I Love You (No, Really!)

I must admit that I’ve been swaggering around, acting all Super-Geocacher-Ish. So, it’s nice when something catches me by surprise. 

I was home sick Tuesday night, when the notification hit that a new cache published: I LOVE YOU (GC4PG28).  Although I wasn’t feeling well, I still needed an FTF to keep my 20-month streak alive so out the door I went.  I thought D/T 1.5/1.5 Regular in a Ferndale alley should be cakewalk! 

I got there 20 minutes before the next cacher, but with no luck.  Another 20 minutes later we were joined by a third cacher.  Finally, too dark.  The coordinates place the final in the center of a parking lot – there was nothing there.  Later that night I logged my DNF and saw a fourth cacher had no luck either.

The next day the CO posted a “All Set” note.  So, even though I was in Farmington, I decided to give it a go.  Now, to get from Farmington to Ferndale during rush hour traffic is impossible, but I was SO curious about this cache.  The description only read “In Alley” and the CO signed her name as “A” (which was switched to “B” on the revised cache page).  I thought that if I hit Evergreen and there was still no FTF post on the cache, I would keep going and give it a try.  Traffic cleared at Evergreen and it was all green lights.

I pulled into the site with great anticipation and saw the cache immediately.  You couldn’t miss it – it was big and aqua and sitting prettily under a bush.  Wah? It was definitely not hidden and was definitely not here yesterday.  My next surprise came when I picked it up to realize it was one of those cardboard hat boxes you get from Michaels.  Oh, color and cardboard – this wouldn’t last long in this rainy weather and in a very public alley  (there’s no parking on Woodward so clients of the local Liquor store had to park right next to it and this alley was known to house several homeless people).

Decorated cardboard hat box

With great excitement I popped the lid of the cache.  Did I get first-to-find?  On top was…. A scroll?  Removing the ribbon, I opened it up to find it was a hand-written 3-page love poem.  Well, it wasn’t written for me (and definitely NOT the log) so I re-rolled it, re-tied the ribbon, and replaced it. 

Ok, log was underneath.  What’s all of this falling out of the log?  Was it already falling apart?  Nope, there were some pictures, drawings, and writings on the first few pages.  Yes, but am I FTF?!?!?  I flipped to the first almost-blank page and see a place for name.  Phew!  It was mine!  I signed, dated, timed the find and added a love note (it only seemed fitting).  Then I posted a quick FOUND log online so others knew not to hurry.

FTF (had to add a love note)

It was at this point that I became curious about the contents of this box. IT WAS FULL!  So, with the box sitting on the hood of my car, I started to poke around at the “swag”. Um, is that a bra?  Oh, it is (as I quickly stuff it out of site from the patrons of the Liquor store and nearby repair shops).  What the? A bra.  A candle and a lighter.  Microwave popcorn and candy.  Love poem scroll.  Cat toy (I think).  What???? So besides being in jeopardy by passerbies and rain, now it’s in danger of animal visitations.

Yes, that's a bra in the cache

I turned back to the log and took a closer look.  Inside I found a picture of a couple, a drawing of a man with (is that a) bra on his head, and some writing in the logbook.  It appears that the cache is filled with non-swag (logbook has a note that reads “*Please don’t take anything from this box*”).  Each item is symbolic and was meant for someone in particular.

It's all symbolic

Ok, that was new.  Never experienced this before.  I returned to the cache page to update my log to discover that the CO has changed the description.  This cache was placed in an attempt “to prove my love” to the man she loves very much.  The cache is now disabled because “the person who this is dedicated to is currently viewing the contents personally”. 

Not sure what that means.  It was a rather unusual experience.  My only regret is that I didn’t warn MPMCGILL before he arrived for STF and his daughter asked, “Daddy, what’s that?”