By Michael Garcia
Day:1
Miles Traveled:
20
State Lines Crossed:
0
Time: 7 hours
Works produced: 3
interviews, 6 Instagram stories, an Instagram post, and 13 photos
Earliest rising:
6 am
Fun Fact: I would
be a terrible treasure hunter
Lessoned learned the
hard way
 |
| Audrey signs geocache at Lockhart State Park - Photo by Michael Garcia |
When the day began, I
tried thinking of what all would be worth telling at Lockhart State Park. The
park definitely has its rich history and I was sure, with the colleagues that
had joined, were sure to tackle on great stories around the park. However, I am
like a little kid at heart. So, when I found out about the geocaches, I thought
to myself, “I can be a treasure hunter”. I was completely wrong about that.
But, as it were, I tackled on geocaches in Lockhart State Park. Today served as
a trial run for Yosemite National Park. It was a fun story, even if we were
forced to cheat at the very end and have a park ranger walk us to one of the
caches. Defeat is no joke. It was also my first interview since working for the
University Star, which was about a year ago. Park ranger Lauren was very
insightful about geocaches. The only thing that I need to get better at is to
keep recording until they leave. Before she had left, Lauren had called
Lockhart a “hidden treasure” and it was such a brilliant sound bite that I am
still upset about it. Because our goal here is not only for us to build a
resume, but to convince people why the story we are telling is important.
Lockhart is a hidden treasure, and I’m happy that I chose to write about the
geocaches. It was cathartic, helping me see the importance of what we will be
doing in Yosemite.
Superintendent Austin
“marbles” Veih
 |
| Man, myth, legendary Austin "marbles" Veih - Photo by Michael Garcia |
With that being said, a big thing for me is the people you
meet along the way. Superintendent Austin Veih had given us a warm welcoming
about 0900 roughly. Automatically, I knew this was a busy man and I wouldn’t be
able to interview him. Our day officially started at 0930. Dale and Jessica had
sent us on our way to find an interesting story. When I entered the welcoming
center with Audrey, there that story was, standing on the opposite side of the
counter. At first we asked Veih about the geocaches. But, then Veih gave us a
little insight about his life, like the fact that he was born in Tampico,
Mexico. I was intrigued right at the start. We began to walk away from the
welcoming center when I decided to tell Audrey that I was headed back to talk
to him. He was happy to talk about his childhood. We talked of stories of his
parents, originally from Tennessee, living down in Mexico for 16 years. They
moved to a border town after Veih was born. Each of his siblings had a
different experience growing up. For several years they were homeschooled by
people selected by their parents. The parents advertised it as a “study abroad
program”. The people who would take the job tended to love it and would return
every summer. By the third grade, his family was split so that each kid could
receive proper schooling, which Veih explains that each sibling learned Spanish
differently. The family his sister was staying with used proper Spanish, while
his brother stayed with cowboys, so he learned slang. As for
Veih, he was in the middle. After, Veih went on to tell numerous stories about
his brother Chuck as a kid. One of my favorite stories from him was about when
his brother had gotten struck with Typhoid fever. The way he sells this story
is serious at first.
He talks of his
mother sitting him down, and telling him that his brother may die. The
brilliance of this man in delivering the punch line was genius. He then says,
“If he’s dying, can I have his marbles?” His
 |
| Feral hogs destroy golf course at Lockhart State Park - Photo by Michael Garcia |
brother survived. He had another
story about him being denied entry into the states when he was 8 months old.
His parents were at a checkpoint when they were told that he couldn’t enter.
Their response to that had me laughing hard. They attempted to give him to the
border patrol guards and told them “we will be back in 2 weeks”, which they
were automatically waved through. This man was down to earth and his employees
all love him. His biggest headache at the park is the feral hogs out there. But
for the most part, he would love to see more attendance at the park. I hope he
sees that. And if you’re reading this Mr. Veih, I want you to know that you are
forever “Marbles” to me. And I am happy to have come across you.
Our day ended at 1530. We now wait for Sunday when our journey begins.
