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(Any GO IVer who wants to volunteer to help us with this blog send me your email and I'll set you up. Thx)
*THANK YOU to Gamers Brent, Kyle O., Ashley, Kristin, Mike, Nick, Chris, Matt, Stewart, Brad H., Roxanne, David R., Rachel A., Darrin R., Nick C., Jannie B. and Maskit for helping put this blog together. TYTYTY!*
GO IV Gamer Rachel A. along with Laurie, David, Jess and a few others met with MIH for a game of chance. :) Below is Rachel’s story about the day. Thanks Rachel!!!!
“So today, we had an adventure. I had decided on Sunday that I would fly out to California for this last drop. I can’t justify it logically, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. So I flew out on Tuesday, knowing that several other people would also be travelling to Sun Sun Wo for the final drop. One of them was supposed to be Kyle O. from Clue #3 (I think it was Clue #3) but he had a holdup at the airport. So I called David R. and we planned to meet at one of the BART stations on the other side of the bay and then drive out to Coulterville in the same car. We knew that Laurie P. was also on her way out there and had heard of a couple others showing up, too.
8:00, David and I were on the road. After brief stops at Starbucks and a small roadside bathroom (no doors on the stalls in the ladies room… I gave it a pass and just held it.) we were making a straight shot to Coulterville. I have to say as an East Coaster, the scenery is breathtaking in places. It’s just so different from the side of the country that I’m used to. And then, all of a sudden, the city limits sign for Coulterville.
“That kinda snuck up on us, huh?” was David’s remark.
We pulled into this small small town and peered out the windows. Shortly down the main road was another small offroad. I believe it was called something like “Chinatown” but I don’t really remember. It’s just before 11:00 when we pull up and I waved to the woman standing outside. I figured it was Laurie since there was a slight resemblance from the single picture I’d ever *seen* of Laurie (thank you, Twitter) but it wasn’t her. Apparently, it was the neighbor. So we explained the game to her briefly and she seemed really surprised by the entire idea. At this point, I turned to the small barnyard across the lane and asked, “Are those your geese?”
Apparently, I have a speaking problem because both the woman AND David heard me say, “Are those turkeys?” and they BOTH responded in negative.
“No, they’re geese!”
Anyway. Back to the point.
I realized that, because of the creepy no-door toilets, I had to pee pretty bad at this point, so we went into “downtown” Coulterville and made a stop at the diner. I think David and I both felt a desire to be there at the store whenever the next players showed up. I don’t quite know why, it didn’t make any kind of difference, but we felt it all the same. Luckily for our whims, there was still no one there when we got back. After just a few minutes of hanging out, a pickup rolls down the lane and a woman waves from the passenger seat. She brought along her husband and friend, neither of whom was terribly amused by the entire thing. About 15 minutes later, an SUV pulls up and it’s Joshua, who drove several hours to get there as well.
Really, it’s kind of impossible NOT to drive several hours to arrive in Coulterville.
Turns out he had gotten there around 9 and, finding REALLY no one there, went up to the Coulterville Museum and explored that for a little while. So we’re exploring around the store since it happened to be closed on that day. Kind of a bummer, but still cool to get to look around and think about how insanely old that adobe was! We were around the back of the store, just peering under the porch and wondering if there were some really old bottles just hanging out under there, and a car drove by. Now, on this little road, there weren’t many cars driving, so we all snapped to attention. One of us commented, “It’s a guy and his kid,” and figured they were locals. I cracked some joke about us being so unnecessarily jumpy and that it wasn’t even close to 12:00. As I’m saying this, I’m pulling out my cell phone to check the time, and it’s 11:43. Then we heard a car door slam and realized that it was *someone*.
We hurried out front to see who it was and there was a man and his son walking towards us. He introduced himself as Jesse and we sussed it out that he’s Jess from the boards and from Reno, NV! So again, another really long drive. I had to admit to him that I always assumed “Jess” was just short for “Jessica”. I felt sheepish.
So by this time, there are 8 of us there, which is possibly the highest number of people who have congregated at Sun Sun Wo since 1893. There are the 5 GO IVers (David, Laurie, Joshua, Jess, and me) plus Jess’s son and Laurie’s begrudging truck-mates. Then a couple minutes after 12, we see a blue car turn down the lane and we all of us just stared at it. Sure enough, MIH is on the scene and driving a Prius! How environmental of him. J
He got out of his car and I said, “Well, we found you.”
He responded, “Well it wasn’t very hard!”
We then all went around to the side of the building where there were patio tables and chairs all set up. MIH was holding a burlap-wrapped package in his arms and said we’d need the table for our challenge. By this time, I’m worrying that it’s going to be some crazy cipher and I’m really SOL but then he pulls out a pair of dice and says that whoever rolls 2 2’s gets the clue.
Laurie and David both said that it’s probably good we have the 12-3 time frame!
The following comments were made by various people as the dice went around and around, rolling doubles of every number but 2, and rolling every combination of 2 and # except for another 2.
“Statistically, this could take forever.”
“It’s a good thing the time of pickup goes til 3:00.”
“Hope you don’t have a wedding to get to.”
“I didn’t honestly think anyone was going to drive all the way out here.”
“Can we change it to something that adds up to 4 instead??”
And still the dice kept going around and around and around. I stopped counting, but I think I threw those dice at least 5 or 6 times. And then all of a sudden, there were 2 2’s on the table. I was shocked to have rolled it, but… I did. I never win stuff like this, it’s why I don’t play the lottery or anything. There’s just no evidence supporting that any of the odds in the universe are on my side, so it was cool.
MIH handed me the package and I saw that there was a letter tucked into the twine that held the package together. He then peaced out pretty surreptitiously. I remember him saying that he was leaving, but that’s all I remember. I’d love to be able to say that we all bid him safe travel and thanks for the fun and the clue, but I’m kind of sure that we were all so excited that we just let him leave. So THANKS, MIH, if you read this!
I do remember David remarking that MIH had gone and that it was 12:12 on 11/11. It felt like the dice rolling had taken much longer, but I guess not. So anyway, we read the letter and opened the package and there were these really cool jeans in there along with the invitation for Friday’s event. The prize was a year’s membership to the National Parks Foundation. (And MIH said I could keep the “lucky dice”.) We took a couple of videos and some more pictures and then Laurie brought out some homemade cookies, which were excellent! Once we were done handling our business, we all went our ways.
To make a long story short (TOO LATE) David and I drove back toward the city in high spirits, I got the train into the city, walked toward my hostel, and stopped into the Pinecrest Diner, where I am sitting now eating a fantastic chicken sandwich and writing down my day’s adventure before I forget.
The burlap package and jeans are in my bag on the seat next to me.
Today was excellent.”
JACKSON COUNTY JAIL, INDEPENDENCE, MO October 24th, 2009
Gamer Chris L., experienced with the paranormal, was the GO IVer who RSVP’d to go to the Jackson County Jail to summon the spirits! Below is Chris L’s story. Thx CHRIS!
“I arrived in Independence about 15 minutes before noon. Good thing, as my first attempt at matching the address led me to Tammy’s Tavern. I resisted the allure of a frosty beverage just long enough to realize I was on south Main Street, and the Jackson County Jail was located on North Main. I found my way to the main entrance right at noon.
I walked in the front door, and was met by a man and woman looking at me expectantly…
“Hello, my name is Chris Love.”
“We’ve been expecting you!”
I was handed a pamphlet with a short history of the jail (which was actually 12 cells in the back portion of the marshal’s house).
I began wandering the home, found my way to the jail cells, and through them into a museum area at the back of the building. Lo and behold, there stood a man in a hat. THE man in the hat.
“Find the deck of cards and use them to summon the spirit. Then come and find me.”
Easy enough! Or so I thought. Let’s just say the man in the hat was very patient as I spent at least fifteen minutes bumbling around each cell, asking for help from other jail visitors (while receiving odd looks), and generally making a fool of myself. Note: When summoning spirits, always check the haunted cell first. There they were! A 100-year-old deck of cards, stashed away in a small crack in the wall.
Now for the summoning. Thanks to the clever deciphering of the GoForth crew — and a cheat sheet — I quickly laid out the cards that spelled out the name of Jim Knowles. The Man In The Hat and the GameTeam confirmed we’d found the right answer on the first try.
After a few photos from the Jail Museum curator, a package from the Man In The Hat, and handshakes all around I was on my way. A few quick photos of the surrounding area, and I made my way home.”
Photo with 2 notes
PALMER HOUSE HOTEL, CHICAGO, IL on October 21st
Gamer Nick R. was one of many Chicago area Gamers to head out to the Palmer House Hotel. No webcam this time kept us all in the dark until the Gamers got home and posted to the board. (We managed to stay entertained LOL)
Nick R. and Mike T. got it done and clue 6 turned over for us! Woohoo! GO IV!
Below is Nick R. story of the Palmer House location.
(I did the drawing above based on Kyle O’s description of the Man in the Hat. Kyle has an awesome memory!)
“My roommate (Derek) and I arrived at the hotel around 3 to scope it out and make sure we knew the location of everything pertinent. After sitting in the lobby and having a drink, we noticed a nondescript package appear behind the Concierge desk. (From our seats, we had a good view of everything going on. We moved to the hallway of the Concierge desk, and took seats directly across, patiently waiting for 5 o’clock to strike. Around 4:15 we noticed Chris T and his guest, clearly waiting for 5 as well. Soon after, another couple showed up, and we were all waiting in the vicinity of the concierge, but hadn’t spoken to each other yet. Around 4:45 a girl and her friend walked up to the desk, handed one of the clerks a note, and was given the package we had seen arrive earlier. Almost instantly everyone involved converged on the girl, most of us dismayed by the fact that the package was given up before 5 o’clock. The girl, who had apparently been put up to the task by her boss, had no knowledge of the hunt, and was only told that there would be a prize in it for her. She discussed the situation with Derek while we were all examining the contents, and, feeling embarrassed and apologetic, ended up conceding the package over to us.
While the package was still being examined, Chris and I noticed the Man in the Hat talking to one of the clerks at the concierge, and Chris proceeded over to the desk to hand him the note and (from what I understand) asked if there was anything else to go along with the package. The Man in the Hat handed him a small gift bag with two tokens for free dinners at the restaurant within the Palmer House Hotel.
After wrapping the contents of the package back up, we all parted ways, save Chris, his guest, Derek and myself. Chris treated us to drinks while we chatted and discussed the items further. Taking the package and leaving the dinner for two with Chris, we left the hotel to catch our train out of the city.
Though Chris and I have been credited on the Go Forth website, Vicki as well as others were also involved, though I cannot remember everyone else’s names.”
Gamer Ashley C. went to LaFitte’s Blacksmith Shop in New Orleans to find the Man in the Hat. We all watched the Earthcam but only saw Ashley heading home. A GO IV bud sent this video to me yesterday. I love it! I think that’s James clapping along. Does anyone know? Thx! Sorry, that is MIKE clapping along! Duh! GO IV MIKE! :)
Below is Ashley’s GO IV New Orleans Adventure:
“I wasn’t nervous, I knew it would be fun. The waiting wasn’t so bad. It was not hard to find him, I actually spotted him walking up to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop and approached him before he got there. He handed me the washboard “here this is for you” then he said “follow me for further instructions” We then walked the 4 blocks down to St. Peters and Bourbon, where I was told I would have to “sing to the saints with my friend over there” There was a blonde girl playing her guitar and singing “When the Saints go Marching In” The man in the hat told me he would be filming the performance and I would get the second part of the drop once I was finished. While we were walking we just chit chatted about the other cities he had been, Kristin told me to tell him she said hi and we talked about how he knew her from New York, then we just kinda walked, he didn’t say too much after we talked about Kristin. He’s really hard to describe physically, he’s a tall, heavyset man, very kind, good sense of humor. I wish I had gotten a picture of him but I was so excited about seeing him first that I forgot. So after we were done performing, he gave me the completed cipher, along with a certificate to go on an airboat swamp tour for two, and told me to “hang on to the washboard, it holds the next clue” Personally I am going to hang the washboard up in my living room once this is over. But it was a great experiene and it was so fun. The man in the hat is very nice and i wish i would have had more time to chat with him.”
