I consider myself to be a modern, open-minded, all-American man. Some people may think that I’m a little eccentric about a few things, but I always try to involve myself in activities that I enjoy, and can learn from.

Computers fascinate me, and I have spent countless hours working with software and fixing the messes I’ve gotten my computer into. Music and video work have consumed most of my attention and I have acquired a somewhat large and unique collection.

Two years ago I suffered a rather severe stroke, limiting my physical activity. Fortunately my mind is as good as it was before (although you may find people who would argue that point). I now walk with a cane, and my vision and hearing have taken a blow that doctors say will only worsen, but I still try to be as physically active as possible.

A friend who is an avid outdoorsman, goes camping, hiking, bicycling, and does all the rugged things that I have little interest in. He gradually became intrigued with the things that I could make my PC do. I tried (with variable success) to get him into his PC as much as I was with mine.

One day he just disappeared. For several days I didn’t even get an instant message. While I knew that he had gone camping and hiking, it still made me wonder what had become more important than drinking beer, and hanging out with me. Was my friend in trouble? Had he fallen or gotten lost? God forbid- could he be dead?

Then came the instant message. “Man, I found a new hobby that combines the outdoors with a computer twist!” “What?” I replied. “Never mind- I’ll be right down. Got any beer?” I thought it was a little early, not for beer, but for stupid questions- I always have beer.

Before I could inquire as to what he was talking about, his IM identification went offline, and I decided that I’d better start drinking immediately. When Dick gets excited about something he rambles on and on, leaving no detail unexplained, and usually it helps to have at least a little buzz to sit through it.

When Dick came through the door, there was no, “Hello,” no, “How have you been?” just a single word: ”Geocaching.”

Geocaching huh? “You’ve been gone for almost a week, and all you can say is Geocaching?” “What… are you talking about?”

Big mistake. All at once I started hearing about this guy he had met while out hiking that was on some sort of treasure hunt. “He told me about a website where you can go find coordinates for a GPS, and then go out and look for the hidden treasure.”

“He showed me how it worked, and we found a hidden cache right then.” His exuberance left me nearly speechless.

"Let me get this straight," I asked, "you’ve been out on a scavenger hunt that is sponsored by a website?" "Let me get this straight," I asked, "you’ve been out on a scavenger hunt that is sponsored by a website?" I had unwittingly opened another can of worms with my question. I realized it, but the damage was done. Fortunately, there were still beers to drink, and that seemed to make me feel better about what I’d done.

Several weeks passed, and every time I saw him he was more excited about his newfound hobby and website. It evolved to where I had to hear about forums and people involved in the website. Dick was a man possessed by this time. He talked to me about people named Brian and Heidi as though I had any idea what in the world he was talking about. But I’ve found with Dick that if you just nod once in awhile, he’ll talk, and you can usually ignore his conversation and watch television, or continue with whatever you were doing before he got there.

Then came the day that he finally talked me into going out to find a cache that was listed within blocks of my home, on a nature trail. A mutual friend was also at my house at the time, and she helped to talk me into it.

We found the coordinates with the GPS and began to search, looking all around a very large tree that had fallen in the woods just off the trail. We looked and looked, but found no hidden treasure. 'What a bunch of bull,' I thought, 'I missed reruns of Gunsmoke for this?'

Yet, Dick pushed us on to another cache located on a different portion of the same trail, that might be an easier find. So we went to those coordinates and started searching again. All I ended up with was a minor sunburn and a slight case of poison ivy. No treasure. 'Well, that’s it for me,' I thought. I could spend my time in a much more useful and constructive manner.

I guess after several refusals to go out on another wild goose chase, Dick finally gave up on me. He would go alone, or with another friend, and later proudly tell me of his recent finds and hides.

One day I mentioned that I hadn’t been camping since I’d suffered the stroke, and that I would like to go camping sometime. Now, Dick's idea of camping, and my idea of camping are vastly different. I like tents, electricity, television, and all the amenities of sleeping out in my backyard. But he notifys me that he’s going to ride his bicycle for 6 hours to get to Brown County State Park (in Indiana) for a Geocaching jamboree/camping trip. Since he could only travel on a bike with limited supplies, he asked me if I wanted to come down in my car and camp with him, bringing the additional gear. I agreed without even checking the extended weather forecast- a mistake I’ll never make again.

I drove in pouring rain for over an hour before I realized I’d taken a "shortcut" that sent me many miles out of my way. After a quick stop to talk to a local, I found my way back to the right road and found Dick happily camped under a tarp, enjoying the shower currently in progress. When it finally slowed to a trickle, we proceeded to set up my expensive tent, and then headed for town to get supplies. By this time I really was ready for a drink.

That night Dick slept under a single outstretched tarp, and I slept on my air mattress listening to the rain pour down, and thinking what a fool Dick must be roughing it like that. The next morning I woke to find my mattress deflated, and my sleeping bag (and myself) completely soaked. The good news was that the sun was shining and Dick had a warm fire. I hung my sleeping bag on a makeshift clothesline that we constructed, and we were off to meet others in the group for a day of activities. My, what a beautiful day- sunshine and clear skies.

We were all given a list of event caches, and everyone jumped in their cars and headed out to find the hidden items. I’m not the quickest person on flat ground, and am pretty slow in forest conditions, but I was in for the duration. Dick found the first two caches while I wandered aimlessly in an area that was thirty to forty feet from where he found them. I was discouraged (to say the least) since I had walked right by them, and even looked at the places they were hidden but didn’t locate them.

“Don’t get bummed out,” Dick proclaimed, "I just got lucky."

"Lucky my ***," I thought.

We drove to the coordinates of the third cache. There we found several other people from the group frustratedly combing the area. I asked Dick to read me the clue again, and while he read I looked up and was astonished by what I saw.

There it was- the package we were looking for. It was stuffed in a large hole where a branch had fallen from the tree. Suddenly it hit me. I was hooked. This was pretty cool after all. It was all I could do to keep from blurting out my find and jumping up and down. I kept my composure and looked around to be certain that nobody was watching me, and I reached up and grabbed the bag and handed it to Dick. The look on his face will remain a picture in my mind until the day I die.

“How did you see that?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, ”guess I just got lucky.”

Since then I have gone on several hunts with Dick, and understand the thrill of the hunt is almost as satisfying as the find. We have placed several caches, and are currently working on a cache to be placed in Indiana that should be widely discussed by fellow cachers.

It just goes to show you that about the time that you think that you no longer have a desire to try new things, the world opens up and releases the child in all of us. Just let go and accept it.