(GCNNFX) Here There Be Dragons by Crowesfeat30

Another DNF Geocache for us. We parked in the parking area at N38 31.825 W90 43.050 and began our hike to the cache by following the trail. Ingrid didn’t want to bush whack like we have with previous caches so we decided to just follow the trail which looked like it’ll loop around on the map we picked up at the trail head. However it brought us within 2/10ths of a mile from the cache and then started moving away from the cache, out to almost a half mile, then slowly back to within 2/10ths of a mile only to move out to almost a half mile again. Judging by what I was seeing on the map, it still looked like the trail would eventually loop back around and get us much closer to the cache. But after hiking for almost 2 miles, it still seemed like we weren’t getting any closer. Had a couple of good scares as deer would surprisingly bolt across the trail as we were hiking along. My old (and formerly comfortable) sneakers were really starting to irritate my heels and when I stopped to look, I had two big blisters that had already become raw from the hike. At this point we were still a ways off from the cache and I just lost interest in finding it, so we just slowly made our way back towards the truck. When we got back to the parking area (more than 2 hours after starting), Ingrid assisted me in cleaning and bandaging my blisters with the first aid kit I keep in the truck. I just threw my old sneakers in the trash can near the trail head and told her we’re going to buy myself some new hiking shoes.

However, instead of going to get myself some new shoes right away, we headed back to the campground to relax for a while. When Ingrid was getting out of the truck, she noticed some bugs crawling on her arm. I took a quick look and realized they were small ticks. I picked off all I could find and then sent her to shower and change her clothes. When she got back, I checked her arms and legs again and removed a few more. All in all, she had about 50 of them on her and must have brushed up a plant with a nest of them while we were hiking. She sternly announced she was not going to hike any more on this trip.

About 8PM we went over to the nearby Walmart and picked myself up some new hikers.

Afterwards, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at “Steak & Shake” The food is pretty good and it’s a lot like a Friendly’s in atmosphere.