Goecaching for Days Continued

Well I tried to blog on Monday using Picasa. It is a photo program made by Google. When I tried to upload to Blogger I lost connection to my router and Picasa decided to lose my draft. Thanks Picasa.

So anyway Saturday we grabbed 10 caches. First we went for a group of 3 where the first 2 had the coords for the third. It was a pretty nice hike but when we had to go off trail it was some of the most dense woods I have ever been in. That took us about 2 hours, so we ate lunch in the cachemobile.

After lunch we went for our first multi. It was a nice easy walk through the park. We were on walking trails until the final then we had to go into the woods where there are Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! Here is a pic of the first stage...


We followed that up with 4 more. All of them were micros. Now I can understand micros in an urban environment, but when you have acres and acres of woods there really isn't a need for micros. Luckily we didn't trade Awesome to those Gypsies for some handmade beads. (those were some SWEET beads) This kid can smell out micros. We were 10 feet from the cache and he is finding these things. At one point we were at GZ and we yelled at Awesome to get out of a tree and help. As he was coming down he finds the cache.

We finished the day out with a couple of Earth Caches. I love these things.


Sunday we also knocked out 2 on the way to Grandma's for Easter.

Geocaching for Days

So where to begin. Since I can't seem to get my kids to go caching with me I decided to do a little caching after work. Add the fact that they are in a new after school program and they complain if I pick them up too early.

There have been a couple of new caches placed along a road that is about 1 mile away from where I am working. So I decided to go up there Wednesday and knock them out. The first was a cool hide in the side of an overpass. The next wasn't so easy. I don't think I would have found it had it not fallen out when I moved a piece of wood. The container was a little micro with some rocks epoxied to it. I made sure the next guy would have to work to find it. It won't be falling out. One was real clever. It was a fake mushroom that was stuck to a log. I was stumped for a bit, but I figured it out.I logged 6 on this trip. I had to pass 2 by because of muggles. but I went back Thursday and got those.

The highlight of the day was meeting up with another cacher to knock out 2 caches I didn't want to take the kids on. One was Adrenaline Rush, it was pretty extreme. The other was Operation Night Hawk. This one is a night cache. You have to shine a flashlight around and find reflective marks until you find the cache.

I got 2 on Thursday and I thought about snagging one on Friday just to keep the streak going. But I was just too lazy to plan that one.

So I logged 8 in 2 days with Saturday just around the corner. It is going to be a good week.

Geocaching Lull

Cachin' has been slow for me lately. It seems my kids have decided they aren't into caching as much as I am. I think I'll just load up the gps and hit 1 or 2 on my way home from work every day. I've been working overtime and with school 2 nights a week I haven't been able to do that yet.

We did buy an ammo can from the local army surplus store yesterday. I want to get some cammo paint so I can make it look as cool as Hick's. We also bought some swag to put in it. We got some mini motorcycles, some erasers and stuff like that. I an also going to put some Geocaching license kits with the laminating pouches in there. I'll probably put some code wheels in there too. Buttons, is another idea runnin through my head, but I need to shop for an affordable button maker. I have a great idea for the FTF prize but need to iron some things out on that. I'll give more information later.

On another note there is a team in my area named Slowpokes. This couple logged 5 FTF's
in one day! Now that must be some sort of record. If it isn't I bet I could put my twist on it to make it a record. They found: A Prize is Hidden in Black Partridge Park, A Quiet Spot in Eureka, A Quiet Spot Near Secor, A Quiet Place in Roanoke, and A Quiet Spot in ElPaso. Now that is some cachin'! Congrats to Slowpokes. At least someone gets to go out and get some cachin' done

Geocaching Ideas

I didn't make it out today to do any caching. I hope to get out tomorrow but.....

So I wonder if I can do a pocket query on "Park and Grabs" You know I hear they are like the "Drive-thru of Geocaches" I am growing to love these more and more.

I found a blog that contains some really cool ideas to enhance geocaching. It is tittled "Renzo's Custom Cache" and they describe Their blog as "Martha Stewart meets Geocaching"

They have lots of great ideas like geocache trading cards, Geocache license, and a cool decoder wheel for those mystery caches.

They have pdf files for alot of the items and links to other sites for things like the cache cards.

On another note:

Why, when I am composing a blog does Blogger underline words like Blog Blogger Blogging as if they were misspelled? You would think Blogger wouldn't tell you it's own name is misspelled. Just a thought. I'm just throwing it out there.

Not Geocaching but still very very Important

The President and Department of Homeland Security held a press conference today. It is very very important that everyone listens to what Pres. Bush has to say! Forward this to all your friends and family. This is a very real threat and we must be prepared for an attack of this kind! Please watch this video and if you need more info check HERE.



geocaching

Geocaching or Work?

Does anyone ever have to decide between caching or work. Sometimes I wonder if people in my area have jobs. It never fails I'll get an e-mail that there is a new cache in the area. Of course I have to work the next morning. Or better yet it gets published while I'm at work. So I'll check if anyone found the cache. And the FTF log will read something like this:

"I was laying around the house and I received the e-mail there was a new cache. So I summoned my driver to get the Caddy (hm hm hm I felt like slumming it today). My driver took me to the coords. We got to GZ and it was in a tree so Jefferies knelt down whilst I climbed upon his back to retrieve the cache. etc........"

I think I need to hire "people" to do my caching for me. I'll still be there, I just need like a spotter for those times I can't spot the cache. Then I'll sign the log and we'll be on our way. Or better yet a cache guard dog. You know one to protect the cache until I get there to claim the FTF prize.


Anyway I got 2 new cache e-mails last night. They were both along the route I take to work. So I loaded them into my GPS and went to bed. (not that I could sleep)

I went for the first on my way to work. It was an urban micro. Sadly I came up empty. It did feel good to know only 3 people logged finds. I'm sure I was there before all of them!

The next one I hit on my way home. It was along Kickapoo Creek. (If you are from my area you will know what I'm talking about) There are a lot of bluffs along said creek. This cache should have been named "Remember how out of shape you are" So I climbed up the bluff that is at an 89 degree angle. Nearly dead I found GZ.

I found nothing! It was overcast and raining so my GPS was all over the place. I spend about 30 minutes looking for the cache. I didn't want to give up but I had to pick the kids up at some point. I was just about to head down the hill when I decided to check over the first place I looked. After looking really hard I found the cache about an arms length down a log. I grabbed it. It was a cool container made from pvc. I opened it up and in all my cockiness I thought "What no FTF prize?" I flip the logbook to the first page and guess what? Someone else had snagged the FTF at 8:30 this morning. Somewhat disappointed I signed the log, replaced the cache and headed down the hill. Well it was more like a controlled fall.

Kudos to the guy who logged both of the FTFs. There truly are no hard feelings. I'll have my day, someday

So my first 2 FTF tries came up empty. I guess I just need to call in next time there is a new cache. I think I'll hide a cache then claim the FTF on it. I bet it's been done before!

Geocaching World Records Smashed!

That's right! This weekend all kinds of World Records were smashed by yours truly. Sadly the Guinness people were nowhere to be found. But the sound of these records being smashed could be heard for, literally, hundredths of feet.

Saturday, it was a balmy 35 degrees out so we hit a local park that had six or seven caches. Most of the caches were pretty easy but one. I decided to make it a four star terrain. Not to mention as we were climbing the "Illinois" mountains the melting snow made them rather slick. So we came home a little muddy but logged 6 caches. That was a record smashing day. We broke the "Most caches logged in February while driving my white Trailblazer, while wearing sunglasses, while wearing work boots that I replaced because they weren't waterproof, and stopping by KFC for lunch afterwards" record.

Here is a pic of the kids playing at the park.



Today we smashed yet another record. We hit a whopping 7 for 8 today. Which is the "Most caches found in a day when visiting a reservoir, in February, while chewing mint mojito gum, during a week where there was a lunar eclipse and the same week the kids get midterm grades" record. It's true, look it up.

So what is the total for the weekend?

Um, yes, you, dead possum we found on our porch.....
Oh wait you're dead you can't talk.

13

So I guess I need to award some points ummmm 265 million points if you got that right.

Anyway we logged 7 today. A couple took us to an old reservoir which was pretty cool
This reservoir is no longer used but the dam (sorry mom) is still there. There is also dam grass, dam trees, dam birds, dam fences, etc...
here are the kids with the back side of the spillway in the background


Here is a pic of one of the caches we found today


We did have 1 DNF for the whole weekend but overall we had a great time. There were quite a few ammo cans to be found. Which is always nice!

Here are a couple cool pictures I wanted to share!

If you missed it on Wednesday there was a lunar eclipse


And this is what happens when you shoot a hot burn barrel with a squirt gun