The flight options from Reno to Salt Lake City were very limited; ungodly hour in the morning or too late at night. We chose the ungodly hour in the morning.
Cha-Ching!
While we were waiting for our flight, I decided to play the video slot machines available. As luck would have it … I WON $200 prior to boarding.
The Golden Spike
After a miscue in the California vehicle rental center between WCP24, myself and the clerk, I made sure that we jumped into the desired vehicle for this leg of the trip: Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk.
The hotel in Provo wouldn’t take us in at 8 a.m. – we assumed as travel professionals. If it was 1 p.m. I’d attempt it.
So many of you don’t know, but I’m a closet but confused train nut. Love’em, but don’t pursue it beyond this statement. I’m NavCom today, so I pointed to the Virtual Geocache at the famed Golden Spike.
It commemorates the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific Railroad and the first Union Pacific Railroad met on May 10, 1869. The final joining of the rails spanning the continent was signified by the driving of the ceremonial Golden Spike.
After photos and logging the virtual, we found a handful of traditional geocaches that were nearby. Then …
Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road
So I thought we were gonna bomb back to our Provo hotel, since it would be time to check in. WCP24’s face had an impish smile on her face, as she presented her new phone with full coverage of the GC map.
100 some-odd geocaches are located on this dirt road that we could drive down. From the driver’s seat, she suggests, “Lamp, whatcha think? Our first power trail? We have the gas, we have the time, and we have the determination.”
I shrugged my shoulders, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is all we need.”
Power Trail
We assumed roles for this situation. WCP24 would locate the next geocache with the words, “Regular, Left, and Sage”. Translated is the size of the geocache (regular size), side of the road (left, or right), and the hint (sagebrush)
In 90 plus degree sun with no protection from it, and no water in the vehicle, I would jump in and out of the air conditioning. She would creep us along 1/10th of a mile at a time along 8.2 miles of gravel road.
By early evening, we finally finished this 97 geocache long trail. We ended up with a final tally of 100 geocaches found for a new single-day find high total. If we ever tackled that again, I’d like a team to switch off.
I can STILL smell sage brush in my nose months later …
