Yesterday we decided to cache in the Reno area and pick up some miscellaneous caches that would take us North, South, East, and West. We were a little concerned because this weekend was Street Vibration weekend in Reno and the place was crawling with thousands of motorcycles.
We put our concerns behind us and headed out early since rain was forecast for later in the day. By the time we got to the road to Virginia City (two minutes from home), the thunder was booming and we were listening to hail pound on our jeep. Motorcyclists were scattering right and left in search of shelter. We learned long ago to bring our shelter with us so we wouldn’t have to worry about such things. Anyway, up the road we went and the hail pounded. As we approached our first cache, much to our chagrin the area around the cache was jammed with motorcycles and soaked leather clad people waiting for the packed ice over the summit to melt. As we pulled into the view point, we noticed many strange stares that seemed to say “why are you stopping, you have 4-wheel drive”? As we jumped out of our jeep to look for the cache, six Reno PD motorcycle officers drove in and parked behind us. Now what? Well, being the obsessed cachers we are, we chatted with the people around us, admired the view, discussed the weather, and tied our shoes twice as we grabbed and then replaced the cache. No one was the wiser or at least no one said anything.
Our next challenge was to get out from among all the motorcycles. They were kind enough to jockey around until there was a spot big enough for GeoJeep to pass. We headed up the summit through the packed ice only to emerge at the top into sunshine.
Shortly, we stopped at our next cache which proved to be a short hike up a hillside that would normally have been dry dirt. Now, it was very wet dirt which quickly compacted on our shoes until we were carrying around five pounds on each shoe as we headed up the hill. If you think our shoes were bad, you should have seen GeoJeep’s “shoes”. Tires, what tires, just round mud things. We made the find and headed back to paved road. As we drove the rest of the way to Virginia City, mud flew in every direction. I’m sure many of the cars passing us wondered if it was raining mud. We just tried to look nonchalant. Good thing the motorcycles were still waiting on the other side of summit.
We found two caches in Virginia City. The first one was down Six Mile Canyon Road and the second one was at the far end of town, but luckily we know the area pretty well and were were able to bypass the motorcycle zoo along main street. When we finished, rather than go back, we headed down the hill to Carson City where we found a cache while running between raindrops.
Now back to Reno via Washoe Valley where we were able to shed our coats and cache in the sun. Not so lucky when we reached Reno. The clouds were black and the wind was blowing. We stopped for lunch and were so covered with mud we were almost embarrassed to walk into Qdoba. But we were hungry so we did it anyway. By the time we headed out again it was pouring. Not to be deterred, we walked through water logged parks and froze on top of hillsides - but we found the caches.
Our day wasn’t over yet, though. We headed home to clean up a little and then we went to a local Pizza Parlor for a GBES Poker Run event. I’d like to say we had a great hand and won something, but that would be a lie. Actually we had a lousy hand but regardless had a great time visiting with all our friends. After the event, a group of us went on the hunt for a night cache with our three million watt flashlights. By this time the wind had died down, the rain had stopped, and we had a pleasant walk through the dark night. Wonder what the neighbors thought of the boisterous crowd with the huge lights?
Long story short, we experienced thunder, hail, rain, sunshine, beautiful rainbows, wind, cold and more rain, but we had a great day!!
We put our concerns behind us and headed out early since rain was forecast for later in the day. By the time we got to the road to Virginia City (two minutes from home), the thunder was booming and we were listening to hail pound on our jeep. Motorcyclists were scattering right and left in search of shelter. We learned long ago to bring our shelter with us so we wouldn’t have to worry about such things. Anyway, up the road we went and the hail pounded. As we approached our first cache, much to our chagrin the area around the cache was jammed with motorcycles and soaked leather clad people waiting for the packed ice over the summit to melt. As we pulled into the view point, we noticed many strange stares that seemed to say “why are you stopping, you have 4-wheel drive”? As we jumped out of our jeep to look for the cache, six Reno PD motorcycle officers drove in and parked behind us. Now what? Well, being the obsessed cachers we are, we chatted with the people around us, admired the view, discussed the weather, and tied our shoes twice as we grabbed and then replaced the cache. No one was the wiser or at least no one said anything.
Our next challenge was to get out from among all the motorcycles. They were kind enough to jockey around until there was a spot big enough for GeoJeep to pass. We headed up the summit through the packed ice only to emerge at the top into sunshine.
Shortly, we stopped at our next cache which proved to be a short hike up a hillside that would normally have been dry dirt. Now, it was very wet dirt which quickly compacted on our shoes until we were carrying around five pounds on each shoe as we headed up the hill. If you think our shoes were bad, you should have seen GeoJeep’s “shoes”. Tires, what tires, just round mud things. We made the find and headed back to paved road. As we drove the rest of the way to Virginia City, mud flew in every direction. I’m sure many of the cars passing us wondered if it was raining mud. We just tried to look nonchalant. Good thing the motorcycles were still waiting on the other side of summit.
We found two caches in Virginia City. The first one was down Six Mile Canyon Road and the second one was at the far end of town, but luckily we know the area pretty well and were were able to bypass the motorcycle zoo along main street. When we finished, rather than go back, we headed down the hill to Carson City where we found a cache while running between raindrops.
Now back to Reno via Washoe Valley where we were able to shed our coats and cache in the sun. Not so lucky when we reached Reno. The clouds were black and the wind was blowing. We stopped for lunch and were so covered with mud we were almost embarrassed to walk into Qdoba. But we were hungry so we did it anyway. By the time we headed out again it was pouring. Not to be deterred, we walked through water logged parks and froze on top of hillsides - but we found the caches.
Our day wasn’t over yet, though. We headed home to clean up a little and then we went to a local Pizza Parlor for a GBES Poker Run event. I’d like to say we had a great hand and won something, but that would be a lie. Actually we had a lousy hand but regardless had a great time visiting with all our friends. After the event, a group of us went on the hunt for a night cache with our three million watt flashlights. By this time the wind had died down, the rain had stopped, and we had a pleasant walk through the dark night. Wonder what the neighbors thought of the boisterous crowd with the huge lights?
Long story short, we experienced thunder, hail, rain, sunshine, beautiful rainbows, wind, cold and more rain, but we had a great day!!
1 comment:
And all I could do was sit here and dream about geocaching! Not fair!!!!
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