Now, Birdin' and Sherrie had not actually met in real life. Like so many, they'd met....online! Their shared interest in birds and photography had brought them into the same online circles, and Sherrie had heard via these circles an amazing bird fact....if she understood the garbled posting correctly, Birdin' had knowledge of an amazing sighting....a Great Auk, long thought extinct and certainly not anything to be seen in the midwest, whether it was Ohio or Wisconsin.
Sherrie cast off her chipper, positive demeanor in pursuit of the secret location known only to Birdin'. Casting aside the possibility of awesome sightings at Maumee Bay State Park, Sherrie took off on a road trip west, clutching a coded message promising to reveal the secrets Birdin' had discovered.
Bqnaarn vrpqc qjen j Bjf Fqnc Xfu yqxcx, kdc ro bqn cqrwtb bqn'b pxrwp cx orwm xdc fqjc Kramrw' twxfb jkxdc Panjc Jdt brpqcrwpb, bqn'm knccna pnc qna kxxch xena cx wxacq oxach cqann mnpannb oren inax yxrwc bnenw inax bnenw wrwnch xwn mnpannb inax cfx yxrwc cqann wrwn oren, cqnw bnn fqjc bqn ljw mrblxena. Vjhkn hxd'uu mrblxena rc knoxan qna!
Seventeen hours on the road, but she arrived at the parking spot, kicked aside her good shoes for serious hikers, and set off.
Following the trail, she knew the animals always had the best knowledge of the secrets these woods held. A Great Horned Owl hooted through the night, and as she made her way along the trail, she thought she might have seen....no, it couldn't have been! Could it? "Great Caesar's Ghost!" Sherrie cried. "I'm not the only one out here!"
Decipher the message Sherrie clutched in her grubby, well manicured hands and see if you can get there first. Will she find the secret information of the Great Auk? Will she sell out the spring migration in exchange for a ghost bird? Come back next week for the next episode of "Rare Birds."