THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES, BUT THERE IS A DECENT PUB THERE!!!!
The geocaching community is known for hosting many different kinds of events where cachers can get together, share a meal, and most importantly, swap geocaching adventures. This year, a group of Houston geocachers decided to head out on St. Patrick's Day for a day of sampling the fine pubs the Houston area has to offer. A few folks volunteered to be designated drivers so other cachers could partake in some adult beverages and make sure that everyone made it home safely. After the journey was complete, one of the designated drivers took a look at BigBender's journal from the day and noticed that if they looked at it from certain angles they could make out some potential cache coordinates. Even though it was now dark, the cacher (nicknamed Lucky Leprechaun) took a hike and placed a cache at those coordinates. Can you figure out where Lucky Leprechaun hid the cache from the information contained in BigBender's journal below?
St. Patrick's Day Pub Dash - by BigBender
Well, a group of us decided to get together for a St. Patrick's Day pub dash and I figured I would chronicle the events of the day. We were under a bit of a time constraint as we agreed that we would start around 11am and end up no later than 6:30pm. Being scientific in nature, I figured I would keep meticulous time throughout the day so we would stay on schedule. Additonally, I wanted to make sure I tracked the different pubs we visited and the antics of the folks throughout the course of the day. Criffree was making fun of my NY Giants watch, asking why I hadn't moved to a more modern and accurate digital version, but I assured him this one had performed fine enough for me ever since the Giants won the Superbowl back in the 90s.
Back to the Pub dash! We started up North, and even though he lived the closest to the first pub, Log Dawgs arrived last, but he was still early so we were able to get started at precisely 10:49:08am (I was determined to show Criffree that my old analog watch was more precise than any new digital model!). The first Pub we visited was The Dublin Green Acre. We had a great time downing our first pint of the day. Everyone left the pub in good spirits and we made our way to Pub #2, The Fermanagh's Brother's Tavern . Some of the group decided to pace themselves early by having a half pint here, but MichaelCarrie was determined to continue leading the charge and handled the second pint with ease. From there we headed out to Pub #3, Galway's. At this point, I challenged georeyna to a dart match, which unfortunately did not go in my favor. My punishment was having to pick up the tab for the group here, but I figured I would get another opportunity later to even the score. Onwards and upwards to Pub #4, Armaugh Arms! I think it was at this pub that FamilieRyan challenged Criffree to a beer chugging contest. I'm not really sure who won, I'll have to see who's bragging at the next geoevent. Finally, we arrived at Pub #5, The Cork Barrel, where we decided to stop for lunch and take a break from the pints and hydrate ourselves.
After our lunch break, we started heading West and made our way over to Pub #6, The Donegal. Geogeex had been quiet all day, but here he started to act out his part from one of the recent plays in which he was a cast member (It was the Joe Dirt mustache that provided most of the entertainment from my perspective). We continued our journey and ended up at Pub #7, The Irish Tenor. At this point I overheard bits and pieces of a conversation between Log Dawgs and Eagles1181, which seemed to center around topics related to "elections", "improvements", and some geocaching association. Our group was still going strong as we walked through the doors of Pub #8, The Irish Rover. A half pint and a couple of pool games later (that HoosierRanger is a real shark!), we made our way to Pub #9, Carlow Slainte. Since this was right in their backyard, rocky4 came over and joined us for a pint. The entire group was still in a great mood as we headed off to Pub #10, our last stop for the day, The Down Town. We had a long day, but we all hoisted one last pint to toast ourselves and the great sport of geocaching! By the time we had said our final goodbyes, I checked my watch and we had finished at 6:15:20pm - well within the allotted timeframe for the day!
This was a fantastic St. Patty's Day Pub Dash! I had a nice, fun, and safe time with my geocaching friends! I'll bring this journal to the next geoevent so we can haggle over some of the details.....
The final cache location is about a 2.5 mile roundtrip hike through varied terrain, most of which is a pretty flat grassy trail. After heavy rain, however, the cache may or may not be accessible. When I placed the cache, I had to navigate a decent sized body of water (about a 0.15 mile diversion to find dry ground), so be careful out there! Also, watch out for the usual poison plants, ticks, mosquitoes, feral hogs, deer, coyotes, bobcats, snakes, and other obstacles while on the hike. Overall, the hike was not very challenging at the time of cache placement, but the terrain rating reflects the aforementioned potential hazards.
I hope you enjoy this puzzle and cache! There is some nice Irish swag in the cache, feel free to take pictures wearing some of it!
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.