Three if by Land One if by Sea

A cache that caught my attention over the last couple of months is Three if by Land One if by Sea. I noticed the cache in October when it was a 5-terrain cache. I had wondered how would I get to the cache without the use of a kayak. I had read a log from one of the first going after the cache of looking for a place to launch a kayak and to no avail. Thinking, I would bring a kayak at some point, I looked at the aerial photos for a landing and did not see one. With that information, I knew it would have to an overland approach.

Made a drive by of the cache a few weeks ago and saw some parking on Huff & Puff road, near a skirtlifter cache. When I came be on 2/16/12 between appointments, I thought about parking at Huff and Puff road, but I saw it would be about a 1/2 mile hike and didn't see a geo-trail or any other trail into the woods, I was concerned. It also concerned me that I would enter the woods from a busy road where driver's seeing me could assume I was heading into the woods for a meth lab. I kept my search by road and found a park nearby. Drove to the park and was with .35 mile of the cache and could see a trail. I quickly went after that trail since my time was beginning to run short. The trail took me almost all the way to the cache. While on the trail, I observed the remains of an amusement park. Cachers on GOWT Facebook, mentioned the old park, in which, I had no memory of such park.

Made quick work of the cache and drove to the VA Hospital in Memphis for my appointment.

Battle of Nashville

Over the past few months, I have made a few visits to the Nashville area and have the opportunity to grab caches related to the Civil War Battle of Nashville.

My favorite cache in regard to the Battle of Nashville is: Shy's Hill, parking is enough for one vehicle, loved the climb to the cache and the view from the high hill. I did ponder why the Federal Army didn't contest this hill when the Confederate Army arrived from Franklin. This was the location that came under Union attack that broke the Confederate line, collapsing the Army of Tennessee and forced the rout.

Right Flank, a simple park and grab. It was apparent of the Confederate Army's weakness that they were not able to surround Nashville and left this flank hanging.

Battle of Nashville Redoubt Number 1, parking was an issue but thankfully a not very busy street. Made the quick find and admired the view from the artillery position. Area is complete with trench works dug by Confederate soldiers.

Battle of Nashville Monument, a fitting monument to the sacrifices made by both sides. Parking is easy. Took a bit to find this cache.

There are other caches regarding the battle and hope to find those too. My visits to that area of Nashville maybe winding down after the month of March.

Tiger130

Recently, on Facebook this article regarding one of the most respected and premier cachers in West Tennessee. While this author's actual caching experience with Tiger130 is very limited, I have had the honor of sharing several phone and email conversations.

I had met Tiger130 at a 1K event I hosted in the Memphis area. When I am a host of an event, I attempt to speak to all participants and I observed two people on the outside section where the event was held and I could see they were highly observing the event and introduced myself.

When I was overseas, in Kuwait and planning out my R&R leave and asked for assistance in transportation from the Memphis airport to Dresden, TN; Tiger130 was one of the first to respond. She and bitbrain were at the airport when I arrived and transported me to Jackson, TN. It was Tiger130 and bitbrain who alerted me that they would be diving at Mermet Springs, IL and provide me the opportunity to get the 5/5 cache located at the bottom of the spring.

Some of the things I admire:

Tiger130 has given back to the geocaching community by being involved in Introduction to Geocaching events held in and around the Memphis area.

Placement of outstanding caches, such as Purple Heart that I have yet to sign.

Coordinating several cache expeditions such as: Walls of Jericho and most recently Mt. Nebo in Arkansas.

Tiger130 was the first and maybe the only West Tennessean to complete the Tennessee County and Delmore challenges.

One of the first West Tennesseans to complete the Well Rounded Cacher where only just over a dozen cachers from Tennessee have accomplished this feat.

Overall, her competitiveness has inspired me to more adventurous and take the game to a higher level.

Update (2/13/12), Tiger130 and bitbrain were married yesterday becoming Team SpiderMonkey