Well, that was horrible.
Just before my graveyard shift, I get a call from work, telling me not to come in and to work at 7:00am instead.
Can't get back to sleep, so I watch some TV and at 3:00, decide I might as well go grab the tag before work.
After getting all suited up and having the keys in the ignition, I realize I have absolutely no clue where on the road the tag is....back inside to fire up the computer again and print out the page.
Going down 81 at 3:30, I realize it's actually a bit cold.
Going down 64 at 3:45, I realize it's getting a bit foggy, both inside and outside my helmt.
Going up Afton Mountain at 4:00, I realize I can't see a fucking thing. I'm doing 30mph and just praying that the lights in front are streetlights rather than oncoming headlights.
At some point it starts pouring with rain. I don't know when this started, because there honestly wasn't much difference in the amount of water around me either way. I kept switching back between faceshield closed (Can't see shit) and open (Still can't see shit, and now there's rain in my eyes), trying to find a way to ride safely.
Got to the Tag road at 4:15, and pulled out the printout of where the tag shot was.
Must have been a printer jam--the first few pages came out fine, and then the last few pics by Mtnflow were all printed on top of each other. Screw it, I remember there's a license plate in the tag shot.
Ride to the end of the road, slowly scanning the roadside for a license plate.
Ride back, even slower.
Damned if I can find a license plate anywhere.
Time to examine the pic again---a tree. Okay, that shouldn't be too hard to find.
Ride the entire length of the road again, stopping by every single crooked tree there is. Get muddy, get wet (did I mention it's still pouring rain???) and get halfway through the road again before my engine overheats and automatically shuts itself off.
Pull into a driveway, listen as a pack of vicious hounds start barking at me, hopefully from behind a fenced yard, pull out the LED head-lamp from HBN, and start searching some more crooked trees, until eventually the engine cools and I can start it again.
Resume my searching for a crooked tree, on a section of the road with high banks on either side. I leave the head-lamp strapped to my wrist for better searching of the banks.
Come to the end of the road again.
Still can't find a license plate, and sure as hell didn't find any candy!
But, it was dark and half the time I couldn't see more than 3 feet beyond the road edge because of all the fricking fog.
Turned back again, and just started taking pictures trees along the road. Put away the camera, and road back to the start of the road one last time, examining every tree as closely as I could. Still couldn't find anything.
5:30am now, I've been searching the damn road for over an hour. It's still raining, my boots are filling up with water, and I have to work in 90 minutes.
So, I say fuck it--someone else can have the damn candy bar. At this point, I don't have time to post a new one anyway. Hell, I won't even have time to upload the pics before work.
So, I head home, getting back just after 6:30, with feet really, really cold, and wishing I had waterproof boots.
Can't resist the urge to run a really hot shower and just stand in it, unmoving, until my body temperature finally rises by at least 2 inches on the Natural Male Body Temperature Thermometer. Get to work about 15 minutes late.
And you know what I'm going to do now?
I'm going to fucking STEAL a candy bar from work. Ha! I don't need you and your impossible to find caches!!!!
...That wasn't all of it, either.
But I don't know how to explain the other part....
I think the road might be haunted.
A female voice yelled something at me around 5:15am. I couldn't understand what she said.
It was really weird. I was wearing earplugs, and could hear the voice clearly.
.....and it was coming from the passenger seat on my bike.
I seriously considered not turning back around to do the 6th pass along the road.
Also, it really didn't help my nerves after that that I was still wearing the lamp on my wrist, so randomly there would be a bright white light in my right rearview mirror.