Old Geezers and BBQ

Sunday, 25 April, 2010

Old Geezers and BBQ

Our first full day in Nashville, and what a wonderful way to start. Our hostess enjoys greeting the early day by baking bread, and delivering it to us, accompanied by home made apple-cherry butter. There is no better way to start a lovely day, than by having fresh, warm bread, with butter and jam, and a strong cup of coffee. Sitting on the front porch of our little cabin, overlooking the pond with whumping willow trees, and listening to the cacophony of many different species of birds was an absolute delight! The gently warming sunshine dimmed our memories of last night's marvelous thunder busters, and a gentle breeze would bring us the sweet scents of many flowers in bloom. In short, I really didn't want to get out of my jammies, and break the spell.

But we have adventures to begin, and a whole new area to explore, so off with the sleepy jammies, and into my 'sploring clothes! My ab fab wife, and bestest exploring partner in the world, looks jaunty in her best Geocaching get up, and Ace the DufusDog proudly knew that his many talents would be called upon as well.

As an area, Nashville is known as "Cache Heaven", due to it's incredible density of high quality caches. Barb and I, aka TeamSandrich (in the Geocaching world) have been pining for some years to make the pilgramage to this particular Mecca of Geocaching.

For the uninitiated, Geocaching has been defined as "Using billion dollar satellites to find Tupperware containers, that contains dime store trinkets, in the woods". You go to a website (www.geocaching.com) and download the Geocaches. They each have a story, a description, and maybe a Hint, plus past logs of previous finders. If you think that's just too easy, then go find one before you tell me that there's no challenge.

OK, so Barb, Ace, and I head out to do some 'caching in Nashville, hurray! The Sun is bright and just warm enough, the wind is calm, and there's about half a gazillion caches nearby! Woot! Woot! For us, this fun little sport combines the fun of getting outdoors, with the sexiness of playing with tech. But yes, it's very family friendly as well. So, with technology in hand, a full tank of gas, a Mountain Dew in the coffee cup holder, and (finally) a sense of adventure in our hearts, we drive to our various destinations du jour.

Well, kidz, I'm so not gonna bore you with all the details of our various finds. We had a wonderful day, and discovered some great, out of the way parks, and also a nifty overpass! For all those stories, you will hafta read our Logs in the various caches. The real highlight of our day, however, did come from Geocaching. The particular cache in question took us into a typical suburban neighborhood. The Description did clearly state that the cache was on private property, but placed with the property owner's permission. We roll up to a driveway that appears to be the correct coordinates, and saunter down, as if we really belonged there. At the garage we discover a nice, red haired gal that tells us that she has seen a lot of people "do that treasure hunt thing over there at that shed" Said shed being at the end of the driveway next door. Oops. Well no harm done, and once again, we saunter, over to the tool shed. Barb is the true pro at finding the things, (once I get us there), but is crestfallen when the electrical outlet on the outside wall isn't a cache.  I quickly locate a decoy (!) then Barb follows up with finding another fake cache. Hmmm... this is gonna be tricky! The Description tells us that the cache is no further from the pavement than an arm's length, so we stay at the front of the shed.

Well, after a very fruitless search, high and low, under and in, over and out, we reread, (yet again), the Hint, and the Past Logs. The Hint was to Tell The 2 Old Geezers Hi... Hmmmm.... ok, past the RV that is also a Travel Bug, and to the front door we stroll, once again as if we belonged there. When they answer, with a smile and a laugh, we all proceed back to the shed. The 2 Old Geezers, (not their real name) and TeamSandrich become great friends instantly! They are in their 60's and are such warm, and friendly people that ot's impossible to not like them. Oh sure, they give us some "guidance" to find the cache... oh my gawd! What a clever, and evul hide! Well that just starts up a whole conversation about our fave caches, which ones were truly twisted and evul, and where all we've been caching.

The 2 Old Geezers were the true find of the day! Making new friends (as opposed to merely meeting new people) is what makes this hobby so very special. Oh I know, there are some twisted souls that are in the sport just to rack up as many Finds as they can. We know some very good people that have actually bagged over 100 caches in a day! And yes, we do respect that dedication. But TeamSandrich and Ace the DufusDog prefer to take Life as an enjoyable journey. And 2 Old Geezers are a very wonderful part of our adventure. Mrs. Geezer can't get around very well these days, but she is still sharp as a tack, and has a twinkle in her eye. Mr. Geezer has placed some truly evul and clever caches, and also has a hearty laugh and a warm smile. Yup, this is what we cache for, and why we love to be on the trails so much! But eventually our little confab must wind down to a close, and off we go again.

About the only thing that could possibly compare to making new friends in a foreign town is... food! And nothing says Nashville style cooking like BBQ! Once again, the Food Gawdz bless us with a small, family owned, southern BBQ joint. As soon as you walk in, and smell the sweet, spicy aromas permeating the air, you know you're in the right place. Getting your order in a plastic basket, with plastic forks and knives is just an added bonus. Napkin? You want a napkin? Well, there's a roll of paper towels on the table, next to the 6 Pack of various Hot Sauces. You just know that your taste buds have died and gone to Southern Cooking Heaven... with a Rebel cap on and in a Cammo  4WD Pickup, no less!

What a day for your humble adventurers! We get to explore places previously unknown, make new, wonderful friends, and discover a great, local BBQ joint! There are just some days that you simply must smile over, and be thankful about. This is a day that we will look back upon, many years later, and smile over...