[Az-Geocaching] RRTW

[RopingThe Wind]

>From: "Brian - Team A.I." <teamai@cox.net>
>Reply-To: listserv@azgeocaching.com
>To: "AZ Geocaching" <az-geocaching@listserv.azgeocaching.com>
>Subject: [Az-Geocaching] RRTW
>Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 15:43:33 -0700
>
>This is my log from a very interesting adventure yesterday.  The rest of 
>the logs for the day (night) are filled with scorpions, and a rattler I 
>discovered coiled to strike under a rock I was going to search.
>
>But this is the start of the day, and a very long one at that.


Yep. That was a LONG day! My day had started at 1:00am the morning before. 
This is the time I got up and left the house around 1:30am for a drive up to 
Sedona for work (balloon flight). After that, I headed out of Sedona around 
9:30am and hit a couple of caches on my way home south of Sedona (including 
the really cool Page Springs fish hatchery virtual cache). Then, I headed 
down to Black Canyon City (BCC) for a few caches down there. I have been 
making several runs of caches around the BCC area and have pretty much 
cleaned the place up now! :) But, still had a few left. Thumb Mesa was one 
of them. But, my truck decided it wasnt gonna let me take it up that hill 
and broke a U-bolt on my left lower control arm just to prove it's case! (my 
truck has quite the personality.. it is as hard headed as I am!). If anyone 
has ever heard the song "Rodeo Rose" by Chris Ledoux, you will understand my 
relationship with my truck! :) No problem with traction as my truck has posi 
traction and good bite with big BFG tires. But, I must have tweaked it wrong 
coming off a rock/hump. I really need to get that Fabtec kit under there. 
So, after hiking into town (my cell phone was not working as I had lost it 
last week, only to find it on this day.. but it wasnt currently activated 
yet and the battery was still dead) and looking for the part at the local 
gas station/service station/parts store/a little of everything store... I 
couldnt get what I needed. I did however have what I needed right behind my 
truck seat! :) But, still needed another jack and a few extra tools I didnt 
have on me to make the job easier. I was able to get a hold of Brian/TeamAI 
and he offered to come up and get me running again and then we set out to do 
some caches. I thank him very much for organizing M: RRTW. :)  He had 
another floor jack and a few other items that helped greatly. The truck was 
parked on a slight slope on a fairly rocky road. It took two floor jacks and 
two ramps and a jack stand to get the truck positioned to work on it and get 
the control arm in place.

This was also a great night for caching and once I got all the grease off me 
and cleaned up... we set out for some caches. I love night time wilderness 
caching! Especially this time of season. It is cool out and the temperatures 
are very pleasant and there is no hot sun glaring down on you. A bit eerie 
sometimes... but fun! Thumb Mesa is a tricky cache in the dark with all the 
canyons/hills. But, we made it in one peice, although Brian took a couple of 
falls as I spotted him all the way down with the flashlight! :) The light 
never wavered and I showed him the way all the way to the bottom! :) :) :)  
LOL  The slopes were very slippery in the area. But, we made it to the 
cache. After that, we used his newly acquired Jeep to hit some off roading 
caches on the south edge of BCC. Including doing the 2 box canyon caches. I 
had already logged these two caches about a week or two ago. But, it was 
certainly a whole different experience hiking thru there in the dark. I knew 
the way since I had been thru there once before... but, doing the hike in 
the black of night adds a whole different aspect to the hike. Lots of little 
wildlife out that you wouldnt normally see in the daytime. We also did a few 
other caches and I think I logged 7 caches that night. Brian got a few more. 
We logged our last cache at exactly 2:00am. On the way back down the hill 
from this cache, I had my little moment and got a good size cholla branch in 
the back of my leg. That sucked! I usually dont bother much with them and 
just pull 'em out. Usually I can just pull the pant leg and the cholla pops 
right out. But, this one had a good couple of dozen stems in me. So, I had 
to work it a bit before finally just pulling on my pant leg and popping them 
all out in one shot. Ouch! Didnt hurt at all before it or after it. Just 
when I yanked them out! W then headed to Anthem where I filled up his gas 
tank and thanked him again for the help and we parted ways and I headed home 
after being up for over 26 hours or more! :) I got to sleep in my own bed at 
about 5:30am!

Scott
Team Ropingthewind

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