First stop. Urban park. Complete with muggles of all ages. We don’t break a sweat. Well, actually we do. Our motis-distractius: Playing soccer with an old chewed up tennis ball we found under the trees. Dodging fido’s “presents” and a few nice body checks, I score goal.

Jen bounces back with a goal of her own. Then, “conveniently” I feed the ball under the tree with the cache container hanging from it and she goes in for the snatch.

We pause to wheeze and catch our breath to sign the log and it’s time for one more run. I score the final goal, making it a 2-1 win. YEEEESSS, I am SPARTACUS~! A quick ripping open of the jacket whirling it overhead in a triumphant jubilee was quickly squashed.

I was promptly placed in Bank Jail for excessive celebration. Yeah, still wondering about the whole “Bank Jail” word association but hey, I still had the ball. And that makes me the winner. So…. that’s how it is now.

With the rush of victory pulsing in our temples, we make our way along Mills Civic to our next cache, code named Leggo Bridge, a regular sized cache along a sprawling human highway. On our approach, within 25 feet of all this iron, where the GPS starts bouncing like crazy, we’re suddenly aware of that tense moment that occurs between two cachers…who’s going left and who’s going right….

To quote that famous philosopher, Sean Connery, “Choose wisely”. I spot it midway under and Jen locates it seconds later. With no muggles in sight, we leisurely sign the log, play with the contents, and pose for photos.

Well, not wanting to be selfish and steal all the good cacher karma for the day – we decide to try just one more. This is one that I’ve tried to find previously on two occasions. And failed. But I know when to bring out the big guns of logic and that’s my pal Jenny.

Approaching this nano, we know it’s a 1/1 that’s magnetic. My GPS is pointing where it always does at this location – along a fence line behind a huge slippery pile of rocks. We looked everywhere along the fence, on the fence, in the rocks. Had to wander around a bit to distract things as there were a bunch of crazy runner muggles in shorts. Freezer burn much? So….. that’s how it is now.

After a bit, Jen’s like “no, no, no, that’s all wrong…it’s a 1/1 so it’s gotta be right off the path….like….um…right here”, she says as she snags it from the yellow fire hydrant. Really. The fire hydrant. Really.

Here’s a blurry close up of this tiny super camo nano. I couldn’t concentrate. Two words – Dahl’s Fried Chicken.

So, having drunk our fill of geo-victory, we return to our everyday lives until the next great adventure beckons. So….that’s how it is. Now.

On down to the next one quarter mile up from here. As soon as the proximity alarm on the GPS went off I remarked “really…right here?!” I was in the middle of a parking lot! I think my GPS was getting some interference from the power transformer close to here or there was a solar flare. I reset the GPS and it still pointed in the middle of the lot. Thought, well I’ll have a look around the area – being a holiday there were no muggles anywhere. Could not come up with the find, though now that I’m thinking about it, I’m thinking this one’s a decoy out in plain sight. Will have to try this one again.

Well, not a good start to the day. I was determined to find at least one cache. I hadn’t been geocaching in months. I can’t be that rusty!

Onward and upward. Literally. Quaint little park just a short drive from this cache. Walking in I notice a nice little muggle family playing with their kids. They didn’t pay any attention to me so on I went in search of the two caches in this park. Followed the needle thru a short field and came upon a barrier of intense grass and thicket.

Poked thru only to find a creek just 50 feet  from my destination. Wait a second. I’m an idiot. I had my nose so glued to the GPS I didn’t notice the BRIDGE just around the corner to the left. Tromped my way out of the thicket (well, at least I got the customary leg scratches) and crossed the creek in style. And with dry boots to boot.

Thats. Just. Great. Being vertically challenged I knew I was going to have to use some skill and dexterity to snag this one.

Fortunately nature had left me a step stool – a large trunk lay just off in the bushes. Placed it right under the hole for that 2 foot boost I needed. It was wobbly but I was able to get my hand in there and fetch out the cache.

Giddily grinning now that I’ve taken my DNF streak to task, I marched back to the front of the park to another bridge.

Only problem here was the mosquitos.

A little tip toe stretch and I had it.

Swaggering back to the car I was keen on getting one more before calling it a day. Quick drive to this LPC with muggles everywhere. Sure to be expected: nice day + holiday + cold beer on tap = muggles.

Just as I was walking up to it, a car pulled right into the parking space next to it. Had to make a cell phone call to my favorite nobody to delay the snag. Luckily the “draw” of miller time made this muggle clear out quickly. Nice way to end the holiday with 3 finds in a row and smashing away the DNF blues.

GPS pointing at that tree….yes, that one surrounded by the ice sheet sidewalk. Oh well, I’ve always wanted to try the luge.

Ha ha – a great UPS (“unnatural pile of sticks”) here:

Time to go warm up and hit that chocolate sauce! UPS peace!

Did a loop around the Library to head back west on Grand and the proximity alarm on the GPS goes off (wow, Jen I love this feature!) so I make a quick left and park at the top of the block. No muggles to speak of, it’s a wet, cold, gloomy Saturday, so I’ve the run of the block.

GPS bouncing quite a bit on this one as I’m walking between two very tall buildings – one being the namesake of this cache – The Meredith Corporation.

Did a few laps up and down the street. GPS still fussy so had to use my jedi geosense – aaaah, there she is!

Walking back to the truck, I pulled up the nearest cache to my location – no way! It’s just at the next block! Jumped in the truck and squared around to go west again on Grand. Quick right turn at the WHO headquarters and the proximity alarm sounds again. Nice. Pull over at a parking meter and open the door – oh, ha, there’s piled snow waist high here. Hey, I’m not leaving without finding this cache, so I slide out of the truck into the snow. A few steps later and I’m free of the white beast.

Hum, gotta be around here somewhere…..

I take a peek at my notes for this cache. Clue is Matthew 27:51. Fortunately I wrote down this verse in my notebook. Well, that was absolutely no help whatsoever. I need a sign God – a sign! Oh, there it is.

Drove out towards Gray’s Lake / DSM Water Works hoping to find a few caches that were not submerged under feet of snow. Oh, this looks promising. After wading out to this gazebo and climbing up to reach above one of the roof timbers, I was able to fetch the cache!

With this “boost” to the ego and ignoring the numbing return of feeling in my toes, I proceeded to the next cache across the street. What are all these people doing out walking around a frozen lake at noon already?! I used my super decoy of “hey, lets take a picture of the sign” to swoop in and grab the cache – a small magnet attached to the bottom of this sign:

Stopped by one of my favie cafe’s downtown, Ritual Cafe, to warm up a bit and “steel” myself for this find. Took forever to locate this little guy. As you can see, it’s barely the size of my fingernail, magnetically attached to the backing of one of these steel beams:

“Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” – from Romeo and Juliet

• 14.5 inches of snow
• 40+ mph wind
• 7 degrees

GPS was pointing in a different spot this time…hum….maybe we’re onto something!

Does this rock wall make my butt look big?!

Jen begins her search just ahead of me and Ne-hau! Theres the clever little hide! She felt around one of the larger stones and there was a coat hanger type wire – push it and out pops this container with the cache:

A quick sign of the log and off we went to find the next cache!

So, I dug a path to Pepe, my little mule of an SUV, and off we went to find the cache! PS, you’ll see a little sparrow feeding at our feeder when I took this pic. Awwww! I’m gonna have to post about the wonderful little friends that have been visiting the feeder lately.

Followed the GPS to a park in West Des Moines but oy, how snow will you go for the cache? *tromp tromp tromp tromp*

Ok, another important thing about Geocaching….regardless of the weather or conditions watch your head! Yes, I ran right into these spikes with my head – good thing I’m hard headed and heck “it’s not really geocaching if you’re not bleeding when you’re done”, to quote Jenny. There! Do you see it!? The cache!

Hey! Good swag! TFTC as we say in geospeak (“Thanks for the cache!”)

I left “Orca” the geo travel bug here as promised and then went to Zanzibar’s for a great cup of Ethopian decaf coffee to warm me up. Mmmm good stuff!

I was out looking for the third cache in this series, totally on fire because I already found two in a row. I was looking for a level 2 difficulty cach, a large sized tupperware container with all sorts of beach swag in it where I wanted to leave a Orca, a Travel Bug, when someone called me in to the West Des Moines police because I looked “suspicious”! Oy@! People these days! I’m geocaching here!

So, there I was tromping around looking for a cache and had to get “interrogated” by one of West Des Moines finest. After being thoroughly questioned – and not being able to find the cache as well – I got bummed and went out for a coffee. Sitting there, sipping java, listening to french music….thoughts of more rogue and dangerous adventures in my future bringing a smile to my face. Vive la vie!

And inside, with signs and farm stuff everywhere:

So, after filling my belly to the brim with fixin’s (see, ya start talking country after eating there – it’s a side effect.) I headed out for some more geocaching!