Simon Rodia single-handedly built the Watts Towers. It was the work of a lifetime, except Rodia was able to finish his art and walk away. In many ways his story personifies the legend of Fisher King who was compelled to fish, until Parsifal asked a question that healed the king. Rodia demonstrated both the powers of his art and an archetype of personal transformation.
Poetry in Motion. The cache owner requested poetry, I’m not sure this rises to the occasion, but on an autumn day in Portland, I needed to find paper to write my user name. And then I began thinking about poetry and memories of a memory.
The Mojave Phone Booth is about more than a booth that is no longer there. It is about a Booth that is no longer there. There is a difference. The virtual geocache here keeps the experience real. It cannot simply be removed.
On our way to the Iceland Noir writing festival we first stopped in Portland. There was a geocache at the train station. An old woman in the waiting room seemed to have had no schedule to meet. Street people in the park were going through their day. Our collective memory filled the air, down at the station on a windy day.
We came for a virtual geocache at an old jail, a true hoosegow in every sense of the world. But we started to walk around to look at the town and soon were invited to see the old union hall and a beautiful mural depicting the 1983 strike. Of course there was also a collection of African art. Somehow it all fit together.
The Machado Postpiles were once a secret in the western Sierra. Even after the postpiles were revealed, they remained hidden for a long time. Today, the route is known, but the Sierra does not give up its secrets easily, requiring acts of faith on a trail loosely defined by cairns. The reward is to walk past the granite expanse, to stand on postpiles that are 13 million years old. It is to experience wonder.
Wounded Knee. Very few places have both profound sorrow and a spirit of resistance. The massacre here changed things forever, but after the 1971 occupation things would never be the same. Its words continue to evoke struggle. Trump’s refusal to revoke the Medals of Honor awarded here shows the power of its place, and just how far we have to go as a nation to begin to understand what it means.
Come for a cache but stay for the Tales of the Hornet. It may be one the world’s most haunted ships, but even stranger might be the stories of Mark Richards who claims he once battled aliens on board. We are not likely to believe Mark’s accounts, but if you visit be sure to ask if any of the ghosts have seen Ellis.
Locationless caches and the language of location. The end of locationless geocaches was a sad but necessary part of the game’s evolution. They were brought into the game at a time when there were few physical geocaches. And they brought some fun elements. Ride the Underground Railroad still stands out to this day as an example of why many of us loved them. Who would have thought there was a station near where I lived?
Sky King’s Final Landing Place. Kirby Grant may have passed, but as long as people tell tales of the pilot in the West who helped those in need, Sky King will live. And as long as a geocacher needs inspiration, he will be there.