Caching Coincidences & Caching Encounters
We had one of those strange encounters the other day and it reminded me of the posts that were made on the old MGA site about strange coincidences involving geocaching and interesting encounters. So I would like to list a few right now and I may add more as I remember them.
*So here is the one from a few days ago. We were on our way to Ottawa and stopped at a Timmy`s in Riviere du Loup (RDL) for a bowl of soup. It is still very much winter there and was about minus 10 C and there were snowmobiles filling up at the gas station nearby. Two small scooters pulled up at Timmys and two young teens got off. Before they even removed their helmets to come in, I mentioned to Ma that one of them was the son of TAZ30. MA said it couldnt be. When he came in and ordered, we kept looking at each other and finally I asked. Sure enough it was him. We had met him at an event that he attended in Quebec city with his family, last spring.
*We had first met TAZ and his other son a few years ago when we were caching near the ferry terminal in RDL. They were passing by and gave us help in locating one of their caches. We were pleased to meet them as we had always loved the quality of their caches. In February 2010, TAZ and his wife and young son drove down to our place to take part in our Ice Walk. Very nice people.
*Late last fall, we stopped in Sussex to find a few caches when we had been caching in the wilderness past Adairs. We decided to take a break at MacDonalds as there were caches nearby and we also were hoping to see Marilyn the manager. She had been the manager of the one in Shediac for many years and then had gone to the one at Magnetic Hill where Jim52 often hung out. Jim told us that she had transferred to Sussex. Sure enough, she was there and she came out and hugged us. We had a nice chat and she mentioned that one of her sisters was into caching but couldnt recall their caching name. We found out during a discusssion at a Freddy event, that her sister was Mrs Viking43. What a coincidence.
*A few years ago we were caching in Green Park in London. We had problems locating a LPC. A gentleman walked up to us and presented us with the cache he had just signed. He was a professor from Oxford.
*Last July we were in Ottawa for canada Day and attended a free seniors breakfast event sponsored by the city. I had found a few caches and had a gps around my neck. One of the other persons there was a cacher and spotted the gps. We had a nice chat.
*A few years ago we were doing the Easy street caches in Florida. It was a rural road with film canisters placed on the ground next to fence posts near the road. After a while we found it easier for me to drive and MA to find the cache. At one point, when Ma was out of the car, a car heading in the other direction made a U-Turn and parked right behind me. I immediately locked the car doors. It turns out it was a cacher named doughball. he took us to find an interesting local cache. Here is photo of him and Ma.
*Last Spring we took a 3 week caching trip on our way to Ottawa. We were signing a log at the side of the road in the Eastern Townships of Quebec when a truck stopped and asked if we had found it. We introduced ourselves and they immediately knew who we were. They knew we were bringing Bernie the travelling geocache to Ottawa, and asked if they could sign the log. so we had to dig the ammo can out of our car trunk for them to sign.
*On that same trip we were bringing a TB belonging to Ottawa cachers Petendot. We had picked it up in NB and noticed that Petendot were going to be at some of the Ottawa events that we would be attending. We introduced ourselves when we got to a breakfast event, and gave them their TB. After breakfast we spent the rest of the day caching with them. It was a great day.
*Ottawa cacher Puppyjinx and his family happen to be best friends with our daughter`s family, and this is only a coincidence. Natasha introduced us to them.We happened to be going to Disney world at the same time as them and spent a day there with them.
*One day when I picked up my car at the local garage, I was mentioning geocaching to the owner (which he knew about because of my GEOCACH license plate), and a young person who worked there joined in the conversation, saying that he was aware of a cache in the woods across the street (ours) and that he had seen a cache attached to the side of a bridge over the Shediac River (ours) when he was diving off the bridge.
*We met a non cacher while looking for a cache at the dam near Riverside Albert. He said that we must be Ma & Pa. Turns out, he was Wayne, the brother of cacher Saulba with whom we had done a CITO event in Moncton.
*I once met Canuck Thistles and Finn who were looking for our Guy`s Back Cache at frenchie`s in Shediac.
* A few years ago we met two cachers at a local event, Coach Eagle from Montreal and her niece Coach Wolf. Tiger Tracker had been caching with Coach eagle on some of his trips to Montreal. Two summers ago they found some of our caches in Shediac River area. One of the caches was attached to the outside of a bridge. One person in their group found it by hanging off the side of the bridge. It was Coach Wolf`s uncle Pierrot. The name and the stunt sounded familiar and sure enough it turned out that Pierrot and his wife were part of the regular group that I play poker with. I again met Coach wolf when she showed up during one of the poker games. Over the last year, Pierrot and his wife have been telling me about Coach Eagle`s mom Claudette and how sick she was. I then got an email from Tiger Tracker informing us of the death of Claudette. When we checked we discovered that Claudette was a wonderful lady that we had met on a 10 day cruise in the Carribean, many years ago. We had spent many wonderful evenings with her and her husband on the cruise ship.
*A few years ago we were doing the Easy street caches in Florida… At one point, WHEN MA WAS OUT OF THE CAR, a car heading in the other direction made a U-Turn and parked right behind me. I immediately locked the car doors…
What did Ma think of all this?
I believe Ma thought it was typical.
I think she recalled what happened when we first tried to hitchhike in Georgia during our Appalachian Trail hike. We had been standing at the side of the road for at least 30 minutes trying to get a ride to town, 11 miles down the mountain, without any luck.
Finally an old Ford Bronco went by and pulled over just beyond us. My first reaction was that maybe we did not want a ride, and I think Ma had a worse reaction. We grabbed our packs and hiking poles and walked up to the vehicle. Two dirty looking men got out and came around back of the vehicle to meet us. They were short and dark and my first (and accurate) impression was that they were Mexican. There was a three foot high pile of construction material and junk in the back. As a result, they could not lower the tail gate. They raised the window above the tailgate, and motioned for us to put our stuff through the window onto the pile. As I put Ma’s bag through the window, I remembered the stories of hikers having their stuff stolen in these situations. My solution was to tell Ma in French to get in the truck while I loaded it. (She still has not forgiven me for this great feat of logic.) There was not much room in the back and the window would not shut when the bags were inside. When I went around to get in the truck, I found that one man was sitting in the back seat and Ma was in the bucket seat in the front. It became immediately clear that she was not moving to the back and that the only place for me was in the seat with her. I smiled and explained that I was very comfortable thank you.
http://hikers99.homestead.com/chap5hia.html
This is not a coincidence but a nice encounter and I thought I would share it here under this post.
I was just out to do MFC (GCYQW7) by George D, and taking Melanson Road back to home, I figured that although it was 2:30 in the afternoon, I might try to cheat my way in for Nocturnal Quest (GC1H04X)in the broad daylight. While I was looking to spot a first reflector on a nearby tree, a man passing by with his dog shouted: “the thing you are looking for is about 300’ deeper in the woods’’. I stopped and went to talk to him. Not a geocacher, but he told me he found “that thing” one day walking in the woods. A very nice gentleman. He also told me that I would certainly get my feet wet at this time as I would have to cross a ditch and that I would find that “thing” in a cluster of tree. I thought it was funny.
Anyway, I decided I was going to head back home and come back at night time as I am supposed to.