Kids--Classy Cachers

By Carleen Pruess,
(aka Carleenp)

Page 1 2 3

"Little did I know," is Shawn Lawton's comment when he describes the effect his in-class stories about geocaching had on his students.

Since discovering geocaching, Lawton, a high school choir director from Muskegon, Michigan, has taught geocaching in between the notes. When Lawton began telling his "tales of the trail" in classes, students became interested, although at times they would conveniently use the topic to throw Lawton off the teaching subject at hand.

Soon a group of students wanted to experience caching first hand. So, Lawton loaded 8 students, his son, a piano accompanist, and his GPS receiver in his van for a geocaching field trip. More outings followed and soon the students were borrowing Lawton's GPS. But as Lawton later explained, "on a couple of their outings they were up to more than just caching."

On Christmas morning, 2003, Lawton found a large package on his doorstep.On Christmas morning, 2003, Lawton found a large package on his doorstep. As he unwrapped it, he found that one package led to another, and then another, and yet another. Finally, he revealed a compact disk with the words: "Merry Christmas, put this in your computer." Following instructions, Lawton was presented with a letter stating: "If you are bored, YOU ARE about to embark on the greatest cache conceived by A modern MAN. Since you have no more CACHES in your area to do, I decided that Christmas I would create some fun for YOU. This WILL not be an easy multi cache, but I have faith in you. At the end you will FIND a "patriotic" reward. Enjoy."

The letter included a set of coordinates and a riddle. Following the clues, the song "Fanfare for a Common Man" began to play and was followed by a reggae version of "I Can See Clearly Now."

As Lawton explains, it was then that he "knew this was not going to be your everyday cache." Such would certainly be expected of the computer savvy kids who Lawton describes as, "some pretty creative, intelligent, wacko guys."

(They are mischievous, at times, as well, as evidenced by the fact that one of the cache creators had recently lost 20 points in Lawton's class- one point for each time he blew on a noisemaker during class. At the time the cache was hidden, Lawton was returning the points for tasks such as fetching coffee or finding a cache.)

Lawton began seeking the cache on December 27, and quickly found the first stage and another compact disk. It included music and set of coordinates, along with an ominous warning: It would be the last "easy one".

The clue stated: "In a hole in a wall the clue is found, but if it's rained since, you'll be on shaky ground."

"Somehow, I need to leave my wife, three kids and the in-laws so I can feed my habit. Oh the guilt!"

Lawton spent over an hour searching for stage two before giving up to return home to his family and visiting in-laws. Wondering when he would be able to complete the stage, Lawton thought: "Somehow, I need to leave my wife, three kids and the in-laws so I can feed my habit. Oh the guilt!"

Returning to his search the next day, Lawton found himself in an area with a crumbling foundation- leftovers from a demolished house. After exploring every nook and cranny and being unable to figure out the clue, Lawton began to think like a teenager. He quickly spotted a sewer drain along the road, and looking inside, saw a decent sized hole. He lifted the heavy grate, stuck his hiking stick inside, and hit solid ground.

"Here I was by the side of the road, across the street from the busiest intersection in town, with nothing but my feet hanging out as I hung my head deep into the drain. I kept thinking, 'Fanfare for the Common Man,' I can do this!"

But the sewer drain did not contain the cache or a clue. In frustration, Lawton called one of the teens only to discover that the coordinates were wrong and the cache was in a drain across the street.

With the correct coordinates in hand, Lawton quickly found the next clue, which led him to stage three: Under the doormat of his own house. Part of the clue told Lawton to "Go inside and say hi to Molly," Lawton's wife, and the student's director/choreographer. He obliged and called it a night.

On December 30, Lawton was relieved of his caching guilt when he saw his in-laws to their plane and took two of the children with him to search for the next stage, giving his wife a bit of appreciated freedom.

The stage was easily found at a golf course driving range, but provided a tricky puzzle: A music grand staff complete with notes. In place of the key signature were the words "A good steak sauce." Near the treble clef was an "N" and near the bass clef a "W." The last measure of the bass clef contained a circle and the written question: "Why is there nothing there?"

After some thinking, Lawton used the steak sauce A1 to determine that the clue was in the key of A with the notes on the staff representing numbers. Lawton quickly deciphered the north set of coordinates.

The bass clef, however, proved to be trickier when Lawton was left wondering how to decipher two note chords. He determined that he was to add the numbers of the chords together and obtained the number 8, which could not be accomplished using single notes because there are only 7 notes in any given key. The circle at the end represented the number 0.

Coordinates in hand, Lawton found the next stage where the clue baffled him for the remainder of the day. Instead of numbers clearly representing coordinates, he was presented with a single string of numbers. He later correctly guessed that the numbers represented a telephone number, leading him to retrieve the coordinates and his next clue from voice mail. "Now that you've found me, we go to look at a tree, surrounded by water on three sides, but careful, lawyers aren't free."

Arriving with his children at the coordinates, Lawton was faced with an area covered with no trespassing signs including statements about prosecution. As Lawton describes the situation:

I'm thinking, "How am I going to explain this to my kids?"

"Here I am, a teacher, with my two kids in back and I am driving around the area, looking for the closest place I can get in and out of there, and I'm thinking, "How am I going to explain this to my kids?" I am on a dirt road and finally I think I have found the best spot and a truck pulls up behind us. I get paranoid and leave. My daughter then announces she has to poop. I decide to give it up and take her back home. Anybody else been there?

Lawton would later return with his son, trek around a man-made lake and find a tree surrounded by water on three sides. The coordinates for the next stage were carved in the tree. At this point Lawton found himself in a quandary. "Packing light," he had failed to bring anything to write with.

After trying to memorize the coordinates without success, he heard his 8-year-old say: "Dad, just put the cords in your GPS."

About the incident, Lawton states, "I must be an idiot. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that!"

The set of coordinates saw Lawton's return to the golf course. A can containing puzzle pieces was attached to the back of a sign with duct tape. Taking the puzzle to the van, Lawton discovered writing on the back of the pieces. He completed the puzzle on the correct side, held it together with clear tape, and flipped it over.

It read: "Congrats! Almost done, now.... DO I GET 20 PTS EXTRA CREDIT? (The right answer will bring you to the most useless structure in the world and the end) YES [followed by a set of coordinates] NO [also followed by a set of coordinates] Only one right answer! Have Fun!

Predictably, the "no" coordinates led nowhere.

Choosing the "yes" coordinates, Lawton found himself at the useless structure, a glass staircase in the school resembling a lighthouse that merely leads to the auditorium's second floor. There, he found his "patriotic reward."

Over the years, Lawton's students developed a habit of stealing a large wooden Uncle Sam that decorates his porch in the summer. One year the student relocated it to outside his classroom door. Another year, they took pictures of it in various situations around town. Then, over Christmas 2003, they managed to remove it from storage in Lawton's garage, leaving it at the top of the glass staircase, as his reward.

When considering a gift for a cacher, consider hiding a gift cache.

Looking back on the experience, Lawton is filled with appreciation. He particularly notes that when considering a gift for a cacher: "Consider the gift cache! It is a truly awesome gift and great fun!"