A Cool Weekend

A Cool Weekend

By Allan Olson

Winter is finally here, we got another good dusting of snow and that was followed up with several days of deep chill. Thankfully, it’s taken this long to get here as in previous years it will show up in early December and not leave until March – if we were lucky.

So with the cool temperatures most peopl

e stayed home – in the comfort of their warm home watching a movie, reading a book or some other warm indoor activity. Well, I didn’t. I currently don’t have any books on my list I really feel like reading – I have some on reserve but since they haven’t arrived yet, I didn’t feel like reading anything. On Friday evening I braved the cold elements to help cheer on the hometown wrestlers – apparently I didn’t cheer loud enough as our team didn’t fare well.

On Saturday morning Marcus and I headed into town – a new geocache type had published during the week and I promised him that he could go get it with me – so even though the temperature was so cold that it hurt our faces we braved the elements. Of course it helped that I was informed that 98% of it could be completed without leaving the vehicle.

Enroute to our destination I asked Marcus if his cousin could join us – he was fine with that  - just not his siblings. So we picked up my niece from campus and she too braved the elements and joined the excursion. The first stop according to my program was at Greenwood Cemetery – well I knew where that was – so I headed right to that location and try as I might, the program wouldn’t cooperate with me. “The first step says, Go to Greenwood Cemetery,” I told my passengers as we were sitting in a cemetery. So why isn’t this working? Marcus was quick to inform me that it wouldn’t work because the cemetery we were in wasn’t Greenwood. Of course the first thought in my head was my 9 – year old son doesn’t know where Greenwood Cemetery is. “Dad, Greenwood is right by the bread store,” he informed me.  Okay, perhaps he does know what he’s talking about the voices in my head said to me.

So I set course for Greenwood Cemetery, as we exited my niece spotted the small plaque on the gate that said, “Holy Cross Cemetery.”

We arrived at our destination and my phone flashed that I was close a little bit more and we were asked to follow some instructions on the phone before they ultimately said, “your next destination is Holy Cross.” “Of course,” I said. On our way out the gate, the phone flashed a big red “STOP” on the screen. “You haven’t completed your task.” I thought – the phone is stupid – it already told me where to go and that I needed a ‘shovel’ – so I ignored it and headed to Holy Cross. Of course when I got there it was still flashing the STOP on the screen and informed me that I needed to go back to Greenwood. So I go back to Greenwood and it the screen is much happier with me – once I cross through the gates it proceeds to tell me to “collect my shovel” and proceed to Holy Cross. Now in talking with the owner of this new geocache he noted that since he had to implement everything – he would have to change it in the wording so I wouldn’t get the destination until after I collected my shovel. Of course – if I would’ve had some patience –I would’ve figured that out anyway. So we proceeded to Holy Cross one more time – we arrive at our destination and then the messages tell me that I’ve hit rocks and need a backhoe – it’s a good thing it was all figurative as I imagine if I had a backhoe in the cemetery and was digging up graves for a geocache –I would probably make front page news all over the state. After I “collected” my backhoe I headed to the next destination a baseball field. Now since I know of two sets of fields I had to check the map carefully to see which one to proceed to. After I arrived at the correct baseball field – it finally divulged the final cache location and thankfully it was just down the street from where I was at.

So we finally set off in search of the final exposing our skin to the frigid air. Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to uncover the hidden location and my niece snapped a photo of us three with the cache in hand and we headed to get some coffee to warm up.

Saturday afternoon I cheered the boys on to victory as they toppled their opponents on the home court.

On Sunday – my wife and watched a movie – a rare almost date for us and then we grabbed a few supplies and headed home.

The plans for this weekend largely depends on two things – one how fast the insurance company settles my claim – since they have finally informed me that the deer won the battle and my car will be heading to the scrap yard. The other factor is the bank – on how soon they tell me I can start shopping again – or rather purchase – because we’ve been shopping already.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.