Joy recently read about geocaching in a book, and she wanted to give it a try. There are over three million geocaches around the world, and I was surprised to learn that there are a few dozen in our little town of Conway alone. A geocache is basically a waterproof container with a paper log inside where people can write the date they find it. When someone places a new geocache somewhere, they note the GPS coordinates on a website so others can find it.
Joy discovered that there was a geocache just a few streets over from our neighborhood, so I downloaded the app on my phone and set off to find it with Joy, Anna, Todd, and Cweepy the Creeper.
"A few streets over" turned out to be a little over a mile away . . .
. . . and our progress slowed considerably when we ran out of sidewalk halfway there. Joy offered to take the stroller off-roading if I would walk her bike.
We're getting close. See the speed limit sign? The name of this particular geocache is "I Can't Drive 35." I think it's a reference to a song, and to the person's annoyance at the slow speed limit on this street.
The app guided us faithfully until we got within a few yards of the geocache, then it told us we were on our own to find the container because it the GPS locator is only accurate down to about 30 feet. We looked around until I saw a rock next to a tree that looked like it wasn't original to the area. I picked it up, and sure enough, there was a little pill bottle underneath.
We opened it up and found a paper log. Apparently another person found this geocache just yesterday. It was pretty cool . . . until we realized we forgot a pen to write our own entry. Sigh--guess we'll have to come back (in the car next time).
On the way home, my environmentally-conscious daughters decided to collect bottles to recycle when we got home. Good for them. :)
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