This cache
is NOT at the coordinates indicated above.
On the fifth day of
Geocaching
My true love gave to
me....
Five.....
"Phone-a-Friends"
Four miles of hiking
Three Geocoins
Two Double A's
And a
Bison Tube in a Cedar Tree...
(It's more fun if you sing each
verse)
Telephones have really changed over the
years. The first patent was filed in 1871 by Antonio Meucci,
but it was not until 5 years later that Alexander Graham Bell
succeeded in transmitting clear speech with the famous words:
"Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
From
the early days of the mechanical telephone, technology has advanced
exponentially to include dial phones, cordless models, cellular and
wireless improvements that Alexander Bell would have never
imagined. Many companies have merged and divided, emerged and
dissolved again and again. We use the telephone in
different ways today, voice communication, digital communication in
the form of computer signals, emails, paging and text
messaging.
Phones have all sorts of features, including
caller identification, voice mail, cameras, calendars, and
texting. The current PDA has almost as many features as
a desktop computer of only 3 years ago. Additionally,
"texting" could almost be considered a dialect of the English
language with shorthand notation for many common phrases used in
everyday conversation. Before texting, just using the digits
on the phone were commonly used to spell things. As an
example, 4-5-9 gives you the letters I-L-Y, or the meaning "I
Love You".
In
fact, we've used numbers in many different ways for puzzles.
Do you remember that
07734
spells
hell0
when turned upside down?
This
cache will focus on one segment of the phone development, the Pay
Phone. An interesting device that is almost obsolete.
How many are still around? How many still have phones in
them? Who uses them? What if we had to find a payphone
for our "PAF" when we were deep in the woods?
The
final coordinates for this cache are: North: 36 AB.CDE
W078 FG.HIJ
To
find the final, you must locate the 5 pay phones listed below and
complete the requirements at each stage.
Telephones in the US are identified by a 10
digit number, 3 for the area code, 3 for the prefix and 4 for the
"Line Code". For our purposes, we will use all 10 digits and
count them from left to right.
Stage 1 - the only difficulty here may be
the hours of access.
A = Digit 8 - Digit
10
B = Digit 7 - Digit
9
Stage 2 - This one will pose an
interesting dilemma for you. You will understand when you
find the phone number.
C = Digit 4 divided by Digit
10
D = Digit 8 + Digit 9 - Digit
5
Stage 3 - If you figured out stage 2,
this should be no problem.
E = Digit 9 - Digit
8
F = Digit 5
Stage 4 - Hum... Two phones, but only one
holds a part of the key. As an anagrammatical Leetspeeker,
the average geocacher LOGS this stage with the digits:
G = digit 10
H = digit 8
Stage 5 - Almost there.... but now we
have even more choices.... a wave of your magic WAND should
decode the correct choice.
I = Digit 6 + Digit
8
J = Digit 9 / Digit
10
Here's a little check for you.
If
you add all the digits together (A+B+C+D+E+F...), you should end up
with 30 as your total. This will let you know that you made
the correct decisions and know how to talk on the phone.
Now
that you know where you are headed.... please dial carefully and
phone your friends with your success.
If you get a wrong number, you can always phone me for
help. 919-6-BAT-TAX