You ever had one of those days where you should have just stayed at home surfing the Internet as opposed to going out and finding some hidden caches? That's what happened to me today. I wanted to get some caching in today. I have a couple of find streaks going, that I'd like to keep intact, before the middle of the month because I'm going to be out of commission after March 17th for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I have one streak that dates back several years that I've found at least 10 caches per month. Another streak dates back about a year and a half where I've found at least 20 caches per month.
So I went out today alone. Originally I thought I was going to be caching with one of my caching buddies, but that fell through due to miscommunication. Eh. Stuff happens sometimes. So I first went out to find this one cache that's been eluding me for awhile. Bam. An
other DNF on this one. I'm getting beaten by a five year old girl on this one. I think that's five times and I knew where it was supposed to be because I'd talked with one of the owners at an event last month. Sigh. This is not a good sign on how the day is going.
Two other micros merited quick drivebys. The muggle quotient was way too high for either one of these today. Ditto for number 4 as well. Number 5 looked intriguing, but it was hidden in a pooch park and Jack wasn't with me. I really need to bring him back here so I can get that cache and he can have some fun.
After that one, I started thinking back to when I had a consecutive streak going. I'd started it as a lark really, just to see how many days in a row I could find a cache. Because of different commitments I had that weren't happening at that time, I figured I had 33 days in a row, where I could conceivably find a cache. So I decided to do it. The only day I was worried during this streak was Easter Sunday, but I got up early that day and was able to actually get a hike in and find a nice cache. The streak ended on day 56, mainly because I got tired of finding micros all over the place that had bad coordinates. It wasn't like any of these caches had bad coordinates, but thinking about the streak, I can remember that as I'd missed a cache and thought about going for another to extend the streak, I thought to myself, am I having fun here? The answer was NO, so I went home.
That's what I did today. Granted, it was only one DNF, and four DNA(attempt), but I think I should have just stayed home today. Nah. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining. It was a good day, even if I didn't find a cache. It's days like today that make the other days when you're just on a roll finding caches all get put into perspective. As the saying on one of my geocoins says, "God grant me the serenity to accept the caches I cannot find, find the ones I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." There have been days in the past when I didn't necessarily know the difference. Today was different, even if I can't find a cache hidden by a five year old.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Serenity
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2 comments:
That's funny, a geocacher's serenity prayer. I should use that more often. Where did you get that coin? I say you were outside getting fresh air and burning some calories. That's a good day.
Geocaching With Team Hick@Heart
Look at it this way; you should go on that Jeff Foxworthy game show. If you can't find a cache hidden by a five-year-old, maybe you can do better against Fifth-Graders ;-)
As you know, Webbie, we had a day very similar to yours just a few days ago. Really frustrating, which is why today's nearly-eight-mile hike in the hills above Ojai was so nice :-) Only seven finds, and three DNFs (we won't get into the half-and-half cache :-o), but the day was just too perfect to waste on a numbers run. Not that Sharon would have tolerated that, anyway :-p To adapt an old tagline for a non-alcoholic brew, "Urban micros are what cachers go for when they're not really caching." We real cachers settle for micros only when we can't get out on trails.
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