The final in this series, #21 - The Bear, requires information from each of the other caches in this series to solve. Be sure to write down the code from this container if you hope to later find the bear.
TURTLE
Hello there my friend! Would you please listen to my story? You can even walk along while I share. You can start exactly where this story began……
Once upon a time in the park of the village of Barboursville, there was a beautiful place called Lake William. This is where I reside, along with many other animals you may have discovered recently. There is this one fellow named Rabbit. He is a pesky, show-off kind of guy. He was always boasting about how fast and clever he was. You know me, I like to take my time and soak in the sun…not race to be somewhere the fastest. So anyways, Rabbit challenged me to a race where all the other animals would come to watch. This is exactly where he said we would start:
Rabbit, being so clever, decided before the countdown that he wanted to add a twist to the race. When we reached a certain point on the path of our race, we would have to answer a question to lead us to the finish line. I consider myself a pretty smart fellow, so I agreed once again to Rabbit’s terms. The animals counted down 3….2….1…. and we were off. Rabbit took off with lightning speed and I with my slow, but steady steps heading east. You can choose to travel at whatever pace you choose.
After traveling about .2 of a mile, rabbit saw an inviting place to stop. It had a great view of the lake. One could choose to sit on a covered swing, a bench, or underneath a tree. When Rabbit saw how far I was behind him, he decided to sit under the tree that was directly behind the bench. It wasn’t long until he fell asleep in the shade.
I kept up my slow and steady pace, and before long I had caught up with Rabbit. The view was pretty, and I saw Rabbit resting peacefully under the tree directly behind the bench. I thought, "Finally, this is my chance." I remembered that I had to answer a question from while at the tree where Rabbit was resting to determine the location of the finish line. I pulled the text out of my shell. It looked something like this:
.revir eht ot resolc klaw dna htap eht evael lliw uoY .seerged 591 fo gniraeb a ta (elim 1. revo elttil a) teef 016 levart ,enots noitacided eht no detsil mailliW fo eman tsrif eht htiw elpoep eerht erew ereht fI
.htap eht wolloF .seerged 822 fo gniraeb a ta (selim 2. tsomla) teef 839 levart ,39 si mailliW ekaL fo noitacided eht fo raey eht ni stigid owt tsal eht fI
I was so glad I paid attention at the starting of the race! I soon had the information I needed to find the finish line. Did you figure it out too? Good!
I left Rabbit there snoozing away while I made my way to the finish line. C’mon…walk there with me so I can show you exactly where it was! I was so proud of myself. The finish line was right by Mr. & Mrs. Robin’s house. The other park animals were waiting near the finish line to cheer me on as well. When I crossed the finish line, it was the most magnificent feeling in the world! Mr. & Mrs. Robin let me sign their guestbook and even gave me a prize!
As for Rabbit, he finally woke up, guessed an answer, went the wrong way at first, then eventually made his way to the finish line. He was pretty bummed. But ya know what? He never bragged about his speed or cleverness ever again. Perhaps he learned his lesson:
“You may start with a very quick pace, but slow and steady wins the race.”
Special thanks to Girl Scout Troop 8357 and AmberoniandCheese for hiding this cache.
