Veteran's Day weekend

WHAT an awesomely full weekend!!

Okay, so everything started Thursday night after work. A long time ago, I thought one of the signs of being an "adult" was being able to go out to shows, or bands, or events and just go with no worries. Well, Churchill County High School is putting on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and today was opening night. So, after a delicious dinner of girilled salmon, I went! Great show! Only issue was with the sound, but the actors were really energetic and the kids were a joy to watch. I am glad that I went to enjoy the local talent.

Friday, my dad came out and we went caching in the far remote regions of Churchill County. I have a goal of clearing out the entire county of caches and I am down to about 30 or so. The first one we got was Shoshone Pass to Dixie Valley, WAY the freaking far out there!! Then it was down Edwards Creek Valley to go try for two up in the foothills of the Desatoya Range. Unfortunately, there was too much snow up that way, so we'll have to come back later. We backed out and continued down the valley to Eastgate, whe we turned up the old route of Highway 50 before heading up another valley to a place called the Dens. Apparently, there are two creeks, Big Den and Little Den, and on flows down into a steep canyon and thus forms a great big waterfall at the back of the canyon. Took the easy hike along the trail to get there, skipping across the creek. Ducking under trees and falling leaves, and crunching through dry snow. I got to the first waterfall, a small one down below an outcrop that the trail went over, and I looked around - a saw an ammo can! I had found a cache that was archived 4 years ago! I'm claiming the smiley! Continuing the hike, I got way into the back and my jaw dropped! The huge waterfall was cascading over the rim of the canyon and slicing through a thick layer of ice that had formed along the outer edges. The pool at the bottom ws ringed in icy formations built up by the spray. It was a beautiful location! Totally made my day! But once I got back to the truck, my dad was talking with two hikers who were being intoduced to geocaching. So I shared the pictures I had just taken. Then it was time to head home. A quick stop at my house before going to Carson to meet Bern to work on the new night cache in the hills above Centennial Park. It's a 3 mile hike along the walking trail up there that bouts you face to face with some disturbing phobias. Good thing the weather was nice, the company better, and the puzzles easy. I had a lot of fun on that one!

Saturday morning woke up and had one of Mom and Pop's huge cinnamon rolls! Oh that sugar high lasted all day. Since I had no plans, Dad and I went up to Reno to sign the log book for the County Challenge. We'd already signed the real book in Vegas, but I do silly things like that. We continued north, just exploring, and came out in the large off road area north of Antelope Valley. And there is a sign that says Moon Rocks! Ohhh let's go!! We got to the site, eventually, and there was a TON of vehicles and people all watching these awesome rock crawlers doing their thing in defying gravity. So we hung out for awhile and watched, taking a lot of pictures and generally marveling at the ability of these machines. Afterwards, we headed back into Reno and I must have been more tired than I thought as I slept all the way back to Carson. We hung out at the house, while working on a new geoart concept, before I ran over to hang out with Puzzleman for awhile before the big event for the night. Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company presents ... THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!

I was in HEAVEN! But as I could write entire pages on that show, I will spare you all and get back to the weekend. Summary of the show was posted on Twitter during intermission: DO NOT MISS,

So, Sunday, I met my friend BrazAm early at Starbucks and we decided to head out to the Dead Camel mountains. Knowing Puzzleman needed those caches as well, we pestered him until he showed up also and we hit the road! First stop, Fort Churchill to grab a cache along the river. Then it was off to one that has been a thorn in my side since it published, Fat Man's Misery. Endless looking at the map failed to reveal a road to this one and it was a few miles from the road. But, I am either getting better at interpreting aerial imagery or there was a new image because today, I SAW A ROAD, and we parked 300 feet from the cache! Yippee!! Then it was up into the Dead Camels. Now, the fun part was when Puzzleman got to a section of road with the whoopty whoos created by the dirt bikes. Knowing I rarely have my seatbelt on, he took off and sent his little Jeep bucking like some wild bull with me trying my best to hold on for the entire ride. WHEEEE, that was fun once I gave up trying to do anything and just bounce with the little Jeep. When he finally stopped I think all three of us were busting a gut from laughing. We got down to business then and found five more caches before heading down the mountain. There was one more section of bumpy road, but being on the edge of the mountain, Puzzleman didn't hit it hard. Unfortunately, it was one of those whoops where if the first one isn't taken just right, the road takes control of the rig and throws you around like a rag doll until you pass through it. Since I still didn't have my seatbelt on, I cracked straight into the roll bar above me and my still aching shoulder was slammed into the bar. Let me tell you now, I really hate those sections of roads where there is nothing you can do but hold on. Ouchie. We finished up in the range, and headed back down to grab lunch and download a new query. Next goal? Lahontan! We got down into the back section of the reservoir and wound our way onto the sandy narrow roads above the shoreline. One cache not found, two more found, then we tried finding a way down to the next one. We took a new (to us) road and were having a great time, until we found the No Trespassing sign in the most inconvenient place, NO turnaround! The first attempt was made at a million point turn (very narrow road and in the bottom of a gully) but when the edge of the road gave out and pulled the Jeep forward, the plan was made to just use the bushes for stability and go cross country back up to the road and turn around that way. However, once the Jeep left the road, the soft sugar sand took hold and we sank! A few attempts were made at self recovery, but the sand was just too soft for branches, rocks, or anything to provide support and so help was called for. We were eventually rescued and on our way back to Carson. I dropped BrazAm off (who may question the sanity of doing out with me again) and both Puzzleman and I took my Dad to dinner as a HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you.

All in all an excellent weekend and I had a truly awesome time!

Pictures!!

Veterans Day weekend