‘Twas the dawn after Christmas, with coffee to rouse,

A new cacher downloading, and clicking a mouse.

The hardware was found, and the driver software,

Now onto the website with listings to share.

The Garmin now loaded, he’ll go where it led,

While visions of adventure, played through his head.

He pulled on his parka, and a warm knitted cap
,
And going out the door, he grabbed a roadmap.

Once out of the house, he got satellite lock,

And picking the nearest cache, drove down the block.

Pulling up to the curb, he put it in park,

And searched for the micro called “Having a Lark.”

He searched and he looked, both up high and down low,

Then it caught his eye, as he was turning to go.

A little birds nest, yet a fake it was clear,

With fake baby chicks, and a fake momma near.

He plucked out the blue egg, but it had a trick,

The halves could unscrew, so he twisted it quick.

Unrolling the paper, this egg had contained,

And he laughed and he giggled, as he wrote down his name.

A seeker! A Finder! A cacher I’ll be!

On lampposts! On guardrails! On street signs, I’ll see,

A container well hidden, just waiting for me!

I’ll cache today, cache away, cache on a spree!

Now replacing the egg, in the nest as before,

Walked back to the car, turned around and then swore,

His tracks in the snow, went straight up to the cache.

And retracing his footsteps, he made a quick dash,

From this tree to that, while confusing the track,

“Can’t make it too easy, for the next one to crack.”

Once snug in the car, the next nearest he’d check,

It had the strange name of “Who’s up on Deck?”

He drove the four miles in the blink of an eye,

To a little league field, where he realized why.

He searched and he looked, both up high and down low,

But couldn’t spot anything but trampled on snow.

Tired and placing his hand, on the fence post to rest
,
He smiled and he grinned, passing this new caching test.

The next was a large, on the outskirts of town,

At the top of the hill, he parked and walked down,

Soon spotting the can, beneath a big pile of sticks,

Found it had a wet log, but this he could fix.

From out of a pocket, he pulled a notepad,

And tearing off sheets, he shared what he had.

He found some more cans, and lock and locks too,

Driving off to the west, the time really flew.

His tummy was rumbling so he stopped for a bite,

There was some fast food, over there on the right.

He ordered a meal, for kids and drove through,

He’d be eating his meal, and have trading swag too.

Then back on the hunt, he cached through the night,

But paused in the dawn, with its growing light.

He brought out the roadmap, and that’s when he saw,

He’d cached from Toledo, to North Omaha.

I’ll cache my way back, he yelled feeling quite brash,

“Happy Caching to all! And Thanks For The Cache”

 

Happy Holidays

from

The Online Geocacher

By catsnfish

A couple of empty-nesters who caught the caching bug not realizing it was incurable. So if we’re found in the woods waltzing with Garmins, lifting lampskirts while tying our shoe or looking for “gum” underneath benches, be sure to stay away... it’s contagious and the only temporary relief can be found in finding bison’s, ammo’s, nano’s, or passing coins and spreading travel bugs!

Publisher's Note: Catsnfish write the periodic column The Adventures of Catsnfish. Subscribe (free) to The Online Geocacher to get an email alert when a new article is published.

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