GLADIATORS! Mystery Cache

GLADIATORS!

Welcome to the Wichita "Intrust Bank" Arena.

The geocache that you seek is not at the posted coordinates. It is elsewhere. The geocache is not there, but rather elsewhere. The geocache is not at the posted coordinates, because the geocache is somewhere else, elsewhere, somewhere that is not at the posted coordinates. Do go to the posted coordinates though. That would be a good start.

The Wichita Arena is centrally located in Wichita, Kansas. Within these walls you will find the most amazing things. Sometimes there are creatures inside that find their way out of the confines of these walls. Be on the lookout for this possibility when you visit this site. These creatures are the most unusual kind of creature - sometimes very furry, other times hairless - the type of creature that seems to randomly walk around looking, not at the amazing city sights, but rather entranced at staring at a device held in front of the face, as if hypnotized into following every command from the device. These creatures seem to dance around like a drunken bee. Reports have come in that it is their nature to freeze like a hunting dog when they see a similar device held in the hands of a regular human being. If you see a creature of the likes of this, proceed with caution. For your safety, you may yell out, "I FOUND IT," forcing these creatures to become temporarily disoriented from their staring entrancement. Previous attempts at this, however, have resulted in the creatures becoming crazed and startling them into rushing toward you in a frenzy which at first appears threatening, but once these creatures get within close proximity, they will immediately stop their approach and begin to thoroughly scour the ground around your feet. So far, all contact with these unusual creatures have reported a non-violent outcome. You have been warned.

To solve the coordinates and find the geocache, you need to take a tour of the outside of this arena and answer some questions. The answers to the questions will allow you to calculate the coordinates for the location of this geocache. The calculation requires only some counting, some addition and some subtraction.

____ A. How many sets of double-doors are at Entrance "B"? One pair of doors counts as "1".

____ B. Along the north side of the Arena there are some short concrete pillars that are about two and a half feet tall and about 10 inches in diameter. Starting from the west end and counting towards the east, stop when you get to the 48th pillar. At the base of this pillar is a secret message written on an iron plaque. It's a short message. Find the difference between the number of vowels and the number of consonants in this message. Then add 2.

____ C. Continue counting the pillars from Question B above. Count all the short concrete pillars from the west end all the way to the east end. At the east end, the line of pillars bends and heads towards the building using just a few more pillars. Be sure to include those pillars too in your count. After you get a number, add three to it.

____ D. On the west side of the Arena are two sets of stairs. We're interested only in one set. They are both the same so it doesn't matter which you choose. When you are at the top of the steps, how many steps does it take to get to the bottom? In other words, how many times do you have to move a leg to change your elevation to a lower place? Once you have that number, subtract 1 from it.

____ E. On the north side of the Arena building there is a canopy sheltering the walkway. How many long thin beams support the canopy outside to keep it suspended in the air? There are more on the north edge than on the south edge of the canopy. What's the total? Now subtract 1 from that total.

____ F. On the south side of the Arena is a small parking lot filled with handicap parking stalls and 3 stalls for 15-minute-parking. How many stalls are there all together? You can also count the number of vertically posted signs marking each parking stall. Be sure to include the three stalls for 15-minute-parking in your count. Now you have a number that is made of two digits, one number in the "one's" place and another number in the "ten's" place. Subtract the ten's digit number from the one's digit number.

____ G. The parking lot mentioned in Question "F" has a retaining wall running along the north edge of all the parking stalls. At the far west end of the retaining wall is a secret message, two words, each ending with the letter "A". How many letters make up these words? Duplicate letters increase the letter count. (For example, if one word was "SECRET", the number from that word would be 6 even though the letter "E" was used twice.) To this number, add another number. The other number is the quantity of hand rails found at one of the two sets of steps mentioned in Question "D".

Now you have all you need to calculate the coordinates of the geocache. Substitute the letters in the coordinates with the answers to the above questions. The hidden geocache is about a three-mile drive from the posted coordinates, depending on how you drive.

You are looking for a plastic peanutbutter jar cammoed up to blend in with the surroundings. Contents include a Sacagawea gold dollar coin, a Kansas buffalo quarter, a Lewis-and-Clark edition nickel, one of those new pennies with a different back to commemorate Abraham Lincoln, a 3-D "Egyptian" dollar, a beautiful bracelet hand crafted by the wonderful Mrs. cantuland, and other miscellaneous trade goodies.

Congratulations to crawcocoa from Topeka and to VicknRandy for being Co-First To Find!

REMEMBER: Make the fair trade. Log your visit. Leave the site better than you found it. Protect the environment — always. Educate those around you. Find another cache! Good luck, and may all your cache dreams come true. —cantuland