Lost Man Found & The Art of Geocaching

Do you know what Geocaching is???? It is this game of sorts. You need a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a computer to play the game. You go to the geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) and you look up "caches". People go on line and give you little hints and provide coordinates for the secret location. So you take that information and go find the cache, a hidden box with goodies inside. It is a treasure hunt for tech-geeks. I must admit, it is fun. There is another game that is similar but not as technical. It is called Letterboxing. You use online clues to find a hidden box. Inside the box is a little book that you stamp in and you have your own book that you stamp with their stamp. You carve your own stamps and have a "trail" name. I have come to realize there are thousands of hidden boxes among us.

Are you wondering how I found out about this? Well, I was reading a magazine. I LOVE magazines and read everything from Child to Mother Earth News. They are full of useful information. That is where I first read about Letterboxing. Then from letterboxing I learned about Geocaching. There are more Geocaches than Letterboxes.

Last year, my parents, my sisters family and our family went to Maine for a vacation. Jake and I brought our Letterboxing stuff and before you know it Heather and Ivan were hooked. So, when we discovered Geocaching, Ivan was so excited. He loves it. He has found about 500 caches. It is crazy. We have only found about 40.

So, we know this other couple, who shall rename nameless, who really likes to Geocache. One day they drove a pretty good distance to a town they weren't really familiar with to collect the caches that are hidden there. They made a day of it and it sounded like they had fun. By the end of the day, the wife was tired and didn't want to find more boxes. Her husband said he wanted to get one last one and said he had one you could practically drive up to. He drove there and she said she was going to stay in the car and just read her book. He told her he would be right back. That was at 5:00 P.M. Well, an hour or so went by and he hadn't come back. His wife figured it was typical behavior and was really into her book so she didn't fret. Finally her cell phone rang and it was her husband. He said he was lost. It was getting dark. He had wandered into the woods, in a pair of sandals, with no water, no flashlight (except for a little LED light on his key chain) and a GPS. Well, his wife, concerned at this point decided to flag down a police officer or park ranger person (I hope I am remembering this correctly). She explained the situation and asked for their help. By time they called in the troops there were police, firemen and park rangers all searching for this man. They were talking to him on his cell phone and trying to figure out where in the heck he was! Well, they finally found him & he had to be treated for dehydration. His feet were all cut up. What a mess. So, the officers were talking to him afterwords and the one man said..."What is that you have?" The man said, "Oh it is a GPS." The officer said, "You had a GPS the whole time????" and rolled his eyes. Later the man's son said to him "Dad, why didn't you tell them you had a GPS and give them your coordinates?" He said, "Like they would know what that is!". Oh my. So the next week there was an article in the local paper titled "Lost Man Found". He will never live down the time he got lost with a GPS in hand.

Jake loves to Geocache. He would like to do it more. We just don't have time.

Just to update everyone...Elise is sick. She has RSV. So does Reichen (Heather's son). Poor babies.

Have a good day.