Then I headed out to Western NJ. Got a flat tire on I-80 in the Parsippany area going at highway speed, which is not a good time for a tire to deflate. I got it safely to the emergency lane after rolling along a bit. The second problem was the emergency lane at that location was narrow and highway traffic was whizzing by pretty close. (If the flat had occurred just a mile ahead, I would have had plenty of room to work in.) So I thought it was worth calling AAA to send a professional to do this. 15 minutes later, the flatbed tow-truck arrived. The guy knew exactly what to do and I was on my way again within half an hour from the time the flat occurred. (Conveniently, I already have a service appointment on Tuesday and I can buy a tire at that time.)
After that, I knew this wasn't going to be a picture-perfect day but I played through anyway. It turned out to be interesting in a way. I met Mag-man and daughter at two cache sites, "Hope's lost" and "jenny's micro". The latter was really difficult to find so teamwork helped. I also met ECSAR at "A Societal Relic". He saw me at the abandoned payphone and stopped to say hello. I'd actually just been to his cache at an abandoned milking station. (There are apparently lots of abandoned structures near Blairstown.)
On Sunday, I went to Long Island. I could've gone to a geocaching event in Keyport / Laurence Harbor but I decided I needed some time alone. I got in a few long walks. At West Hills, I hiked roughly 4 miles and found 6 geocaches. I'm not sure how far I walked in Setauket Woods because the trails were ridiculously convoluted (with a few dead ends) but I got 3 geocaches there just before dusk.
The most interesting cache of the day was "West Hill's Gee-O-Cache". Coordinates were only provided for a starting point on an orienteering map. The cache location was marked on the map and I had to use it to find my way there. I've done a similar cache at Saxon Woods in Westchester but that's the only orienteering experience I have. Even so, this one turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. I did use the GPS to measure distances and make sure I was looking at the correct land features but in the end, the key to finding the cache was recognizing the land feature next to it and once I saw that, it was a snap.
Geocaches on Saturday:
The Red Cat Farm (New Jersey)
See From The Inside (New Jersey)
A Societal Relic (New Jersey)
Green Acres Cache (New Jersey)
Green Acres Marathon (New Jersey)
Oldest in the woods (New Jersey)
jenny's micro (New Jersey)
Don't Jump Jenny! (New Jersey)
A Bench, A View, and A Micro (New Jersey)
Hope's lost (New Jersey)
STAIR CRAZY (New Jersey)
Geocaches on Sunday:
Journey Through Setauket Woods: Part 3 (New York)
Journey Through Setauket Woods: Part 2 (New York)
Kikazaru (New York)
Iwazaru (New York)
Dime a Dozen #6 - Setauket Greenbelt (New York)
Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail (New York)
A.A #2 (New York)
A.A #5 (New York)
A.A #3 (New York)
A thorny situation (New York)
West Hill's Gee-O-Cache (New York)
West Hills Micro (New York)
West Hills Park (New York)
Rhododendron Den (New York)
BRS-11 Caching On A Sunday Afternoon (New York)
West Hills 21 (New York)
LI Libraries #2 Garden City (New York)