The Team...Part 1

WOW! Words really cannot describe our day of Geocaching with "the team". The team (out on black Friday) consisted of 1 brother-in-law (BIL) 2 sisters-in-law (SIL) with the 2nd one being, my actual partner-in-crime- at times, that I really do call SEESTER. Oh...and 1 potential ( yet, unlikely) brother-in-law that I will just call Potential. This is a 5 person team, ... 3 GPS devices and...me. Keep in mind, I AM the ONLY person who has ever done this. But because they are totally clueless, this doesn't seem to phase them. I, on the other hand, am greatly concerned! I have taught for many, many years...and I actually have a good reputation that tags along with my "name"...the difference being...I KNEW what I was doing, I was prepared, and I had lots of experience.

A camera could not have captured the day. We probably needed a video camera, or better yet, the whole scene from Goldy's view! I have gathered all my "gear"..and as I walk out of the house, there they are...all lined up in a row. What!?... I ask. "Well, what do we do?" They are all excited. Uh...we will start by getting into the truck. Oh boy...I may turn into 1st SGT by the end of the day.

Potential has brought a GPS unit. He has never used it...it is still in the box...the charger is still in that "impossible-to-rip-open-hard plastic." He DID bring new batteries...he has NO manual...he got it as a gift in HIGH SCHOOL! You do NOT want to know how old this thing is! As we back out of the driveway, I hear someone say...that thing is pretty old, do you think the coordinates are the same? I DID NOT hear that, or so I pretended, and I am thankful that 1st SGT is NOT here!

I am a little smarter than you may think, as I decided to take them to a few of MY hides...rationalizing that I may be a little a head of them, on my part. We head to the first cache. BIL is driving, when Ton-Tom says you have reached your destination...that is it, he has slammed on the breaks, we are parked, we are there. He doesn't care that there are unnamed roads in which we can travel. Nope! we are there. Okay...so we will walk. I was a little excited that no one, not even the guys, knew about coords, and which way to walk in relationship to the numbers. I think they were a little impressed. I gave the credit to 1st SGT. BIL, is trying to follow the "little blue ball" SIL is checking out all the old headstones, Seester (and I) are trying to get the Tom-Tom from driving mode to walking mode, and Potential is TRYING to turn on his GPS. We are off to a great start.

I stand back, to try to get an overall "picture". No one is walking in the same direction. I never had to round up cattle, but I kinda have that same feeling, as I am rounding everyone up...and getting everyone headed in the same direction. At one point, 2 of the team were actually walking together and getting pretty close. BIL must have thought that also, as he yells out (remember he is from TN) "Y'll gone too far now, "yous" a whole lane off." They stop...they look at us...I can't believe they are falling for that. BIL is saying to me... "I've stalled em now, I think I'm gonna get the truck and drive right on over there and get me that there cache, I think I can get there before they do" Seeing, they are only 3 feet away, I doubt that, but, they were clueless so they just walk on by. They are too busy "looking" to see where BIL is heading. Yep...this is going well. Somehow, and I don't know how, SIL and Seester are now together and are searching to the right, and to the left, but no where near the cache. Ok girls, lets regroup, stand back for a moment, and think about the hint. That is all it took, I am not sure if that looked like a NFL tackle or a slide in to home base, but they got it. I need a referee's whistle. And WHERE are the guys? As we head off to the 2nd cache...I mention that Geocahcing is NOT a contact sport, and the guys need to use their "deer stand voices"

Cache #2, is in a park. It is my hide, I don't have one of the GPS units , and I can't even remember what tree it is actually in. I do remember that The Alphabet Man was the last to find it, and he re-hid it "as found or better" This is just a flashback to finding all the other hides from the Alphabet Man. And it is MY hide! So while the newbys are off in 3 different directions... by the swing sets (?!) ...I am slowly circling the trees, looking for my own hide! Geocaching is not for the memory impaired!

Cache #3 is downtown, a VERY busy downtown today, after all it is black Friday! After some time, they find it. When we get back into the car, I re-explain the whole Muggle/ stealth-like theory. I may have to stay away from downtown for a couple of weeks.

It only gets better. I started this blog off with WOW...which really means...why oh why!