You know how it is. You've been cooped up most of the winter. Caching is almost nonexistent because deep snow has made it almost impossible to find anything. Then spring comes and you get these deceivingly nice days. The sun comes out, the snow recedes to a few inches and right away you get antsy to go try your luck. That's exactly what we foolishly did.

Me: "There's a five-stage multi with a bonus cache off Cascade Rd we could do."

Wife: "I like multis, let's do it."

Off we go. We arrive to the park and start on our quest. The first stage is under a boardwalk in a swampy area.

Me: "Okay, give me the mirror."

Wife: "Oh, did you need it? I was primping on the way here and left it in the car. If you want I can try to lay on the boardwalk and lean over to see the cords. Of course my back isn't as good as yours seeing I had the operation and..."

Me: "All right, all right, I'll do it."

There was still plenty of snow on the walk so my clothes were getting wet. I'm not sure if the wife was listening, she says I don't speak clearly, but after repeating the numbers to her many times we finally had the coords right. Of course my head was dipping into the water which added to my enjoyment.

Wife: "Sometimes you can be so testy."

Me: "Just give me some more of your tissues so I can dry my head."

Wife: "Don't use them all I'll need them."

The second stage was uneventful so off we go to the third. The third stage was a fairly quick find for the wife. The fourth stage was very difficult. We were about to give up when the wife made the find.

Wife: "There it is. How could I have missed that?"

Me: "Maybe because you had us looking in the wrong area. You had the GPS and we were looking way over there."

Wife: "Its not my fault you're too cheap to get a better one."

We use an E-Trex we got from Marlboro when we used to smoke. It had sat in the drawer for a few years because I couldn't figure out how to use it. Those instruction manuals can be very confusing. Finally someone at work introduced me to geocaching and showed me how to use the GPS. It has worked well, even though I have to admit it can be temperamental at times.

Me: "This one works fine. By the way there's another cache by this stage. It should be a quick grab."

We put in the coords and looked for about an hour.

Me: "I don't know who found this last but I don't think they wanted anyone else to find it. I think they took a shovel and buried it."

Wife: "Here it is. That was sure hidden well."

Me: "Good now let's go to the final of the multi."

Wife: "The GPS is pointing right down there. You go that way and I'll go this way. That way we'll cover more ground."

Me: "Good idea."

I'm not saying it was deliberate but she did make the find awfully quickly.

Wife: "Here it is. Let's get the coords to the bonus."

We get to the location of the bonus and it doesn't make any sense. There doesn't appear to be anywhere to hide a cache. Finally we uncover the mico.

Me: "Didn't you read the cache page on the Palm? This must be a multi."

Wife: "You told me it was a quick grab bonus so I didn't bother because I thought you knew what you were talking about. I'll know better in the future."

We find the first stage and grab the coords to the final. The coords led us to a path which meandered between two swampy areas. When we arrive at the final I didn‘t like where this was leading us.

Wife: "It's pointing out there."

Me: "You surely don't expect me to walk out on that log over the swamp, do you?"

Wife: "Sometimes you're such a baby. What are you afraid of? If it wasn't for the fact that I walk with a cane, I'd do it myself. That log is wide enough to ride a bike across. We're here now, and I know the cache is right over there on the end. Quit your crying and go get it."

Me: "Alright, but I just know this is a bad idea."

I work my way across without incident and find the cache right away.

Me: "You were right. Here it is."

I signed the log and started my way back. Have you ever noticed how you can have just walked on a log and it seems sturdy and safe with no hint of danger? I think it is luring you to become careless. I hadn't noticed that the bark was about to fall off at the slightest touch but sure enough that's exactly what it did. Even though this was the nicest day we have had all spring, I found it difficult to enjoy the weather soaked from head to toe with muddy swamp water. I looked up to see the wife howling.

Me: "I told you this was a bad idea. What's so funny? This is not humorous."

Wife: "It is from over here."

Even walking with a cane she can move pretty fast. She easily beat me back to the car with me hot after her. It took a while to convince her to unlock the doors but when she saw I was no longer red hot but more deep blue from the cold she relented. In the car on the way home.

Wife: "You're taking those clothes off in the garage. Wasn't that fun?"

By nanncyan

The wife and I have been geocaching about three years now.  We enjoy the exercise and great scenery.  We are surprised by the parks that we never knew exsisted right in our own back yard.  We live in Comstock Park Michigan.  We are fortunate to have thousands of caches within a short drive.  We are recently retired and plan to cache around the country.  Who knows maybe we will be in Washington next July for GW VIII!  Our goal is to keep geocaching fun.  I hope our stories relate that to others.

Marvin Altena