Not much going on in the area as far as events go. 10-10-10 In and Around Shelby County by The Disorganization of MidSouth Geocachers (GC2E9DX) looks like it might be an interesting event. It doesn't have many RSVPs yet, but that may be because they offer one smiley for basically driving around all day and taking pictures.
Would I go to such an event? Perhaps. I like driving around and taking pictures. In this case, however, the question I would ask myself before going is: Do I wish to socialize with people who permanently banned a founding member of GOWT from the GOWT discussion forums for pointing out (correctly) that someone else in the group hosted a 10-year Groundspeak anniversary event and didn't meet the qualifications that Groundspeak had for such events?
I think not.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Midtown Memphis - 9/3/2010
Nice weather on this Labor Day weekend could mean lots of fun caching trips. Unfortunately, I won't be doing much caching this weekend. My last cache hunt was back in early July and since then I seem to have misplaced my GPSr data cable. My Palm Pilot, which stores my cache data, also is dead as a doornail.
On the good side, there have been a number of caches (6) placed recently within walking distance of where I live. I decided to go after 4 of these after work on Friday. I printed out the coordinates and a map and headed home to pick up my GPSr and a small flashlight.
I left my place around 5:45pm, which meant I had about 2 hours of daylight left to cache. It was a 2 mile walk to the first find: Buc Lap Series - #3 by dguyusnavy (GC2A0TK). It was in a grassy median on the west side of Christian Brothers University and was meant to be an easy find. My next find was: Buc Lap Series - #1 by dguyusnavy (GC2A0T4). This one was not far from the Children's Museum of Memphis. The area was busy, though. There was a football game going on across the street from the cache.
[ West entrance of CBU ]
[ Football played in the shadow of the Liberty Bowl ]
Next, I went after HOME RUN! by dguyusnavy (GC2A0RA). This cache hadn't been found since June and had many DNFs, so I didn't have much hope of finding it. I did get to see four young women in bikinis playing volleyball, so it was worth the time to walk by it. This cache is also fairly near the new dog park at the north end of Tobey Park. It was amazing to see how many people were willing to drive there just to let their dogs play in a fenced in area.
It was starting to get dark, so I headed back towards home and the final cache of the day: Whopper of a cache by jamey1 (GC2C541). It doesn't take much imagination to guess where this cache was - or why I saved it for last.
After finding the last cache, I walked home. I had a decent time. It took about 3 hours to cover about 6 miles of walking and caching.
On the good side, there have been a number of caches (6) placed recently within walking distance of where I live. I decided to go after 4 of these after work on Friday. I printed out the coordinates and a map and headed home to pick up my GPSr and a small flashlight.
I left my place around 5:45pm, which meant I had about 2 hours of daylight left to cache. It was a 2 mile walk to the first find: Buc Lap Series - #3 by dguyusnavy (GC2A0TK). It was in a grassy median on the west side of Christian Brothers University and was meant to be an easy find. My next find was: Buc Lap Series - #1 by dguyusnavy (GC2A0T4). This one was not far from the Children's Museum of Memphis. The area was busy, though. There was a football game going on across the street from the cache.
[ West entrance of CBU ]
[ Football played in the shadow of the Liberty Bowl ]Next, I went after HOME RUN! by dguyusnavy (GC2A0RA). This cache hadn't been found since June and had many DNFs, so I didn't have much hope of finding it. I did get to see four young women in bikinis playing volleyball, so it was worth the time to walk by it. This cache is also fairly near the new dog park at the north end of Tobey Park. It was amazing to see how many people were willing to drive there just to let their dogs play in a fenced in area.
It was starting to get dark, so I headed back towards home and the final cache of the day: Whopper of a cache by jamey1 (GC2C541). It doesn't take much imagination to guess where this cache was - or why I saved it for last.
After finding the last cache, I walked home. I had a decent time. It took about 3 hours to cover about 6 miles of walking and caching.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Huntington, OR - 7/4/2010
My Dad and I decided to drive down to Huntington, OR to spend the day with my brother and family. They had a rented a small house with some friends for a three-day fishing weekend along the Snake River.
I planned to pick up a few caches along the way, but found out while on the road that I didn't have any caches for the area around Huntington loaded. My only find of the day was BUB # 1 Durkee and Greenbean Casserail by Team Storm_Runner (GC1E1N4). It was a guard rail cache near the Durkee exit.
It was a beautiful weekend and the extra time spent with family was definitely worth skipping Geowoodstock for.
I planned to pick up a few caches along the way, but found out while on the road that I didn't have any caches for the area around Huntington loaded. My only find of the day was BUB # 1 Durkee and Greenbean Casserail by Team Storm_Runner (GC1E1N4). It was a guard rail cache near the Durkee exit.
It was a beautiful weekend and the extra time spent with family was definitely worth skipping Geowoodstock for.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Union, OR - 6/24/2010
Most of this day's caches were in or around the town of Union, OR. Union is roughly 9 miles south of Cove and is a pretty neat little town.
Our first find was at Union City Park - Creek side park cache by Buck Snort-Clearwater Explorers-Globaltreckers (GC1NA0B). This was nicely tucked away near a rushing creek. Before leaving the park, I decided to take a few pictures. We were spotted by a teenage girl who figured we must be tourists since she has never seen anyone taking pictures there before. She tried to talk our ears off, and it was tough getting away.
Water Works by Jabez Gang (GC1YKBD) was in an area I had cached in before. It was one of those deals where you have a choice to walk along one side of a creek or the other. As usual, I initially chose the wrong side and walked nearly a quarter of a mile before realizing I needed to be on the other side.
Craig Mountain Junction by Person named after the mountain placed this cache. (GC1PEKV) was along the road to Hot Lake Springs. The cache was in a cookie tin and was wet on the inside. At some point I cut my right wrist on something - probably barbed wire.
After finding three caches, I told my Dad that we were done for the day. I think he was disappointed. I was too - it was a great day for caching, but I had no more caches mapped for the area.
On the way back to Cove, we decided to try A Little Bit of Heaven by wallowadave (GC1QT4R). My Mom and I hunted it a couple of days before with no luck. Many previous logs showed that the coordinates were off and I thought I had gone over the area pretty thoroughly before. On this day, I had climbed down a small embankment and when I turned around to tell my Dad something, I spotted the cache.
Our first find was at Union City Park - Creek side park cache by Buck Snort-Clearwater Explorers-Globaltreckers (GC1NA0B). This was nicely tucked away near a rushing creek. Before leaving the park, I decided to take a few pictures. We were spotted by a teenage girl who figured we must be tourists since she has never seen anyone taking pictures there before. She tried to talk our ears off, and it was tough getting away.
Water Works by Jabez Gang (GC1YKBD) was in an area I had cached in before. It was one of those deals where you have a choice to walk along one side of a creek or the other. As usual, I initially chose the wrong side and walked nearly a quarter of a mile before realizing I needed to be on the other side.
Craig Mountain Junction by Person named after the mountain placed this cache. (GC1PEKV) was along the road to Hot Lake Springs. The cache was in a cookie tin and was wet on the inside. At some point I cut my right wrist on something - probably barbed wire.
After finding three caches, I told my Dad that we were done for the day. I think he was disappointed. I was too - it was a great day for caching, but I had no more caches mapped for the area.
On the way back to Cove, we decided to try A Little Bit of Heaven by wallowadave (GC1QT4R). My Mom and I hunted it a couple of days before with no luck. Many previous logs showed that the coordinates were off and I thought I had gone over the area pretty thoroughly before. On this day, I had climbed down a small embankment and when I turned around to tell my Dad something, I spotted the cache.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
History Repeats
Seen on a local geocaching forum:
"GOWT is one big, happy clique!"
- tinksdad01, GOWT Advisory Committee 7/19/2010
History repeats itself. This same group was referred to as a clique (actually "click") in a derogatory fashion by a mouthbreather named dalls (now on the GOWT Advisory Committee) three years ago in this same forum.
--
For my liberal readers out there - a gift: Yogi's Gun Blog. Written by a West Tennessee geocacher and volunteer cache reviewer and grade-A nutjob. You're welcome.
"GOWT is one big, happy clique!"
- tinksdad01, GOWT Advisory Committee 7/19/2010
History repeats itself. This same group was referred to as a clique (actually "click") in a derogatory fashion by a mouthbreather named dalls (now on the GOWT Advisory Committee) three years ago in this same forum.
--
For my liberal readers out there - a gift: Yogi's Gun Blog. Written by a West Tennessee geocacher and volunteer cache reviewer and grade-A nutjob. You're welcome.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Pasco, WA - 6/18/2010
After 2 days and 3 nights on the train, I finally arrived in Pasco, WA. I got off of the train at 5:35am ready to do some caching! My dad was going to meet me at the station and since I didn't know if I would be late, I figured I'd have at least an hour to cache before he showed up. After looking around the station to see if anyone was waiting for me, I set out for the first cache of the morning - The Wrong Side Of The Tracks Cache by ISPYU168 (GC112PW). Nice cache in a little park about a half a mile from the station. After finding the cache, I got a call from my Dad saying that he and my brother were at the station. I gave them directions to where I was and they picked me up.
My brother wanted to do some shopping in nearby Kennewick, so we headed south across the river and to the shopping center where he had wanted to go. It was still early so we decided to have breakfast (I don't remember where - maybe IHOP). After a nice breakfast, it was still early so we hunted for nearby caches. Pasco and Kennewick are both cache-rich environments so it didn't take long to find 8 caches. By this time, the stores were opening, so we took care of the business we needed to do in town before heading back to Cove, Oregon. We didn't hunt anymore caches on that drive, in part because my family had to leave home at 3:30am to come and get me.
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Since I didn't take any pictures in Pasco or Kennewick, here are two pictures (of many) I took the day before while passing by Glacier National Park in Montana.
[ Not a very nice day outside. ]
[ We got to hear about how the glaciers are disappearing due to global warming. ]
My brother wanted to do some shopping in nearby Kennewick, so we headed south across the river and to the shopping center where he had wanted to go. It was still early so we decided to have breakfast (I don't remember where - maybe IHOP). After a nice breakfast, it was still early so we hunted for nearby caches. Pasco and Kennewick are both cache-rich environments so it didn't take long to find 8 caches. By this time, the stores were opening, so we took care of the business we needed to do in town before heading back to Cove, Oregon. We didn't hunt anymore caches on that drive, in part because my family had to leave home at 3:30am to come and get me.
---
Since I didn't take any pictures in Pasco or Kennewick, here are two pictures (of many) I took the day before while passing by Glacier National Park in Montana.
[ Not a very nice day outside. ]
[ We got to hear about how the glaciers are disappearing due to global warming. ]Saturday, July 10, 2010
Chicago, IL - 6/16/2010
I went to visit family in Oregon in June and because of some uncertainties with my car, I decided to take the train. I had a layover in Chicago, so I had mapped out some nearby caches to go after. I did the same thing 2 years ago and was thwarted then by hot and muggy conditions which limited me to only one find near the train station. This trip proved to be much more successful. I arrived in Chicago around 9:30am. Because of my two previous visits, I was much better able to handle getting around. It is amazing how easy it is to get disoriented in downtown Chicago. My GPSr proved to be limited in accuracy, due to the many tall buildings (including the Sears Tower), so I relied largely on a detailed paper map and the cache hints. It was also relatively cool on this morning, which allowed me to get around an area of just over 1/2 sq miles.
My first three stops were southeast of the train station. After finding What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis? by ShazamMan (GC268AW) on my second attempt at it, I decided to cool off by going in the Willis (Sears) Tower. On my last visit, 15 months or so ago, there were short lines and we were only allowed to go to the 99th floor. This time it was packed and we got to go the the newly renovated 103rd floor with its new viewing platforms. I tried to take my own picture but had little luck getting the shot I wanted. Fortunately, one of the platforms has a camera set up where they will take a picture (for a price) of you.
I thought I'd be nervous, but from that height the ground looks fake. It actually looks scarier standing on the ground and looking up at the platforms. After my visit to the tower, I had lunch at Jimmy John's nearby and found one more cache before it got too warm.
For those wondering: The heat was an issue because I had to spend two more days on the train in the clothes I was wearing.
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On my trip back, I didn't think I'd get to find anything but I did manage to get Tucked Away Downtown by Jeff60523 (GC1NXXG) in a packed area just north of the station (across the street).
My first three stops were southeast of the train station. After finding What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis? by ShazamMan (GC268AW) on my second attempt at it, I decided to cool off by going in the Willis (Sears) Tower. On my last visit, 15 months or so ago, there were short lines and we were only allowed to go to the 99th floor. This time it was packed and we got to go the the newly renovated 103rd floor with its new viewing platforms. I tried to take my own picture but had little luck getting the shot I wanted. Fortunately, one of the platforms has a camera set up where they will take a picture (for a price) of you.
I thought I'd be nervous, but from that height the ground looks fake. It actually looks scarier standing on the ground and looking up at the platforms. After my visit to the tower, I had lunch at Jimmy John's nearby and found one more cache before it got too warm.For those wondering: The heat was an issue because I had to spend two more days on the train in the clothes I was wearing.
---
On my trip back, I didn't think I'd get to find anything but I did manage to get Tucked Away Downtown by Jeff60523 (GC1NXXG) in a packed area just north of the station (across the street).
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