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NOTE: The posted coords are bogus. Coords for this cache can only be obtained by completing five related caches: “B-5,” “I-27,” “N-39,” “G-47” and “O-67,” referred to as the "Tar Baby" caches for this cache. Please review those cache pages for coords and additional information. All six caches are located in the Paul Yost section of Jefferson Memorial Forest. Park at 38*05.105, 085*45.230. See the section below called “Fine Print” for information on difficulty ratings, puzzles and prizes.
(Omniscient Observer: Technically speaking, Dear Reader, the full title of this cache is “Song of the Sing: Wherein Br’er Singchihuahua meets the Tar Baby and learns to love the Briar Patch.”)
Back in February Singchihuahua placed his highly popular, but now archived, “Bingo Cache” (GCTE70). My second place finish in the bingo game entitled me to the booby prize—a gaudy ammo box that Singchihuahua presented to me in a ceremony that consisted of my driving over to his place to pick it up. With it came one stipulation: It had to be hidden somewhere in Jefferson County. In his “Bingo Cache” log notes, Singchihuahua challenged me to make the hide worthy of his time, thus throwing down the gauntlet.
I have since given the hiding of this ammo box a great deal of thought. My initial idea was to place it in an area of roughly commensurate artistic merit, but the city landfill refused to accept it. I finally decided that hiding it in a relatively remote area of Jefferson Memorial Forest made a lot of sense. While this large urban forest is a contained ecosystem, rife with the natural beauties of nature, it is also the target of a wide range of abuses and degradation by man. This ammo box could thus find an appropriate niche there.
The title and sub-title of this cache are oblique references to Joel Chandler Harris’s “Song of the South,” a long-standing, but wantonly insensitive, American folk-tale. Despite its embedded stereotypes and outright denigrations, the adventures of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox are endearing and memorable and are forever locked into the psyche of American folklore. This shallow abstraction of the classic blends two of the Harris tales: the encounter with the Tar Baby and the episode about the Briar Patch. The story line goes like this:
(Omniscient Observer: Technically speaking, Dear Reader, I shouldn’t be interrupting Lumberjack Tom right here, but he is about to prevail upon you with a mere outline of his story. Let me give you the setting. Imagine, if you will, a quiet, shady place deep in the woods, where all the trails are lined with sassafras, where the smell of honeysuckle and wild rose permeate the air, where gentle streams flow beneath towering pines and sycamores, and where ragged rocks jut from the tops of rolling, tree-lined hills, forming bluffs and corridors and dens of every size and shape. Got that? Okay, carry on.)
Everybody in the forest knows how much Br’er Bear likes to eat “que” (barbeque), but no one as much as Br’er Rabbit, who has been regularly raiding Br’er Bear’s Larder. Br’er Bear has been too slow to catch Br’er Rabbit and too dim-witted to trap him. Not knowing what to do, Br’er Bear calls in Br’er Fox. Br’er Fox immediately recognizes that Br’er Bear will continue to lose que to Br’er Rabbit as long as he (Br’er Rabbit) knows where the Larder is. “Yo gots to move de Larder,” Br’er Fox says. “Elsewise Br’er Rabbit’s gonna keep stealin’ yo blind.” Then Br’er Fox lays out a plan to hide the Larder in a new place, well away from Br’er Bear’s den. Together they do that, but Br’er Fox is aware of Br’er Bear’s poor memory, so he devises a special code that Br’er Bear can use to recover the whereabouts of the Larder if he forgets where it is. He then hides parts of that code in “Seekrit Boxes” and places the boxes in five Tar Babies throughout the forest. “Br’er Rabbit don’t like stickin’ his hands in no Tar Baby,” Br’er Fox says, “so de codes is probbly safe right der.” Br’er Fox then tells Br’er Bear how to open the “Seekrit Boxes.” But Br’er Bear is worried. “What ifs I fo’gets how to openum?” he asks. “Dat’s no problem, Br’er Bear,” says Br’er Fox. “Ifin yo can’t figger dem out, den I gives yo drekshuns to de slooshuns—and dem slooshun’s in de Briar Patch. And we all know how Br’er Rabbit hates de Briar Patch!” “So ifins Br’er Rabbit tries to steal my que,” Br’er Bear said, “ifins de Tar Babies don’t get ‘im, den de Briar Patch will. Iz dat wot yo’s sayin’, Br’er Fox?” “Bingo, Br’er Bear!” said Br’er Fox, then together they enjoy a long laugh as they revel in their ingenious plan to foil Br’er Rabbit.
In case you haven’t figured it out, Singchihuahua’s not-so-pretty ammo box is the “Larder,” an appropriate prop since Br’er Rabbit loves to antagonize Br’er Bear with the taunt, “Yo iz is so-o-o ugly!,” every time he sees him. As the final cache of what is basically a six-part multi-cache, the Larder is your primary objective. The Tar Babies are five individual stand-alone caches that can be done in any order. Like the final cache, they are loggable. The Tar Baby caches contain the “Seekrit Boxes.” These, in turn, contain the logs, as well as the coord-parts (written on the inside) for the final cache. Obtaining the logs and coord-parts may not be as easy as you think, but don’t worry. JUST CAREFULLY READ THE INSTRUCTIONS IN EACH AMMO BOX. Each Tar Baby cache has its own cache page and is named for one of the five bingo numbers that resulted in my winning Singchihuahua’s ammo box. To reiterate, the Tar Baby caches in this cache are stand-alone caches with the names “B-5,” “I-27,” “N-39,” “G-47” and “O-67.” Their cache pages are skimpy, but there is some additional information (hint, hint).
Oh yes, your role in this epic is to reenact Br’er Bear’s trek the first time he decides to check up on his newly hidden Larder. May the caching gods be with you on your lonely quest! (Omniscient Observer: Technically speaking, Dear Reader, you won’t be alone. Do you think I’d let Lumberjack Tom set you loose in that forest without me there to give you a hand? Please!)
FINE PRINT—Please read!
(1) DIFFICULTY RATINGS Note them! Depending on how you tackle the five stages and the final cache in this series, the time and effort you will need could vary significantly. You may or may not be able to complete the entire series in a single day. Be patient and deliberate. Naturally, you should wear appropriate shoes and clothing and take whatever items you may require, including water and snacks, to insure your safety and comfort during a lengthy hike. Be aware that poison ivy and stinging nettle are rampant now, so watch for them as well. Long pants are preferable, regardless of temperature.
(2) PUZZLES Solving these will allow you to access the logs in the Tar Baby caches (all of which have the bingo number names) and the coord-parts for the final cache (Larder) in “Song of the Sing.” These puzzles are basically “parlor games” and are not intended to be abused (despite how you might feel while you are trying to figure them out). While not delicate, they are made of natural materials and CAN be broken if handled roughly. Please use common sense and remember that others will be following you. Also, please report to me if you do find a puzzle that’s broken, since the entire game could be jeopardized. Breaking a puzzle could be grounds for losing both a prize and a find.
(3) PRIZES The only cache that will contain prizes is the final cache (Larder) in “Song of the Sing.” It will contain vouchers for food (most notably, outstanding “que”) from Famous Dave’s restaurant in the following amounts: First-to-Find-- $25, Second-to-Find-- $20 and Third-to-Find-- $15. There will also be five $6 vouchers (enough to cover, with sales tax, a huge helping of Famous Dave’s incredible bread pudding—WooHoo!) Note that these prizes are “vouchers,” not the actual gift certificates themselves. I will present the gift certificates to visitors who present to me (either in person or by mail) the vouchers they retrieved. I do request that teams (i.e., two or more people caching together) who do this cache on the same day take only one voucher. This is a tough series of caches, and I feel that INDIVIDUALS who do them by themselves should have favored treatment over groups.
(4) AND FINALLY In recognition of Singchihuahua’s immeasurable contributions to this cache, as well as our local geocaching scene in general, I plan to take him and his team out to Famous Dave’s for a no-holds-barred, knock-down, drag-out feast of titan proportions. The only condition for that is that he and/or his team complete this cache. There. That’s MY gauntlet! (Omniscient Observer: Technically speaking, Dear Reader, Lumberjack Tom would rather engage in a bout of scandalous gluttony with Singchihuahua, which might not even occur if Singchihuahua doesn’t find his own ammo box, than to help him defray some of the cost of the art lessons he so desperately needs. Pitiful!)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ynetr snyyra gerr.