Leif of the Party Mystery Cache
~Rah: Too much work to redo the puzzle. Also too far from home to maintain now. If anyone has the solved coordinates, find it quick because I am going up there this weekend to remove the container.
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(regular)
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A cache for my dad, my best friend. First thing's first- you'd better pronounce his name right. It is Danish and it rhymes with "life" NOT "leaf". Correct pronounciation of his name was very important to him and he never hesitated to correct people.
Edited May24/12: removed some red herrings and added 2 clues. Hopefully will make the puzzle easier
A "rare" and aggressive cancer called mesothelioma took my dad away from me in Sep 2011. Unfortunately for me and my family, this cancer is not rare enough. It is caused by asbestos exposure, but the disease doesn't rear its ugly head until decades later, when it suddenly manifests with severe pain, and death within 1 year of diagnosis in 90% of cases.
In my dad's case, he was a welder at a smelter back home in the 70's when I was just a toddler. He actually quit that job- in part because of the risks associated with asbestos exposure- and became a bus driver (transit, highway and charters- he did it all). But it was too late, he already had a fiber in his lung that we would not know about until over 30 years later when it ended his professional driving career.
The short version:
- Twinge of pain in Nov 2010
- Jan 2011: Xray
- Mar: suspected cancer- referred for biopsy
- Apr: Invasive biopsy
- May: Diagnosis ("Don't make any plans"). Begin chemo
- July: I went home for a visit and he was able to get up a little bit of energy for some geocaching. My dad is the only person who has never teased me about my hobby. As an outdoorsy guy, he "got" it. :)
- Aug: Stopped chemo because it had no effect
- Sep 10: Respiratory failure
I want to talk about some happy stuff about my dad though. I was always close to him and he loved that I was a tomboy. He taught me to play chess, chop wood and most definitely was a big influence in my love for the outdoors.
He joined the Canadian Rangers when I was a teen, and I remember teasing him about going to "boy scouts" every week. He would take off for tenting in the snow in the Winter and we all thought he was nuts. He achieved the highest civilian rank, and the Rangers honoured him at the memorial service by sending a Piper, in full costume.
My dad was always a car guy. He especially loved classics like the '57 Chevy and vintage volkswagen beetles. He taught me to drive stick in a blue '73 Superbeetle. It just so happened that blue was his fave colour- as it is mine :)
He spent a lot of time and money in the last 10 years restoring a '56 beetle and carefully researched every detail, including matching the very specific original coral colour. He was almost done when he got sick, and I am very sad he didn't get to finish.
Whenever my parents came to visit, there were certain key words and phrases I knew would be repeated. He always went on about Mountain Equipment Coop, rolled oats, and going out for coffee.
He always supported me living an active lifestyle and encouraged me to get on with my life and keep up with my running after he's gone. Occasionally when he left a voicemail he'd say "Hi, it's papasan..", but sometimes I still called him hosehead like I did when I was a kid (from Bob & Doug McKenzie eh).
Today (the date this cache was placed) would have been my dad's 60th birthday.
And now I present to you the puzzle:
The posted coordinates are where you would turn off to gain access the cache.If CITO is your thing, bring a bag- you'll be in heaven here
Congrats to WAAStech for being the first to get a Leif!
You can verify your coordinates with the butterfly. My dad called me over to show me this butterfly when we were geocaching in July.
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Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh'yy unir gb trg gb xabj zl qnq *va beqre* gb qrpvcure gur pbbeqvangrf. Pnpur uvag: Qvc
Treasures
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