Geocaching goin' on

I have this informal, unwritten rule about things I hear or read: if I see or hear it once, it's something interesting; twice, it's something I might like to do or know more about; 3 times, I should pay attention, and, perhaps, take action. Geocaching came up 3 times yesterday from three different sources. I thought about getting involved in this "sportivity" a few years back, but never really got started. After the third reference yesterday, I decided to revive my interest. I use Microsoft Streets & Trips with the GPS sensor for our traveling navigation, but for Geocaching, I thought it would be better to have a hand-held unit. I have an old "etrex Legend" by Garmin, but the screen brightness has faded to the point it's next to impossible to see. So, with Jim's enouragement, I took off to the Bass Pro Shop we saw on Interstate 10 a few days ago. I needed new walking shoes anyway, and I purchased a new handheld gps unit. This is also a Garmin etrex Legend, only this model has a menu item specifically for Geocaching. I can download the coordinates from http://geocaching.com/ directly to the unit.

When I got home, I spent most of the day getting reacquainted with the etrex features, plus learning how to use the geocaching features. I downloaded the coordinates for several geocaches within a few miles of our location. Then I loaded up the dogs, left Jim with his Sunday football games, and set out to find the treasures. I found the location of 4 geocaches, but didn't find the actual goodies. I saw some nice scenery though, and had a good time searching.

This pretty little stream is near one of the geocaches.

This tree with the roots growing around the rocks on a bank is very close to the coordinates for another of the geocaches.

All too soon, the sun started to go down, and I needed to head back home, without finding any treasures. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

On another subject, people who know me and the dogs understand that they know how to tell time. Supper time for them is 6:00 p.m. They start letting me know it's getting close to 6:00 by staring at me. The closer to 6:00 it gets, the more intense the staring. Finally, Bobo starts to "talk" to me. This is a sound he makes that is somewhere between a growl and bark. Jasmine just barks. Well, with the time change, they were most insistent at 5:30 p.m. today that they were 30 minutes late getting their evening meal! I guess we're going to need to gradually break them in to this standard time thing.

This last picture is one Jim took Friday in Fredericksburg.

Tomorrow we plan to drive to San Antonio to have lunch at a restaurant recommended by a friend. We also want to check out our route as we head to Rockport on Wednesday. We like to do that whenever we have the chance, especially when we're going through larger cities.