...All of the sudden...I'm the Elmer Fud of geocaching. "Shhhh....be vewy quiet...I'm hunting geocaches".Getting there is now the best part of geocaching. I say “now” because my favorite part of caching used to be that moment of first sight…that point in time that comes after a healthy search of the area and all of the sudden your eyes spy the elusive treasure. Don't get me wrong, first sight comes in a very close second but it's now the journey to the end that has taken hold of me.
I'm one of those people who get excited every time I turn on to a new road, a path that will take me to someplace that I've never been. Whether it's a quick turn on to a small country back road or exiting onto a new slab of interstate, both paths hold the promise and anticipation of seeing something new.
Around here in my little county of Jasper, I thought I had been on every road that existed. After a year and a half of geocaching, I was delightfully surprised to find out how wrong I was.
There is a long distance multi-cache here that proved that point. It took over a week and somewhere in the neighborhood of eighty miles to complete. During that trek, I visited many new and previously undiscovered places that made me think, ponder, wonder and fantasize about all the things I had missed by not coming here before. However, at that point I was also still very focused on finding and completing the cache.
It would be several more months before my thinking shifted.
I spend an insane amount of hours driving in my truck. I own two businesses and shuttling between both of them gives me plenty of time behind the wheel. I like it though; driving gives me lots of time to think through the day’s events and contemplate metaphysics of the universe...or what I'm going to eat next.
I'm also an audio books kind of guy and even though I like to tell people that I'm very well read, in all actuality it could be better described as "well heard". Listening to a good book can be captivating for me and it seems that I've turned in to Norm from Cheers up at my local library where I check them out.
When I'm driving to a cache however, things are different. Especially if I'm taking a road that I've never been down before. If there is anything playing at all, it's music on the radio, and even then it has to be turned down very low so I can...observe. All of the sudden...I'm the Elmer Fud of geocaching. "Shhhh....be vewy quiet...I'm hunting geocaches".
The drive to the cache is what you make it. You can choose to keep your eyes focused on the road while flipping back and forth to your GPSr or you can, as mentioned above, observe. Quietly observe and drink in every sight and sound around you until you suffer from input sensory overload.
Now, I don't advocate not watching the road.... that could get messy, but in addition to safe driving, take time to see the rest of the world. I'm sure by now you're saying, "Hey goofus, I've been here a thousand times before and I've seen everything there is to see!" Maybe...maybe not. Let me ask you this; what do you remember about the drive to your last cache hunt? For most people, I'll bet the answer is something to the effect of "not much". If that's your answer, then let me share this with you:
My grandfather is a wonderful man. But he's approaching ninety and his heart is just about to blow the five O'clock whistle and let him get some rest. During the summer of 2004 I thought it was all over. He was hit hard with a heart attack and I was just sure he would not recover...but he did.
After all the tubes were removed and he woke up, he and I had some of the most wonderful conversations. Being the believer that he is, he said the most interesting thing to me. He said, "I wonder why I'm still here? I was ready to go."
Then he answered his own question with an answer that seemed to bring him satisfaction. He said, "I guess God still has some things for me to see".
Ever since I heard that answer, I've found myself looking at the world through different eyes, eyes that observe and see much more than they use too. Now, when I'm heading down the road and zeroing in on a cache like a Blue Tic Hound on a bird point, I go a little slower and take in a few more morsels of what would otherwise be considered useless information.
Tales to my grandfather about my latest cache hunt now sounds less like "I found another cache in the woods" and more like "you wouldn't believe what I saw today!”
Take advantage of your driving time to see what the rest of the world looks like. Observe, listen and most importantly, see what's out there. I promise, you'll be surprised.
It didn't make any difference if I was going up or down; I quickly learned that the act of climbing or descending was more fun than actually arriving. Hiking is different. Once I leave the comfort of my truck, don the cache pack and hit the trail, everything changes. Colors are sharper, smells become more intense and the thrill of exploration takes over.
This is the best part of caching by far. As soon as I find the trail that will lead me to my goal, thoughts of woe's, concerns and the worries of life go flying out the window of my mind and are replaced with a sense of adventure and anticipation.
Part bloodhound, part Sherlock Holmes, I quietly steer myself in what I believe to be the right direction. Frequently, I stop to take a long slow look around, soaking in the sights and sounds that embody the woods. It's amazing. It's quiet yet the sounds are everywhere. Everything is still but yet moving as if the entire woods itself was alive and breathing.
Outside of geocaching, there are many other things about the woods that I enjoy. One of them is hunting. I've spent hundreds of hours in a tree stand observing everything that takes place out there and have come to the conclusion that it's one of the unique places I can call my sanctuary...my church.
It's here that I have complete understanding of the passage in Psalm's that reads, “Be still and know that I am God. Who else could have created such beauty?”
I spend a lot of time in the woods and have done so ever since I was a little boy. When my brothers and I were young, a giant forest loomed just across the street from our house. Okay, giant forest might be a little overkill but to a ten year old boy with siblings that would follow him over a cliff like lemmings...it was indeed a giant forest just waiting to be explored. It was during these years that I fell in love with everything that existed outside of my front door.
In college, I renewed that interest with zest by taking up rock climbing and repelling. Spending the day climbing the bluffs with large groups of friends in Giant City State Park, only to repel down again was one of the reasons I was such a lousy student. This is where I first caught a glimpse of understanding the reality of getting there.
It didn't make any difference if I was going up or down; I quickly learned that the act of climbing or descending was more fun than actually arriving. At days end we would scale the face of the bluffs one last time then make camp at the top for the night. If you've never seen the sun come up from the vantage point of high atop a cliff, start making plans now to do so now. You'll see that moment for exactly what it is, a snapshot in time that is nothing short of spiritual.
So years later I've come to understand with more clarity the same thing I learned in college. Enjoy getting there. Appreciate the drive and savor the hike, drink in every little bit of stimuli on the way to finding your treasure. For me, it brightens the whole experience and gives me great stories to share with Grandpa K.