Happy 1st Birthday to TheBradlands!
It has been one whole year since my first post to thebradlands, December 15th, 2005. I would like to thank my mom and dad, for bringing me into this world. Also my producer/ providor/ spellchecker/ factchecker Warren Myers. Of course I’d like to thank Jillian who has stuck with me through thick and thin and has helped me with my Spanish. And lastly all my fans who have made it fun for me to write knowing that you care enough to check by and read. Blogging has been a great way to vent my excitement in lots of different areas. Hopefully reading has energized you, and thebradlands has been an instrument to get you excited about life.
Wow what a day. I got up early this morning (for a Saturday) and headed down to the REI in Raleigh for their garage sale. Thankfully I got there soon after they opened (10:05) because by the time I was there there was already a long line to get into the area where they had their sale items. It didn’t take long to get into the room, and once I was in then wow, it was like being in a candy store with a five dollar bill in your pocket. There were lots of clothes and shoes, and so many incredible deals. I got a pair of $55 
Geo caching is a new sport that is all the rage these days. A geo cache is a little container hidden somewhere that contains various items. All geo caches have a little log book that finders sign their names in. Some caches have trinkets that finders can take, and then leave something else. A few caches have “bugs” that a GPS units themselves. When a finder finds a cache with a bug in it then he takes the bug out, finds another geo cache and leaves the bug in the new one. So the bug travels around from cache to cache, and the owner can track its progress around the world on the internet. To find a geo cache you go to 
It would seem that it is very simple since the GPS would lead you right to it, but most GPS are only accurate with maybe 10 or 20 feet, so usually you know when you are close, and then you have to use clues left on the geo cache website to locate the actual cache. Caches are also usually hidden quite handily to prevent just anyone from running into it. There are some additional twists that are sometimes thrown in, for example sometimes one cache only contains a second set of co-ordinates which then lead to the actual cache. If you enjoy watching things like the amazing race or eco challanges, then you would enjoy geo caching.
So anyway all that is just to introduce those who might not be familiar with what we did this afternoon. We found two geo caches which were within a couple miles of our appartment, and officially introduced ourselves to the wonderful world of geo caching. We really enjoyed driving around “getting closer” and then once we parked the truck and went on foot then the walk together in the evening was delightful.
Oh yeah and all this is made possible by REI’s garage sale. I am never going to miss a garage sale again. I had high expectations going in, and I came out very surpised at just how great it was. Oh yeah and picking up some new stuff for backpacking really has me excited to get out in the mountains again. Come July and August I’ll be all there.