First Appearance of Cecil – Evil GeoCaching Monkey Bent On World Domination
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Indy’s Lamest cache GC100CE
published 12/28/2006
* Found by ProfessorZoom
* 01/02/2007
Indiana, United States
Here’s the log… the very first time Cecil-Evil GeoCaching Monkey Bent on World Domination had ever been mentioned. How did it happen- I was asked to write something silly or creative or something like that…
The red phone rang- it only did that when a call was coming in so I picked it up. The receiver was heavy in my hand as I listened to the call to adventure. “Zoom, you must find this cache… the safety of the free world is depending on it.” I took down the coordinates and thought to myself, I may need some backup on this one – it was in a part of town known for danger. I explained the mission to Mrs. Zoom as we sped to the coordinates, “It looks like a basic park and grab, but I sense there may be more to it than just that.” She looked at the coordinates and asked “Are you sure this isn’t a setup?” I shrugged, a geocacher has got to do what a geocacher has got to do. We drove past the spot and made a quick u-turn hoping no one saw us. “Cover me” I said as I made for the lamp post. Suddenly, we were surrounded by robot ninja monkeys! They had been hiding in the old shed. It had to be my arch nemesis, Cecil. He was trying to get to the cache before we did. Fortunately I was prepared. I’m glad we stocked up bananas at Costco. We loaded the shopping cart with the bananas and shoved it away from the cache. Using all their ninja skills the robot monkeys silently chased after the cart- we were clear, the cache was ours. As Mrs. Zoom tried to open the cache I knew time was running out and soon the monkeys would be back. I torn open the container and wrenched the damp log book out as the monkeys having finished the bananas turned to face us. As they piled on us in hopes that they could win with sheer numbers I was able to tear off one of their tails and sign the log with the green coolant dripping from one end. Cecil, knowing he was beaten once again called a retreat. “This isn’t the end Professor Zoom- we’ll meet again.” As I replaced the cache and got back in the car all I could think was, “I probably should have taken my pills this morning.” Then again, if I had this cache would have been pretty lame.
At this time, Sue and I cached under a shared identity (ProfessorZoom). We had started caching, or at least created a geocaching account, on July 13, 2006, while I was attending the ISTE conference (back when it was called NECC) in San Diego. We didn’t invest in a GPSr until I returned home. Younglings Please Note: This was a time when you needed a GPS receiver to cache. Most cachers printed out cache pages and put them in binders. Those who were more technologically inclined used what was called a “Palm Pilot” to store cache information. The iPhone didn’t exist until mid-2007, and the GC App didn’t exist until 2013.
This was the first log containing any mention of Cecil, who later would be known as Cecil-Evil GeoCaching Monkey. I think I originally thought of him as a Blofeld/Silas Greenback-like character, which quickly morphed into an evil monkey living in my basement. He became more than just an inside joke when caches were missing or logs were wet. He then started his reign as an agent of chaos. Cecil did not appear in comic form until the summer of 2009, going through many changes over the years.
…and so my life was forever changed. Geocachers sometimes talk about that one cache that changed their life, one cache can do that. For me, it was a pretty lame little park and grab hidden by bfoust close to 17 years ago. Since then I have traveled the world with that monkey. I started a comic strip, and drawn untold number of monkey minions. I’ve gone on hiatus, from not only the strip but also caching. Now in my retirement I return to both, a lot older and a wee bit wiser.
I’m going to take some time and try to update the site- probably breaking it multiple times in the process. I’ll let everyone know when it is ready for the general public. Better, stronger, faster with at least 20% more ookiness.
As for Indy’s Lamest Cache, it is still there, adopted by kiaria in 2009. It was last logged in October. For the record… Cecil has yet to log this cache, I doubt he ever will.
I’m not quite sure the value of this log if you had it graded and slabbed… probably nothing, but as (according to the internet) many current politicians say – “There’s a sucker born every minute.”