More Travel Caching in Dallas, TX

It seems that caching is been very slow this month - at least while I'm home. However, I once again spent a few days in Dallas, TX and was able to grab a few caches in the evenings. I don't know how much business traveling you've done but for me caching has made it much more enjoyable. Before I got into caching business travel meant uneventful evenings usually in front of the computer working because there really wasn't much else to do. However, caching changes all of that. Now in the evenings I go caching until dark. Then back to the hotel to log the finds. It makes it all much more enjoyable.

This last trip to Dallas was no different. I was usually finished for the day around 4:30 or 5:00. However, this late in the year the sun goes down around 6:45 or 7:00. Being a stranger in a strange town I don't like to do any night caching. I don't really want to deal with the police when I'm not from around those parts.....

On this trip I was able to snag somewhere around 40 caches. All of them were fun but the rest of this post is about some of the more interesting finds.

The first cache on my list to do was The Grassy Knoll. If you think about it long enough I'm sure you can guess the significance of this cache. It's a virtual cache because the area is considered a US landmark - so I didn't find any container but I learned a great deal.

It made me think back to all of the old news footage that is seen of the events when Kennedy's motorcade drove past this small grassy hill. Standing there I could remember that footage and see how it happened. In the picture to the right I'm standing somewhere near where a shot likely came from. The closest building on the left side of the picture is the "Book Depository" building and the far right-hand window of the second to the top story (just above the trees) is where others claimed to have heard shots. Anyway, there's lots of stories that can be found all over the net. It was just pretty interesting to see the site where it all happened.

I've noticed that Dallas has a great concept for neighborhood parks. They call them "Greenways" which are parks that weave behind houses and across streets. They're very nice. This is one of them. I spent way too long looking for this cache - What a view. I spent a lot of time sitting on the rocks shown in the picture just under the fence on the grass. I even found a friend while searching - a small gardener snake rolled up in the leaves. Made me jump back but I never saw him (or any of his friends) again.

This one 'scuse me while I... was a fun one. You can see from the pic there's a large freeway involved and of course it's on a walking bridge over the freeway. Ok, so that part really isn't that interesting - we have lots of those around here. The interesting thing is that if I were able to follow that freeway for about 25 hours or so I'd end up right back here in Minnesota. That freeway is I-35E - and if you stay on I-35E it will lead from Dallas, Tx all the way back to St Paul Minnesota. I often thought it was funny that I-35 splits into E and W in the Twin Cities, but it was even funnier to see that it splits into E and W in Dallas, too.

In Texas they have an "early voting" capability. Voting actually started when I was there and evidence could be seen all around. The picture to the right was taken as I was coming out from finding a couple of caches. The polling place was about 500' from where all of these signs were lined up. Boy I can't wait until this is over...

I've always been a Dallas Cowboy's fan. I used to follow them a lot. I had Cowboys room decorations, coats, clothes, uniforms, etc when I was a kid. So it was kind of cool when I found Made Me Glad - 'cause it did. This picture on the left was taken from the cache site (and zoomed way in). After finding this cache I headed toward the Cowboys Training camp to check it out - and get a few caches around there. Of course it's all locked up and visitors are not allowed, but it was still fun to see.

The last cache on one evening was planned to put me next to a Fry's Electronics store so I could waste some more time in the store. The cache was "I'm Fryed" and it must have had something very valuable in it at one point. The last picture to the right shows how this cache is guarded - and that thing is less that 50' away from the cache - in an open parking lot. I thought this was a pretty interesting 'unit.' I wonder what it's used for. I can't imagine them needed to use this for the Fry's parking lot but maybe, I guess. It also has a great view of the freeway from here so maybe that's the reason. At any rate, I grabbed the cache quickly and moved on.

Overall it was a great caching trip. I was able to grab some fun and memorable caches. Because of caching I was able to visit some new places, see some new things, and experience the memorable - things that I wouldn't have done otherwise. Thanks, caching, for making it fun!!

FTF, Lunch, and some Dallas Caching

I've been pretty busy at work lately and haven' t been able to do as much lunch caching as I like to - oh, ya, it's been raining, too. So when I saw a new cache pop up only about 6 miles from work (as the crow files, that is) I had to jump on it.


It was about 10AM when I finally got around to checking my email (and forget about checking it on my phone, there just hasn't been time). I noticed a new cache had been published that morning. I didn't really pay attention to the time it was published but I new it was after 7AM 'cause that's when I turned on my phone and there wasn't an email at that time. I pulled up the cache page and it was still blank - no finders yet. Woohoo - maybe a chance at an FTF for October. (It's not official, but I like to grab at least one FTF each month - except for those few months this last summer when Rebelex was gobbling them all up before I could get there).


I checked again around 11:30AM and still no finders. Humm... I might get lucky. There are other caches in the area that I haven't been able to go after (plus one DNF I would certainly like to rectify!) so it looks like this is the place for lunch today. New Road (GC1GXD9) was found at about 11:45AM. See the log for the suspenseful ending to the quest.

The it was off to Childs Play (GC1G7JN) - which I had previously DNF'd on Oct 2, 2008. I had to find that thing! As I approached the parking lot, a city truck loaded with sod turned into the lot just ahead of me. Rats! This may cause some issue since the cache is within view of the parking lot. That thought quickly dissipated as I watched the city worker get out of his car and head to the port-o-potty (see, there is good reason for having an inside job - no portable restrooms). As he went in I quickly headed out to GZ. I scanned the area for places I hadn't searched yet - and there weren't many. I did notice a couple of places, though, and immediately started searching them. In less than 2 minutes I had the cache in hand as was signing the log. I quickly put it back, made it back to my car, and was driving off before the worker finished his business. I don't know how I missed finding that the first time but at least the cache is now off my DNF list. (see the log entry here)

I went on to find two other caches just to the south. I just hadn't spent the time to walk the trails in this area but sine I was here and the first two went so quickly I figured I might as well do it today. Both were fairly quick finds but at noon there are quite a few walkers, runners, bikers, and stroller pushers in the area so I had to time it just right when I decided to leave the trail. Those caches were Beyond Repair (GC1F79E) and Pictureesque (GC1F7A6) - both hidden by TopGear. Thanks for the hides!


As my post below indicated I reached 2000 finds while on a business trip to Dallas, TX. The rest of the pictures in this post are from some pretty interesting caches and places in Dallas.

This was a tough one to get to. Around and around. You'd never know that this was in the middle of 3 major streets just hanging there. As I walked back from getting this cache a person waiting for the light to change asked if I found the cache. He was a cacher, too.







Ok, this isn't a Dallas cache. It's from the Minneapolis area. I can't say much else but the hider put a lot of work into this. No, you're not looking at the container!

This one turned out to be missing. You're looking at the cap of an acorn. The acorn was not a normal acorn size. The cap your looking at was about 1" across. The bottom part is missing - which was the cache container. If you look really close you can see the fishing line it's hanging by.