Jacques the Monkey!

28/07/2011 By Kabutroid
Well, I can honestly say that I did not expect even remotely to be second to find on this cache. I figured there would have been at least a dozen other people to have found this cache prior to me, for reasons to follow.

So I expected nothing more today than to head to a geocaching event, meet up with other cachers, and generally chillax after work with some fellow enthusiasts. Seemingly no particularly specific time, I was standing around chatting it up with other geocachers. While standing there chatting, someone (if I recall correctly it was Gabalo9988) came up in front of us and placed a stuffed monkey holding a sheet with a geocache name, GC code, and coordinates. So what would a geocacher naturally do when presented with the above situation?

Why, apparently the answer is stand around and discuss what's with this monkey in front of us. Literally. For like...five minutes. I can't recall all who I was talking to...but it was about 6 people standing around. We stood there, debating whether this was a real, loggable geocache (although at the time of typing this in Notepad, it's not yet registered online...Dani indicated this was to ensure OHMIC was FTF), whether the monkey ITSELF was a geocache container, and if so, if we should try looking inside of it to see if there was a logbook there. If I recall correctly, I was the one that postulated that, but specifically avoided doing as such, since it would seem like cheating to be FTF when I saw it being placed, and was waiting for perhaps someone's enthusiastic kid to come up and 'find' it.

Eventually, we came up with the theory that maybe the coordinates on the paper were NOT for that exact location (it didn't dawn on me until that moment that it made NO sense whatsoever for a geocache container to be advertising its own coordinates in giant lettering). I quickly grabbed my GPS, thankfully already turned on and having found satellites, and dropped in the coordinates. Lo and behold, the waypoint created pointed to about 100 or so meters to the North.

Yet still, being the oh-so-devoted enthusiasts of this hobby, stood around for another minute or so, wondering if we should go after it, or still wondering if it was real. I saw some other people heading down the trail to the North, so I decided to get the crowd moving, and began the exodus towards the coordinates (thinking to myself that there was probably a pile of people already on the way or there already, given how long we were looking at that monkey for).

At one point in the path, there was the option to either go around on the path, or plow through the thistles, trees, long grass, and very likely poison ivy. Me being me didn't hesitate even slightly and just continued in a straight line through the thistles, which I think convinced several others that were hesitantly waiting at the grass edge whether to go on or not. I didn't notice, but I think several went around. A path emerged on the other side, and heedless to this I continued on to the coordinates. A fair number of other people seemed to be veering off to the East a bit... perhaps to avoid being scratched up by the branches (I've gotten really good at dodging and maneuvering through those growing up in the country as a kid), and I spotted what could only be the cache hiding spot from about 15 feet away.

Again, thinking I'd be like...10th to find or something, I calmly picked the cache out of its hiding spot and showed it to the others that were fast approaching. By the time I started to open it up, a swarm of about 6 people were around me watching. Pulling out the logbook bag, I found myself unexpectedly looking at the STF certificate and voucher for a prize. Had I known I was going to be second to find, I think I would have left it a bit to let the younger ones get the prize. Shoot, sorry about that.

28/07/2011 By Kabutroid
So having apparently been second to find the cache (the first being OHMIC), I passed around the logbook and my pen, and many a name was signed into it. And speaking of the cache... MAN is there a lot of monkey-related stuff in here. If you have kids who like to trade items, this cache will be a gold mine! Some of the monkey stuff has already disappeared (the most memorable of which was a pair of monkey socks that a little girl was adamant about going back for her parents' swag bag for so she could trade for them... I apologize, I can't recall your names, parents-of-monkey-sock-girl... I'm terrible with names Frown ), but last I saw there was still plenty left.

At which point, once all that was said and done, we returned back to the picnic area and continued circling around and chatting with various people. I soon found myself chatting with Dani again and mentioned that I got second to find. She asked if I had the certificate (which was a voucher for a prize), which I had completely forgotten about after putting it in my pocket. After showing it, I received a small stuffed orangutan (which the cats aren't scared of even slightly apparently... heck, one of my cats tried to groom it!) Don't worry, the scare factor didn't go entirely to waste. I placed it on my wife's night-stand, and when she was startled to see it there, I pretended for a bit like it was perfectly normal for it to be there ToungeOut .

The STF prize in hand, he soon found himself somewhat attached to the straps of my geocaching bag for the remainder of the event, which not too long after wound its way down and eventually dissipated.

Thanks for making a very interesting geocaching experience Dani. And I've now come to learn that if a golden geocaching opportunity is placed directly in front of a group of geocachers, the first inclination will be do debate the opportunity itself before someone eventually takes the reins (of which I absolutely never thought would be me... I'm definitely not the leader type, but the crowd didn't start moving until I started the march it seems) and actually strikes out towards it.

Took: STF certificate/voucher, stuffed orangutan puppet
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball