A Cacher's Christmas in California

I was up bright and early on Christmas morning, at first light, rushing out to try and pick up a FTF (First To Find) on a cache that wasn't too far away from the RV Park. It had actually been published on the 21st, but nobody had logged a find on it yet. I wound up getting the FTF I'd asked Santa for, logging it at the official sunrise time here, 6:50 A.M. A great start to the day! I picked up a $5 bill as my prize, a pathtag from the CO (Cache Owner), and immense satisfaction.

The name of the cache was "One Out of Fifty", and the hint was "California". The coordinates were noted as jumpy, as the site was under trees, about a quarter mile in the woods off the main road (Rainbow Valley, appropriately enough). Once I got there, it took me a couple of minutes to zero in on the hiding spot:

That's its camouflage... a fake rock in the middle there. I lifted it up and found the container:

A nice big one, completely wrapped in camo tape. That was quick work... I opened it up to see what was inside and to log my FTF...

A bag full of swag, but what's all that underneath it?

It's dozens of 35mm film canisters (wonder why they're here?). In the swag bag, amongst all the (really good) loot, was a small envelope for FTF, with the note "Must Sign California". (there was another one for whoever will be tenth to sign the log). There was no log book. Oh dear, now I knew what the title "One Out of Fifty" was referring to, and the hint "California". OK, I opened one of the film canisters: "Vermont - this is not the log". The next: "Arizona - this is not the log". I kept going in this fashion, right to the very end, and was starting to get a nasty suspicion. After opening the final one, I did what I should have done at the beginning... I counted them. 49. Uh oh, this is sneakier than I suspected. I looked high and low, far and wide but couldn't find that magic 50th container I needed. A flash of insight made me inspect the big container more closely...

Hm... is that... YES, it IS!

...the log is in a secret pouch underneath it (that's it poking out). The big container was actually the 50th. Now THIS is worth a favourite point.  :-)

The rest of the day was great, too. I drove to some rural areas where there were linear stretches of caches (6 to 8 at a time), then did them all by foot. Picked up another 21 that way, and got some great exercise. The temperature was in the low 80's, but the amount of humidity (10%) made it quite comfortable. Some of these caches were pretty creative, too, but none matched that first one.

Hope you all had wonderful Christmases too, however you best like them to be.

...and to All, a Good Night.

Oh, a postscript... I asked one of the supermarket clerks down here if they were open on Boxing Day. She looked at me blankly. Not only is everything open (everything's closed on Christmas), and it isn't a holiday for anybody, but they don't even recognize the term. Culture shock.  :-)

Pechanga CA

It's the middle of December, it's 78 degrees (25C) with a clear blue sky, and there are palm trees... I'm in heaven.

I'm actually in Pechanga, which is just outside of Temecula. Pechanga (the place where the water drips) is the band of Luiseño Indians (they don't use the term First Nations here) who were relocated here in the late 1800's. The name derives from a spring at the base of the mountain. They opened a huge casino here in the 1990's and have never looked back, their people are now quite well to do. I'm in their RV resort, right next to the casino.

Temecula loosely translates as "where the sun breaks through the mist". Haven't seen any mist since I've been here (since December 1), but I've seen a lot of sun. A couple of days it's actually rained, and twice it hit freezing overnight. Naturally, all of that bad weather happened as soon as sister (the sibling, not the nun) Barb came for a few days' visit. When she left, it was back to the high 60's and 70's. Tomorrow is forecast to hit 84 (29C).

Lots of good caches in the area. While Barb was here, I even dragged her out early one morning to score a coveted "first to find" for one that was a few minutes away.I did one series that consisted of twenty arranged in two concentric loops, with 10 on the inside ring and the other 10 on the outside. By gathering letters at each of the 20, and solving a puzzle with those letters, coordinates for the final cache were revealed. That series was a lot of fun. One that Barb and I did (with Doug and Shannon) was at a formation known as Turtle Rock, because it looks like a turtle swimming upwards.

They sure do take their nationalism seriously down here. Every where you go, businesses large and small (and many homes) are flying the flag.

 One cache took me to the Palm Springs Air Museum. I didn't have time to go inside, I just grabbed the cache outside, as the truck's "check engine" light came on and I hightailed home. After being in the shop for the whole following day, they announced that it needed an oxygen sensor, which has to come from back East, so it's a question as to whether it'll even get here before I move on the 30th. If it ain't one thing...

I saw what has to be the most audacious hide ever:

Yes, that's the cache, the small bison tube hung right in front at the bottom. I guess because it's the same colour as the hydrant, muggles are supposed to think it belongs there. That strategy's worked so far...

Here's a holiday themed cache container I found stuffed under the skirt of a lamp post...

It's been interesting to see how the local caching style differs from place to place. I've been picking up a few good hide ideas for when I return to the Island.