Three years later.....

Finding the geocaching site by accident on the evening of February 16, 2005, I created an account the next day with the intent of finding a few benchmarks, in our hometown of Dresden, Tennessee, for my daughter's 4th grade Science project. Being that there was only one cache within 20 miles I didn't have any intention of being a geocacher. Finding benchmarks proved to a difficult challenge and we struck out. On Sunday, February 21, 2005, my daughter (who later became cacherstalker94) set out for the Big Cypress State Park outside of Greenfield and using an old Garmin GPS 12 found the Big Cypress Cache and our new hobby was born.

Since then I have logged 1,601 finds in 11 states, finding caches in 60 of Tennessee's 95 counties. I have learned much of the history of the Land Between the Lakes region finding about 1/2 of the caches located in that National Forest. I have been to the graves of notable people such as: Legendary Sheriff Buford Pusser, Chicken George (of Roots), Country Music Entertainer Minnie Pearl, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a man claiming to be the sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand, and also important to mention the graves of three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Geocaching has taken me to many towns in Tennessee that I have never visited before, such as Pulaski where I visited the monument of Confederate hero Sam Davis and the building of significant history that occurred after the Civil War.

Geocaching has also given me the opportunity to find friends that normally would have never met. Meeting cachers along the trail, through email contact, phone contact and notable groups: GOWT, JAG, KTAG, RVG, and MTGC. I have had the honor and privilege of attending many of the events hosted by these groups.

Scary Loop

After I begun caching, I noticed the cache called Scary Loop Cache by Yogi and Dolphin and saw it was in Carroll County. About a year into my job with DCS, I was transferred to the Paris office and worked Carroll County, therefore I had a little knowledge of the area. But I worked Carroll County for just over a year and didn't know about this area. Studied the cache page and learned more about the haunted Palestine Church. I knew I wanted to find this cache.

On July 12, 2005, I ventured off course and found the cache after many back roads. At the time, all I had was a Garmin Legend and a Tennessee Delorme Map. GPSr played tricks on my and wondered if a ghost was haunting the signal. After much searching, I decoded the hint and found the cache. Later, I took the time to look inside the church and the nearby graveyard.

Later, on June 10, 2006; I was in the area again, this time with cannotreadgps, she wanted to see the church. We attended the GOWT BBQ hosted by Yogi & Dolphin earlier in the day and drove to Jackson for Mackheath's 1K event. Afterwards, we got back on I-40 and back towards Carroll County, this time using the Garmin 60cs with auto routing. Routing it did, one turn after another turn for another turn. We were about worn out making all the turns when we arrived at the cache location. Cannotreadgps found the cache and we began to look around, when a truck pulled up, three muggles got out of the truck, the man driving asked what we were doing, I explained to him of geocaching. Turned out, he was the Sheriff of Carroll County! He wanted to know more about GPS and Geocaching. I showed him the cache and the GPS.

We continued to look around and went inside the old church. Technically, this cache is a Park and Grab, not requiring any hiking; the history is all worth the trip. Thankfully, this cache gets regular activity, even with its remote location, I guess since it's not far from I-40. This is a must do cache.

Graham Cracker, another forgotten cache?

Graham Cracker is a cache adopted by BigDaddyD and had been on my list of to do caches since I begun caching in early 2005. But waited nearly a year to complete this cache, for a variety of reasons. My work takes me through the Jackson area several times a month, but the area of Graham Lake is off the main route, the routes being Highland, 45 By-Pass and I-40. Also was intimidated by wooded area caches until the leaves have fallen while using a Garmin Legend. Also, I am not normally dressed for woodland caching. Being that I pass through Jackson on a regular basis I don't find myself making cache runs through that city. On January 2, 2006, having the day off I headed down early to grab Graham Cracker and Just Ducky-Revised. I completed both caches that morning and not finding any others that day. I did have a DNF on a Park and Grab, it was a new cache and was hoping for a First to Find. I realized that when going after caches that require a physical effort, it's best to ignore everything in between. I had a great time hiking for both caches and having to dodge the rain showers too. Just Ducky-Revised was a feat in land navigation. Following the arrow was not enough.

Graham Cracker, which has been on the list of best caches in Madison County has 63 finds in it's nearly 7 years of existence. 2007 has seen an influx of new cachers in West Tennessee, I am disappointed that the cache was found only three times in 2007.

Some could say, "Titansfan you haven't found XXXXXXX hard terrain cache in Madison County". I will say, "you are correct". Titansfan will just have to take a day off and go after:

Raccoon Hideout
Over the Deer
Forked Deer (South Fork)
Frogmore

Day off and where to go?

This being a 3-day weekend, I was thinking about caching on Monday, January 21. The 21st being a federal holiday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and for me being a Son of a Confederate Veteran, I also observed the 201st anniversary of the birth of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

On Sunday, I had yet decided where to go caching. Most directions (Jackson, Trenton, Paducah, Mayfield) I have made many trips to in the past several weeks. I awoke and saw the clear but cold weather. Thought about Mousetail but images of the freezing wind off the Tennessee River did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. So I thought about Retreat to Ft. Donelson. Hmm.... About 3 miles round trip hiking in one of the best caching places around, the Land Between the Lakes. I made up my mind, it would be the southern part of the LBL today.

Set up my PQ and off I went, leaving the house before 9 am. Stopped for gas, water and snack in Paris and in about 1/2 hour I was at the trail head for the cache. GPS said 1.3 miles and I saw the trail. I decided to go at it alone today. Recently, I have had knee pain after 3-4 miles of hiking. Being alone, I would not have to keep up with anybody and could go at my own pace and take breaks when I wanted to. Took a few rests along the way and studied the Topo map on my Garmin 60csx. Since I climbed the hill I wanted to stay on the ridge line, but when I came within .19 of the cache, I began to get further away, so I made a beeline and ended up climbing another hill, this time a steep one. Found the cache and rested for a bit. Found a trail at the cache and took it in the direction of my truck. One part of LBL caching, it's very wise to mark your parking location. Headed down the hill and came to a clearing. Saw the road about 1/2 mile away and I had enough of hill climbing. Went to the road and a quick trip to the truck.

Next cache was A Trip To Tip Top, by Writergirl. Having met this legendary cacher before I wanted to find one of her caches. Attempted to find this one before, but my software failed to show any of the back roads in the LBL. Today, I was armed with Topo maps on my laptop and with nRoute, I found the right roads and easily found the cache.

With my knee getting tender, I decided to go after just one more cache. Set my sights on Aunt Tinas Lost Cache-Revisted. Again, this was another cache where I couldn't find the parking area. Found a place to park and found the trail. Started up the trail and my GPS told me I was going away from the cache. More bushwhacking and .25 later I was at the cache, an old homestead. Nice area and took some time to make a picture.

Kelley's Point Battlefield

Planning a trip to Nashville, I looked forward to hitting some caches on the return part of my trip. Being that I already have my Golden Ammo can, I am not concerned about the numbers and wanted something special to find. After loading my PQ's onto nRoute, I browsed the caches. Hesitated, I looked at the area of Exit 201. I had been there before when I had a legend without maps and vowed never to return. Being that I cache much of my time during the week, I face the traffic in busy areas of Nashville, Jackson and Memphis.....alone! My previous cache trip to Exit 201 was horrible, I steer away from Cracker Barrel caches during busy times and found myself having to make left turns just to find a skirt lifter. I gave up and went home.

Browsing, I saw Kelley's Point Battlefield, a cache now maintained by JoGPS. Reading the cache page, it had my interest. However, I was very concerned about the recent DNF's. I called JoGPS and he assured me the cache was there and gave me an additional hint.

After my visit in Nashville, I made a beeline towards Kelley's Point Battlefield. I had used Google Maps aerial image prior to my trip and saw the parking area. I normally don't use the aerial images since the resolution in Northwest Tennessee is terrible. Found the parking area and read the information of the Battle of Nashville in this part of Davidson County. Proceeded onto the cache, just a short hike taking a little less than 10 minutes. Stopped at the overlook and read more about the Confederate Cavalry stopping the US Navy on the Cumberland River. Using concealed artillery and constantly moving the guns, the CSA forces were able to stop traffic on the important waterway. With my military experience, I looked at the position and could see how the Confederates used the position to their advantage. A bend in the river prevented the bigger guns from the naval vessels from using their longer range to their advantage. The bluff, while not towering, gave the Confederates a height advantage. Also, moving the guns from one fortified and concealed position to another, prevented the US Navy gunners from finding their targets.

The cache proved be difficult to find, I had to call the cache owner to find it. With persistence, I did find it. To my surprise, this cache, while in close proximity of I-40, has well less than 100 finds, while nearby park and grabs have well over 100 finds. This cache proved to be one of the best in Nashville.

Completion of the West Tennessee Mega-Multi

With my three year Geo-Anniversary coming up in less than two months I can finally log this cache and be apart of the elite cachers in West Tennessee to have completed this series! I had just taken up geocaching about two months before when the West Tennessee Mega-Multi series were unleashed in May of 2005. Being that I am from Dresden, a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Memphis, I had my doubts that I would ever complete the series. But I would find the caches as they came around.
It would take my two and a half years to complete and would take much persistence, thought and sweat to find all the stages. A couple would take more than one trip, another, I came within 1/4 mile only to see a fence and no trespassing sign. I caught some breaks along the way and the my recent adoption of a cache no longer part of the series paved the way to complete this mission.
First find was the closest to my home, Kingdom of Skullbonia by WestTNdawg on 5/11/05. Being that I knew this store and unique sign I didn't have any problems.
Geocoins going down the drain by Primofam. This one took two trips the first trip it was pouring down rain and the Legend took me everywhere but where I needed to go. Second trip on 6/9/05, the cache was found.
1st Settlement by pcsenn on 6/24/07. Another one that took more than one trip, took my girls and we found it. Very quiet cemetery, one of the best caches in Northwest Tennessee.
Firestone by MFDFircam was found on 12/29/05 along with others while caching in the area upon completion of the Bridge, No Bridge.
Now that I had one of the Shelby County caches in the series, I started to re-think my tactics and go after the series. After being disabled for a time, Empress by Empress Luci was found by myself on 7/26/06 on a hot day.
On 10/13/06, with cachestalker94 on fall break, we made a Memphis cache run and we knocked out No Way by Risket323 and Lake View by Chibongo. No Way was a hard cache and glad it was the first of the day. We completed Lake View on the way home.
Prior to attending sskaysee 1K event, I went by and found spencersb's Deja Vu cache and was thankful not to fall in the water on that one.
On a trip to Memphis, I swung by In the Rough 2.0 by Tuck Sackett on 1/26/07 and found that cache.
On 2/23/07, I nabbed Wishing Well by jbgreer. This was the first time to try out the waypoint projection on my Garmin 60csx.
In the fall, I began to kick up the intensity a bit and while in Memphis, I met up with Hoot Owl to give back the and he pointed the way for his Osprey Nest Platform trail entrance. Found that cache on 10/5/07.
Still needing two to go, one cache was no longer part of the series and I adopted it and made Garrett Lake II part of the series. With that clue I had one left and it would prove to be the most difficult. Found Up a creek up a wolf by Hoot Owl this morning. With everything set I was going after the final.
This weekend, armed with 13 of the 14 clues, I had figured out 95% of the coordinates. With today's last find, I came up to the final stage and one of the largest caches found by me in West Tennessee. It was well stocked. Normally, I don't take or leave anything, but this morning I stopped and bought a DVD "Lost Boys" a classic horror flick and placed in the cache. I also took the time to reflect on the moment. Overall, this was a better feeling then when I found my 1,000th cache. My 1K find was on a return trip from Tullahoma, I was in a hurry, traffic was bad and the cache was a simple parking lot. This find was one of the best. Thanks for Hoot Owl for this cache and all who have made this journey darting up and down and across West Tennessee and what a way to end the 2007 geocaching year out!

Highway of Death

During much of the 1991 Gulf War from January 17 to February 28, I was regulated to operate the wrecker. Most every night, we went out and retrieved trucks down due to mechanical problems. Each day we listened to Armed Forces Radio and CNN to find out the latest on the war. At night we could on occasion see flashes from bombing or artillery.

The ground offensive began in late February and my company supported the 1st Infantry Division and delivered over 13 million gallons of fuel for the division. 13 million gallons may seem a lot, but take in mind the M-1 Abrams main battle tanks consumes five gallons of fuel per mile. I was near the border when the ground offensive was unleashed, that afternoon, I was underneath a truck hooking it up to the wrecker and could feel the tremors in the ground from the artillery and bombing. Three days later, the ground offensive ended. When we heard the news of the cease-fire, we had just left our camp area and were heading north, only to turn around and make up the camp again.

Our three truck platoons were in northern Kuwait and I joined them in early March. On the way, we drove around Kuwait City and saw much of the bombed out roads and bridges. North of Kuwait on Highway 80 on the way to Safwan, Iraq, I saw images that would last me a life time. I did drive through and walk around the legendary "Highway of Death". Saw a few deceased Iraqi soldiers but hundreds of not a few thousand vehicles from cars, truck, tanks, APC and Anti-Aircraft guns. The place was a mess that is hard to comprehend unless one actually sees if for him/herself.