AND THE BEAT GOES ON--

Our geocaching partner Lighthouse Nut finishes logging a cache in Ohio's oldest building; a small fort built in the 1680s just East of what is now known as Coshocton, OH.

We spent last Friday night and Saturday enjoying the Crow Geo-Trail, newly established by the Coshocton County Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

About 20 geocaches were sprinkled around the county, most located at historical or commercial establishments popular for local tourism.

Two, for example, were located within Roscoe Village, arguably the area's prime tourist attraction.

Bill and Diane (Lighthouse Nuts) joined Greg and Leslie (GOC+me) and the Skagways, (Sue and me) for this thoroughly enjoyable assault.

Most cachers treasure being the first to find (FTF) of newly established caches.  At this event which included more than 50 serious cachers, our humble team scored 5 FTFs; nominally 1/4 of the total on the new trail.

Can you see my smile?

The team reconvened Monday in Mansfield for some munching and some card playing and some more geocaching, of course.

We shared the caches Sue and I have established then aimed them at the very challenging hide on Lexington Ave., which boasts a difficulty of 5, the highest in our sport.  Our guests made fairly short work of that one then we were off to the Stoller Trail along the north side of the Clear Fork Reservoir for a mile hike to an elusive cache named "Over the River and Through the Woods".

This rascal was near the site of an old cabin, long gone, with only the masonary and stone chimney (below) still standing sentinel in the woods.

We wound up the day's caching activity at a very enchanting hide named "Gnome Sweet Gnome".  It's nestled in a wooded clearing near a pond and populated by a collection of Gnomes challenging visitors to find the hide among them.

This dandy is the creation of Nancy Meinzer (Frogdog10) who, along with her hubby (Kemosabe48),  are responsible for introducing Sue and me to this marvelous activity.