Backroads

Today we followed the back roads from our house to Wheatland. The logical route would have been up HWY 65 but we chose to take the longer route via the back roads which took us through parts of Placer, Sutter, and Yuba counties. We passed some interesting spots as we traveled roads we had not been on before. We passed open fields, creeks, canals, rivers, and lots and lots of walnut orchards. It was so cool and inviting in the shade under the walnut trees, I almost wished we had packed a blanket and a picnic lunch. I’m not sure what the owner of the orchard would have thought about it, but we would have enjoyed our lunch.

Most of the caches along the way were quick and easy caches. We found a lot of “luc pocket’s” caches. Fortunately, enough people had found them that she had corrected the coordinates, if necessary, before we even thought about doing the caches. A significant number of her caches have incorrect coordinates when they are first published and we have stopped rushing out to find them. We did have trouble with one, but a quick call for help gave us the needed information and we found it within minutes and then headed on down the road.

We were looking for something different about now and decided to look for one of the “RetiredProf’s” caches--“kool cop (GC15BRX)”. He is big on puzzles and this particular cache happened to be a puzzle cache. I solved the easy puzzle last night and we figured we had the Prof all figured out so we should find this one quickly. HUH! The coordinates zeroed out on the street but we could see a possible geo-trail and it was in a spot that could be considered typical of an RP cache location. HUH! Larry headed in to the mass of oleander bushes! Within seconds he was covered with ants! They were everywhere! He rushed out and we brushed off all the ants--we hoped. Back he went, using a little more caution. Within seconds he was covered with ants again! The ants were on the ground and on every branch and leaf of the plants. There was no escaping them. Fortunately, I had remained on the perimeter to give directions and I escaped the ant attack! We brushed him off again and circled the likely spot. There was no way in without crossing the lines established by the ant army and they were ready for a full out assault if one of us attempted to enter their territory! We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, called it quits, and headed off to the next cache.

We changed our route a couple of times and we were glad we did. Had we followed our original plan, we would have missed a couple of caches. The Topo map shows roads that no longer exist or are private roads! Fortunately, enough of the roads were still there and we managed to find the most efficient way to each of the caches. The trip was fun and we did get to see some different locations.

By lunchtime, we had 19 caches and we were in the town of Wheatland. We decided to try out one of the local eateries. Actually, it was the only one we could find open on a Sunday afternoon. We later discovered a Mexican restaurant that was open, but for the moment we had to settle for TJ’s Deli & Java. We placed our order for 2 BLTs and sat down at a nearby table. When we heard the counter person ask the other counter person what goes on a BLT, we started to get a little concerned. Neither one seemed to know. We provided the necessary information and they started making our sandwiches. Then we heard the counter person ask the other counter person if this was mayonnaise! At least the other person knew what mayonnaise looked like and she responded with a yes! Soon we could smell the pre-cooked bacon being heated in the microwave. Maybe we would get a sandwich sometime soon. The whole process was taking an awfully long time and we were the only ones in the place! Finally, we got our BLTs. They weren’t bad but it was the first time I have had the bacon all crumbled on the sandwich. Every time I took a bite, I lost half the pieces on the plate! I’m not sure this will be our lunch place of choice the next time we are in Wheatland. There is a new strip mall down the road and a Subway is scheduled to open soon. There is just a shell there now so it may be a while. Maybe it will be open the next time we are in town.

We found a few more caches on the “city” streets in and around Wheatland and finally headed for home. The home trip still involved the back roads but these were familiar back roads and we had found all the caches along the way, so it was a quick drive. We were home by 2:15 and had found 23 caches. We had three on the list that escaped us this time, but we will be back to try again. Maybe next time we will pick a cooler day so we can take a little more time to search! And maybe the ants will have found a new frontier to inhabit when we go back for the “kool cop” cache.