"Not, I'm bound to say, the smartest place in North America to position oneself."
Bill Bryson was talking about standing in Centralia, PA (a town that sits on top of a coal fire that has been burning for more than 50 years) when he wrote these words in his book 'A Walk In The Woods,' but they popped unbidden into my brain this afternoon in connection with a cache I was hunting.
The picture below is of an abandoned (sturdy, thankfully) railroad trestle. What it fails to adequately convey is the 50-foot drop to the streambed below on either side. Or the image of me belly-flat on said railroad trestle, fishing down between the timbers with a hook on the end of a long stick.
This is a really crazy hobby, said the spider to the fly...
I had a friend whose family did that cache thing. She tried to get me to go along with it, but I begged off. I'm terrible at hobbies, although all the best people cache, as far as I can tell!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Why have I rarely visited here? I so appreciate all your kind comments on my own blog and will have to add you to my blogroll and keep up with you!
I have the opposite problem...my trouble is keeping hobbies from becoming obsessions. ;) I guess it's good that I have a lot of interests, anyway! And I hope to see you back here but I promise to keep the comments coming for you even if I don't. Fingers and everything else are crossed for Sophie...I also have a special needs child and I can only imagine the fear to hope.
DeleteJust saw that I did make your blog roll and am feeling appropriately honored. ;)
DeleteI love me some Bill Bryson and I love reading about your geocaching adventures from the safety of the sidelines!
ReplyDeleteJoan, this one was a particular doozy! It is a multi, meaning that you have to find one or more stages before you get to the final. In this case, the first thing I had to find was the stick that I needed to use to reach the final cache...the stick had the GPS coordinates for the final written on it. One of the best things about geocaching is that it takes you to places you never would have found otherwise in a million years...the trick is enjoying the sight without breaking your fool neck in the process! ;)
Delete