Three for three

As some of you know, Geocaching is (second to hunting for WMD in Iraq) the largest treasure hunt in the world – at least in terms of participants and treasures to be found. What’s nicer is that it is relatively inexpensive (you don’t have to start a war to play), not too strenuous, and virtually anyone with a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a little time can play.

With all the holiday preparations (I’m including Thanksgiving with Christmas so I can properly say “holiday”) and recent rains, we haven’t been able to get out geocaching as much as I’d like to this past month. To make matters worse, the last time we went out we collected a travel bug and he has almost died sitting on our window sill rather than traveling on as he is meant to do. If none of this is making any sense to you visit http://www.geocaching.com/ to learn all about the sport of Geocaching.

So between rain clouds I ventured out today to visit three sites that had recently been published on the Geocaching website. Two of the three were large enough to house the travel bug so I figured my chances were pretty good that I’d be able to get rid of it.

All three caches are on the former McClellan Air Base now called the McClellan Park, a combination Coast Guard air base and industrial park. The buildings still look very military although run-down like the military hasn’t been keeping it up well. And there are no MPs or BPs riding around in jeeps hassling visitors. Still, when one parks in out of the way places and wanders around looking in and under shrubs, one feels a little vulnerable to security guards and other officials who pull up and look like they want to ask questions.

I found all three caches, dropped off the travel bug, and got a nice self-guided tour of at least part of the base. I did get some funny looks but didn’t come even close to getting arrested or detained. I guess it really is an industrial park now.