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!
ARKHAM ASYLUM
The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, commonly
referred to simply as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric
hospital in the DC Comics Universe, usually appearing in stories
featuring Batman. Many psychopathic criminals from across the DC
Universe, mostly from Batman's own rogues gallery (such as the
Joker, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, and Two-Face), have been imprisoned
within the Asylum.
Arkham Asylum is located on the outskirts of Gotham City and is
where those of Batman's foes considered to be legally insane are
incarcerated (other foes are incarcerated at Blackgate
Penitentiary). Inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and in
particular his fictional city of Arkham, Massachusetts, the asylum
was created by Dennis O'Neil and first appeared in Batman #258
(October 1974).
Arkham Asylum does not have a good record, at least with regard
to the high profile cases (most notably the Joker who is frequently
shown escaping at will); escapes are frequent and those who are
'cured' and released tend to re-offend. Furthermore, several staff
members, including at least one director, have ended up as
residents, notably Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Lyle Bolton and, in some
incarnations, Drs. Jonathan Crane and Hugo Strange.
BETHEL ISLAND
Bethel Island is an island community surrounded by over a
thousand miles of waterways. Located about an hour from San
Francisco or San Jose, Bethel Island is in the heart of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Numerous species of fish abound
in the waters around Bethel Island including black bass, striped
bass, catfish, crappie, perch, bullhead, as well as the prehistoric
sturgeon.
The first post office opened in 1897, and named for its first
postmaster Franklin C. Bethell. The post office closed in 1902. The
Bethel Island post office opened in 1947.
THE CACHE
This is a camo'd medium-sized pill bottle with a Catwoman
figurine for FTF. It initially also contains Travel Bug "The Cat".
BYOP.
Congratulations to
cypolusa for the FTF!
