COVID hampers the outdoor experience as a whole, but soon, a sense of “normal” will return.
This past year has been sort of crazy to say the least. The rampid COVID-19 doesn’t want to go away. I visit https://cdc.gov on a regular basis in hopes they will see a significant dip in the amount of new cases. Nothing too exciting – yet. If you don’t know about this map yet, it is pretty handy. You can even drill down into a state and see how things are going by county and even city. The link is here COVID Cases by Jurisdiction.
I talked with a Spanish doctor I know and she is all excited. She says the USA has stood up and offered a significant amount of money and effort in creating a new drug to help fight against COVID-19. Apparently there is only so many pills that can be made. And to top it off, if the pharmaceutical corporations involved push all in, they will be making this drug only which means other pharmaceutical corporations will need to step up to help balance the pharmaceutical needs across the world. It’s exciting times, lets hope this is a bell ringing cure and that people don’t play with viruses for a very long time. That is a political debate for another time.
I love the outdoors, in temperatures near or below 80 degrees F. Any hotter and it’s a race inside. I was pretty active trying to armchair a solve about Forrest Fenn’s treasure for the last year or so. It appears that some one from the eastern US side found that.
So since it is best not to go treasure seeking, I went ahead and created a treasure site called https://treasure-seekers.org. In there I am organizing the site as best as possible and researching the web for potentially viable treasure seeking adventures. I think I have found treasure tale that is mildly interesting, and the search area doesn’t seem to be that big. Problem is, it is not in the of Virginia. There ARE a few classic treasure seeking adventures within Virginia like the Beale Cipers and The Mosby’s treasure trove. Although these are great opportunities, the one that has caught my interest is a little more detailed . You know us treasure seekers. We don’t want to volunteer too much information.
Take advantage of the time spent at home
Since travel is limited I am forcing myself to complete a few tasks a day . I am sure many people have put something off and there the project, task or job sits. This is an excellent time to knock a few jobs off your self-inflicted “Honey-Do-This” list. Start small and keep a list .
Travelling ? make some plans, and tell someone
I need to formulate a plan for my boots on the ground adventures. I will be adding a list of necessities to bring with you if your planning some sort of treasure hunting adventure. The type of treasure hunting matters. Planning is everything, but your ability to carry all of the must haves may be limited. There are tons of things to think about. Here is an off the top of my head list of things you may need to think about:
- The travel destination – Know as much about the area.
- Treasure seekers may need to know the local and state laws along with federal laws. what are some of the private property owners in the area?
- You choice of travel – This one may limit you ability to carry what you need. You could go by plane, car, train or other means.
- Adventure to include knowing the culture.
- Finding great food and a good place to stay that is safe and secure.
- Adventure vs. the length of stay. You should try to plan enough time to enjoy the travel and not be in a rush. The day of travel and the day returning can be counted as travel days, if you manage to get anything exciting done during those days that is great !
- Safety first. Make sure your choices of clothing, boots and outside apparel is sufficient for the climate you going to. You can go to several websites to research the daily average temperatures and the amount of precipitation they receive during the time you are traveling. Higher elevations can get REALLY COLD, even in the middle of Summer.
- Tech-NO gadets. I always find myself over packing when it comes to electronics. I have some awesome camera equipment and I have to seriously ask myself, am I going to use, or have time to use this gear? If that gear stays home, I take the cell phone and a few battery packs instead so there is power in places where they be none. You may encounter areas in the wild where there is limited or no cell phone reception. It may be wise to invest in a good reliable handheld GPS unit.
- Give your relatives or some one you are friends list your travel plans. They don’t have to be down right specific, but it is best if they are really close.
- Travelling in pairs or more is great for safety reasons. The reasons for this are almost endless.
- Wilderness necessities. Pack light, but bring the necessities. If a “what if” happens, the one time you use the item you will thank yourself many times for bringing it. Try to remember what is vital and what is nice to have. At a minimum I suggest adding a lightweight Life Straw water filtering device.
I will add more to this post when time permits. It’s getting late and I am up pretty early in the morning. Take care, be safe and enjoy your travels !