Hotspur.us

We had a few days off – ok I had a lot of days off and Chad had a week. Staying at home wasn’t an option since that never ends quite as well as it should (too much together time and too many chores). One of the members of my think tank suggested we go see the wild ponies at the Outer Banks. See the ponies, drive a jeep on the beach. Sounds good to me!

I was a little anxious at first after hearing how NOT to get your jeep stuck in the sand. I really, really did not want to be that guy. The one buried in the sand up to the axle (and believe me…we saw plenty of those guys out there.) But after we crossed our first dune,  which was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, I felt pretty confident that I was not going to get stuck.

It took us a little while to find the ponies. They are wild and they do go wherever they darn well please. Plus it was hot, blazing hot. Which meant they were most likely seeking shade. I was delighted thrilled spastic with glee when we ran across our first band just hanging out and grazing. We saw one hugely pregnant mare. She didn’t move at all.

After hanging out and taking pictures for a bit (you have to stay 50 feet back from the horses) we headed out and continued our search. You might think finding something as large as a horse would not be difficult. You would be surprised. If they don’t want to be bothered, they can make themselves pretty well invisible (trust me, I speak from experience).

And speaking of Villain, I always say I’d love to have him in my back yard. Well, after running across these guys I may have changed my mind.

This band of horses also happened to have a burro in it. No one knows where that fellow came from or how long he’s been around. But there he is. Go figure.

Enough with the narrative. It was loads of fun. We had a grand time and I would totally go back again.

(also we did some other stuff on our way home and I just threw those galleries in here. Richmond, VA for a cache and then Bluestone & Pipestem state parks)

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So we had a long weekend before us and I had a plan. I’m sure you will all be surprised stunned shocked into a coma to find out that it involved geocaching. In fact it involved several facets of geocaching – and they were all related to those nasty challenge caches.  I was going to finish up the Coal Heritage GeoTrail, nab Monroe & Summers counties for the West Virginia County Challenge, a state park or two for the West Virginia State Park Challenge (god Russell how I hate you)  and grab page 56A for the West Virginia DeLorme Challenge.  Yes, yes I was.

And so first thing Friday morning I got online and booked us the last room at the General Lewis Inn for Saturday night. Our plan was to get up EARLY Saturday morning and head south, grabbing the GeoTrail caches, nicking down to Mullens to avenge a DNF, then head over to Lewisburg where we’d spend the night (oh yes, taking in the New River Gorge on the way). Then we’d get up on Sunday, have a leisurely breakfast and take a tour of the Smooth Ambler Spirits before heading northward to grab that pesky page 56A. And THEN stop off in Elkins to make The Wheel of Morality.

Yeah, we I had an awful lot of stuff planned

And then I was out caching Friday around 1:00 p.m. standing on the gawd-awful side of a hill at some lake on a ‘trail’ when I got an email that said my hotel reservation had been canceled per my request. What? WHAT? WHAT??? Since I had cell service I immediately called and said, “WHAT? WHAT THE HELL?” “I did not request my room to be cancelled. Please to be explaining yourself.”  Oh, said the folks at the General Lewis Inn, the room you booked wasn’t really available. The internet site had not updated. What? WHAT? WHAT???? So this later turned out to work out for the best since I made (after returning from the FTF hunt from hell) reservations in Beckley, which was as far as we got on Saturday before giving in to hunger and exhaustion.

Anyway, short recap of trip.  Knocked off a Hawk’s Nest State Park and did an awesome hike to do so.  Found necessary caches on Coal Heritage GeoTrail until we get to Fayette Station. Where we FAIL to find the cache there. Even though it is so simple a blind cacher could spot it from his/her car. That FAIL meant there was no reason to go to the bowels of WV Mullens to avenge that GeoTrail DNF since I would still be missing one cache. We did, however, have a lovely drive down to Fayette Station and took in the scenery.

Calling it a day we crashed for the night in Beckley.

The next morning my still elaborate day 2 plan was still in tact until I looked up Smooth Ambler Spirits and found they were closed on Sunday. STRIKE ONE.  Fine. We still had additional things to do, such as find a cache in Monroe County and then one in Summers County and grab a few state parks for both the WV State Park Challenge and our VIPP stamps. Which worked out pretty well until we got to Cass and I was so distracted by getting stuck in computer cords that I forgot my VIPP cards in the car and consequently totally forgot to get them stamped.

We then also realized that the Earthcache at Organ Caves would have to be passed on since Organ Caves weren’t open on Sundays. Come ON people. It’s Memorial Day Weekend. How about a little flexibility. But no, denied booze & earth caches. Geez.  We did manage to score page 56A which was a load off my mind.

And then we went to Elkins and had delicious Mexican food with Bob & Keith which is where THIS post picks up.

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There are few things Team Kuclick enjoys more than a good handout.

And this, my friends, is a good handout (courtesy of team member Dee).

Yes, this tiny scrap of paper held the key to successfully navigating London and surrounding areas over our great adventure during New Year’s Eve 2004.

Handouts Rule!*

*exceptions to this rule apply, but they are too detailed and complex to share.

As the Canadian branch of Team Kuclick  (CTK) said so succinctly, don’t call it a comeback. 

The U.S. branch of Team Kuclick (UTK) had been rather negligent in visiting the Far Northern branch HQ.  Our earlier planned trip fell by the wayside when sickness hit UTK and then scheduling hell caused more issues.

Our only concern this time was that the previous two times that Team Kuclick was together, SCW (Small Child W) took one look at Chad and had a complete and unstoppable MELT DOWN.  Catastrophic and utter rejection of Chad, the thought of Chad, the word Chad and all things Chadean.  The potential for disaster was high.  SCR (Small Child R) was cool with Chad though, fortunately.

In an attempt to ensure that Chad didn’t have to spend his visit in Canandia hanging out by himself in the guestroom, CTK undertook a PR campaign on behalf of  UTK.

“Friends are Coming!” 

“Yay! Chad and Chris are coming.”

“We like Brad Chad!!!”

There was only one little glitch. We were “grown up” friends, not exactly the friends that SCW & SCR were expecting, but after a close examination and some goofiness by Chad, we deemed the PR campaign a success.

After a complex navigation of our scheduling options (we actually were expecting a handout with our various choices) we decided upon morning at the gym and then an afternoon of hauling a wagon of children on a river trail in order to geocache. There’s always geocaching. Always.

The only downside to our epic geocaching adventure (yes, it was epic the kids had to fjord a stream and sidekick Engineer had to move a tree from our path – EPIC I tell you) was that it wore the grown ups out.  Unlike the rest of the landscape in the part of Canadia we were visiting, the river trail was not level. No. It was not. It had hills. And ice. Not to mention the 50 or so pounds of small children in the wagon being hauled behind sidekick Engineer & little wooden boy. And then there was the 24-ish pounds of small child that Purple Monkey Dishwasher was carrying.

So instead of staying up late after the kiddies went to bed and carrying on like we had planned, we crashed. Sidekick Engineer fell first and despite attempts by PMD to wake him, he missed out on the nachos. Little wooden boy fell next, stretched out on the sofa. He did regain consciousness for a fully caffeinated soda and nachos, but his time was limited.

PMD & I did our best to stay awake until at least 11 p.m. I think we made it, but I’m not sure. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

We had a better plan for the following day. Two words:  Endless Sushi. And geocaching.  Our plan was to tackle A Kach to Remember a 9 stage multi-cache and then have dinner.  After all, we had a wagon & a stroller. How could we go wrong? Well first there was the wind. And lack of gloves for PMD. And lack of sunscreen for me (what was I thinking?). And some early-on fussiness from the Giant Baby. Not to be daunted though, Team Kuclick perservered and found ourselves at the final. Whereupon I fetched the final while everyone else got chased by rather irate geese. 

Objective achieved, we headed for sushi. Suffice to say, enless sushi is a whole heaping lot of sushi. I think I’m still stuffed.

Good times, man. Good times.

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