G.C. Penny Cache Tumbles Down

The landscape of Centerville changes once again as a long vacant building topples under a wrecking ball and steam shovel. The former home of JC Penny on the border of Bountiful and Centerville has long been void of retail sales and has for more than ten years served as records storage for the company. The JC Penny catalog call center served in the upper floor of the building until mid 2004.

I placed a cache here after spending a christmas season working part time the CCC (Catalouge Call Center.) When the building and property were sold to a developer earlier in the year, the cache was closed off by a temporary fence. I was fortunate enough to grab an opportunity to breach the fence and retrieve the cache container and it's log just a few days before it's demolition.

I attended the public demolition event on Halloween afternoon along with about 1,000 other onlookers. It was barely worthwhile. For all the buildup the marketing company went through you'd have thought they were going to blow the thing up. When we arrived and the crowd was a mear 100 feet from the building, it was clear no explosives were to be involved.

Even with the lack of pyrotechnics the show was good enough to make me feel like I didn't complety waste my time in coming down and fighitng the crowds. Here's the video from the demolition:

• JC Penny Demolition 1 - A last look and the first blows.
• JC Penny Demolition 2 - The brick busting breaks into high gear.

Now that we have the cache container back and the future of the structure seems to be fixed for the near future we'll try to relocate the cache and re-enable it. Keep an eye on the cache and the blog for info.

Bouncy Balls in The Mush

I've tried to find Bouncy Balls in the Brush by Big Red's seven dwarfs twice now with almost a year between attempts. Both have turned out badly. First time I was trying to navigate the creek bed with an 8 month old. This time I brought my dog (who had a blast) but couldn't get to the cache. The recent rains had forced the creek over the edge. As long as my GPS was accurate, it was pointing to a spot under at least a foot of water. As I said, my dog loved it, but I was saddened. You can see in this photo the log bridge in the distance that has been washed about 50 feet down stream, and the other washed across to the opposite bank (out of frame).

Seeking The Mystery Machine

I've decided that the camera phone is the best geocaching additive I've found since the pocketquery. I was out seeking GCQJNF but didn't have any luck. So I figured I'd snap a photo to send to TheMysteryMachine to make sure I was on the right track. Turned out to be a pretty good picture of the White Banshee (White Jeep). We'll need to get a picture of the Red Barron up here soon.