Friday, June 13
As the time to leave Chicago approached, we found out that the train service was interrupted by flooding, most notably in Wisconsin. We were all boarded onto 5 buses for the roughly 8-hour drive to Minneapolis. We were one of the last buses to leave Chicago, but that turned out to be a good thing. Most of the other buses ran into water or heavy traffic on the roads and were stuck. We managed to edge around the water and get to the Minneapolis train station first around midnight. We were loaded onto the train right away and ended up waiting for more than four hours for the other buses. At least, I managed to sleep through most of the wait.
Saturday, June 14
The train ride across the top part of the country was very scenic...and long. I was lucky, though, and had my row of seats to myself. The train made a lot of quick stops along the way, picking up and dropping off people.
Sunday, June 15
I awoke somewhere near Sandpoint, ID around sunrise. I looked out the window of the train and was startled to see we were passing through a beautiful lake in the mountains. What startled me about that was the fact I couldn't see the track so it looked like we were floating across the lake. It was one of the most beautiful sights of the trip and I was glad I woke up for it. About the time we reached Spokane, WA, I called he Dad to see where he was. He and my brother were already on their way to Pasco. At this point, I turned on my GPSr for maps and ETA information. Sometime around 10am, the train arrived in Pasco, WA. We were roughly 4 hours late.
I had maps of the caches for the trip home, but since my brother was along and it was Father's Day, we didn't make too many stops. We stopped at a Home Depot in Kennewick, WA and I hunted a cache next door - FBC by tumbleweed2 (GC1A0DA). We stopped in Pendleton, OR for lunch at Burger King and I logged a cache that was 144 feet away from where we parked - Lame Micro, King's Sinkhole by WR7X (GCZHDC). Two hours later and we were in Cove, OR at my mother's house where I would be staying for the next month.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
How to skirt the rules
Whenever possible, I enjoy "educating" my fellow geocachers on some of the do's and dont's of creating event caches.
Today's example of a "don't" is : cache hunting on da Cumberland by JoGPS (GC1E2PN)
Here is an excerpt from the guidelines in regards to event caches:
Today's example of a "don't" is : cache hunting on da Cumberland by JoGPS (GC1E2PN)
Here is an excerpt from the guidelines in regards to event caches:
In addition, an event cache should not be set up for the sole purpose of drawing together cachers for an organized hunt of another cache or caches. Such group hunts are best organized using the forums or an email distribution list.JoGPS tries to skirt this part of the guideline by beginning his event description with a run-on sentence:
We will meet up at Shoney's for a little eat and greet at 8:00 AM 110 Interstate Dr, Nashville, TN then go to da boat dock in Shelby Park at 9:00 AM for a fun day of hunting caches by water, this is not a regular event but an adventureThe first part of the description implies an "eat and greet" - which is what a lot of geocaching events are. Where he bumbles it is in the name of the event "cache hunting on da Cumberland". This implies that the event is centered around a cache hunt, which violates the above quoted section of the guidelines.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Caching After Work - July 16, 2008
I had been looking for a place to drop off a geocoin that I had picked up on my last day of my vacation in Oregon. Since I had no geocaching trips planned, I figured that I would drop off this coin in one of the Mud Island caches. It turned out, though, that both caches that I was thinking about had been affected by the river flooding and had been archived.
I saw that their were two nearby new caches that I hadn't found. They were both close enough to where I work that I figured I would head out around 6pm and try them out. Since they were close, I decided to walk.
The first cache I went after, Hunt Phelan by Amie (GC1D54K), was under a mile away from where I work. After looking at the GPSr autorouting, I thought I'd try another way that kept me off Union Avenue. I took Beale Street over from the east end near Shelby State Community College. It is a fairly deserted street from that end. I had never visited the Hunt-Phelan home before and was a little surprised at the surrounding area. As is usual when I am geocaching, I only explored the area between where I entered the grounds and where the geocache was. Like others, I was taken aback by the rat poison container near the cache coordinates. Being so close to the cache, itself, I could imagine people looking it over to see if it is the cache. Bad idea, by the way. When I finally found the container, I was impressed by the labelling and the swag inside. After leaving, I realized it would have been a great place to drop off the geocoin. Oh well, I'll try to get back there soon to drop it off. This cache is part of a series called the "National Great River Road 70th Anniversary Geocaching Event."
I walked into downtown and then headed north to the Marriott area where the next cache was - Phirst Line of Defense/Fort Harris by cavecom (GC1DT79). I had stayed at this hotel before but had never been around to the little park on the northeast side. I read the two historical markers before searching for the cache. I had a little trouble finding this one and was glad that no one was around to see me wander aimlessly. After finally finding the cache and signing the log, I hiked back to work and logged my finds.
I saw that their were two nearby new caches that I hadn't found. They were both close enough to where I work that I figured I would head out around 6pm and try them out. Since they were close, I decided to walk.
The first cache I went after, Hunt Phelan by Amie (GC1D54K), was under a mile away from where I work. After looking at the GPSr autorouting, I thought I'd try another way that kept me off Union Avenue. I took Beale Street over from the east end near Shelby State Community College. It is a fairly deserted street from that end. I had never visited the Hunt-Phelan home before and was a little surprised at the surrounding area. As is usual when I am geocaching, I only explored the area between where I entered the grounds and where the geocache was. Like others, I was taken aback by the rat poison container near the cache coordinates. Being so close to the cache, itself, I could imagine people looking it over to see if it is the cache. Bad idea, by the way. When I finally found the container, I was impressed by the labelling and the swag inside. After leaving, I realized it would have been a great place to drop off the geocoin. Oh well, I'll try to get back there soon to drop it off. This cache is part of a series called the "National Great River Road 70th Anniversary Geocaching Event."
I walked into downtown and then headed north to the Marriott area where the next cache was - Phirst Line of Defense/Fort Harris by cavecom (GC1DT79). I had stayed at this hotel before but had never been around to the little park on the northeast side. I read the two historical markers before searching for the cache. I had a little trouble finding this one and was glad that no one was around to see me wander aimlessly. After finally finding the cache and signing the log, I hiked back to work and logged my finds.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
States I've Cached In
This is a neat looking map, even if it doesn't show exactly where in each of these states that I've actually cached. Of course itsnotaboutthenumbers.com has other maps for that. One thing about my recent trip by train across the country that was a bummer was that I passed through three states where I have not cached before (North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). I did, however, get some insights as where to go caching if I go back up that way.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Road Trip to Oregon 2008 - Part I: Memphis to Chicago
It was time for my annual trip to visit family in Oregon. Normally I would drive, hunting geocaches along the way, but this time I wanted to try something different.
I have been interested for awhile in traveling to Chicago via Amtrak and caching while there. For a day trip from Memphis it would be fun, because the northbound train arrives in downtown Chicago at around 9am and the southbound train leaves Chicago at 8pm. For this trip, though, I planned to take a train north to Chicago, enjoy a short layover, and take another train west to Pasco, WA where my family would meet me and drive me the the rest of the way to their home in Eastern Oregon.
I learned a few things while getting my reservations made. Train travel is pricey at this time of the year, because of the summer travel season. Traveling at the end of the week: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, is more expensive than the other days of the week. Still, it was cheaper than driving, and leaving the day I did allowed me to get to Oregon in time to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad.
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Thursday, June 12
I left directly from work and traveled by trolley to the Amtrak station downtown.
Because of a sinkhole behind the station and near the tracks, the train does not actually stop here at this time. A chartered bus takes you to an area the ticket refers to as "Memphis Junction". For the geocachers out there, this spot is roughly one mile southeast of Super Lame Cache by Chance Encounter (adopted by Abiectio) (GCTP6T). How appropriate.
Rather than heading north and enjoying a scenic view of the Mississippi River, we were treated to a 5-10 mph tour of the crappiest parts of Orange Mound and the Hyde Park area. I thought I had been through the worst areas in Memphis while geocaching. I was wrong. Not even close.
Oh well, by the time we got north of Memphis it was too dark to see anything. The part of the route between Memphis and Chicago (called "City of New Orleans") is done at night, both the northbound trip and the southbound trip. If I had been heading south from Memphis to New Orleans, the trip would have been done during daylight hours.
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Friday, June 13
I arrived in Chicago shortly after 9am. The south side of Chicago, from what I saw along the tracks, is much the same as what I saw coming out of Memphis.
Amtrak doesn't own the tracks it runs on, it leases them from the freight lines. That pretty much explains the lack of appealing scenery for some of the trip.
Chicago is BIG! Union Station in Chicago is BIG. After scouting around the station and checking out things like costs for storage lockers and options at the food court, I decided to step outside and do some caching. I had maps of local caches I thought I could get to during my 5 hour layover. However, when I stepped outside, I was completely blown away by the size of the buildings and the amount of people and traffic. My GPSr was having troubles with the signal and I was unusually disoriented direction-wise.
The first cache I went after was Chicago's Historic Places: Union Station by madamemoutard (GCW2W2). After dodging parking lot security, I retrieved the cache and signed the log. My next stop was Chicago's Historic Places: St. Patrick's Church by madamemoutard (GCTWXA). I DNF'ed on that one after spending way too much time looking for it.
I wanted to go after So many So many Storeys, So Little Time by bspeng (GC47A4), a virtual cache located in the Sears Tower, but I hadn't locked up my backpack and wasn't sure I could get in the Sears Tower with it, so I just stared at the huge building for a moment.
By this time, I was getting quite warm and a little sweaty so I decided to head back inside the station. After all, I still had two full days of train travel ahead and I had brought no spare changes of clothes. For those of you keeping track, yes, I logged a grand total of ONE cache while in Chicago.
Back in the station, I found a big fan in one of the waiting lounges to stand in front of. After cooling down, I had lunch at Kelly's Cajun Grille in the Food Court.
I went back to the lounge near the departure gate to wait for the train I would be traveling west on. It had not occurred to me that there was severe flooding in Wisconsin. We found out at the last moment that train service was interrupted between Chicago and Minneapolis.
To be continued...
I have been interested for awhile in traveling to Chicago via Amtrak and caching while there. For a day trip from Memphis it would be fun, because the northbound train arrives in downtown Chicago at around 9am and the southbound train leaves Chicago at 8pm. For this trip, though, I planned to take a train north to Chicago, enjoy a short layover, and take another train west to Pasco, WA where my family would meet me and drive me the the rest of the way to their home in Eastern Oregon.
I learned a few things while getting my reservations made. Train travel is pricey at this time of the year, because of the summer travel season. Traveling at the end of the week: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, is more expensive than the other days of the week. Still, it was cheaper than driving, and leaving the day I did allowed me to get to Oregon in time to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad.
---
Thursday, June 12
I left directly from work and traveled by trolley to the Amtrak station downtown.
Because of a sinkhole behind the station and near the tracks, the train does not actually stop here at this time. A chartered bus takes you to an area the ticket refers to as "Memphis Junction". For the geocachers out there, this spot is roughly one mile southeast of Super Lame Cache by Chance Encounter (adopted by Abiectio) (GCTP6T). How appropriate.
Rather than heading north and enjoying a scenic view of the Mississippi River, we were treated to a 5-10 mph tour of the crappiest parts of Orange Mound and the Hyde Park area. I thought I had been through the worst areas in Memphis while geocaching. I was wrong. Not even close.
Oh well, by the time we got north of Memphis it was too dark to see anything. The part of the route between Memphis and Chicago (called "City of New Orleans") is done at night, both the northbound trip and the southbound trip. If I had been heading south from Memphis to New Orleans, the trip would have been done during daylight hours.
---
Friday, June 13
I arrived in Chicago shortly after 9am. The south side of Chicago, from what I saw along the tracks, is much the same as what I saw coming out of Memphis.
Amtrak doesn't own the tracks it runs on, it leases them from the freight lines. That pretty much explains the lack of appealing scenery for some of the trip.
Chicago is BIG! Union Station in Chicago is BIG. After scouting around the station and checking out things like costs for storage lockers and options at the food court, I decided to step outside and do some caching. I had maps of local caches I thought I could get to during my 5 hour layover. However, when I stepped outside, I was completely blown away by the size of the buildings and the amount of people and traffic. My GPSr was having troubles with the signal and I was unusually disoriented direction-wise.
The first cache I went after was Chicago's Historic Places: Union Station by madamemoutard (GCW2W2). After dodging parking lot security, I retrieved the cache and signed the log. My next stop was Chicago's Historic Places: St. Patrick's Church by madamemoutard (GCTWXA). I DNF'ed on that one after spending way too much time looking for it.
I wanted to go after So many So many Storeys, So Little Time by bspeng (GC47A4), a virtual cache located in the Sears Tower, but I hadn't locked up my backpack and wasn't sure I could get in the Sears Tower with it, so I just stared at the huge building for a moment.
By this time, I was getting quite warm and a little sweaty so I decided to head back inside the station. After all, I still had two full days of train travel ahead and I had brought no spare changes of clothes. For those of you keeping track, yes, I logged a grand total of ONE cache while in Chicago.
Back in the station, I found a big fan in one of the waiting lounges to stand in front of. After cooling down, I had lunch at Kelly's Cajun Grille in the Food Court.
I went back to the lounge near the departure gate to wait for the train I would be traveling west on. It had not occurred to me that there was severe flooding in Wisconsin. We found out at the last moment that train service was interrupted between Chicago and Minneapolis.
To be continued...
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Cleaning Up
I have been using itsnotaboutthenumbers.com for awhile now to keep track of my "important" caching statistics and finally got tired of seeing the note about having multiple finds on a cache. When Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny (GCCFED) was adopted by yogi and dolphin back in 2006, the owner gave permission to log it again. I had gone back and signed the log again, but after some time realized that since I believe that logging a cache more than once (even with permission) is wrong, I needed to delete my second log. Ahhh, I feel much better now.
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I just got back from a three-week trip to Oregon and still have a few caches to log. Afterwards, I will try to document some of my more interesting excursions.
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I just got back from a three-week trip to Oregon and still have a few caches to log. Afterwards, I will try to document some of my more interesting excursions.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Lost Room
Normally I don't like to go into great detail when talking about specific caches because I don't like to provide spoilers to future cache hunters. In this case, however, the cache is being permanently archived only a week or so after it was published. Anyways, enjoy the story of the hunt for The Lost Room by cavecom (GC1C48N).
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We had no plans to go after this particular cache because the difficulty/terrain ratings were lower than many of the caches that jbgreer had been recently logging. Most of the caches we were doing on this day were puzzle caches. I had figured that I would be hunting this one alone at some point in the future. Because we were in the general area and had been hunting other caches nearby, I suggested that we at least scout out the area.
We had suspected given what we had read on the cache page that the location was a rundown motel that had been closed, but still easily accessible to the public. I had looked at the area using google maps, but had not looked at a satellite image of the area - so what we ended up seeing was truly a surprise. We decided that there might be something to this cache, so we began to look for a parking spot and a way into the area. We pulled off of Summer Avenue onto an easement for transmission towers and parked the truck. Looking across the easement we saw a small part of a building peeking through the relatively thick growth along the border of the easement. We decided that would be our entrance point.
Once through the fence, we could see more than one building and we zigzagged through the structures while following the arrow of the GPSr. We were luckier than the previous finders, I think, because I walked straight to where the cache container was stashed and we were quickly signing the log.
Once the initial joy of finding the cache was over, however, we began to look a little more closely at our surroundings. Having both seen "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at the movies just the week before, it was appropriate that Indy's line "I have a bad feeling about this..." came to mind. We had stumbled upon a lost "city" and didn't want to trigger anything that might cause "creatures" or people to literally come out of the woodwork!
We both agreed that sticking around was a bad idea and quickly left, but I opted to take a few pictures on the way out. All of my pictures were exterior shots because I had no desire to get a look inside of any of these buildings.
After getting out of the woods and back to the truck, I figured that might be the end of the story; that this would simply be one of a number of cache finds for the day albeit it an interesting find.
---
When I arrived at work on Monday I saw that the cache had been archived, possibly in response to a note by jbgreer on the cache page regarding the condition of the area. I posted my log and mentioned that I had taken pictures of the area. When the cache owner, cavecom, went by to take pictures of the area to possibly give to the police, he found that the site had literally been removed. The Lost Room was now truly lost.
---
I received an e-mail from cavecom afterwards asking me to post the pictures that I had taken and to the cache page did so.
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Update: 1/17/2009
I was reading Memphis Magazine's "Ask Vance" blog and learned a little history about this location. Here is a link to that history.
---
We had no plans to go after this particular cache because the difficulty/terrain ratings were lower than many of the caches that jbgreer had been recently logging. Most of the caches we were doing on this day were puzzle caches. I had figured that I would be hunting this one alone at some point in the future. Because we were in the general area and had been hunting other caches nearby, I suggested that we at least scout out the area.
We had suspected given what we had read on the cache page that the location was a rundown motel that had been closed, but still easily accessible to the public. I had looked at the area using google maps, but had not looked at a satellite image of the area - so what we ended up seeing was truly a surprise. We decided that there might be something to this cache, so we began to look for a parking spot and a way into the area. We pulled off of Summer Avenue onto an easement for transmission towers and parked the truck. Looking across the easement we saw a small part of a building peeking through the relatively thick growth along the border of the easement. We decided that would be our entrance point.
Once through the fence, we could see more than one building and we zigzagged through the structures while following the arrow of the GPSr. We were luckier than the previous finders, I think, because I walked straight to where the cache container was stashed and we were quickly signing the log.
Once the initial joy of finding the cache was over, however, we began to look a little more closely at our surroundings. Having both seen "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at the movies just the week before, it was appropriate that Indy's line "I have a bad feeling about this..." came to mind. We had stumbled upon a lost "city" and didn't want to trigger anything that might cause "creatures" or people to literally come out of the woodwork!
We both agreed that sticking around was a bad idea and quickly left, but I opted to take a few pictures on the way out. All of my pictures were exterior shots because I had no desire to get a look inside of any of these buildings.
After getting out of the woods and back to the truck, I figured that might be the end of the story; that this would simply be one of a number of cache finds for the day albeit it an interesting find.
---
When I arrived at work on Monday I saw that the cache had been archived, possibly in response to a note by jbgreer on the cache page regarding the condition of the area. I posted my log and mentioned that I had taken pictures of the area. When the cache owner, cavecom, went by to take pictures of the area to possibly give to the police, he found that the site had literally been removed. The Lost Room was now truly lost.
---I received an e-mail from cavecom afterwards asking me to post the pictures that I had taken and to the cache page did so.
---
Update: 1/17/2009
I was reading Memphis Magazine's "Ask Vance" blog and learned a little history about this location. Here is a link to that history.
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