Yesterday, Friday the 13th, my friend Melissa and I decided to take the bikes out to Vernonia Linear Trail and do some geocaching there. So, we attached the GPSr to the handlebars of one of the bikes and headed towards the first cache. The cache was a new one called Vernonia Trestle There's a large wooden trestle near one of the parking areas, so we decided to start at the trailhead a couple miles south of that. When we got to the trestle, we realized we weren't even halfway to the cache location. So, we headed further up the trail. When we got within half a mile of the cache we knew we needed to get off the bikes and take one of the hiking trails (there were several). After trying 3 or 4 and realizing they weren't taking us towards the cache, we went checked the cache listing (uploaded to Sami's palm pilot) and realized it wasn't even on the Linear Trail.
So we had biked several miles (uphill) by this point and were pretty tired so we decided it was probably time to go home. The ride back down was fun and very fast. The last section was a gravel road that cars are allowed to travel on too. We stopped to let a car pass, and I looked down and noticed the GPSr was no longer on my handlebars. Only the back part that covers the battery pack was still attached. I couldn't believe how unlucky I was.
I though, oh no! it's probably on this bumpy gravel road, we have to find it before a car runs over it! So we raced back to put the bikes back on the rack on the car. Then we drove very slowly down the road hanging our heads out the window looking for the GPSr. No luck.
We figured the GPSr must be on the trail. But where? We drove up to the next trailhead, I rode the bike slowly back down to the bottom looking along the trail for the GPSr. I didn't find it. An older lady was walking her dog in the opposite direction. I asked her if she'd seen it. After I explained what a GPSr was she said she hadn't seen it. I wrote my phone number on a scrap of receipt anyway. Melissa drove the car to meet me at the bottom.
We then went back up to the same trailhead and I started biking uphill towards the area we were at when we decided to give up on the cache. Melissa went back down the lower portion of the trail to check over that portion again. I went slowly back up the trail to the farthest point we'd been that afternoon and back down (slowly). No luck. I ran into a few people on the trail and asked if they had seen it. Unfortunately everyone said no. I tried to give my phone number to a mother and her daughter in case they found it, but I realized I'd lost my pen somewhere too, so I couldn't even do that.
I got back to the car and loaded up my bike, drove down to the bottom of the lower section and picked up Melissa. Neither of us had found the GPSr and it was getting late, we were exhausted and there wasn't much more we could do. We went to the Dairy Queen and got Chocolate Dipped Chocolate soft serve icecream and headed back to Melissa's place to make flyers so I could go back to the trail early this morning (saturday) and post them and continue to search for the GPSr.
While we were sitting there talking about how sore we were going to be from doing twice as much riding as we intended, my phone rang. I expected it to be Sami who was doing his usual Friday night activities with the Intel guys. It was a number I didn't recognize, but I decided to answer it anyway, just in case. It turned out the to the little old lady with the dog.
She'd found our GPSr! I couldn't believe it. She told me I could come pick it up that evening. I tried to give her a reward for finding it, but she wouldn't accept. (Although she did give me her address so I could find her house, so I will try to mail something to her.) She said she walks the Vernonia trail every single day and today after she ran into me, she watched one side of the trail the whole way up and the other side on the way down. She found it in the foliage just to the side of the trail with the batteries and everything. Amazing! So it turned out to be not to be such an unlucky day after all.
So we had biked several miles (uphill) by this point and were pretty tired so we decided it was probably time to go home. The ride back down was fun and very fast. The last section was a gravel road that cars are allowed to travel on too. We stopped to let a car pass, and I looked down and noticed the GPSr was no longer on my handlebars. Only the back part that covers the battery pack was still attached. I couldn't believe how unlucky I was.
I though, oh no! it's probably on this bumpy gravel road, we have to find it before a car runs over it! So we raced back to put the bikes back on the rack on the car. Then we drove very slowly down the road hanging our heads out the window looking for the GPSr. No luck.
We figured the GPSr must be on the trail. But where? We drove up to the next trailhead, I rode the bike slowly back down to the bottom looking along the trail for the GPSr. I didn't find it. An older lady was walking her dog in the opposite direction. I asked her if she'd seen it. After I explained what a GPSr was she said she hadn't seen it. I wrote my phone number on a scrap of receipt anyway. Melissa drove the car to meet me at the bottom.
We then went back up to the same trailhead and I started biking uphill towards the area we were at when we decided to give up on the cache. Melissa went back down the lower portion of the trail to check over that portion again. I went slowly back up the trail to the farthest point we'd been that afternoon and back down (slowly). No luck. I ran into a few people on the trail and asked if they had seen it. Unfortunately everyone said no. I tried to give my phone number to a mother and her daughter in case they found it, but I realized I'd lost my pen somewhere too, so I couldn't even do that.
I got back to the car and loaded up my bike, drove down to the bottom of the lower section and picked up Melissa. Neither of us had found the GPSr and it was getting late, we were exhausted and there wasn't much more we could do. We went to the Dairy Queen and got Chocolate Dipped Chocolate soft serve icecream and headed back to Melissa's place to make flyers so I could go back to the trail early this morning (saturday) and post them and continue to search for the GPSr.
While we were sitting there talking about how sore we were going to be from doing twice as much riding as we intended, my phone rang. I expected it to be Sami who was doing his usual Friday night activities with the Intel guys. It was a number I didn't recognize, but I decided to answer it anyway, just in case. It turned out the to the little old lady with the dog.
She'd found our GPSr! I couldn't believe it. She told me I could come pick it up that evening. I tried to give her a reward for finding it, but she wouldn't accept. (Although she did give me her address so I could find her house, so I will try to mail something to her.) She said she walks the Vernonia trail every single day and today after she ran into me, she watched one side of the trail the whole way up and the other side on the way down. She found it in the foliage just to the side of the trail with the batteries and everything. Amazing! So it turned out to be not to be such an unlucky day after all.
4 comments:
I was about to say, "Good that at least your bike did not fall off the truck and get lost", but then I went on reading the end of your story. It is unbelievably lucky! I would not even give my phone number to an old lady who does not understand my question.
I have a hair clip, at least 15 years old, that I like really like, and still use at least 5 times a week. I already lost it and got returned at least 5 times. Every time I suspect it is missing I have these deep emotions coming. It is probably my oldest object that I have in daily use.
Your comment reminds me of something...
There was a point when I thought the bike had fallen off the bike rack. I was on the highway driving to the woman's house to pick up the GPSr and heard a loud crashing noise. I looked in the rearview mirror to make sure the bikes were still attached and saw that there was an 18 wheeler just behind me that had blown one of his tires out.
You see you have been lucky again. It could have been your tyre PLUS losing your bike.
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