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Thread: What did you do on the Fourth

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    abbot me
    Posts
    754

    Default What did you do on the Fourth

    I started the fourth off by going caching in our states capital. Things were quiet when I arrived at around seven am, but the days events to come were already taking shape. Preparations for what I assume would be a parade were going forth, a chicken barbecue at Fort Western was underway, and everywhere else people were readying there own celebrations. This was my cue to head out of the city and do some of Mapachi's caches placed amongst the "bugs" who it turn out were enjoying their own celebration by chewing on me. I made it through Wiscasset just ahead of their parade, although I did grab the MMM cache before making my escape. My favorite cache of the day was next in line. Singing Meadows is one of those caches we all need to do sometime in our caching careers. But if you ever get to do this cache on the Fourth of July on a day like yesterday, with the sky blue, the sun shining bright, and the monarch butterflies frittering through the wild flowers, a doe and her fawn walking slowly across the meadow, then you'll have the experience I had yesterday. This experience coupled with Au Revoir, The Shell Game, and others in the area made think of the freedoms we all have in this country for the pursuit of happiness. Enjoying something as simple as geocaching is a freedom, a freedom, as Attroll pointed out in the video he shared with us, isn't allowed everyone.

    Five years ago I found myself biking across Illinois on a very hot, humid Fourth of July. America's heartland, farmers. country people, average hard working Americans, all celebrating their freedoms. That evening found us, through what I only can contribute to a stroke of good fortune, camping at a "Steam Engine" show at a private campgrounds. I only say good fortune because this was a private affair that most outsiders will never get to see. I think we got invited to stay simply because these people, who by the way were all seniors, thought we must be crazy riding bicycles in that kind of heat. The youngest people there were a couple in their early seventies. Some were in there eighties, some in there nineties. They have been gathering here on the Fourth of July for years. As the sun started to set they built a huge fire, even though it was still at least eighty degrees, brought out musical instruments and began to sing all those songs old people sing at times like these. That evening talking to these people forever changed my outlook on life, on what really is important. These are some of the same people who charged up hills through machine gun fire during WW II, who return home to the farms to raise their families, so one day they could sing patriotic songs on the fourth.

    What you may ask does one story have to do with the other. Well the answer is the freedom we all have to enjoy the simplest of pleasures. A freedom I think that is slowly being taken away from us by another freedom. That freedom is the right of all us to pursue the all mighty dollar. Run away greed by the rich is slowly taken away our right to see all that I saw yesterday, and these old folks right to gather and sing their songs. You see if things keep going as they are, we won;t be able to afford to get there.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    539

    Default

    A family get to gather in Old Orchard and on the way to that I stopped and completed my 100th Multi-cache Water Water Everywhere and not a drop to drink.

    Traffic was quite lite and the trails were very empty.

    And yes, the weather was perfect!
    I'd really rather not cache, but I am helpless in the grip of my compulsion!

  3. #3

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    I was at work while the rest of the team made ther way to water country in new hampshire. after work i enjoyed a 2 mile walk to get a cache (mile in mile out)and then went home while the rest of the team camped out in kennebunk for the night. we all enjoyed the fourth in our own ways. getting that one cache was the peak for my day.

  4. #4

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    went to NH with Onestep, did some rail trails and went to Mt Washington.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Biddeford, Maine
    Posts
    313

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    I worked (grumble grumble snarl snarl). It's the hazards of working in a pizza place.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Norway, Maine
    Posts
    262

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    Raked 150 camp sites. But any minute now my wife and I are headed to Ossipee to do the rail trail that everyone raved about. Unfortunately it took me almost 2 hours to write them all down on paper this morning and I'm tired all ready.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    abbot me
    Posts
    754

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    Quote Originally Posted by darterkitfox View Post
    Unfortunately it took me almost 2 hours to write them all down on paper this morning and I'm tired all ready.
    Stop! Stop! You're bringing back memories of last Fourth of July when I did the very same thing. Writing all that imfo down, wondering all the while if I wrote something wrong. Especially one of the co-ords, find myself a mile away from where I should have been, wondering why I can't find the cache. It sounded so easy. Getting caught in the pouring rain, the imfo sheet now just a sad resemblance of it's former self. Gotta love that paperless caching.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Brewer,ME
    Posts
    2,611

    Default Beating the high price of gas

    Quilting Mom & Mike and I headed the 10 miles out to Pushaw Lake CG for the weekend. The place was packed to the rafters with campers. We met some really nice folks, ate some good food and enjoyed all this awesome weather. We go out on the lake in our kayaks a few times too. I got Island Hoppers back up and running too. The Geopups had plenty of other dogs to socialize with. Nice place and our first time there.

    On another note: They just headed to Rumford for the week to visit with QM's folks. I get to have a week of peace and quiet.
    Happy Trails!



  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Eustis, Maine
    Posts
    378

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    I went to a yard sale early, got some good, brand new swag for caches, two bags full for $3.25. Then I spent most of the day kayaking and swimming in Flagstaff Lake. Who needs to go anywhere with the lake a stone's throw away? Summer at its best!
    "There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats". Wind In the Willows

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    abbot me
    Posts
    754

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    Quote Originally Posted by kayaking loon View Post
    Who needs to go anywhere with the lake a stone's throw away? Summer at its best!
    Last time at your house there was mention of maybe another kayaking cache being put out in Flagstaff? Want to get back over that way while the weather is good a do some kayaking. Was hoping for a few hundred more caches in the area to make the trip cost efficient. Only kidding. Going to Eustis for one cache is all the reason anyone needs to visit your beautiful area. Glad you had a great fourth.

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