Battle of Franklin

We visited the Battle of Franklin on May 12 en route to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Being a American Civil War buff, I wanted to take the time to visit this cache. With me were my daughters, cachestalker94 and minnie mouse.

This is one of the best Civil War geocaches I have visited. The cache page is correct to not focus on the cache but to visit the battlefield. This was my first visit to this battlefield and the visit added to my list of the scores of Civil War battlefields I have visited. Many battlefields are National Parks where geocaches are non-existent. This battlefield is under the control of the City of Franklin. I wish to thank the city for preserving a piece of American Military History for others to witness. This battle was one of the bloodiest fought in Tennessee.

We spent well over an hour in the park. When we arrived a tour group was being led around by a guide and he was talking about the battle. The group stood between us and the geocache, so we took the time to visit and take pictures of all the monuments and historical markers. I have added all the pictures onto the cache page. A muggle enquired what we were doing. We explained the sport and gave her the printed cache page. The tour group was not moving, so we discreetly sneaked by the group, found the trail and headed towards the cache. Quickly found the cache and back down the hill we proceeded, again staying quiet not to interfere with the tour group.

After completing this cache, I felt a sense of accomplishment and visited this sacred ground.

Bridge, No Bridge

When Bridge, No Bridge by JamieZ was published it soon began to become the rite of passage for geocachers in West Tennessee. I placed it on my watchlist and wondered if I would get the opportunity to place my name on that log. –boatman- and myself conferred about the cache for many weeks. Towards the end of December of 2005, the planning intensified. –boatman- and Big Ron cached the area of the first stage and investigated the final. Previous logs and pictures were studied and come up with a plan. All we needed was a date. My friend from Ashland City, TN (brickbat66) was in town for Christmas Break and wanted to go caching. –boatman- supplied me with a date and I called brickbat66 and told him of the Memphis cache and informed him it is a 5-star terrain cache and with his ankle problem he may want to study the cache page. Brickbat66 called back and said he would go along for the ride. Final plans were made to met at –boatman-‘s house in the early morning hours of December 29, 2005. I took a annual day from work to go after this cache and began the day at 6 AM when I picked up brickbat66 at his parent’s home. We drove on to –boatman-‘s house and awaited Big Ron and Bartster to arrive. Supplies were gathered that did include a strong rope. I told –boatman- that Tuck Sackett used a rope to secure the ladder. A rope was added to the –boatman- cache mobile that did include a 32-foot ladder on the top of the Ford Explorer. Bartster met up with us at –boatman-‘s house and drove his own SUV a 4X4, which would be of use later. We gathered the last supplies and pilled into the Explorer. Made our way to I-40 and turned up the speed. The ladder was secure; Big Ron commented that we looked like a truck with horns!

Arrived near the first stage, brickbat66 and I found the cache at Crump Park and headed to the pedestrian walkway of the bridge. Gibbenator had joined us at this time. The walkway was narrow and vehicle traffic was next to us. This added adventure to the experience and especially nervous look of brickbat66. Several minutes later, we found the first stage; we made it much harder than what it was. Came off bridge and got back into the vehicles. –boatman- was concerned about the traffic in downtown Memphis. During the earlier recon mission, he ran into construction area. Gibbenator, being from the Memphis area, said for us to follow him, which we did. Arrived near the final stage. Gibbenator in a sports car opted to park and got into Bartster’s truck. Drove on to the final stage and –boatman-‘s Explorer became stuck. Thankfully, we had a rope and used Bartster’s truck to pull –boatman-‘s Explorer out of the mud. Finally, we made it to the final stage.

Unloaded the ladder and set it into place. Bartster was first up the ladder and used the rope to secure the ladder. He opened and signed the cache. Next was myself (Titansfan). I made the 30+ foot climb and was very happy the rope was there. Found the cache, signed my name and took #22 of the West Tennessee Five-Star Terrain Club. Others followed suite. –boatman- made it up the ladder and then cried how he would get down. We assured him that he will accomplish the mission and he did. Brickbat66 made it up the ladder and this time the heights were no issue to him as was the bridge before. I was concerned about his injured ankle. But he made it as did Big Ron and Gibbenator. We also found a cache near the final stage.
We secure the equipment back onto the trucks and headed back out. We took a different way out and didn’t have the problems of getting stuck, but the terrain was challenging. Afterwards, we grouped up and found a few more caches and headed home.

Caches found were:
Crumps Cache
Bridge, No Bridge
Find Me if you Can!
West TN Mega Multi-Firestone
Daffy’s Cache
Highway to Mill

First Mission to Baghdad

My Tennessee Army National Guard company, the 1174th Transportation Co. was placed on active duty and deployed to Kuwait in April 2003, just after the fall of Baghdad. The first several days in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait there few missions and most of the missions were to Camp Cedar I in Southern Kuwait.

The afternoon of May 4, 2003, the company received orders for a 48 vehicle convoy to supply fuel to combat units in Baghdad. Our destination was a railroad station on the west side of Baghdad and was expected to take 16 hours to arrive, the mission was expected to last three days. With my job being in dispatch and communications, I normally did not go on fuel missions, however, I was selected to drive the lead vehicle, a M998 Humvee and provide front security. At the time, the early convoys did not have gun truck protection (no mounted weapons) and our trucks were never equiped with extra armor during the entire deployment. The large convoy departed Camp Arifjan, Kuwait during the early morning hours fo May 5, 2003. The drive through Kuwait was quiet. However, as soon as we departed Kuwait, the scenery was much changed. Just across the border was the Shi'a town of Safwaan. Iraqi civilians manned the roadside and often tried to stop the trucks by running in the middle of the road. This would be the scene throughout the mission to Baghdad and return. Anytime we stopped, Iraqi civilians were appear demanding food and water.

We proceeded to Camp Cedar I in Southern Iraq. We refueled and awaited detailed directions for our destination. At the time, I carried the Garmin GPS 12 and programmed the coordinates into the GPS. That night, I stayed up most of the night on guard duty. Before dawn on May 6, 2003, the convoy departed Camp Cedar I and took the dirt road towards Baghdad. The road called MSR Tampa, the dirt part, was nicknamed the washboard. Many back injuries were the result of that dirt road. The company arrived at Camp Scania, 90 miles south of Baghdad, we refueled at the location and received information of possible sniper locations. In the afternoon, we arrived in Baghdad, civilian traffic was all around us. Some civilian drivers attempted to get mixed into the convoy. The display of weapons made the drivers detour and stay away from us. As we approached Garma, I told the 1st SGT what my Garmin was telling me. Being in the front humvee, we scouted ahead and found the base using the GPS. We went back towards the convoy, but prior we stopped at an Iraqi store and purchased enough cold Pepxi's for the entire company. We went to the off ramp and radioed for the convoy to come meet us. After the radio conversation, a civilian car raced up and parked in front of us. Three civilians existed the car, one being female. All were yelling at us. We yelled back in Arabic to stop and go away, our orders were being ignored. At that time, I chambered a round in my M-16 assualt rifle and pointed my weapon at the civilians. Finally, they got our message and departed the location. The convoy met us and we drove onto the camp.

It turned out that another company was awaiting to unload fuel and we would have to wait our turn. Our food was running short and a 5-ton truck was dispatched to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) to obtain food. The supply truck was harrassed by Iraqi civilians and weapons had to be diplayed to keep the civilians away. The truck returned with food in the form of MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). As the sun went down the city erupted in firefights. Most of the night, we heard explosions and watched tracers from gun fire. I finally was able to sleep all night and strectched out in the humvee.

May 7, 2003, we stayed all day and part of our fuel was unloaded. Slept in the humvee again that night, but the night turned cold and windy. The sounds of explosions and gunfire was still heard. May 8, again, we stayed at Garma all day. The night was cold and windy again. This time, my bed was the hood of a humvee.

May 9, 2003, we unloaded the rest of our fuel and received orders to return to Kuwait. But prior to our departure an insurgent stronghold was located within sight of our position. Army combat units surrounded the buldings and the US Air Force made bluff bomb runs and forced the insurgents to surrender. The tensions were very high and we departed in a high state of alertness and had Military Police escort for a few miles. We drove south towards the border of Kuwait. After dark and near a bridge, front elements of the convoy witness and exchange of gunfire from US Marines and Iraqi insurgents. After the firing ceased, we were allowed to cross the bridge.

Our convoy stopped for the night after entering Kuwait and later in the morning, traveled to Camp Arifjan. This completed the longest wartime fuel mission of the 1174th Transportation Company of over 1,000 miles.

When there were good times......

The Geo-Politics of West Tennessee have turned sour but not long ago there were good times and friendships. After the event for sskaysee on January 20, 2007, a group of cachers from throughout West Tennessee proceeded to Stanky Creek in search of the Night Time Squirrel Hunt. Hunting the cache for the first time were: Dalls of Beech Bluff, Magic Rock of Memphis, Prontopup of Memphis, Pippin-98 of Memphis and myself (Titansfan) of Dresden. Also along for the ride were: Sprout of South Haven, MS, -boatman- of Jackson, bitbrain and Mackheath of Memphis.

After arriving at the parking area, all donned the necessary equipment for the adventure. Being a veteran of two previous night caches in the Land Between the Lakes, I was prepared with a hands-free headlight, warm clothes and knowing there is a creek through the middle of the wooded area, I wore waterproof Gore-Tex boots.

The adventure began, Magic Rock amazed us with his laser pointer. That little green laser lite up the forest. We headed hiked throughout the forest, often with Dalls in the lead. He was warmly dressed and with coveralls, he was immune to the briars. Thanks for Dalls for clearing the path. Creeks were crossed more than once, all of use helping one another and see that all were safely across. We would find one reflector than another and another. Would this trail ever lead to the cache????? The cache was found, Pippen-98 was there to open the prize.

After the night cache, we saw that there was a cache nearby and all of us proceeded to the cache. About 20 feet from the cache, the briers intensified, the Legend receivers were losing signal. My Garmin 60cs continued to keep a signal. Dalls asked what direction and how far. I pointed with my light in the direction and told him the distance. Like a bulldog, the trounced on the cache and found it.

On the way out, I pointed out to Dalls that one of the mega-multi's was very close. His Legend had long lost signal, I gave him my 60cs and he plowed through the briers. The rest of us kept quiet and waited to hear the splash. We heard nothing. After a few minutes, Dalls comes plowing back through the briers and says he found the cache.

Caching was complete for the day and all of us headed back to our homes. I stopped by a store to get a caffeine drink for my 2 and 1/2 hour drive home.