple of old men (Diefenbaker & Robgso) in the background

After almost ending up in a watery grave by taking the land route to "Colter's Run" (GC1TM19) last weekend (see "When I Was a Kid...," October 11, 2017), I wondered if I should not go about getting these boat hides — which have been staring at me from the map for years upon years — by the more traditionally prescribed route. So this morning, Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Robgso (a.k.a. Old Rob), and Damned Rodan (a.k.a. me) set out by kayak to do this thing, and an excellent day on the lake it proved to be.

A kayak is definitely the preferred means of accessing this cache, though the water route is not without its challenges. A time or two we thought we might have to leave Old Rob out here to fend for himself, but in the end, we all made it in and out of the narrow, reed and bramble-choked channel without mishap. After last week's experience, I was certain I knew exactly where I'd find the cache, and that, indeed, turned out to be the case. I absolutely do NOT recommend pulling a Rodan on this one and trying to access it by land. It could be bad.

We picked up a few other caches along the lake bank, though at one, we happened upon some fishermen who had made the mistake of parking their boat right at our GZ. We took care of this little impediment by slowly paddling toward them and adopting the demeanor of psychotic men. Problem solved.

The geocaching has been all too sparse lately, but it has been mostly good. Very good. On the way to 10,000 finds, currently at 9,608.