Hi, WBFD130!

Another surprise caching adventure for Zhanna! This morning was the first morning in quite a while that I neglected to check the geocaching site as soon as I got up. I asked Rich if he’d like to go for a walk at the Lake, and he replied that he’d rather go for the new cache in Wilkes-Barre. A new local cache?! It was news to me. Well, off we went. While I sat in the car to work out the coordinates for the second site, Rich went to take his customary photo of the clue for future reference if needed. What a surprise when I looked up and saw him greeting a firefighter! I stayed at my post until Rich returned (I wasn’t about to leave the car running!), and then we both went to see the firehouse. Nice meeting you, Kevin! Back at the car, we ran into a little trouble determining the coordinates for the second part, but thanks to Rich’s wonderful mapping GPSr, we located the most logical area and went directly there to search. As Rich mentioned, this was a fun spot. I found the cache in a matter of minutes, and Rich found it through his own efforts just a moment later. On our way across the levee to a bench where we could sit and sign the logbook, I almost tripped over a survey marker, which we later photographed. I took one of the FD buttons and left a lightstick (thanks, R), and I also grabbed the travel bug. After rehiding the cache, we took a nice walk across the bridge to locate a few more survey markers and were given a helping hand (and a shovel) by some construction workers in the area. To round out the day, we went back to fire headquarters to tell Kevin about our successful hunt! Thanks so much for an unexpected adventure on a warm and partly sunny morning.

Zhanna

Howdy, WBFD130! I never expected when I got up this morning that I’d be heading down to Wilkes-Barre at 8:00am. Along the way I detoured to “Zhannaville” for some fine Geocaching company. As is my usual procedure, I started out by taking a couple of photos at the site of stage one to record the all-important clue. As I turned to cross the street again I heard someone shouting to me. I admit I wasn’t too surprised to see the cache owner himself standing at the firehouse entrance. Naturally, it was a real pleasure to meet him. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other on the trails soon. Back at the car, Zhanna had already begun decoding the coordinates for the second part when we encountered a slight glitch in the formula. After a brief discussion we decided on the most logical solution, and off we went to the next site. This part was a whole lot of fun. The short stroll took us through gaggles of semi-wild geese and flocks of funny-looking ducks, all of which paid little attention to our close passage. The cache itself was relatively easy to find in spite of the instant trepidation I felt upon catching sight of the general location. Zhanna located the hiding spot first, and then allowed me to continue to find it on my own before extricating the container. I took one of the silver FD buttons and left three of my signature trading magnets. It was a fine morning for such an interesting urban adventure. Thanks much! ~Rich in NEPA~