Brazos Valley CITO and Lunch 1.5

The Brazos Valley Geocachers Have Done It Again...

Donuts, liquid rocket fuel, CITO chaos, lunch stories, and caches straight out of The Twilight Zone.

Breakfast Event: GCBQ5AA, hosted by kesleyk

CITO Event: GCBQ5AY

Lunch Event: GCBQ5K4, hosted by PittPack

Sometimes you come home from a geocaching event and struggle to explain exactly what happened.

This was one of those days.

Fortunately, Deal Farms already did the hard part. In his recap of the day, he somehow managed to capture the exact spirit of the morning:

As Deal Farms Said Best...

“Imagine with me if you will a tranquil unsuspecting city park. Squirrels are happily falling out of trees, cats, snakes and deer minding their own business and suddenly the tranquility is shattered. The park is overwhelmed with humans, not just any humans, but the best kind, geocachers.”

Honestly, there may not be a better way to describe it.

One moment the park was peaceful. The next, it had been overtaken by geocachers fueled by donuts, coffee, and the unmistakable urge to go wandering through the woods with a purpose.

Breakfast Before the Invasion

The day started with a quick breakfast event hosted by kesleyk. Donuts were provided, conversations were had, and the coffee.... or as Deal Farms called it, “liquid rocket fuel” — did exactly what it was supposed to do.

Once everyone was sufficiently caffeinated and socially warmed up, it was time for the real mission of the morning.

CITO Time

It was, after all, Cache In Trash Out time.

Armed with gloves, trash bags, and questionable enthusiasm, the Brazos Valley Geocachers spread out through the park to clean up whatever did not belong there.

A Note from the Geocacher Wildlife Department

“A grand time was had by all, except maybe the snake and the deer, apparently they hadn’t checked their email and missed the head’s up about the CITO.”

The snake and deer may have been surprised, but the cleanup was a success. The group wandered, searched, collected, laughed, and probably looked a little ridiculous doing it.

Or, as Deal Farms put it, we were “traipsing around like heathens collecting all types of goodies.”

Once the cleanup wrapped up, everyone gathered back at base camp to debrief. Trash had been collected, the park looked better, and thankfully, none of us looked like Homer and Bart after their foray into the forest.

Lunch, Stories, and Chewing the Fat

After a brief intermission, the BVG crew reconvened at a local eatery for the lunch event hosted by PittPack.

You Should Have Been There

“And YOU should have been there, oh the stories you would have heard.”

That pretty much sums up any good geocaching lunch. Food was eaten. Stories were told. Some stories may have grown slightly larger with each retelling. There was much chewing of the fat and, eventually, digesting of our food.

But geocachers are not known for calling it a day just because lunch is over.

The Bonus Cache at the End

If This Day Was an Adventure Lab...

“If this day was an AL, this part was the bonus cache at the end.”

A pared down BVG crew headed out for more caching. Deal Farms and kesleyk made their way to GCBQPQ3 and secured a co-FTF.

Yay them!

At this point, most normal people would probably consider the day complete.

But geocachers are not normal people.

Enter the Twilight Zone

Joined by 2xrCody, the next targets became GCBPQQY and GCBPQQ7.

What we found at those two caches is hard to describe without giving too much away. Every geocacher has found clever hides before. We have all had those moments where we finally spot the container and laugh because the cache owner got us good.

These were different.

These were the kind of caches that make you stop and stare for a second. The kind that make experienced cachers go quiet. The kind that make you wonder how someone even came up with the idea in the first place.

Even Rod Serling Would Have Been Stunned

“What we found at those two caches left us speechless. Even Rod Serling would have been stunned.”

And honestly, for once, nobody was exaggerating.

Some caches are finds.

Some caches are stories.

These caches were stories.

Why We Keep Coming Back

By the end of the day, we had shared breakfast, cleaned a park, startled the wildlife, eaten lunch, claimed a first-to-find, explored a couple of unforgettable caches, and created even more stories for the next event table.

That is what makes days like this special.

Geocaching is about finding containers, sure. But it is also about the people, the stories, the laughter, the strange little adventures, and the moments that make you say, “You should have been there.”

Happy caching!