Sometimes things go as expected but if they do not then things get really interesting. My new friend and great photographer Mark Velasquez visited with me on his tour of America. This was set up months ago and I was so surprised and pleased that he decided to take me up on my offer to visit me in West Virginia. One of our stops was to my cabin in Canaan Valley. The shot above was one of our photo ops where we were taking pictures of the great views from Dolly Sods. The area is about 4000 feet above sea level and I had just a few days earlier purchased a portable GPS. The real purpose was to take it with me on my upcoming trip to New York and Washington DC. Since I was going to be walking around quite a bit I wanted a GPS to keep from getting lost. Well, Mark had climbed out on the rocks to get a shot of the mountains below. I had in mind that I wanted to try to capture a panorama shot so I also thew safety to the wend and made my way across treacherous rocks to the summat where Mark is standing in this shot. I made it there without any problem but as I finished my shots and was packing up I dropped a spare battery and it dropped into a crack between two boulders that I am sure came out somewhere in China. Well, $50.00 bucks lost. Not very happy but what are you going to do. So I carefully started to clime off the large bolder and my new GPS jumped out of the holder and down another crack. This one was about six inches wide and eight feet deep to a ledge where the GPS rested partly under the bolder.

Now, I am a very unhappy camper. My new toy that I barely had time to play with was what appeared to be lost forever. As we looked down in the crack we could just see the edge of the GPS protruding from under part of one of the boulders. Mark took his tripod and removed one of the legs and could tap the GPS but no real way to extract it. What made things worse was every time we touched it the GPS moved closer to the opening that dropped clear out of sight.

I had a small portable tripod that I had picked up at a pharmacy for about eight bucks. Mark had the idea of using two of the legs as pick up sticks but they were just too week. A number of times we were just about to give up but continued to not let this whip us. I have visions of moving one of the boulders that was about the size of a house so that was not an option. Finally I remembered that the GPS had a loop on the back that was used to open the battery compartment. If only I could turn it over and get something to hook through that loop. After extracting a large part of a small tree to make a sturdy stick I was able to use it to flip over the GPS. After breaking a part of the leg of the tripod all we needed was a piece of wire. But where to find a piece of wire out on the mountain top. I remembered that I had a key chain that had metal rings. I took one and bent it into a hook. Like if fish hook. Mark then placed the end of the wire hook into the end of the tripod and bit it closed. However, I knew there was a good chance that the wire would slip out so I was off to find a rock that we could use to mash the end and hold the wire. But it seemed that every rock was the end of a huge bolder. It seemed so close but still mostly hopeless. I was thinking of all the ways I could have used my new GPS. While looking for the rock Mark yelled out he had it. I thought at first he meant he had a rock but when I returned I found he had the GPS in hand. He had pulled the end off a small bush and used the plant to fashion a tie and to tie the wire in place. He then carefully hooked the GPS and extracted it from its would be lost grave.

An hour of using all our Eagle Scout training and a bit of McGiver episodes and the GPS was once again mine to enjoy.

Thank you Mark for your patience and persistence. No wonder you made it to Eagle Scout.

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