A Fabulous Unbelievable Night - aFUN
My puzzle. My container. This cache is not about me, my life, or my geocaches placed or found. Do not go anywhere dangerous, razor1965 reports a 2 foot deep hole covered with grass clippings near GZ - be careful (unless he is kidding) don't do anything illegal, and don't touch anything that might be electrical.
Have fun, and let the game begin!
I knocked on the door and arrived. C3GPS answers, of course he beat me here. They've been expecting me. They've all beat me here. They always do. They're pros, and I'm just a kid. I'm honored to be here. Look around the table, count the finds. I'm a rookie by their standards. This is a table of pros. I want to ask for their autographs, but, perhaps after the game is over.
Who's here? Strider, he's the real deal. The number one guy. I had the pleasure to meet him by chance on his home turf. I had the honor to FTF his 10 year anniversary cache on a cold and snowy Saturday morning. My kids know his name because we've found so many of his hides. In the next seat is Crowesfeat30, Quiet and with a warm smile. She could hide a shoebox in an empty room and you couldn't find it. Beautiful hides, beautiful puzzles, beautiful coins. I met her when I met Strider. She was friendly - they were charming. Wow - I finally run into cachers and it's the king and queen of St Louis geocaching. Love CF30s Roman Ruins cache ... and many others. Ah, there's Trekto and Bo Baker, no one else smiles as big as they do or as warmly. I met them down by the water, the Meramec river. I had the fortune to beat them to an FTF by about three minutes. It would perhaps be the only time I beat them. You have to get up pretty early in the day to beat Trekto. And ... they turn heads where ever they go. Great people to know, and I love his You Belong to the City caches.
Who's the little guy? That's spongy and his partner. She dressed to perfection, everything in its place, it all looks perfect. He is dressed wearing his cap, just like he always is. Like many of the other cachers it took me years to final meet spongy. It happened in the St. Louis Science center. Brilliant puzzle solvers. It was quite a treat for me to finally meet them face to face. Yes, I think I've FTFed one of their caches too - perhaps their 1000th find cache. Ah, and L Frank - there will probably be hot dogs at the table. They are pros - can't quite figure it out. He's shy and retiring, and of course she is the beauty and the brains of the team. I suspect she'll do the talking, unless he has a non-shy moment. Met them in Kirkwood Park. My first event after several years of caching. Love their "so confused cache" in Cliff Cave Park.
Wow, and Mr. Mrs. RGS are here. These are the nicest people. He is crafty and clever. Love his gadget caches that my family found. Power tools was the best, and he has some fun caches in White Cliff park and a ammo can or two that we loved. She is just so very nice - don't think I ever made it to one of her events. That's hard to do since she's had so many. Met this couple at the Loretto Hilton theater. Possible the only cache I ever beat them too. Always an honor to be in the same room with them, or anybody with 10,000 caches or 100 hides.
The man they call Forest Ghost is here too. He could teach me a thing or two about photography, the piano, and the kayak. I wish he would - love his cache pages. His sense of color and adventure is spectacular. I met him when I FTF-ed his first cache. My lucky night. This guy has some great hides. C3GPS is here too, but no sign of Dr. C3GPS or the kid. That means he's here for business. He's very fast, and very very tough to beat. I met him in a rainy St Louis park, after two years of signing logs right below him.
The last seats at the table are held by SGTMTA. They'll play as a team, but I always wonder if they're getting help from the north, the East, or someplace else. SGTMTA are of outstanding pedigree. They matriculated from one of the finest institutions in the world. Very creative. Very fast. Very brilliant. Meeting them was harder than FTF-ing a cache, but I finally caught up with them when I dropped in for 30 minutes at a Kirkwood event to try and meet them.
I guess these people are all tough to beat. Very fast. The early bird gets the worm. But I hear that it's the second mouse that gets the cheese, not the first one. Of course to get to play Texas hold them with these people is a privilege. Look at the number of caches they have hidden. Look at the number of caches they have found. Look at how many of their caches people rate with favorite points. I should just donate my hold em buy in to get to sit at this table with these people, and it would be worth every penny.
These people have all been very very friendly to me. All geocachers have, and there are many others. It is my honor to sit here. I'm here to play ... a very special game. Forest Ghost picks up the cards and starts to deal. I tip my Cardinals cap to these people, but my blue sunglasses stay on. I eye Striders hat, and spongy's too. I wonder if I can play well enough to win one of those hats. Now that would make for a fabulous unbelievable night!
Yes, the table is huge. Made of the finest Missouri oak. I should mention Spongy, L Frank, SGTMTA, Mr. and Mrs. RGS, and Trekto and Bo Baker are all playing as teams so there will be 10 hands dealt at this table. It's legit, and the game is on. I wonder who will be the first to fold? Now that's an FTF that I don't want.
As Forest Ghost deals the card I smile and say, "you know those face cards really are of no value. Give me aces, and lots of them. I think C3GPS and Crowesfeat are collecting the threes, so pass them their way. You can give Crowesfeat the tens too. Spongy probably wants the sixes and threes. Now I smile and, you, Forest Ghost, my friend if my memory serves me are fond of ones and twos, or perhaps that was a twelve. It has been a long time. Well, the aces are mine, you can have the twos.
The cards are dealt, the big and little blinds are on the table. Let's go around the table and take a peek at the hole cards.
Strider: nine of spades and three hearts
Crowesfeat: ten of diamonds and eight of clubs
Trekto: three of diamonds and two of clubs
Spongy: six of hearts and three of clubs
.... now here is where things get tricky
L Frank: queen of hearts and ten of clubs
RGS: jack of diamonds and seven of clubs
C3GPS: queen of clubs and four of hearts
SGTMTA: king of clubs and seven of spades
Walk This Way Walk This Way: ace of hearts and ace of spades
Forest-Ghost: king of diamonds and five of clubs
I'm sitting on a pair of aces, so I raise and all call. Just like FTF, everybody likes to win the first hand.
Now for the flop: nine of diamonds (Strider smiles inside, and so does CF30), two of spades seems to help Trekto, and the ace of diamonds. Wow - hopefully the blood isn't rushing to my face.
I can raise again, and all stick around for another card.
Now for the turn: the nine of hearts. There is a pair on the board and my trip aces are still looking sweet.
I can push the betting again. All kick in, with Strider knowing he's got trip nines. My full house, aces over nines looks sweet. People stay, which warms my heart and will pad my wallet.
now for the river: it's the nine of clubs. It doesn't really help me, but means someone has a full house besides me. But I have aces over nines.
The betting goes back and forth until Strider goes all in.
Now people are folding, dropping out like plastic micros out of WTWWTW's trunk.
I look Strider dead and in the eye with all of the confidence in the world because I think I've got him. So I say, "all in, and I raise you my hat." It's seen three Cardinals world championships. When I mention this C3GPS' eyes light up. Yes, he's a big Cardinals fan, but I think most of us at this table are. Strider, if you want to stay in, it'll cost you your hat! And I grin from ear to ear. He looks uncomfortable, and I smile deep inside. His hat might be as old as mine, and might even be more valuable. I think he's about to fold, when off comes his hat and he says, "Well Walk This Way Walk this Way, I call. What do you have?" I turn over my bullets, and say "full house, aces and nines." He smiles, and turns over his nine to show his four nines. He says, "four nines - I win." I say, "Perfect, I did get the FTF tonight, and oh, by the way, if you've been paying close attention to details you've got the location of my newest cache!" Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to get an FTF too!
Game on! Happy Caching!
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Congratulations and FTF honors to Robcyn. I'm pretty sure they got it backwards, this is not an evil cache, this is a live cache! Thanks for playing, I hope the Aha! moments were well worth the effort.