Day 36 Ancient Reservoir II (GC1HBYD)

Today is Sunday. It is also officially Halloween. I still got a pumpkin to carve. I found a pattern for a wolf. I look forward to starting that project. I've been working on the garage roof all day. Niki has been painting the porch. Everything is coming together. Ham is for dinner. I have about 20 minutes before it is ready so KC and I head out for our cache hunt.

Today I will be doing Ancient Reservoir II by Pegasis. I bring KC. He has been cooped up all day and he really needs to burn some energy. This cache is near the Old Boardinghouse cache. In fact I park in the same space as I did for the other cache. KC is up to the hunt.

We get down along the trail. I unhitch KC. He runs ahead. We hear atv's buzzing about. The trail goes up at a good grade. The GPS leads us right too the old reservoir. It looks like a cellar hole. The Cache description says this reservoir used to be used by a chemical factory. No more chemical factory. Things change I guess. I poke around a bit. Then read the cache description and the tip. The tip says "think rocks." Well there certaintly are a lot of rocks here. I poke around with a stich. KC gets tense, barks and scoots away from me. I see the white tail of a good sized deer. KC chases off after the deer. I call him back. He will have none of it. He is gone. I see the deer a couple more times. KC seems like he is coming back then goes into the wood deeper. I am worried. A dog chasing a deer is a good reason to shoot the dog. Finally KC comes back to me. I hitch him to a tree then hunt some more for the cache. This time I find it quickly. I sign the Log book, and KC and I head home to and uncarved pumpkin, and a ham dinne..

Day 35 Old Boardinghouse Micro (GC1HBZJ)

We celebrate Halloween tonight in Kane. I've yet to carve my pumpkin. I will do the carveing officially on Halloween day which is Sunday. That right buying time. I started working on the garage roof today. Busy Busy. Niki painted a lot of the porch. We worked out side til 4:30 or so. Then KC and I went for the cache hunt. Niki opted to stay home so as she could get the chillins costumes on them and stuff.

I decided on the Boardinghouse Micro cache, by Pegasis. According to Pegasis there was a chemical factory in Kane. A lot of the Chem workers lived in the boardinghouse. This was some time around the great depression. All I know is when I arrived on location there was a cellar whole. Nature sure was busy reverting this one back to nature. KC was being rambuctions jerking this way and that so I attached his leash to a tree and started my search. I did not think the cache was in the cellar hole itself casue it was over grown with vegetaion. I hunted around a bit. KC whined. I reasured him every thing was fine, then checked the GPS for hints.

The hint said in the crook of an apple tree at eye level. I zeroed in on the only apple tree and proceeded to look. It still took a few minutes to find the cache, even though the hint was awesome. Once found I signed a very soggy log book. KC needed a long walk. So I brought him up along the telephone poles. This lead to a few trails. Then headed back home to begin the Halloween

Day 34 Cabin Fever Blues #8 (GC23Z6Y)

    This is day 34. BooYah. I gotta tell you the days are getting shorter the weather is getting colder. The long strolls through the woods hunting down geo caches are comeing to a close. That is ok though. There are plenty of fun and easy to find caches around here. Today Novalee, Takoda, Niki, KC, and I tackled one of these fast and fun caches.

    Niki and I logged onto the geocaching web page, and looked at a few caches. We are planning our trip. We definitely don't want to turn the kids into icicles. Niki was wondering about the Cabin Fever Blues #8 cache, by Pegasis. Niki looked at me, “It is on JoJo road next to the Leave It to Beaver cache.” I look up at her, “I like beaver.” We both know that this is childish. I think she tolerates my angst just so as not to see me mope . It is one of the many little sacrifices she makes on my behalf... Poor Niki... We decide on Cabin Fever Blues. I know this because she has lost interest in the geocaching web page. I load the cache info onto the GPS. This is what is great about the ExPlorist GC GPS. It is very easy to use when compared to my old Garmin 5.

    We pack up the kids and the Dog. Drive to JoJo road. Park the car in a good place. We let KC run free until we realize the cache is near the road. We walk along the road Takoda is running ahead. I have to ask him to walk back to us a couple of times. He doe not like this. I figure it is no big deal except I am teaching him to listen. It is kinda funny I really don't care. Traffic is light. Unfortunately if he chose not to listen and come back to us things would get crazy. That is what I hate about being a “the dad.” Can't really do it with out being a dick. That is ok too, cause I come from a long line of dicks. I like the next stage of father hood. You know the one where I can be a friend. Can't get there without being a dick first though. Grr.

    The GPS guides us within 6 feet of the cache. We are on a bridge. I am excited, Niki is to. We have seen a cache similar to this before. “I bet it is in a magnet on the guard rail” Niki agrees we search the rail for 2 minutes. She found the cache. Very cool. I sign the log book. We decide to walk around the area a bit so KC can burn some energy. The days may be shorter but I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful weekend.

Day 33 Leave it to Beaver Cache (GCQHJN)

  Day 33 is leave it to beaver cache, by Dgroomer. Niki the kids and I drove to the place where the cache is. The area was nice. There was a neat beaver dam here. Very impressive earth works. The cache, was found by Novalee (wink). KC ran around like the silly dog he is. We had a good time.

Day 32 Happy Tails Micro Cache (GCNRZW)

This is the first day of my second month of geocacheing on a daily basis. I'm psyched about this. I still have a long way to go but this is a fine start. Today we decided to make it nice and quick. I have had a long day and am very much looking forward to a good nights rest. I decided to try my luck with Happy Tails Micro, by Dgroomer. Even though this cache is .7 miles away we decide to drive. I noted that there were parking coordinates in the cache description so I added the parking coords to the way-point list in the gps.

    We drove to within 50 feet of the parking coords. Then piled out of the van. No KC today but the rest of the gang was here. I switched to the cache coords. We were in Happy Tails Pet Groomers front driveway. These home caches makes me feel like a prowler. Niki refused to come into the yard. She feels uncomfotable walking in a private yard also. I wondered around in the driveway for a few minutes. I kept peering into the fenced in back yard. This is when the owner of the house came out. I held up my GPS, and she said GeoCachers” I smiled, “Yep”  Niki joined me as the homer owner gave us a good nature d scolding., “I put parking coordinates in the description, But we do the same thing. The cache is in the back yard through the fences, you can go through the yard if you want.” I smiled, she continued “We do the same thing.” She introduced herself to us. She is the Dgroomer. I have been to several of her caches. We chatted a bit more. She did operate the pet grooming business, and yes she would be happy to clip Kcs nails at a very reasonable price. We found the cache quickly. Chatting with her the whole time. I signed the log book. She handed us a business card. This was fun, and it was very nice meeting another geocacher.

Day 31 Natures Resting Place (GCR85V)

Natures Resting Place, by PAWINGERS was my 31st cache.  11 months to go :) We decided to skip AGT for today. There is a huge storm a coming in from the west today. Big winds and lots of rain. There are tornado watches for a bunch of counties in my area. I really did not want to worry about a big storm while geocaching with my family. Natures Resting Place sounded like a really nice cache. It is in a cemetery just outside of town.

We drove there. Hopped out of the van. David was walking KC, Niki and I were on kid duty. Every one is in a great mood. This is an Indian summer sort of day with a windy bite to it. In short. For the now the present everything is perfect. We quickly found a path leading to a run down old cemetery on top of a hill. The graves are very old. There are bird houses in the scattered trees. The bird houses are worn they have seen better days. The GPS leads us to where the cache should be close to. We look around. None of us sees the cache. We gain distance from the cache then we get closer to the cache. Right back at the tree again. We all split up. I think we all study the stones, as we point out the neat things we see. David shows me a grave stone whose right side is complete whilde the left side of it is is raw stone. I like it. We hunt some more for the cache. At one point Dave says, “Their are too many birdhouses” this being in the tree the GPS leads us near time and again. He goes to investigate and is forced to back off by the chittering of an angry chip monk. “I thought that was a bird” he was saying, “I did not know chipmonks chirped!?” I looked at him, “Me neither.” We went back to looking. Niki began to use the GPS for a while. Time after time it brought her back to that darned tree. After a bit I decided I should investigate the birdhouses, chipmonk be damned. It chittered and vanished up the tree in a blur. While looking at the birdhouses I noticed that one of them. had no entrance that a bird could get into. I exclamed. “Them Sneaky SOBs'” Novalee piped up with the SOB thing. I let it go. It was cute. I found the cache. Niki and David came over I showed them the clever hiding spot.

   I signed the log book. The kids traded for some baubles. Niki decided to walk KC home while I  broght the kids home and heated up dinner. This was a very nice cache. I had fun with David, Niki and the Kids. David is heading out to Utah tomorrow so this was our last cache for a while. It was very nice that so much went so well today....

Day 30 Built Tough Cache (GCQE4N)

Oh man. I do not know if I want to do this anymore... Well maybe not the AGT caches anyhow. The reason why. They have been kicking my ass. That is right. The last few AGT caches have thrown me nasty little curve balls. Today I went after 2 of them. Well Niki KC, and I. The first cache was Ridgeway. It was a cache and dash. Yeah right. Turns out the cache was under maintenance. No cache there . So, great, Niki and I decided to look for the next closest cache. Just .3 of a mile away. Good still in Ridgeway right. We started walking. Then looking for it. It is dark by now. Niki and I walked circles. Nothing. Bummer. We finally said the heck with it and drove home.

Once home I looked up some other caches. Non AGT. Caches that are closer to home. I decide I want to try to find the Built Tough Cache by Dgroomer. I like Dgroomer's caches. They are usually fun, they lead someplace. So Dave and I hop into the van. We head up route 6. As we approach our turn, I am like duh. Built Tough. Of course it is a Ford Dealer. We pull in. Dave parks the van. He says, “I bet it is under the sign” I look at him. “I think you are right Dave” Well the cache was in that vicinity. I found it. Signed the log book. I was back home within 10 minutes of setting out for the hunt. Well All right. I'm glad the 3^rd cache worked out. Too bad I did not get an AGT today. Maybe later.... Maybe later... I hope this 365 day does not become a chore. Geo caching is my hobby. I would hate to dread it.

Day 29 Edgewood Cache Revisited (GC1BQ83)

Buisy day. Worked on the porch most of the day. Installed ceiling, Light and a porch outlet. Ate dinner after the sun had set then looked for a close by cache on geocaching.com. I was looking for a cache and dash, and I found one in Edgewood Cache Revisited by Dgroomer. It is 1.1 miles away. I decide to walk. I had, had a beer earlier. I don't drink then drive. Period!. So hoofing it is a good idea. I am able to walk at a pretty good pace as I am alone. The chillins are in bed. Niki is home with them. I did not bring KC. I did not want him getting the the neighborhood dogs going.

My route is pretty simple Janeway, to 321 to School St in East Kane. The weather is magnificent. It has been all day. This is what we call Indian Summer. Days like today etch themselves into your memory for a good long time. Yep today was a gift and I am enjoying it. The moon is big and bright. Traffic is light. I walk fast. I don't much like night cache hunting. Not by myself. I believe in the buddy system. Even at 38 the buddy system is good.. It is not long before I arrive at the area where the cache is hidden. I am at a ceramic shop. It appears most of their wares are on display in their front yard. It is quite a sight. Porcelin mushrooms, animals, and fairy folk. All kinds of neat things. Looks like the second floor of the the shop is a residence. I feel like a burglar prowling around looking for the cache. Not for long though cause I have located it. Nice hide. I sign the log book and get the heack out of here. I will be back though. I want to check out the shop.

Day 28 AGT-Elk-East Branch Dang (GC1637H)

Day 28 is AGT-Elk- East Branch Dang placed by PaWingers, and Muck. Niki and I was heading to Walmart to pick up some supplies so we decided to hit an AGT cache on the way. East Branch Dang looked like a pretty good target. We located the parking spot near the cache with ease. We were only .4 miles away from the cache. It was near dusk when we left the van. We had plenty of time though. Or so we thought.

The GPS pointed us north east. So we walked in that direction. This was towards the boat launch. Oddly though the GPS was not counting down footage. I changed the GPS view to map and discovered we needed to be on the other side of the water. "Sigh," we headed back up the hill then towards the dam. Once on the other side of the water we came to another choice. Go up a hill and into woods to get closer to the cache, or to follow the shore to get closer to the cache. Niki headed up the hill while I helped Novalee with a potty break. I then popped Novalee on my shoulders and caught up to Niki at the top of the hill. On my way up Takoda reached out a hand and asked for help. I helped him. Once we caught up to Niki we looked into the wood. Is there a trail. We did not see one. You guys stay up here I will go back down and look along the shore for a few minutes. If the GPS indicates I'm getting closer to the cache this way, then I will call you guys down to me.

I ended up calling them down. The shore was rough though. Dusk was now in full swing. Niki and Takoda caught up to Novalee and I. “Hey it is getting late. You guys could make it back to the van before it got dark if you left now. I can move on and look for the cache and then catch up to you.” She thought this was a good idea so she headed back up to the van. I moved closer to the cache. The rocks were treacherous, and there were many of em. I did not like the walk. At the point I was no longer getting closer to the catch I bush whacked up the hill and into the woods. Yep I made a bad decision earlier. The GPS brought me pretty much right to the cache. The whole cache hunt was difficult. No paths in. We had to walk half a mile in order to walk half a mile. One big pain in the but. Night was in full bloom by the time I signed the log book. I used my flash light on the way out.

Day 27 AGT-Warren- Whispering Winds Cache (GC2EHK2)

Day 27 This will be the second blog I finish today but the first one I started. I had half of yesterdays blog post written. I was exhausted though. I had to go to bed @ 8 pm yesterday. I think I wrote a paragraph and then kept drifting. I then set my alarm clock for 11pm hoping all I needed was a nap. I got up and wrote another paragraph before I fell asleep in the chair with my computer on my lap. It happens. I am on day 27 today. I posted my log yesterday on geocaching.com. I just did not meet my posting dead line. I have not given up.

Today we drove to Warren County. We sought the Whispering Winds Cache by KCEPENN We drove up to the Whispering Wind Camp ground. Well on the second attempt. First side road we took. Led us up to a castle on the hill. It was not really a castle. But the house was big and beautiful and had a wonderful view. The owners also had a couple of big dogs that greeted us. KC went wild and did some barking himself. Oh and on the way up we saw two deer. Very cool.

Once on the right track we parked near the camp office and asked for permission to leave the van their until our return. The woman was quite nice. Turns out she and her husband recently bought the Whispering Winds Camp ground. She gave me a brochure talked up her amenities. I bid her farewell. Then we went for a walk, the GPS guiding us towards our hidden quarry. The terrain was easily Navigable. KC ran free once we got onto National forest land. The GPS steadily counted down feet until we were very close. We hunted for this cache for about 45 minutes before Niki found it. The cache was hidden about 90 feet away from where our GPS thought it should be. I am so glad Niki was with me cause I was not even close. We stamped our books. I signed the log book and we headed home.

Day 26 AGT-Forest- Counterfeite'rs Den (GC169AN)

Whoo Boy. What a hunt. The closest AGT cache was 8.5 miles away in Forest County called Counterfeiter's Den. It was posted by Pirate & Crafty on the geocaching web site. The area we parked in was in a very out of the way area. When we got out of the van We could hear the creaking of big pine trees as the high winds gusted through them. We geared up into our hunter orange. Then let KC run. I looked at the GPS, and then the compass. We needed to go away from the creaking stand of pine trees, and into a brighter looking forest. “Look for a path” I told Niki. I did not want to bush whack in. I took my own advice. It was not long before a trail was spotted. I smiled back at Niki, “This must be the way.” and motioned her to follow. Even though we walked a narrow trail the going was tough for Novalee so I popped her on my shoulders. She protested lightly, but how can you argue with a mountain. I was the mountain. We walked along the trail a bit til it deposited us onto an old rail road bed. We could not figure out whether or not the trail picked up on the other side of the tracks. We decided to bush whack. I'm not sure how many hundreds of feet we were from the cache. I do know that it was too early for bush whacking but I did not feel I had a choice. We plunged into the woods in the direction the GPS indicated. We bush whacked for 5 or 6 minutes before we came up to another trail tripping and falling all the way along, the forest floor was very rocky. Fallen trees were everywhere. Eventually we stumbled back onto a the trail. The GPS counted down as we traveled this new trail so we kept going. Then before we knew it we were looking out over the forest from a cliff face. Probably a 10 foot drop. The vista was nice. The GPS was sort of all over the place. Niki searched up and down the ridge line. We almost gave up on this one. All Niki had to do is say the word and we were done. She however had greater resolve then I, for she said at one point, “I won't give up on this mission” Eventually I headed back down to the base of the ridge. I saw it down there. I had walked by the cache more then a few times earlier. I don't know how I missed it. I opened the cache box up. I stamped both Niki and my stamp book with the Forest County AGT stamp. Niki did not want to come down to the base of the ridge and I do not blame her for many reasons. I then signed the log book. I was hoping to find a treasure for the kids in the cache. Not this time though. I put the stuff back in the box and re-hid it. We headed back to the van in the failing light of dusk along a very poorly marked trail. You better believe that was fun. Eventually everything worked out and it was time to go home.

Day 25 AGT-McKean- Russet (GC163TY)

This is day 25. Niki, Takoda, Novalee, KC, and I are all together hunting for the cache. I worked day shift hours today. First thing we did after work is collect our GC gear and head out. I'm working on AGT-Elk. I must have had a brain fart cause I went with one of the closest AGT caches, which happened to be AGT McKean. I was looking at distance to the cache. I wanted to take advantage of some of the remaining day light after the cache hunt to work on the porch. Scraping and painting and installing the porch ceiling. Lots of work to do. Only so much day light to do it in. So I wanted to cache and dash. To make a long story short I was not paying much attention to which county the cache was in, as long as it was AGT and quick.

This one did turn out to be quick. We drove by the side road it was on once though. So we turned around and pulled onto the dirt road the cache is off from. We traveled this road til we got to a gate, then parked the van. We all put on our hunter orange. Takoda wore the vest, the rest of us wore hats. The car was about 200 feet from the cache. We walked along the road till the GPS directed us into the wood. We found a path in the direction the GPS indicated. No bush whacking today. The path lead us pretty much straight to where the cache was hidden. It was obvious where the cache was, so I decided to have fun with the kids. I smiled at Niki and then the kids, and in an exaggerated curious voice I asked, “Where is the cache, It is some where near I am sure?” Niki walked up to stand right next to the cache. She added, “Takoda, Novalee, I'm sure the cache is near. I think it is buried somewhere on the ground.” Takoda was just running around not taking to the hint. He was having a good time though. Novalee on the other hand started slowly looking for it but in a halfhearted way. Niki and I delivered a few more hints. Niki even pointed Novalee in the direction of the cache. Then in her sweet little voice. “I found it.” The charade was up. Takoda came to where Novalee was and picked up the cache box. I opened it for them. Niki helped the kids make their trades. I stamped my AGT pass book. This is when I realized it was McKean. Niki looked up and said , ”hat is Ok this is my first Mckean AGT stamp.” This was true it was ok. I signed the log book. Niki stamped her AGT book. We re-hid the cache. Novalee look up at me in a very serious and proud voice she said to me, “ I found the cache Daddy.” I smiled down at her, “Yes you did baby.” Then I looked up at Takoda and let the know, “You both did a great job.” Takoda asked if we were going to do another cache. This is very knew for him. Most of the time he just wants to go home. I looked at him. “No buddy, we only do one a day” The little guy actually looked disappointed. I almost caved but we had chores to do, so we headed home to our chores.

Day 24 AGT-ELK- Yes, Deer! (GC176PP)

Though I am still doing 365 days of geocaching in 365 day, I've decided to go for all 10 AGT award coins. Err 11.The McKean County coin I received Monday is very impressive. Hopefully my next 54 caches will be AGT caches. AGT... so kewl! Niki even got a stamp book. She likes the coins also.

Today is over cast. I spent a good part of the morning deleting caches from the GPS, and then loading just AGT caches into it. I know I won't achieve my goals unless I plan to achieve them. So I started the planning stage. After setting myself up for success. I fired up the GPS and found that the nearest AGT cache is AGT-Elk-Yes, Deer!, by TheMom at just over 12 miles away it promises to be a piece of cake. Niki and I looked at the googles' map it feature on geocaching.com and figured out what roads to take. My Magellan eXplorist GC does not do maps well. I think if I drop a hundred bucks on map software it will be better, but who has a hundred bucks. LOL. Once we mapped our route we hopped into the van. KC Niki Novalee, and me. Novalee did not want to come. I thanked her for her input and told her we were still going. She accepts this. At least she got her grievances out.

We drive down rte 321 towards Wilcox. Once their we take Rasselass Rd. towards Elk State Fores boat launch. Along this road we found our parking space, which was less then 270 feet from the cache. We could have bush waked but we decide to take a nice wide grassy path in. This area is great. A nice mix of open spaces and wooded areas. Lots of texture filled with both new and old growth. We unhooked KC's leash and the dog sniffed around like mad. His fur stood up on end as he tracked what ever it was he was smelling. Eventually he gave up his trail and started running. Boy can he run. He does so with tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. It looks like he is going to trip over it. If it weren't so comical it would be beautiful. Him running.

Eventually it is time to go off our nice wide grassy trail. The cache is 75 feet away. The underbrush of the wood is dense. I was hopeing to find some sort of path but I did not. The GPS guided us right to the cache. I liked the way this one was hid. It was well covered in an almost natural way. The AGT stamp was not in the cache box though. Niki would have received her first stamp in her stamp book for Elk county. I would have received my second. It doen't really matter though. We will try another tomorrow, and this was a great cache.

Day 23 Cabin Fever Blues #1 (GC1118Q)

Niki and I fire up the GPS and discover that our 23^rd cache is .9 miles away, it is Cabin Fever Blues #1, by Pegasis. We read the cache description and discover that is a winter cache. We look at the map on the GPS and discover that the hiding place for the cache is right near the shooting club on Dwight Rd.

We started walking. KC, Novalee, Niki and me. The foliage is now mostly gone. What leaves that remain in the trees make dry scratching noises as the wind shuffles them around. We walk down Janeway then along Shaw, then down Kinzua until we reach 321. Leaves crunch beneath our feet. On 321 I scoop up Novalee and place her on my shoulders. She pokes me in the face with some sticks she has collected as she tries to secure a grip on my head. I grab one and then toss it. “That one won't poke me again.” Novalee asks to be let down so she can walk. “Nope” I say, “It is to dangerous” Niki disagreed with that. “I used take the kids for walks down here all the time when walking KC”, she points, “The grass is wide along the side of the road.” I figured ok if mom says so. Who am I to argue. I set Novalee down. She is walking at a very slow pace. We approach the turn off for Dwight Rd. I look down at the GPS. The cache is now 100 feet away. Hurray we were right. We approach. Soon we cross the road to the inlet of Dwight Rd. The cache must be near the guard rail. The GPS insists the cache is 3 feet away. We wonder around. Look at the signs. We know where ever it is it would be noticeable even if there was snow on the ground. This was puzzling. We searched some more. Poked around. Felt around. No cache. Then Niki finds it. In a spot I had just looked in and missed. Pegasis is very clever. Niki is clever'er. I sign the log book. We re hide the cache. And head home.

Day 22 You Are,, Here (FC156J)

Day 22. Whoot!. Niki and I did this one. It is .7 miles away. David agreed to watch after the kids. It was late when we headed out but not so late the sun had set. I'd say it was dusk. Magic hour. We brought KC. He needed an evening walk anyhow. He stopped a few times to drop some black stuff on the side of the road. Niki and I of course scooped it all up with our trusty pooper scooper. What a dog. Lol. On our way to the cache Niki proclaims that she knows where the cache it. I being a little slow asked her what she meant. She said, “The name of the cache is You Are Here, right.. “ I Nodded my head and smiled. There is a rock coming into Kane from Warren that is sort of shaped like PA. There is a star on the rock that says you are here. It dawned on me after she had figured this out. We continue. Niki and I hold hands. I know I am really enjoying this time with her. Eventually we approach the sign. The GPS says we are close. Real close. We poke around the sign. I look into a rock crevice and find the cache. I don't know how I spotted the cache, it was well hidden. I sign the log book, and we head back home.

Day 21 Four caches today.

   David and I did Four caches tonight. We started out late because I had, had a busy day roofing my porch and eating diner. David and I want to get an Mckean County AGT coin. This means we need to get our AGT pass book stamped with 6 AGT McKean stamps. We already had two stamps. We needed 4 more, so we hit, AGT McKean Black Water Cache, AGT McKean Sugar Run Cache, AGT McKean Chapel Bay. AGT Timberdoodle Flats. We did all these caches by the light of the half moon. We had a lot of fun. If I had more energy I would share all the fun we had with you. Alas I cannot. Bed beckons. 21 caches in 21 day. Good night all.

Day 20 FTF Cache... (GCXPB4)

The nearest cache this morning is the FTF cache by Dgroomer at .7 miles away. The sky is overcast. It appears rain is eminent. Niki, Novalee, KC, and I are up for the walk. Niki is getting into it. She looks at the GPS with me. We decide on our route together. This is good. I like working as part of a team with her. She is the one. My one. We seem to be traveling a bumpy road right now. She loves me. I love her, but I'll be damned because my pride is showing its ugly face a little to strongly right now. It is good though we are working together right now. We have this the daily cache hunt and I am enjoying it.

We decide to walk down Janeway St. cross Welsh St. continue on til Hacker, and then travel up Hacker til we reach 321 (Biddle Street). After that it is a short walk down Biddle St. until we find the side St. that will take us to the cache. Once the route was decided I read the cache description. FTF stands for First To Find cache. Dgroomer has this crazy idea that everyone can be FTF by changing the acronym to mean something else. So everyone who logs the cache gets to be FTF by creating a new meaning for the acronym. I know we can get very creative with this one. LOL

We start out. Novalee starts to sing, “Who let the dogs out.” over and over again. It is cute and very monotonous. Niki interrupts her every now and then and points out Halloween decorations to her. Kane loves Halloween almost as much as Antrim did. So far not as many carved pumpkins though. There were amazing pumpkins in Antrim. The artistry was amazing. Did you know that you can even carve watermelons. I seen the pictures on the internet. You should google image it. You will be amazed. I know I was. The decorations were nice though. Novalee loves it whenever shes sees a cat. She lets out a little “Moww” sound.

Niki and I look at houses we comment on what we like. What we don't. Our eyes are constantly drawn to roofs and gutters, their valleys, and their flashing. It is the next big thing and we are very curious. It is cold and cloudy but it does not rain. You know how I feel about fall. I am enchanted by it.

It is not long before we are on Biddle Street. We travel along it looking for Clay St. It junctions with the road we want. “There it is, Niki check this out.” I point at the GPS. “It looks like we can get to the cache faster if we take this road which angles away from Clay St.” It is a solid plan. There is a rail road track that leads to the road I want. We follow the rail about 50 feet to the road. I sigh as it becomes obvious that I should have stuck with the other road. The GPS shows that the path to the cache would take us onto a road that is a circles upon itself. Where the circle completes itself there is a string of power lines instead of a road. The GPS lies. We are now 700 feet away from the cache. So we walk under power lines. I look back at Niki frowning “Bushwacking again.” I say, and then, “You hang back. I will see if this will bring us closer.” She did. I did get closer. So I came back to them and hoisted Novalee up onto my shoulder and we bushwacked. It did not take long to come out into the Lutheran Home parking lot. “Ah” we were less then a hundred feet away from the cache. We had to plunge back into the woods. Just a bit. The GPS stopped its count down. It has something to do with tree coverage. I started powering down the GPS so I could start it back up again. This usually fixes the problem. While I was doing, while smiling. It was true. She is beautiful. She is happy. Every thing is all right. I logged my 20^th cache in 20 days. We head home.

Day 19 Moun Tabor Micro (GCP2DK)

Today we continued on with our spirit of Halloween cache hunts. We hit our fourth cemetery cache at Mt Tabor cemetery. This is another pretty cemetery. The forest that surrounds it on three sides was just busting with color. The graves are set pretty far back. Two giant fields loom on either side of the cemetery path. Then just before the field gives way to the grave there are two tortured tress. The one on the right looks like a giant hand came down and turned the top leaving the trees spine twisted. Both of the trees branches cocks and angles in painful looking ways. The bark of the trees are dark. The trees just looked tortured have been to many cemeteries. Few do not have tortured tress. My imagination tells me that torchered spirits make torchered tress. Who knows? Niki thinks it has something to do with the wind. and the fall.. You know a lack of leaves in the trees. She is sure the trees are beautiful in the spring. She is probably right.

It is obvious that the cache is along the forest bordering the back of cemetery. Obvious because that is the direction the GPS points. We keep KC leashed. He pulls and tugs, then chokes. He never learns. Novalee is holding Nikis' hand. She is not so happy about the wind. Niki and I walk and chat. The clouds look ominous and tense. When they open up it should be a great storm. I am ready for it. David and I finished the winter underlayment on the porch roof yesterday. It should be water proof for two years. Even if we don't get to shingling it. We will though. I am finishing this project. Rah! The GPS is counting down feet now. Actually it has been counting down in the hundreds of feet for a while now. Now it was counting down in the tens of feet. Once within 13 feet. We poke around. Niki zeros in on a spot. I see where she is going look down and I know she is onto something. I see the sheen of plastic under the rock as Niki is bending over to pick it up. Mmm I loose focus I like watching Niki she has a very pleasing form. She looks up. “I found it!” “Yes you did.” I said. I signed the log book. Saw that a very cool LED flash light was in the container. Decided to trade a very nice painted stone for the flash light. One of Nikis old friends Kelly Harmon painted a very realistic fox on it. It was an even trade. We also put a bouncy ball in the cache container for good measure. We re-hide the cache container, then head home.

Day 18 (AGT-ELK- Off the beaten path)

Today was a late cache. Work was called off today. I was working on my porch roof when I got the text message. So I finished up late and headed out on my cache hunt. David and I went together. It was late. The stars shown bright in the night sky. I had my head lamp on. David brought both of his head lamps. Good thing too, turns out my batteries were low. My batteries finally died. David lent me his head light.The trail was leaf strewn. The ground was slick under the leaf coverage. I tripped and slipped and even fell on my but at least once. The cool evening air smelt good. The stars were bright. The company was good. David and I chatted, and we joked. We told stories. We traveled in the dark. He had been very helpful earlier. Now we were relaxing in a very nice way. Hunting for the AGT cache. We found it. Well David found it. We stamped our AGT books. Then headed home.

Day 17 Right on it (GC1YGEK)

   Day 17. A morning cache. Contrary to weather reports it is a balmy day. The sun is up and the sky is blue with big puffy white clouds. We have opted for a close by cache it is .6 miles away. The cache is located near the old Kane family burial plot. The plot is in the ,wooded area out back of hacker field. There are many trails that run all through these woods and many access points. I decide we should head to the entrance that is at the bottom of Janeway St. We head in that direction. KC, Niki Novalee, and me.

   I know these trails pretty well. I've walked them often enough. Our path T's, we go right. The leaf covered ground is wet and slippery. The path comes to another junction. We go straight.

   The fall woods seems especially enchanting. Less leaf coverge equals more sunlight that reaches the forest floor. The light changes as it is filtered through the multicolored leaves and are changed some how. The light is now somewhat ethereal. The trail then takes us into pine groves. Dark shadows lie in wait here. The enchantment of the forest has somehow changed into something more sinister. I love how you can walk a few hundred feet and see so much change in the land surrounds me.

   KC is unleashed and he is speeding away and then back, and then away again. Novalee holds Nikis' hand most of the time, and then sometimes mine. Eventually the path we are on comes across a fire pit strewn with keystone beer cans. Niki notes that it is probably a teen party sight. She can't see any one else drinking that terrible beer. Not if they had a choice. I took her word for it. I added keystone beer to my list of things I don't want to try. KC finds a litte stream and drinks a bit. He has earned his rest.

  We continue on and are deposited on a logging road. I brighten up. I have been down this road before . The GPS indicates we should cross the road and delve back into the woods the cache is 480ft away. We did this and came upon the old Kane family grave yard. I think it was the thick conifer forest cover but the gps was doing a pretty poor job of tracking distances. We ended up walking past the cache. We came close to a cinder block foundation. From the distance it looked like and orange sleeping bag was draped over the wall. I sure was hoping we weren't invading some woods mans territory. I kept a good eye on the orange in the distance and we hunted some more for the cache. I finally got the gps working again. Found a spot that was within 10 feet of the cache and set the gps and my bag down.

Once in the vicinity we wandered around poking here and there for the cache. Eventually Niki called out I found it. I walked over to her. “I looked over here earlier” I told her. “Well from this angle it is pretty obvious.” she responded. “Can we go home now” Novalee asked. I smiled down at Novalee and then fished out the log book. I signed it while Novalee traded some items for other items. We re-hid the the cache and bid this neat little place farewell.

The WestSide Stry (GC2BEFW)

This was a night cache. Found it at 11:09 PM. Just after work... Whoot! I got my 16^th cache on the sixteenth day by the skin of my teeth. Weird phrase. Huh? I mean who has skin on their teeth? The phrase came from some where. It is not important. So I worked on my roof again today. It is pretty much ready for the ice block... Yay! for ice block. David and I had to scramble at around 1pm to cover up my newly repaired decking with tar paper. A storm blew in from seemingly nowhere. Once we picked up the tools we rushed off to the Westside Story cache locations area. I had three minutes to look for it before leaving David there and going to work. As I was leaveing the parking lot. David was saying, “I found the cache.” He pointed at a bush and said, “it is in there.” I said, “OK, I will see you later” I waved at him and split.

After work I drove back up to the West Side. Parked near the bush that David had pointed out. It don't get any easier. I started looking around by the head lights bright glow. I actually got worried for a moment that I might not find it, and then there it was. I signed the log book, and then I looked at the building longingly. Last call people. I like a good beer every now and then. I don't like crowds. Tempting but I really wanted to get back home and log my 16^th cache. Sixteen days 16 caches. Boo yeah baby. There really is room in my life for business and pleasure. I can't tell you how happy I am. “Don't hate me because I've found 16 caches in 16 days... lol.”

Day 15 The "New" Forest Lawn Cache (GC1YD2)

I just got inside. It is 8:30pm. I have been working on my porch roof all day. I went geocaching first thing this morning. I have not had the time to relax and write this blog until now

Today was another beautiful day. Three days of great weather. Wow! I would have been happy to hunt for caches all day. I am glad that I have taken this time to enjoy my little hobby. Other things are definitely pressing, but I think there can be time for both work and play.

The cache was a mile away, KC and I walked., Niki and the kids met me at the cemetery where the cache is. I let KC run in the cemetery. He sprints around. Takoda leads KC further and further away. Get those too together and they will forget themselves until one of them is hit by a car. Niki re-leashes KC and Takoda begins to mellow also. We manage to get within 3 feet of this cache quickly. It is near a Civil War memorial. KC barks at the statue. Forgets it is there and barks at it again. This cracks Niki and I up. We refocus our attention onto the cache hunt. Niki finds the cache. Wow BiddleBeach is very good at hiding fun caches. Once the log book is signed Niki walks off, the kids and KC are with her. I take pirctures and write a little poem. This is a peaceful place... I like it.

Day 14 St. Callistus Cemetery Micro (GCP41B)

We decided to take a drive today. A short one. We want to take advantage of this great weather streak we are having. Yesterday I decided to rip the roof off the porch. It has been leaking for far too long. Lots of rot. I need to move along with the repair and re-roofing project. So a nice local cache a little drive down the road sounded real nice to me.

We are driving to St. Callistus Cemetery. There is a cache there place by Biddle Beach... I met BB. A bit ago. Nice lady. I like going to cemeteries in October. It adds mystique to the the whole Halloween thing. We arrive at St. Callistus Cemetery. We heard the kids and KC into the cemetery proper. We parked near the cemetery on a side street. I don't like driving cars into cemeteries. It just seems wrong. Niki agreed. I don't even bother looking at the gps until we get within 300 feet of the cache. The kids are running around. I guess ghosts are chasing them. Their adventures are endless. We arrive to with 10 feet of the cache. Not a lot of places to hide a cache in a cemetery. Well there are but some of the places could be disrespectful. I poke around the respectful places and there the cache was. We signed the log book. Niki decided to walk home. I would have joined her. The day is so nice. The kids and I didn't though of course. Someone had to get the van home. Oh, and there was still a lot to get done under this blue sky.

Day 13, 12 Cubed (GCQGRH)

Day 13. Novalee, Niki and I have gathered at the sidewalk in front of my house. I study the GPS a moment. “It looks like we are going to do 12 cubed today. It is only half a mile away.” Niki looked at me as if wondering which direction we are going. I walk towards the bottom of Janeway street and turned up where it meets Welsh. We were going to end up on 321 walking past the high school, “Go Wolves”. I let the GPS rest on my chest.
   This is a brilliant morning. The sky is very blue. The sun is very bright. First time in a while. Normally this would put a bounce in my step. Pleasant weather is very up lifting. It doesn't though. I am brooding. Big deep dark thoughts. Niki fell off the abyss last night. She yearns to go home to NH. She let me know. Her despair wrapped its tendrils around my heart and through my soul. I've  failed her. I brought her to this point. There is little I can do to make her happy now. So it is time for both of us to be miserable for a while. I hate this. Why does love always have to hurt so. I don't know if I have enough band aides to cover all the blackness. I sigh. I am holding Novalees' hand. We are passing the newly painted house on the corner of Janeway and Welsh. Niki points out, I think they fixed the roof on the back porch.” I realize she is trying ease some of the tension. I point out the lines of the porch roof, “No it is the same see how it slopes down and looks unsquare.” She looks at it again, “OH” she says. We sink back into silence. KC tugs and whines. Novalee makes a point at touching every branch, and blade grass she sees along the sidewalk. I brood.
   I was actually surprised Niki came with me today. How can she just let it all go like that. She actually seems uplifted today. I am truly puzzled. She shared her pain and she is healed. Now I hurt. I can't solve this problem. Even if I could just snap my fingers and be living back in NH tomorrow, I still don't believe she would be happy. Well she wasn't before we left. What has changed. Sometimes I think she likes the pain. She likes the drama. Maybe she needs it. She does not strive for solutions. She just hurts. I come out of my brooding as we approach Rte 6(Biddle Street) I look at the gps and sigh. I decide go onto 321 once after we were done with rte 6 and then walk by the High School. This being the best route, I point in the direction I intended to take, and we were walking. I was thinking about the route and I realized it would take us past the historical marker for Seneca Springs. I've wanted to visit this spot for awhile. We crossed the two roads at 2 cross walks, and are now on route 321.
   I see the Seneca Springs Historical marker. “Hey Niki I want to go in here. “ She responds, “Um, Ok?” but hangs back at the side of the road. The sign had said there was a ancient spring 200 yards south west. Intrigued and all brooding forgotten I look at my compass and then the GPS. Looks like both the cache and the spring are in the same direction. I followed a quasi path and motion for Niki to join me, “Come on. I want to find the spring and the cache is near. It is 900ft away now. “
   I wonder if maybe the cache was close to the spring. That would be very kewl. This is why I geocach. The mystery of what is around the bend intrigues me. The prospect of locating an ancient spring is just to cool. I think of Niki and her homeward bound yearning. She loves native American lore. How can she not see the beauty in this place. How can this land not call out to her spirit. I am momentarily flustered again. The trees are thinning the grasses are getting higher and my feet are making a squishing sucking sounds as I lift them up. I look back, Niki is not happy. I feel yet another pang of guilt. I let her catch up to me. Then place Novalee on my shoulders. I look at Niki, “Um we could back track and the take the road. It would probably be the better way” Then I smiled, “but we are only 400 feet away, and I'd like to go forward.” I don't like back tracking I never have. I would have done it for her though. She just looked at me as if saying lead on. I think she knew that is what I wanted, so she caved. You know it is not submission unless you accept the fact you submitted. Other wards it is a tactical retreat. Filled with vicious little rallies. Or something like gorilla warfare. I could tell she was going along but didn't like it. Grrr. What ever, we were close to the cache now. We came out of the slushy grass lands. The cache is now 300 feet way. We head through a nice wooded area. Looks like kids hang out here. Power aide bottles lay scattered across the leafy ground.  I unleash KC. He sprints away then back relishing in his freedom. That dog sure can run. I sigh, my sadness returns. Can't have a dog in NH. Not if we don't have a house. We see someones shed in the distance. The GPS directs us into some brambles. Niki makes her stand, “I'm not going in there", she said I'm going around to the road.” That was her way of saying screw you Shad you are on your own. What she did not know was I had already started looking for a better route and no sooner than she had started to walk away I had found a nice path. “Over here” I said, “I found you a nice easy path.” She called back, “Uh, ok, but I'm heading up to it through the woods.” I waited for her to catch up to Novalee and I. She put KC back on the leash. We walked this nice clear path up to the rail road bed. Oh!, and I had forgotten how beautiful foliage can be along these rail lines I paused and took a few pictures.  
   It was here, that I finally went through the shift that allow me to stow my personal baggage.  Niki and I both enjoy this. I was looking at her, “I know where we are.” She smile, “By Kane Lumber?” I nodded my head “Yep” The GPS indicated the cache was westward at about 150ft. I looked up and  excitedly exclaimed, “I know where the cache is. There is a park across from Kane Lumber I think it is in there. It will be easier to get to it from the road. So once again the distance between us and the cache grew but just as quickly it receded until I had found the cach. It was in a private park. A very nice and serene place. The cache did not have a log book so I put a makeshift log book into the cache and then signed it, then rehid the cache. Niki took my picture near the cache spot. The day was bright. The sky was clear. I don't know what the future will hold but I do know that I can try and enjoy the rest of this day.

Day 12 Anotock Cache (GC128Z)

This morning was an up and go sorta day. I got up and got out. Had to be back home by 9:30 am. I needed to be in Bradford by 10am with Takoda. Niki had a dentist appointment in Jamestown a little later We split our resources and got the jobs done. This is day 12 so lets keep this train going. I got up with the kids. Breakfasted them up. Brewed some coffee. Turned on our electric baby sitter. Yeah some times I am one of those kinds of parents. So bug the F off. Any how I knew Niki would be up soon. I geared up for geocaching. Saw that the closest cache was the Anotock Cache at .6 miles away. Niki came down the stairs as I was heading out the door. Looking at the GPS I saw that I knew the where abouts of the caches' location. It should be at the end of Janeway St and into the wooded paths beyond. Fun Fun. I take KC and the camera.

Two blocks down but still on Janeway ST I stand at the paths entrance into the wood. The path is really a service road for the gas lines, and utilities. I have hiked around here a lot. I pretty much know where I am going on these paths. So KC and I enter. I look at the GPS get an idea as to where I want to go. I then unleash KC. He loves these woods also. I arrive at the first junction and take a right. Then a second right I'm heading towards Kane Manor. The sun has finally surfaced I see it sprinkle onto the forest floor as it is filtered through the trees. The smells are full of fall. The fall flowers mixed in with the drying leaves. It is a happy place I walk through it at peace. Eventually the Kane Manor path branches off to the left. A quick glance at the GPS tells me that the cache is possibly that way. I head that way and shortly the distance between me and the cache increases. I back track a little until the cache is .2 miles away. I decide to bush wack in. So through the woods I tramp climbing over fallen trees and stumbling though branches, and saplings. After a bit of this I am deposited onto a path. I see a bridge. I start back into the woods towards the cache. I hear a wooden thump. KC has just slipped and fell onto the leaf covered bridge. I stifle a laugh. The cache is now 300 feet away. I come up to within 10 feet of the cache. Then I see it. In a funky shaped bowl of a tree. Day 12 is complete. Now I just got to get home and rush through the rest of my morning :)

Day 11 Words of Wisdome (GCQAE6)

Novalee is feeling better this morning. So we decide to seek “words of wisdom”. It is only .4 miles away. Niki, Novalee, KC, and I gather at the front of the house. I achieve GPS signal. I see the cache is at the top of Taylor ST. I tell Niki it looks like it is over in that direction. I step towards her to show her the GPS map, but she is gone. She heads up the street. I guess she is rearing to go. I study the map a bit longer and decide that we should head along Welsh St until we get to Taylor, and then head up. I call out to Niki who is at the top of Janeway St now and waiting for me at the corner of Janeway and Dawson. “Dear I want to go the other way. You know along Welsh.” Niki is too far away for me to read her facial ques, but I can tell she is a little annoyed by the way she walks. Sigh, oh well. She is back at our starting point and I show her the map. Then ask her the rhetorical, “Are you mad?” She looks at me, “you could have told me I was going the wrong way.” I nodded assent. Then off towards Welsh we walked. On the corner of Welsh and Janeway I told Niki we were heading towards Taylor St. Niki let out a “So I was heading in the right direction” I acknowledged she was correct again, “You know dear there is always more than one way to get anywhere in this town. I think this is the best way though.” She did not disagree. So along the length of Welsh we traverse heading north. We see a few houses for sale. “That one has a nice big yard.” yeah but not much of an up stairs. But it has a garage.” Such is the idle chitter chatter that passes between us. The older houses of Kane give way to modern houses on this part of Welsh. The power lines are buried. The sky line is open. The tree line in back of the houses seem crisp and clear. I regret not bringing my camera. It was foggy and raining when we left, and I did not want to risk the camera. Now however their was no fog. It was not raining, and I wanted my camera. Next time. At the corner of Welsh and Taylor we met a poodle on a leash, KC got excited. KC whines and almost howls, and then pulls hard in the direction of other dog, it sounds like he is hurt. Truth is, I guess he is just very social. It took a bit of effort to calm him down. We continue on up Taylor. We are 1000 ft away from the cache. We have pretty much guessed we are heading for the care wash. We arrive. Reread the cache description. The GPS leads us with in 6 ft of it. I start poking around. “It isn't,” oh but it is. “How very sneaky.” I found the cache. Niki thinks it was very clever. I was lucky to have found this one. Cause it was concealed so as look very natural. I am the first to sign the log book. Novalee asks if we are going to dollar general, it is not to far away. I actually consider it until I remember we have KC with us. No, Novalee, we are going home, and that is where we went.

Day 10 AGT-Mkcean- Cookies Canyon Cache (GC1RWDA)

I worked during the day today, so no morning cache for me. That is OK though. I put in my time 7am til 3pm.. When I got out of work I was ready to go. Novalee is still sick, and cranky. Niki and Takoda stayed home with her. David was ready and rearing to go. It is raining. No big deal. It has been wet a lot lately.. I sure am glad that I have taken as many pictures as I have this fall because I don't think there will be much foliage to enjoy when the skies clear. David and I hop into the car. We decided to do an AGT cache called Cookies Canyon. I have wanted to do this cache for a while now. The cache description promises a very nice view. I fire up the gps. The cache is about 4 miles away. It looks like there is a road we take off rte 321. It is forest road, a right just before Red-bridge. David is driving. We are listening to the radio. Our conversation dies down as a warning broad cast informs us that Western McKean county will be under a state of alert for flash flooding and heavy rains until 6:30 pm. I file the information away in my head, I wonder are we in the Western half of McKean county or the eastern half. It does not seem to be raining to hard right now so we keep going. Eventually we got to our right turn. The road we turn onto is a well maintained oil well access type of road. These one lane dirt roads run all through the Allegheny National Forest. This one we soon find out winds up and around a mountain at a good grade. I am nervous. David can see this. We begin to talk of a similar experience only we were driving down MT Washington. That was worse and knowing I had been through worse some how made this not so bad. I still did not much care for the road or the route, and the weather. Especially considering that the radio had warned us of heavy rains and flash flooding. “I bet it would not take much to wash out this road.:”I was saying. Dave told me, “If you really don't like the way the road drops off, then you should not keep looking down.” I took his advice and it did get easier. We drove a bit and the cache got closer and then far away as we looped the mountain. Then closer again. Then even closer. At one point we were .2 of a mile away. Then the cache distance began to grow as we look for a good place to park. We drive by a likely spot. Find a save place where we will not fall off a cliff or get stuck to turn the car around. Then we drive back to our parking place. We end up parking next to a green oil pump station. We are .3 of a mile away from the cache. We look at the gps. Look at my compass. Look a path that looks like it goes away from our cache direction. We bush whack into the woods. I stumble over brush and leaves and almost fall on my face a few time. Our bush whacking path opens up to join the path we had spurned moments ago. Seems as though now it angles in the direction we want to go so we follow it. This path descends at a good angle and looking ahead I can tell there will be a view. I look down at the gps and realize we are 300 feet away from the cache. 200, 100, 50, 13, and 3. I announce it, “3 feet” David lets me know he saw something moving in the brush ahead of us. I am not worried. “If we are loud it will leave us alone.” He looked at me, not quite frowning, “I hope so.” We both grew quiet as we looked for the cache. Then I heard him say it, “I found it.” I walked over to him and said, “Nice job” He passed me the ammo box. I opened it and signed the log book. He pulled out his agt passbook. “Can I have the Stamp?” he said... I looked at him and shook my head, “You know I forgot we about the book and I pulled mine out. “The stamp has Mckean Country on it, and the number 20. I happily stamped my book. We put the cache lid back in its hiding place and walked down the path we were on until we got to the view. It was magnificent. We were at level height with the mountains that surrounded us. The valley below, Was filled with greens yellows and reds. Wisps of silver clouds danced atop tress., and rivers of fog ran off, through and between the mountains. I think this is the most rewarding cache I have been on. I should have brought the camera in spite of the rain. Oh well. This little piece of paradise is not to far away. I can come back again when the weather is right and take some great pictures.

Day 9 Evergreen Key Chain A nice secluded place.

Today I had a few things I wanted to get done.. First off I wanted to go and get a AGT pass book from the Kane chamber of commerce. David and I are planning to try and get all 10 AGT coins. This is pretty exciting stuff. I figured I could pick up a local cache afterward. Which ever one happened to be closest to the chamber of commerce would do. Niki and Novalee opted to stay home because Novalee had come down with a bit of a cold overnight.

I geared up and walked up town to the chamber of commerce. It is a raw day today. Raining and cold. I have my winter hat under my fedora. I walk up town. Janeway St to Chase St and so forth till I am deposited onto Fraley St. I walk along Frailey until I come to the front of the old Movie Theater. It still looks like a theater but it is now a rollerskating rink. At a whim I decide to check in my friend Scott, who lives in an apartment up above the old theater. I check the mail boxes for names hoping I will see his. I do thus discovering which apartment is his. I head up and enter through traditional means. Once in his apartment. I ask him if he wants to come with me on my geocach hunt. He agrees to come with along until he realizes that it is raining. We chat a bit. Then we part company. There is much to do today. I continue on along Fraley Street until I reach the chamber of commerce. Lucky me it is open. An older woman greets me with pleasant inquiry. She has heard of geocaching. She efficiently locates two AGT stamp books. We talk about geo caching for a bit. She confides that she is surprised at how many people enjoy the hobby. “It is a great way to keep fit.” she tells me. I of course agree. Then I tell her about my blog. She is really into the idea. Our conversation comes to and end when she excuses herself and tends to tend another who has just entered the chamber of commerce. It is time for me to move on any how. I still have yet to found my cache today. Once out side I fire up my GPS. It takes a minute or so for it to find satellites. I hear a satisfying beep telling me it is ready. I search the GPS for near by caches. The closest is Evergreen Key chain cache. I read the description of the cache. Then I read the 10 most recent cache posts. It is called the key chain cache because the treasures inside consist of key chains... Brilliant. :) It looks like it will be a easy cache to find. I look at the map screen, and see that it is in the bottom portion of the Evergreen park. The cache is .3 miles away. I don't need the GPS to guide me there so I wear the gps on my chest. It is supported by a sturdy woven rope around my neck. I walk to the park. The park is well named. Many evergreen trees populate the park providing good shade covering sections of open space. This is a peaceful place. A paved path runs through it. I walk on this path. As I get close to the area where I think the geocach might be I remove the GPS from its resting place and I take a reading. I am about 200 feet away. I am close. I head in the direction that the cache is hidden. The feet are counting down as I near. I hop over a trench and enter into the trees. To my surprise there is a secluded little picnic spot I have just entered. This would be a very nice place to hang out with friends. I walk past the table and out of the forested alcove. Wow a big field opens up to me. A great place to play Frisbee. I am now within 10 feet of the cache. I begin to poke around and hunt. I quickly find the well concealed cache. I open it up and look at the key chain collection within. I then fish out the log book and log my visit. I have to take off my fedora while signing the book cause rain water is dripping off it. This was a fine cache. I do not dare spend to much time here enjoying my victory because I want to go back to yesterdays cache at Kinzua Bridge Park and stamp my new AGT book. No small feat considering that the day is growing short and I will have to go to work soon. I place the cache back in its hiding place and I walk back home.

Day 8 AGT McKean-Kinzua Bridge (GC16YBC) A thorny issue.

Today I was slow to get going. My head hurt, but it  being day 8 I refused to let a headache stop me. It just slowed me down a bit. So it was past lunch before getting started. I wanted DNJC in on this one. The day before he had expressed interest in seeing the Kinzua Viaduct State Park again. I figured we could kill two birds with one stone. We could see the park, and I could gain an extra set of eyes to help find the cache. Once he was up we checked for caches at the park. We did this by logging into http://www.geocaching.com/.  There we found 2 caches. I only needed to do one but I loaded both onto my GPS. One of em was an AGT cache. David and I being curious as to what an AGT cache was we looked it up and found out it stands for Allegheny GeoTrail. The AGT caches each have a stamp in them. If you have a stamp book then you stamp it each time you find an AGT cache. If you get 3 AGT caches in a county then you get a coin. DNJC collects coins. I geocache every day. We decided to go get a passbook and start collecting coins. A beautiful marriage of effort. Unfortunately we can't get the pass book til tomorrow, so we had decided to do the "Nature Had Other Plans Cache." today and then the AGT cache tomorrow.
  DNJC, Novalee, KC, and I drove the old van up to Kinzua State Park. It is a nice place. It is being fixed up pretty well.  The park is where the famous Kinzua Viaduct had once spanned a great valley.  It was an engineering marvel. Mother nature tore the span apart during a little wind storm a few years back. The ruins of the viaduct are amazing. Twisted metal towers line the valley floor. But what is more amazing is the Viaduct still stands tall and spans almost half the valley. Eventually the bridge will be fortified and there will be viewing platform at the wrecked bridges end. This will be three shades of awesome. To be able to walk so high up and over the valley until you get to where the bridge was torn asunder by the mad winds of the Kinzua Valley. Then to look out over the rest of the valley. Seeming suspended 200 feet in the air. Mmm very exciting. We came here to see if it seemed that they were close to finishing. David was told before summer began that the park would be finished by the fall. Either they are behind schedule or the ranger meant the project would be done in the fall of 2011. We decided to check out the cache, before the bridge. Eventually we made it to the General Kane trail which the cache was on. We unleashed KC. He sprinted back and fourth relishing in his freedom. Novalee sang some tuneless melodies. I heard "dog" in there and "love." To quote a line in Toy Story II, "She's and artist". The GPS did its count down as we approached the cache. Then when we were very close. We began hunting for the hiding place. We searched, and we searched, but nothing. David and I look at the cache description in the GPS. Then hunted again, and nothing. We tramped through prickers flipped over stumps, and looked under rocks, and nothing. Our hands all pricked up we looked at the comments that other geocachers left. Turns out the coordinates on groundspeak are off, no problem. We imputed the new coordinates.... Nothing. We read more comments. The cache is 80 feet away from the coordinates. We go 80 feet in either direction from the cache and nothing.  Eventually Novalee would have to answer natures call. I helped her with that and we looked some more. KC wore himself down and still we hunted. The sun came out then was covered by clouds again. Soon it would be time to go home and make dinner, so we relented. I still needed a cache today though so we decided to look for the AGT cache after all. We found the AGT cache near where we parked the van. We logged our visit then went down to enjoy the great view this park offers.

Day 7 Another Dam Geocach (GC1AWDA) Nope don't feel like being tarzan after all

   Today was special. It being Saturday, we  traveled out of town for our geocachng adventure. We are in Austin PA. A small town about an hour away from Kane. I have been wanting to come here for a while to see the ruins. Austin was home to a pretty big disaster a hundred years ago. It seems their Dam busted. The resulting floods killed around 75 people, and wiped out the towns paper producing industry. The ruins of the recked dam are still here, and are now part of the  Austin Memorial State park. Our cache is also in this park.
  Niki, Takoda, Novalee, and DNJC (aka Hawk Eye, aka David) and I arrived at Austin Memorial State Park. We did not drive to the lot at the base of the dam. We could have, but decided not to. We parked in the uper lot near a view. The park road is not wide. Only one vehicle can drive in either direction. The park seemed to have fallen to disrepair. Every thing was over grown and wild looking. I liked it. We piled out of our van got snacks and looked down into the valley.  Then over at the ruined dam.  Wow is my first reaction. Then again wow. A broken wall.  Concrete fingers stabbing up in the sky. Re barb, rusty fingers sticking out of giant broken concrete walls. What is left of the dam is big. I am eager to begin my way down into the valley. There is a trail leading down along the dam wall and then through it, and around it. The feeling that I am witnessing the fall of man invades my thoughts once again. Seems as though everywhere I look there are dieing main streets, and abandoned factory building. Ruined dreams. Ruined infrastructure that was once a promise to so many. Sigh as I ponder this, Takoda has run up ahead dogging DNJCs tracks. Even Niki and Novalee is up ahead.  I take pictures of both of em. Them being in these pictures helps me to gain insight, perspective, as you will as to the mass involved. These ruins are testament to the fallibility of man, and a great reminder that even though we often  feel the gentle hands of mother nature. She is still a woman and occasionally she just has to bitch slap us to remind us that she can. We wonder about these ruins. I often stand in awe as I marvel a them. I am not sure how long it is that we meander through the shadows of this once great dam, but eventually we decide to look for the cache.
   The cache is .5 miles away. Though we could drive to get closer to it we decide that it will make a fine walk. We begin. The dam slowly recedes. More pictures are taken. DNJC, Takoda, and I are in the lead. Takoda is trying to get DNJC to carry him. The boy is tireless with his arguments and his complaints that he is tired. His complaints do not match his actions, and he is very active.  I  tell him to try and not say anything if he has nothing pleasant to say. He tones down a bit. He is actually behaving quite well and I am enjoying him. I like watching him and even listening too him. I try to figure out how he thinks. I believe he is going to grow and develop into a very clever and smart man some day. He may have been saddled down with autism but he has been given so many gifts that I think maybe this was natures way to balance him out. I hope so any how. Niki and Novalee bring up the rear guard. Novalee does not complain. She just keeps going. Slow and steady. I stop in the middle often, so as they can catch up. The ruins of the dam has long since disappeared from sight. The distance to the cache is small but the going is slow. Must be the uneven grass covered ground that slows us down. Eventually  the over grown grass and brush give way to a forested area and this too gives way and we come out onto the road we drove in on. The going is faster now, and the gps is counting down quickly. We are about a thousand feet away. "I love it when we start to get close and the gps is counting down feet." I announce to David. We wait for Niki Takoda and Novalee to catch up. It seems as though Takoda has given up on being carried and so now is hanging back with his mom.  We begin walking again Niki is glad, she smiles and says, "I thought you heard me tell the kids that you guys would find the cache before we had a chance to help look for it. "I wouldn't do that, when we get wthin 13 feet we will stop and then we will all look for it together." She is happy with this and we continue on. The count down continues as we move forward. Now we are withing 500 feet of the cache. We have to take a path through the woods and it starts out pretty wet. Niki decides to hang back. She and the kids find a convenient picnic to take some rest. David and I come to the end of the path and the cache appears to be 300 feet away across a swift flowing river. Dave and I look at each other, and then the path on the other side of the river. Then we head back up to Niki and the kids. "Niki, the cache is on the other side of the river. Why don't you guys wait here I will walk up and get the van, then we can look on the other side." She looked startled, "No we are just resting." I thought a moment. "Well all right we will see if maybe we can get across." David dropped off some of his more expensive gear. He was getting ready to fjord the river. "It is going to be cold." I told him. "I know" He said.  I believe he would have done it but, I kinda implied it was not such a good idea. Then, "Only if we had a rope." he said. "We do, I have one in my bag." He was surprised when we actually pulled the rope out of my bag. David attached a rock to the end of the roap. We found a tree that over hung the river. The new plan was too swing the rope over the tree branch. Wrap the stone around the tree and swing over to the other side Tarzan style. Unfortunately we got the stone stuck too low in the tree. I climbed the tree and affixed the rope to the tree where we had aimed the rope for earlier. David gave the rope a tug testing it. I'm sure we both came to the realization at the same time that it would not work but I voiced it. David agreed. I unfastened the rope and got out of the tree. Nope don't feel like being  Tarzan today. We had a couple other ideas but ultimately decided that we could get to the other side of the river faster if we got the car and drove around. We took the road back up to the van. Niki was just buckling the kids in. We headed out. Drove over the bridge on the way out the park. Before the narrow park road met the main road we noticed the park road branched off running along the side of the river. We took the branch because it took us closer to the cache. This road led to a well groomed picnic area. We parked as close to the cache as we could.  A .2 of a mile walk along a well marked path and we were at the cache. Nice and easy. It was a great day in a great setting.

Day 6 To Serve and Protect (GCQD4B) Third time is the Charm

A Micro Cache. I knew sooner or later it would come to this. It  was not your ordinary Micro Cache (MC).  No it was the, To Serve and Protect MC.  I had attempted it twice before, while using my now retired Garmin V. The first time I was with Niki, we poked and we prodded and we circled the building and retraced our steps over and over again. Til finally we gave up exasperated. The second time I brought Hawk Eye. He and I shared a similar experience. Both these attempts were well over a year ago. I had become convinced that this cache was inside the Kane Burrow Municipal Building. The building that I was sure had inspired the caches name. I went inside. "Excuse me" I said to the woman behind the desk. She looked up almost startled although she saw me enter. "I have a question. You see I have this hobby called geocaching and I'm looking for a cache somewhere on this property," As I was saying this another woman entered the room walking behind the woman I was talking to. Her face was lit up with A knowing smile. I continued my question but now addressing both of them. "I was hoping you could tell me whether the cache is inside, or out." The smiling woman said, "Definitely out side."  "Out side I repeated."  "Definitely" She said. I smiled and rolled my eyes, I tossed a thanks her way and headed out side again. I told Niki that we were wrong about it being inside. We checked the GPS rereading the cache description. The most recent cache posts and the hint. We circled the parking lot like sharks. Getting closer then farther away. We checked the signs, and then checked them again. Then circled again. In hind sight the Magellan eXplorist GC pretty much had lead us right to it. My Garmin V was never that good. A little poking and prodding and Niki and I both found the cache together. Novalee KC and I posed for the foud it picture near the cache. Niki quickly descovered that there was no memory card in the camer. Maybe Hawk Eye and I will swing by later with the camera. Now that I'm in the know it will be nice watching someone else look for it. This Micro Cache was a great hide. I guess third time is the charm.