Everyone should know by now how much I love geocaching. I especially love meeting the people who share my hobby. However, COVID restrictions have limited the ability to have events. In fact, the last big event we went to was exactly a year ago. We had gone to an annual event fully enjoying ourselves, when we found out the world had just changed and lockdowns were happening all over the world. Now this weekend we are at that same annual event. Many are not wearing masks or social distancing, but since none of us our vaccinated and due to my health we try to wear masks indoors and around large gatherings where we might come in close contact with others.
All of that said, we are here in Cisco (very small town in the western side of the Central Texas region). We love it here because it is wide open and the people are so friendly! And lots of places to roam without a the worry of social distancing even when there are so many of us here (approximately 300-500 extra people which is small number this year). This is quite the crowd for a town with a population under 4000.
So we arrived on Friday and found a few caches then on to our hotel to rest. The drive in was four hours so already quite a bit of time in the car. I typically go in to the hotel to confirm reservations and get keys by myself before taking in the entire crew. Tonight was no different. When I walked up to the front desk, I wanted to be sure to explain that I had two separate reservations because we had a free night that had to booked by itself. However I was hoping to keep the same room both nights. Lately, I have had trouble remembering certain words so when the clerk looked at me strange I thought I had not said something right. Then I tried to explain again and she got it and she apologized because she was afraid I was going to yell at her like the previous guest. I told her that I had no reason to yell at her and I thought my chemo brain had created confusion. She was so surprised that I was a cancer patient. I flung off my head cover and said...yep! I am completely bald under here! She told me her grandfather had recently passed away and showed her memorial tattoo. From then on she wax asking if she could make my stay more comfortable. She told me that I was a ray of sunshine from the moment I entered the hotel. She was so impressed that I was staying so active. She was so sweet and stayed connected with us all weekend making sure we had everything we needed.
We spent all day Saturday on the hunt for caches. We first competed in a team contest for South Texas region. We had to find as many contest caches in four hours. We found 62 which is at least double what we have done in the past. I was not able to compete but I did drive the geomobile so the crew could find the caches. After the contest, we ate a quick lunch and found some local history caches. Did you know this small town was the setting for one of the most notorious bank robberies? The Santa Claus robbery was so crazy and hard to believe that you might it interesting to learn about it.
Another quiet evening of rest and woke up in time to pack it all up. Before heading home we met at a park and cleaned up any trash found. We call this a CITO...cache in trash out...event. We always try to give back to the host community in some way.
A fun time was had by all...even those who don’t like geocaching as much as their momma. We had a nice drive home. We even made it back before dark thanks to daylight savings time.
Not quite Spring Break but we did have every one together having fun. I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend/ spring break!
God bless you all!
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