The Hazards of Geocaching (Terrain)

I cannot tell you the many times I have misused and done damage to my vehicles when in search of “the find”.  The following is just one example.

Green Valley, AZ GCK7XF      N 36° 53.638 W 113° 55.581

This ammo can is a quick stop on Exit 11 and less than 400 feet from a spot even the lowest of low riders can park. If you're rig can drive through sand, a dirt road will get you within 30 feet. Happy caching!

So here is how it went….

Bob     “Just one quick stop honey, it won’t take long. I promise”,

You can’t drive through Arizona just yards from a cache and not go looking, right?

Vi       “Ok, but let’s hurry, I’m hungry and we’re almost to Mesquite.”

I tried to reassure her,

Bob     “this is a quick one; it’s just here off the road a few feet.”

Vi        “Um…are you sure about this? It looks a little sandy out there.”

Bob     “Yeah, yeah, It’ll be fine…” ,

I crept out slowly in our Dodge, Caravan toward the find, It had rained a little and the sand seemed firm, The cache was just too much to resist this was my first one in Arizona. It was actually about 350 feet from the road. Of course, if I would have read all the instructions on the cache site I would have known that we would never make it. I pressed on.

Vi        “Honey, I really think this is a bad idea. Are you sure we shouldn’t just turn around or something?”

Bob     “Oh you worry too much, we’ll be fine.”

We got out about 20 ft. before I realized we were in trouble. Suddenly the van ground to a halt. Only the top 2 inches were firm.

We both quickly hopped out to evaluate the situation at least that is what I was doing. Vi got out to take pictures.

Bob     What are you doing?

Vi      I am documenting this for posterity sake.

Time has healed all wounds but at the time it just made a bad situation worse, I am now glad she took a picture.

Moral of the story: Read the instructions first! This has always been a difficult step for me to follow, and I still don’t until after I can’t find the cache or there is a problem. It increases the adventure factor.