CITO with Elite Company

This past weekend, I attended my first CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) event in nearly four years. Being a cacher with over seven years experience and nearly 3,500 finds, I am embarrassed that it's been so long that I attended a CITO. I saw the Ghost River CITO published and soon afterwards logged a Will Attend. I forced my schedule to make room for the event.

Arrived at the CITO coordinates to see a large group gathering. The majority of the "Will Attend" folks were there and some others. I saw old friends and chatted with new friends. Even made first face to face contact with some cachers that I am friends on Facebook.

Being the weather had turned cool but would be sunny, I changed to my ACU combat shirt that I used on when on mission in Iraq. The shirt is long sleeve but with underarmor type technology that keeps me from over heating. Changing to that shirt would be the wisest thing I did all day.

We drove to the put in location about six miles away and off we went into the water. The water was up from my two previous trips on this water and paddling upstream would be difficult all day.

I learned more about my kayak and it's uses throughout the day. I also trusted my GPS like never before. About three miles from the end location, I had become totally separated from the group. For over an hour I was alone and followed the arrow to the Spirit Lake exit and then onto the CITO location. It was during the three times I was alone that I nearly tipped over. The first was most eventful, where I listed several degrees and very cold water rushed into my cockpit. I trusted my GPS and was very thankful the cache owner provided the lake exit coordinates. I pondered if I had become completely lost on that lake, it could have been very hazardous. There was no where in sight to bank my kayak and seek help.

Out of the CITO group, I was second to paddle into the exit area. I was tired and had a load of trash in my kayak. It was an hour before I saw the rest of the cachers arrive. All were tired, some were drenched head to toe. I think one managed to flip a total of six times!

All in all, it was a great time and considering the conditions, some wind, cold water and a current drop in temperature, the group braved the elements. I hand it to the new cachers and those who had little experience on kayaks or water to be part of this CITO. I also thank the CITO hosts for setting up this event.

I do regret that some were not able to find all the caches on the river.

Shooting in Sanford, Florida and Geocaching

By now, everyone had heard or read about the shooting in Sanford, Florida. While the shooting has nothing directly related to geocaching. In a way it is related. I generally cache alone and rely on my Nuvi to auto-route myself near the cache. There have been times my auto-routing has taken to residential areas where there are neighborhood watch signs. I sometimes wonder when I am driving or walking through the area, who is watching me? Myself, I have had about three negative encounters with muggles. Most of the other encounters have been positive and some apathetic. Sometimes caches go bad, even some simple P&G parking lot caches with over 100 finds have been detonated by bomb squads. Early in my geo-career, one of mine went bad. Lessons were learned.

This cacher thinks that more description in a cache page is helpful to include coordinates for parking and trail heads. Cache owners should know the area and if something isn't right, let the future finder know that information such as, not parking at this location. Or, approach the area from this direction.

When this cacher obtains permission for a cache and it is placed, property owners or managers of the area ask me who and when will they come find it? It's a good question, but inform them that once a cache page is published, I have little control of who or when anybody will visit.

Tunica River Park

With back to back appointments at the VA Hospital in Memphis, I decided to stay two nights in the Memphis area. With the first day of exams complete, I headed in the direction of Tunica and find caches in the park located next to the Mississippi River. The day was sunny but, very windy. With the high winds, I thought it would be best to stick to one cluster of caches instead of stopping every few miles for a PNG.

Welcome to Tunica Riverpark! was the first find. What a Drag! was next and I used that area as parking for White Tail Diner. For White Tail Diner, I ended up walking on the road to get to this cache. Since it was a very windy day, traffic was light. Later, I drove to the museum parking lot and left my truck there to find the rest of the caches. Overflow Parking was another fun hide and had to negotiate around water to close in on the cache. I came within feet of Walking on the River but, couldn't figure out the hide technique and my GPSr was going nuts. A crew member of the riverboat had his eye on my and I elected to take my hunt elsewhere.

Started on the trail and found the broken container for Geometrix. Beyond the Trail End Circle, I observed the very busy Mississippi River with many barges in the area. I spent a lot of time at Box Elder Overlook and there my first muggle activity was seen. I did a lot of crawling around at this cache. Hiking behind the muggle hikers, I left the trail without them noticing for Name that Tree. Oxbow Cutoff was much easier than the similar hide at Box Elder Overlook. Final cache of the day was Batture . The cache was at this park during my first visit in 2008 but, at this visit, I didn't have time to hunt this cache. It took a long time to locate this cache since it had floated away from the GZ during last year's flood. After reading the logs, I went out about 60 feet and made a circle and found the cache.

Since, I had been to Tunica on prior visits, I knew the limits of the fast food places. I didn't want to go to Paula Dean or Sam's Town buffets since I have been to both before, I set the Nuvi for the Horseshoe and had the inexpensive lunch buffet. After a fine lunch, I headed back to the motel and prepared for more exams at the VA Hospital.