A couple months ago my kids and I came across something in Antioch
that made me think I ought to do a cache called "Batmobile". I
didn't do it right away, though, so over the following weeks an
idea formed for this Batman-themed cache series. Initially I was
going to place all the caches in appropriate places around Antioch,
but in the end I decided to showcase as much of East Contra Costa
County as possible, limited only by my imagination and area
saturation. Each placement makes sense to me, and if you examine
the surrounding businesses, geography, etc. it may make sense to
you. No, they're not all the best looking or most prestigious areas
of our county, but it's important to me to remember they're parts
of the whole.
Your ultimate goal in this series is to find
the Batcave, which is at the following mystery coordinates:
N37,5A.BCD W121,5W.XYZ. Each of the other eight caches in the
series -- all of which can be viewed
here -- contains the numeric equivalent of each letter in the
coordinates. Replace the letters with the appropriate numbers, and
you've found the location of Batman's secret headquarters. GOOD
LUCK!
GOTHAM CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
The Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) is a fictional police
department servicing Gotham City, as depicted in comic books
published by DC Comics, in particular those tied into the Batman
books.
Acting as both ally and opponent of Batman, the GCPD has long
been steeped in corruption, with numerous officers both
high-and-low ranking involved in bribery and even more serious
offenses such as drug-trafficking and murder. The strongest blow
against police corruption came when an increasing amount of
conspiracy charges against Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb forced him
to resign his position, replaced by Peter Grogan. The Falcone crime
family, which had had a stranglehold on Gotham's underground for
generations, finally crumbled when a series of killings shook the
structure of the mafia organization. After the death of Carmine
Falcone, the mob lashed out in sloppy, retaliatory crimes, which,
in combination with rising gang violence, severely crippled
organized crime in Gotham City. Simultaneously, the ebbing presence
of corrupt police officers allowed James Gordon to become the new
commissioner, a man determined to eradicate crime wherever it
existed.
PITTSBURG
Pittsburg, founded in 1839, was called first "New York Landing",
then "Black Diamond", before citizens voted on "Pittsburg" on
February 11, 1911, in honor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the
"H" dropped. The current name was chosen due to the city's
relations with the steel building industry, first established by
the Columbia Geneva Steel Company. The original town site fronts on
the Sacramento River Delta, reflecting its origins as a deep water
channel river port.
Since the early 1900s, the city has grown inland to the south,
then spread east and west along State Route 4, now a freeway
carrying resident commuters to jobs in the San Francisco
Bay-Oakland Region.
Camp Stoneman, located in the area, was a major staging area for
the United States Army during World War II and the Korean War. The
post office first opened in 1868 as Black Diamond, and changed its
name with the town's in 1911.
THE CACHE
This is a black pill bottle with a small foreign coin for FTF (I
don't recall which country it's from). BYOP.
Congratulations to
theportsf on the FTF!
