Coffeehouse Conversations
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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To find this cache you must solve a mystery. But, to claim success, you must also solve a puzzle. Your GPSr will not be needed. The search will be accomplished on foot, but only a short walk is required. Good parking is available near the cache. The area where the cache is hidden is public, essentially flat, but only accessible during daylight hours. Bring a compass, pen and paper.
PLEASE USE CARE TO PROTECT THE HIDE FROM THE UNPRINCIPLED CURIOUS
ACT ONE:
Scene One.
Starbuck’s Coffee Shop.
The time is late morning, on a Spring day.
Joan, her husband Fred, and their friend Van, are having coffee before a cycling workout. Van has suggested that they expand their event schedule this year and enter the “Iron Man”, but Joan is expressing some reservations.
Joan:
“I just don’t know Van. I’m so rusty I’m not sure that I can get in shape in time to do that. Besides, since Shirley doesn’t cycle, she feels left out. She told me last night that she was tired of us riding all afternoon and then having you come home late for dinner.”
Fred nods his head in agreement.
Van shrugs in resignation.
Joan and Fred leave, taking their coffee cups with them.
Van turns to a Starbuck employee who is wiping the table next to him.
Van:
“It doesn’t surprise me that Joan and my wife were talking about me coming home late. I get that all the time from Shirley. But, the conditioning thing, well, that does surprise me. Joan and Fred and I have been riding together for a long time now and Joan has always been able to hold up her place in the pace line. Still, the Iron Man is pretty hilly and we haven’t really been doing any climbing. That’s why I suggested that we start training early.”
Van pauses then in a reflective mood continues.
Van:
“In a way though, Joan’s right. My joints are pretty stiff... I never was very flexible. Sometimes I feel like Dorothy’s “Tin Man”. Well, we’ll just have to work through it, but it’s going to take some time to iron out the kinks.”
Another pause.
Van:
“You wouldn’t know this, but years ago before I met my wife; Joan and Fred, and I were competitive cyclists. We rode for the same race club during college. It probably won’t come as a big surprise to you either to learn that at the same time we all were racing, Fred and I were competing for Joan. The competition was friendly, but it was pretty intense there for a while. I actually thought for a time that I had the advantage. But, eventually Fred won. They got married right after graduation... asked me to stand up for them at the wedding. I did, and we’ve been good friends ever since.”
Another pause.
Van:
“It’s good to have a friendship like that. The three of us have stuck together over the years. The cycling is our bond; I guess you could say that it just welds us together.”
Van looks out through the window, twists in his chair and continues.
Van:
“Well, I’d better finish my coffee and get going. Fred and Joan are waiting for me, and if I know them, they’ll be anxious to get started. By the way, my wife said she’s going to stop by here on her way home from Bridge Club. Around four o’clock. Said she needed coffee. If your still here, tell her I’ll probably be late for dinner again. She’ll be the pretty lady.
“What’s her name? Oh, you know her name; it’s Shirley Doren.”
Do you recognize any of these characters? If you do, you can find the cache. Please note that the coordinates above define a location that will be of no use to you in your search, but they will lead you to a place that makes a pretty good cup of coffee. Please note also that the coordinates for the cache will not be given either. To find the cache you must rely solely upon your solution to the mystery. That solution will lead to a mystery site. When you arrive at the mystery site, stand next to it and face to the North. You will see a row of two convenience devices about one hundred yards from where you are standing. The cache, a small tubular container, is hidden somewhere within the first device from your position.
PLEASE KEEP THE LOG DRY AND REPLACE THE CONTAINER EXACTLY AS YOU FOUND IT; AND REMEMBER, DO NOT CLAIM SUCCESS UNTIL YOU HAVE SOLVED THE PUZZLE. THANKS
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)