Geocaching on wheels

Now that we have the bikes at our disposal, we've pressed them into use for geocaching.  It's easier to find places to stop than with a car.  One of the perks of geocaching is finding views like this, which was aptly named "Lake View".

The cache that intrigued me the most was called Alligator Danger.  It mentioned that the trail was often underwater and we have had lots of rain here recently.

Wow!  Alligators nearby and swampy land to walk through...can this get any better?  



So I donned my waterproof hiking boots, we climbed on our bikes and went after these lost treasures. 

This is one of the camp sites in our park.  Did I mention we had heavy rain?
 Perhaps they are billing this as waterfront property....odd that nobody snatched it up.

The first one was pretty easy to access and lo and behold it had a travel bug in it.  Score!  I love these the most. Since we're heading to Alabama soon, this was a good time to grab one to hide elsewhere.

The second one was much harder. It was a lengthy trek through the brush and brambles with some wading in the waterlogged spots but we found it and it also had a travel bug.  But first we had to get past the cockroach sitting on top of it.  Ewwwh!  I love travel bugs...but not this kind.  I'll spare you the photo, it creeps me out to even look at it.  Instead here is some lovely white spongy moss we found and what appears to be a mushroom of some sorts.

Then we got crazy and took the bikes into an area of soft sand and shallow streams.  Gotta love that granny gear, it's the only thing that got us through that mess.  Mountain bikes would have worked much better back here.  But we were successful in finding the cache, so it was worth it.

On the way back we were going to attempt one more, but the road was totally underwater and appeared to be so for quite a distance.  Plus by then we were getting tired and it was time to quit for the day.

The road ends here.

It's sure nice to have George and Gracie to remove the hiking boots after a long day out on the trail!

Long Live the Queen of The Travel Bug....the good kind