A Societal Relic Traditional Geocache
Misty's Shadow: The relic has fallen over and will probably be removed soon so it's time for this geocache to go the same way. Thanks for the fun!
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Located near the intersection of Route 94 and Vail Road.
These coordinates will bring you to what is left of an item that is quickly becoming a relic of society, the “coin-operated phone” or “pay phone”. This particular one has not had a phone in it for several year due to vandalism which is common with pay phones. It actually was on the other corner of the parking area but was moved to its current location due to cars hitting it. Not just side-swiping it, but flying in off of the curve on the highway at high speeds. Once, the ambulance was called out for two crashes in one week! With the advent of cell phones, the payphone has become an endangered species in America, leaving the person whose cell phone has died to travel a distance to find the nearest pay phone. Cell phones have advanced to the incredible technological level that one can even receive internet access (look up geocaches!), GPS navigation (search for geocaches!), and a multitude of features on it like video-ing and photographing (your geocaching experience! & a variety of applications (log your geocaches!). All in this little device that can be carried in your pocket! Amazing!
The following is a little history time-line I found online:
• In 1889, the first public coin telephone was installed by inventor William Gray at a bank in Hartford, Conn. It was a "post-pay" machine (coins were deposited after the call was placed). Gray's previous claim to fame was inventing the inflatable chest protector for baseball.
• In 1898, the Western Electric No. 5 Coin Collector, the first automatic "prepay" station, went into use in Chicago. The depositing of coins before placing a call would gradually become the norm in pay phones until the introduction of "dial tone first" service in 1966.
• By 1902, there were 81,000 pay telephones in the United States.
• In 1905, the first outdoor Bell System coin telephone was installed on a Cincinnati street. It wasn't an instant hit; people apparently were reluctant to make private calls on a public thoroughfare.
• In the 1950s, glass outdoor telephone booths began replacing wooden ones.
• In 1957, "calling from your car" was first tested in Mobile, Ala., and Chicago. Drive-up pay telephones proved popular and are still in use today.
• In 1960, the Bell System installed its millionth pay telephone. Today there are 2.2 million pay phones, down from 2.6 million in 1998. Local calls on pay phones also have dropped 30 percent since 1998.
• In 1964, when the Treasury Department decided to change the metallic composition of U.S. coins, it consulted with Bell Laboratories to ensure the new coins would still function properly in pay phones.
• In 1966, "dial tone first" service was introduced in Hartford, Conn. This essentially turned coin phones into emergency call stations because such calls could be made without first depositing coins.
• On Feb. 2, 2001, BellSouth announced that it's getting out of the pay phone business. That would make it the first major phone company to do so.
This is a high muggle area so please replace the container as you found it.
Parking is limited during the winter and will require a walk from the nearby ball field. During the summer you can park within 3 feet of GZ if you plan it right, just like the old days, actually back then you could drive up to within inches of a payphone and make a call from your car back then before the weeds grew up. We recommend using a cone of ice cream as a decoy while you search for the cache. Use caution as there are some stinging insects in the area. This cache is not on private property, it is within the road right-of-way, barely. The cache has room for the log and has several small trade items in it.
July 3, 2010 Update: I have changed the terrain rating to a 1-star since the weeds have been removed and the dirt scraped away down to the pavement. One can now easily access the cache from a wheel chair or even a car, during the summer seasons. I will have to watch to make sure the site isn't removed as is happening to so many in the area.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Svyz pnavfgre.