But first, the story behind the infamous pencils and their relationship with Pokedad:
Ah, the pencil … Think about it and its many uses. It was our good friend through our formative years in school, writing down answers in arithmetic, expressing our thoughts in creative writing, and drawing maps to go with our social studies worksheets.
Then we discovered letters. You know, the ones you send to people. First we practiced the elements of a formal letter and how it should appear on our lined paper. Then, someone surreptitiously passed a piece of paper into your desk, locker, or backpack. A whole new world was opened to us, one that hopefully did not involve being caught by the teacher.
Now our biggest challenge was how to keep that pencil sharpened and to minimize the use of the eraser so its usefulness would continue. Oh, and did I mention that you needed to watch out for the predators (boys) who wanted to borrow them, only to use them for pencil wars?
Once destroyed, the teacher would ask, “Why are you just sitting there not doing your work? Let’s get busy.”
“But Ron borrowed my pencil and used it in a pencil war with Rich.”
The teacher asked, “Ron, is that true?”
Looking innocent, Ron replied, “No! I was busy doing my longitude/latitude worksheet and she threw it at me when I would not help her!”
Fast forward many years, and let’s look at what happened to Ron. He found that his love of pencils was appreciated in the world of accounting. He had access to all types and numbers (not just the number 2s) and there was no one lurking over his shoulder should he want to have pencil wars with himself, or chew on them as he worked.
Then his old friend Rich introduced him to geocaching. It took him to places he had never been to before, and best of all, it involved the use of his favorite utensil, the pencil. (Please note that the times had changed and the computer had usurped the duties pencils once had. Unfortunately, there was not the equivalent of pencil wars in computers unless it was stinging comments in emails.)
But geocaching required pencils, lots of them. What a wonderful hobby and there was no way that computers would ever fit into those containers, especially the nanos. So Ron set out, bringing his precious pencils with him. Shortly, he realized that he was stabbing himself with the sharpened ends when he reached into his pocket and if he put the sharp end down he would find a hole in his pocket, just another way to lose money.
“Wait a minute!” thought Ron. The next time I go to the golf course I can just pocket a bunch of short pencils!”
Guilt took over. After all, his parents had taught him about honesty (stealing) and he realized he would have to find another source.
“I could go into a school at the end of the day and just pick up all the used pencils in the halls and on the floors. It could be my civic duty, showing the value of recycling.”
Unfortunately, on his first trip to a neighboring school he was escorted out, told by the principal that perhaps his obsession with pencils was either a psychiatric problem or a cover story for something worse – maybe sneaking into the storage closet and taking boxes of them.
After discussing the incident with Rich, he saw a solution, one posed by his best friend.
Rich said, “You know, Ron, you could just order them online. You could get the size you want, have them embossed with your geocaching name, and never worry about where your next pencil is coming from. Actually, you could be the “Good Samaritan of Geocaching” by leaving them for others, just in case they forgot to bring one. You could even leave them in the vicinity of the geocache to help others find them!”
A great weight was lifted off Ron. He would devote his geocaching career to helping others and in addition, he could spread the love of pencils to all who sought the hide.
We wish we could say that the early escapades of “naughty” Ron did not appear from time to time, such as putting multiple pencils in a tree or on top of an ice cairn.
And then there is his yearly, evil income tax geocache (GC52FYD).
Congrats to the trio of First Finders: A2QueenCacher, Paddling Pirates and, of course, Pokedad59
N 42° 12.686 W 083° 42.614