Cool HTML page built for this drivel HERE

Fair warning: this is basically a compilation of my Geocaching logs from the trip,
stitched together into one unnecessarily long travel journal. It is probably not interesting to anyone
who wasn’t there, and there is a very real possibility it wasn’t even interesting to some of the people
who were. Proceed accordingly. There are a lot of graveyards, frisbees, imaginary accomplishments,
and little plastic containers ahead.

New England Road Trip · 17 Days

There Are No Wrong Turns When There Is No Destination

Seventeen Days Wandering New England

I can’t believe I get to write my favorite sentence ever once again: I’ve packed up my campervan, Pervvie, and set off on the road with no particularly good reason to come home anytime soon.

The ultimate goal this time was to tour New England, starting with catching my favorite rock ’n’ roll band one last time at Madison Square Garden for the summer and then again at Fenway Park in Boston. Outside of that, my targets would be exceptional geocaches to plan a road trip around, frisbee courses worth throwing plastic at, beautiful places I didn’t know existed, and whatever else happened to get in the way.

Unfortunately, I recently found out that county collecting is a thing. Apparently, after all these years of Geocaching, I needed another completely meaningless set of imaginary boxes to check. So that was really gonna stutter my driving pattern for sure.

I started from home in Rising Sun, Maryland, and took a path straight up the back roads through Pennsylvania to avoid every bridge, tunnel, highway, and city I might encounter.

There are no wrong turns when there is no destination.

Day 1

I started with the sun and headed north for my adventure. The goal was to get north of New York City today by following counties I hadn’t visited for Geocaching and also chasing the Cache Odyssey through Pennsylvania. That Captain of Math sure does make some great projects!

I chased some beautiful scenic views along the way, and the drive through the countryside and mountains of Pennsylvania made me feel almost like I owned this world. Back roads, mountains, little towns, hidden treasures, and nowhere I particularly needed to be until later. This is exactly how I like to travel.

The day was a complete success. I got myself parked at the Croton-on-Hudson train station with enough time to hop on a train and get myself into New York City for tonight’s rock and/or roll concert

Once again, my favorite band continues to get better and begs me to continue traveling around the country to see them. I happily obey.

After the show, I safely escaped the city and made it back to my van for a few hours of sleep before continuing my tour into New England.

Day 2

I started early with a nice breakfast in Croton-on-Hudson. Today was gonna be about zigzagging and collecting some geocache counties and cache types for states. My collector mentality continues to try to make sure I have every type of everything everywhere possible in Geocaching. It’s a sickness, but at least it gets me outside.

This afternoon would be the highlight of my day: playing frisbees at Rhode Island’s number one course. That would check another list, and I’d be down to only needing to play frisbees in two states to collect all of those.

At one point I popped off the highway to collect a new county and noticed a collection of highly favorited gadget caches nearby. I took a stab at all of them and had success on one out of three that I tried.

.333 are still Hall of Fame numbers in some people’s eyes.

And for some reason, whenever I travel now, I feel obligated to check out the Cache Odyssey. It really is a great new trail to travel this country by. If you would’ve told me as a kid that I would visit this many libraries as an adult, I would’ve laughed in your face.

The rain came off and on throughout the day, but thankfully it usually happened while I was driving. My outside time was a light drizzle at most. Sometimes the universe knows I have stupid things to look for in the woods.

Day 3

I started the day waking up in Rhode Island and had a delicious breakfast very nearby. During breakfast, I noticed a couple of interesting hides right next to me in Lincoln Woods State Park.

An early morning hike led me through some of the most interesting landscape and geography that I’d seen in a while. What a beautiful place. I’m so glad I visited here completely by accident. That sentence could probably be used as the slogan for most of my travels.

The only Geocaching goals today were to add a few nearby counties to my list and grab cache types for states where I didn’t already have them. The main objective was to get myself to Fenway Park and check into a hotel so I could shake my bones until they rattled out of my body.

I succeeded in all my missions extremely efficiently.

I ended up in the city, free of my van and free of worries for the next three days, by 2 PM. At some point, I was sure I would do a walking tour of Boston for all the awesome geocaches here. That is my MO when I visit a city.

I don’t like cities.

But I love what they have to offer.

Once I’m there, I wander aimlessly, guided by the silliest of treasure hunts.

Day 4

Today was the day I got up early and wandered the city of Boston until my feet fell off.

Even after last night’s big dance party, I found the energy to put in over 11 miles around Boston. Reading facts, taking pictures, feeling around in weird places in front of a bunch of other tourists. The usual when I visit an unknown city.

I found myself walking a bunch of historical trails, visiting political buildings, churches, and graveyards. I sorted by the highest favorited geocaches around Boston and then circled that map. I found some extremely creative and unique hides, especially for being such an urban area

I saw all kinds of jaw-dropping things that happen every day in the city but not where I’m from. Open-air markets everywhere, Paul Revere screaming on every other corner, and 294 steps up and down

I think my favorite thing I accidentally ran into was a hardcore show/skateboard party taking place under a bridge. I hung around there a lot longer than I ever would’ve imagined. But I guess I was in a music kind of mood this weekend.

My first geocache was my primary one, the Cache Odyssey. I got there pretty early in the morning, definitely before any tourist activity. Nothing was open, and I fumbled around on the wrong side of a fence before I realized the other side was open as well

From there, I made it zigzagging all over the place to Bunker Hill, then back through downtown again and west along the river to Fenway… and then I did it all again in reverse.

I also discovered a WIG at the most inappropriate time of my walk. For the non-geocachers who somehow made the terrible decision to continue reading this, a WIG is a Wherigo, an interactive GPS-based geocache that makes you walk around following instructions from your phone. Because apparently simply hiding Tupperware in the woods was not complicated enough for us.

Tonight was the final night of getting to do my two-step inside Fenway to my favorite band. Summer tour ends for a while, but my New England outdoor adventure was only just beginning!

Day 5

My final morning in Boston before leaving town.

Once again, even after rattling my bones all night, this old man was up early and moving around Boston to collect a few more Geocaching highlights.

After that, it was time to pack up my house, leave The Verb Hotel and Fenway Park, and continue my road trip through New England. It had been short so far, but a complete success.

I left the city and headed to stay with some new friends on their farm in Ashby. On my drive there, I made time for a few Geocaching highlights. An accidental oldie. A few old virtuals.

Westward, I stopped at Allenwood for an amazing series of gadget caches. Thanks to my great pals Ben&Lorma for always making sure I know where the fun is

I made it to the farm just before dark and reacquainted myself with some great new friends. I got a tour of the property along with a history lesson dating back before man

Fascinating.

They kindly fed me and put me to bed, just like I was at home.

Day 6

I woke up at my friends’ house after a restful night, took myself to breakfast, and then went straight to the North Central Pathway for a series of some of the most amazing gadget caches I’ve ever laid eyes on!

And this is coming from a guy who lives down the street from WVTim.

After leaving the amazing gadget trail, I made my way to Greenfield, hometown of Penn Jillette, a man who’s been somewhat of a hero to me since I was a young boy. Even now, as an old dog, I still adore that man. So I definitely needed to make a stop through this town in my wanderings.

It would also add to my Geocaching counties list and provide quite an abundance of favorite points, because apparently even visiting the hometown of one of my heroes needs to be gamified

Using all the daylight available to me, I essentially made a giant circle from Ashby back to Ashby.

Once again, I camped at my friends’ farm, as they were kind—and ignorant—enough to continue hosting me. I warned them how quickly I stop being fun to be around.

Not being concerned about where I sleep at night while I travel is a wonderful peace of mind.

Tomorrow, a hike!

Day 7

I once again woke up at my friends’ house. Over the past week, I’d spent a lot of days with them. I don’t talk about much else besides Geocaching, especially when I’m on a road trip centered around it.

Finally, last night, he says to me, “Yeah, there’s one on the summit of the mountain nearby that is pretty old.”

What the heck!?

You not only know what it is, you’ve done it?

What an odd time to drop that in.

Anyway, that was my invitation to see what the heck Mt. Watatic was all about.

After I fed myself some protein, I set off on my day. My first stop was a nearby graveyard closest to their house, just down the hill. I saw a question mark there and was able to solve the puzzle and, thankfully, make the find.

From there, I made my way to the roadside parking and proceeded to walk straight up a gravel bed.

Before I knew it, I was at the summit of Mt. Watatic and pulled out my telephone.

There were two more geocaches up here, and one of them was even older than the one I came here for.

I do nothing my entire life but sit still, and I still somehow continuously fall ass-backwards into fortuitous luck.

I ended up doing the four-mile circle, grabbing all three up there. I took a great long break at the top, basking in the sun and the view before I made my way back down the gravel passage by tucking myself up like an armadillo and rolling to the bottom.

Nuclear radiation isn’t always bad for you.

After I was done there, I consulted my other Geocaching needs and saw that a letterbox had never been found on today’s date.

I rectified that.

Lastly—so I thought—for Geocaching, I made my way into Fitchburg again for lunch. Amazing fried chicken I found, and around the corner, a really old EarthCache. I’d driven through this town several times and grabbed a couple of meals here over my circling the last few days.

The rest of the afternoon I spent sitting lazy in the shade along the melodic, moving water in Willard Brook Park, waiting for the afternoon to get here and hopefully my buddy taking us to play frisbees.

And he did just that.

To Coggshall Park we went.

We played a great round of frisbees, and I found two accidental geocaches.

Well, I found them on purpose, but I didn’t realize more good fortune was in my cards.

Day 8

Essentially nothing Geocaching to report today.

The day was all about playing frisbees.

We played a round at Maple Hill and then another down the street at Meadowbrook Orchards. Private property, so no Geocaching while there. Just beautiful orchards everywhere.

My local guides were nice enough to drag me around to all the fun stuff. We had a great lunch, and I got some delicious fresh creamery ice cream after the round.

Our final round for the day finished within a couple miles of a Wherigo.

And wouldn’t you know that a Wherigo was the one geocache type I hadn’t found on this calendar date.

Until today.

Thanks for helping!

Even on a day with essentially nothing Geocaching to report, somehow I still managed to solve a completely imaginary problem that nobody outside of this hobby would understand.

Day 9

I left my friends’ farm this morning for the last time after spending several great days around Massachusetts, being a tourist, being shown around by great friends, and having the time of my life.

I was headed north to find some breakfast and along the way encountered one of my favorite detours: a graveyard.

I checked, and sure enough there was an almost 20-year-old geocache there.

It cost me five or six bee stings, and I thought I was leaving without it, but I got my name on the log.

A fair and reasonable exchange.

I headed north collecting Geocaching trinkets and fabulous memories.

Today’s highlights included a couple more Cache Odysseys and hopefully adding another county or two to my list. I also zigzagged for some puzzles, which led me to a nice walking challenge trail.

Not to mention all the scenic and beautiful mountain driving and back roads I took myself on.

I didn’t want to get a whole lot done today. I mostly needed to remind myself what it was like to be a motivated person on the road after spending three luxurious nights at my pal’s farm.

At the end of the day, I found more geocaches than I expected, a ton more favorite points, some oldies, and spent the evening in Gray, Maine.

What a life.

Day 10

I woke up in Gray, Maine.

I knew the first place I was going was the Bittersweet frisbee course. They had 36 holes that I was highly recommended to play.

I’m glad I did.

And it sure took the wind out of me.

After that, I did a big loop around lower and middle Maine, gathering counties that had geocaches in them that I had not found before.

My biggest mistake was deciding I needed to get a Wherigo in Maine. I had about a two-hour out-of-the-way round-trip.

That’s my fault for poorly planning, misremembering, and just being an all-around buffoon.

I was hoping to get to northern New Hampshire by sundown, but I messed up my timing and spent the night near the Whistle Stop Trail instead.

No wrong turns. No destination. Remember?

Sometimes I have to remind myself.

Day 11

I started my day at the Whistle Stop and proceeded to have a delicious breakfast sandwich on Main Street, right down the road from a really old virtual.

It felt like today was gonna be a wash with the rain, but I got lucky, and that was not the case.

My plan was to navigate across northern New England, out of Maine and through New Hampshire into Vermont today.

I mistimed the Vermont Odyssey and would have to kill a day waiting for another business day.

My trail westward gathered a bunch of new counties and a bunch of highly favorited geocaches, along with indescribable memories and joy and jaw-dropping pictures.

The abundance of old geocaches in this area I was driving through was mind-boggling.

Eventually I was racing a little bit against the clock because I knew I needed to get to the Vermont/Canada border before 4 PM.

WOW!

The things I would have no idea even existed if it were not for Geocaching.

Two countries at once?!

How does the rest of the world live and find out stuff?

This visit was not on my initial map when I left home. But when I realized I was gonna have more time to play with, I expanded my goals.

I was then forced to backtrack and zigzag to a different part of northern Vermont when I found out a friend from home had a hide up here.

45th parallel.

Hi, Mike!

I knew I couldn’t be within 30 minutes and not claim a find on that one. That meant traveling a course that my tread had already traversed, zigzagging from one county to another.

I got caught in a torrential rainstorm and decided to call it quits early for the evening.

Thankfully, one of my new counties provided a sensational roadside wayside picnic area that I called home for the evening.

I also realized I would be hitting a milestone on this road trip.

Whatever those numbers mean these days.

I know it looks cool in my web browser for a second.

What got me most excited was that the milestone was from a great local friend, Mike, 498 miles away!

Day 12

I woke up at the most perfect wayside that I had to myself all night.

No cell service. Just a glorious evening under the stars with the sound of a stream and a paperback book.

Quite a way to unwind after a beautiful day.

I wasn’t far from Smugglers Notch, and that was my main goal and priority for the day.

A lot of fun Geocaching and 36 holes of frisbee golf.

I drove through the Notch a couple times, just for kicks.

I woke up a lot closer to my destination than I anticipated, which was extremely helpful, so I had time to kill.

I didn’t want to be too far from Burlington because there was a library there I had to visit at 9 AM tomorrow.

Of course there was.

I made my way south a few miles, grabbed a couple of old virtuals, but mostly made my way to a pal’s house in Vermont.

Mr. and Mrs. LittleBlackDog invited me to stay with them at their home.

A safe place and a free fill-up on fresh water are not things I turn down.

I can’t believe the people I get to meet.

I am fairly certain I am here on Earth with the mission of meeting the greatest people you have to offer.

This was the second time on this road trip I was fortunate enough for a New England friend to slice me off a small piece of their heaven for the evening.

Day 13

Today I woke up in someone else’s heaven.

The amazing Mr. and Mrs. LittleBlackDog hosted me for the evening. I assumed I was just getting a safe driveway to sleep in.

Turns out they treated me to an indoor shower, hot dogs, and a view that I won’t soon forget.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I really wish everyone could meet the people I do.

Because the people I meet are the greatest.

My only main goal today was to be at the library near Burlington when they opened.

I was about 20 minutes late because I had to stop for a couple of geocaches along the route.

I could not pass up an opportunity to claim at least one hide from my gracious hosts.

Mission accomplished.

Also a mission unaccomplished.

Once at the library, everything went smooth. I thanked the librarian for hosting our silly, nonsensical treasure-hunting game.

Librarians usually always get a nice chuckle at that.

I had my mind set on spending some time at Lake Winnipesaukee, visiting the Funspot and maybe the drive-in. I know it’s summertime, but I was hoping midweek might be a little less congested.

I took all the back roads to get everywhere I went today.

Vermont is always beautiful, but for some reason, it felt extra beautiful today with this giant smile on my face.

A couple of high favorites and a couple of old geocaches are what plotted my path from Burlington to Laconia.

I pulled into all the pull-ins and looked over all the overlooks I passed driving through the national forest.

I made my way to Weirs Beach and spent several hours wandering around. I was waiting for the drive-in to open to make sure I had a home for the night.

It did.

And I did.

What a perfect evening wandering around a beautiful lake town with hidden treasures here and there.

Day 14

Woke up at the drive-in and started making my way west, stopping for breakfast at the Bebop.

Apparently, I’d been here before, ’cause there was a geocache next door that I found 12 years ago.

How inefficient of me.

My plan was to make a big circle out of parts of Vermont and Massachusetts to clean up some geocaches that I forgot on my way north.

Man, I did not plan very well this trip.

Throughout the day, I was able to collect a bunch of favorite points, a couple more counties, and some Geocaching hides that mean something.

And then I ended back in Ashby at my pal’s farm again for the night.

The highlight of my day was running into the CO at the rest area at the Vermont Welcome Center.

For the civilians, CO means Cache Owner.

I was minding my own business, searching for hidden things not very conspicuously, when I turned around and a gentleman was staring at me with a smile.

He knew.

I knew he knew.

And I loved every second of it.

Day 15

Unexpectedly, I woke up again at my pal’s house in Ashby.

Today was definitely gonna involve a lot of needless driving as I drove the length and width of Massachusetts again.

My first goal was to visit the tri-state marker all the way south. I had an amazing walk in the perfect weather, visiting such a unique spot on our Earth.

I only saw two or three other human beings out enjoying this world.

After that, back to town to try my luck at a magical phone booth.

No luck here for me.

I thought I had what I needed, but couldn’t get it.

Later confirmed I had what I needed and still no luck.

Oh well.

I then visited a geocache at a lake whose title took up my entire phone screen. I have never seen a word like that, and I worked in the petroleum business for 71 years.

Then back to Greenfield for me.

Again.

For another time.

This time I visited the Poet’s Seat, sadly to no Geocaching avail, but the view and time of day were perfect.

Lastly, I made my way to the Mt. Greylock area, where I spent a lovely evening listening to the rain dance on my metal house with wheels.

Day 16

I spent the night and half of the next day at Mount Greylock.

I didn’t get to the area until it was dark, but at sunrise I made my way up top, hiked the Adventure Lab loop, and chatted with every thru-hiker who would take the time.

I offered each of them a shower and a bag of gummy Nerds Clusters, ’cause that’s all I had of value at the moment to a thru-hiker.

I wish I had known I’d be here.

I’d have come better prepared with some trail magic.

I hung around Greylock and made at least a dozen new friends today. So many travelers wanting to talk about all kinds of interesting things.

I met one lady who started at Springer in April and was unfortunately coming off the trail at Greylock. She had some injuries she just couldn’t overcome.

She was in great spirits about it.

What a story she has.

After Greylock, it was time to consider going home.

That was still gonna take several days, but at least it was a destination in mind.

Uh-oh.

I’d take most of the same route back home that I took up, avoiding all the cities, bridges, and tunnels in the world.

I made my way through the Albany area, eventually ending in Bethel.

Along the way, I visited graveyards, like I always seem to do.

I found two of the greatest—probably my top two—graveyard hides today.

I also navigated by the highest favorite geocaches along my route. Those almost always make it worth the time.

I don’t go a day in my life without visiting a graveyard, it feels like, and I have found some interesting treasures in graveyards.

But today I found by far the most interesting one.

The level of love and joy and laughs that this expresses is immeasurable.

I can only imagine it from a personal side.

But as a traveling treasure-hunting tourist, it’s one of the most beautiful memories I’ve ever seen somebody keep.

There is something wonderfully strange about this hobby. I leave home looking for coordinates and plastic containers, and somehow I end up standing alone in a cemetery thinking about how much somebody I never met must have been loved.

Day 17

I woke up at a campground in Bethel.

I got there just after dark, and the plan was to rise and shine early to try the new frisbee course at Bethel Woods.

My buddy played it a couple weekends ago during a festival and said it was great.

I had already stopped here on my way north, but there is never a bad time to visit that holy site.

While I was there, I wandered all of the grounds again.

It was a heavy tourist day today, and I loved it!

Old hippies and tie-dyes everywhere.

My people.

From there, it was finally time to start making my way back home before today ended.

I took the opportunity to collect a few northern Pennsylvania counties that I would never be this close to by accident.

Of course, I visited a lot of graveyards and chased down any high favorites I saw.

Also a few random things to hopefully help me qualify for some challenges.

Because apparently after seventeen days of driving around New England in circles, I still needed to accomplish things that do not matter.

Lastly, I was reunited with my dogs and wife.

In no particular order.

Home

And just like that, I was home.

Seventeen days.

Maryland to Pennsylvania. New York. Rhode Island. Massachusetts. Maine. New Hampshire. Vermont. Back through Massachusetts and New York and Pennsylvania and eventually into my own driveway again.

There were rock ’n’ roll shows at Madison Square Garden and Fenway Park. There were frisbees thrown all over New England. Mountains climbed. Libraries visited. Borders straddled. Graveyards wandered. Old caches found. Gadget caches defeated—and a few that defeated me. Counties colored in on a map. Virtuals, EarthCaches, Wherigos, puzzles, Adventure Labs, Cache Odysseys, favorite points, milestones, and enough completely unnecessary zigzagging to make a cartographer cry.

I slept in parking lots, campgrounds, roadside waysides, drive-ins, and little pieces of heaven offered to me by friends.

I sat beside moving water with nowhere to be.

I listened to rain dance on the roof of my metal house with wheels.

I stood on mountains and talked to people walking much farther than I ever will.

I watched strangers light up when they discovered that there was a secret world hidden underneath the ordinary one they had been looking at their entire lives.

And, once again, the geocaches themselves somehow became the least important part of Geocaching.

They were just the breadcrumbs.

They got me to the mountain.

They got me to the graveyard.

They got me underneath the bridge.

They got me into the library.

They got me onto the back road instead of the highway.

They got me to stop at the overlook instead of driving past it.

They got me to places I would never have known existed and introduced me to people I would never have had a reason to meet.

How does the rest of the world live and find out stuff?

I simply have no idea why I get to live the life I do, but I will continue to do so until the rug gets pulled out from under me.

Thanks to everyone who helps make this life as amazing as it is. To the friends who gave me recommendations, meals, showers, water, driveways, beds, laughs, frisbee rounds, local knowledge, and pieces of their own heaven. To the cache owners who put ridiculous little treasures in ridiculous little places and unknowingly gave me a reason to turn left when every sensible person would have turned right.

And to every stranger who stopped long enough to become part of the story.