ECMBC Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

Prime Reviewer: No response from owner. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

More
Hidden : 5/25/2006
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

THESE ARE NOT THE CORRECT COORDINATES!!

"This is an excercise in magnetic variation. In order to solve for the correct coordinates to program the GPS, you'll need to do the following: For the correction to degrees in both the latitude and longitude, find the magnetic variation at Union City, Tennessee airport (KUCY) and add or subtract as appropriate. To correct the minutes in the latitude, find the variation for the Shreveport, LA airport (KSHV) and add or subtract as appropriate. For the decimal/minutes in the latitude, find the variation for the Houston Hobby Airport, (KHOU) and add or subtract as appropriate. You will need to convert the variation to a decimal - i.e. 5 degrees should be changed to .005. 10 degrees would be .010. To correct the minutes in longitude, find the variation for the Yuma, AZ airport, (KYUM) and add or subtract as appropriate. To correct the decimal/minutes in longitude, find the variation for the FAYETTEVILLE, NC (KFAY) airport and add or subtract as appropriate after changing the published variation to a decimal, as in 2 degrees would be .002. 12 degrees would be .012. Considering that magnetic variation is constantly changing, to find the correct variation, it would be best to consult FAA or USCGS data or a flight planning site such as www.airnav.com for current information."

These are the instructions that flight instructor Louie gave his student Lucie Lou as he was preparing her for a cross-country flight "under the hood" instrument training flight from West Houston to Houston Southwest Airport at Arcola. It was a small problem designed to make her think. His intent was to establish a GPS waypoint that would put them into the traffic pattern to land west at Arcola. Lucie was a good student and Louie had confidence in her calculations and didn't pay much attention to landmarks on the ground. After all, they had a GPS to get them to the airport. But it was Saturday morning on a holiday weekend and Lucy was a Houston girl who liked to 2-step. She had stayed at WILD WEST the night before until closing, and had gone well past her usual limit of two Margaritas. She looked a little bedraggled when she arrived at the airport, but Louie had confidence in her abilities and didn't think much about it. As they flew southeastward toward their destination, he was looking at the blue, clear sky, particularly at some billowing whites ones off to the south that indicated some thunderstorms were coming up from Galveston with the sea breeze, and not paying much attention to landmarks or keeping track of the time. Hmmmm, those clouds must really be moving. They sure seem to be a lot further north than the weather briefer had said they would be at this time of morning, he thought to himself. Then he looked down at the ground and suddenly realized that they had flown past Arcola and had gone past Alvin, where he knew the fake coordinates he had given Lucie were located, and were headed toward Galveston! "What the heck, did you do?," he shouted at Lucie. "I did what you told me to do - I subtracted the variation from the original coordinates where I was supposed too, ,and added them where I was supposed too." "Well, you must have done something wrong!" He was getting a little agitated, the storms were getting close, and they didn't have time to fool around. He'd just do it himself. Then suddenly it came to him out of the blue, clear sky behind them! He had worked the problem in reverse when he came up with the fake coordinates! HE, not Lucie, had added when he should have subtracted, and subtracted when he should have added. The fake waypoint shouldn't have been near Alvin, it should have been west of Sugarland.

The cache is a little larger than a micro, big enough for a few small items. FTF will find three $1.00 bills for gas money and a keychain caribiner.

Click to verify coordinates

The cache is a pill bottle wrapped with a Geocaching label located at the end of the concrete driveway under a blackberry vine. Watch out for broken glass!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Erzrzore gur byq nqntr "Rnfg vf yrnfg ohg Jrfg vf orfg." Gung'f nyy jryy naq tbbq, ohg va guvf pnfr sbyybj gur "JJT(rbetr)P(pbafgnamn) qb" ehyr.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


Advertising with Us

Inventory

View past Trackables

What are Trackable Items?

Bookmark Lists

View all bookmark lists...