tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41888889427669301032024-03-12T21:20:45.363-07:00GeobloggerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-71407485139974494122008-07-01T09:16:00.000-07:002008-07-01T10:05:28.636-07:00June Recap | Ian's 1000 | Pathtags | #1500<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">What a month it has been. I haven't generated the stats yet, but from what I calculated I got 414 caches in the month of June......that is a lot. On the 27th 1/4 Sommer and I headed to Lexington since I'd be going out of town this weekend. He had a record day of 51 caches (Sommer Family had a total of 56 that day because another 1/4 Sommer hit some Michigan caches) and I had 48 caches. those days are always good pushers for the next milestone. It was nice to be in Lexington as opposed to some of the other runs I make. Lexington has lots of earthcaches and virtuals, so more history it seems you can learn from caching around there. The only bad thing about those caches is when logging you spend all the time emailing the pictures and answers to questions and yadda yadda. It isn't really a problem, but I mean if you have a run of 50 caches of virtuals and earthcaches, your sorting out an album's worth of photos and pretty much taking an SAT with all the questions to answer. We got most all of the existing caches in the downtown area and started to spread our venture a little bit. I was supposed to double 1,500 milestone with Slammer47, but he can't really make a trip for anything before the 12th of July, and to keep up with my personal stats and rates I like to keep for myself, I just couldn't do it. I thought maybe I'd be able to sit on a few logs, but a few turned into a handful, which turned into 60 something, which could easily turn into a few hundred. It already takes me a good hour or two to log, so I just couldn't do that to myself. Sorry Slammer, but we WILL milestone together! </span><br /><div><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">I just put out a new cache, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cb455417-f4bc-48bc-9ea6-d29f42ca5d74">Down the Rabbit Hole - GC1DJH5</a>: a 4/3.5 multi cache. I put it out for Ian's 1000, not necessarily for him to get as #1000 as he has debated Freefall 35,000's recently re-activated 4/4 <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=84293ca0-8782-4e7c-be09-a610a4f2a693">Litte Brother, Big Brother</a>. However, I put the cache out in honor of him and his favorite style of caches: tunnels. It's a 3 part tunnel cache, and I find it very fun. It's the first of 5 multi's I plan on putting out from Alice in Wonderland. the next chapter is "Pool of Tears", where alice is first a GIANT and then is SWIMMING in a pool of tears...if that tells you anything. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Yesterday morning I placed my order for my pathtags. A wonderful woman named Jennifer from <a href="http://www.wicksworksdesign.com/">Wicks Works Designs</a> made the design for me which I think is VERY cool. I took my normal trade item (my signature guitar pick) and placed it in the background of my tag with a big BTBAM going across it and a geocacing "G" symbol in the corner of the pick. I have the design she made, but I'll wait until I get the blueprint from Pathtags before I load a picture of it, be on the lookout for a new post about it. </span><br /></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">On a side note (and only because I know he'll be reading this), Ian bought himself a new GPSr...the COLORADO! I haven't even been able to touch the dang thing; my dream GPS. I always wondered what they were like, but no store has a demo of them or anything for me to mess with. The display screen looks incredible, the icons are small and non-cluttering, it can hold 2,000 waypoints, has the notes and cache pages...it's pretty much incredible and now I need one. One downfall he mentioned was that it eats batteries....but I'm pretty sure I can deal with that. Consider it Wishlisted.</span><br /></div><div><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2623735590_843b882586.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 82px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 89px" height="173" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2623735590_843b882586.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">So, this past Sunday I tackled my #1500 milestone. 1/4 Sommer and I finished the 3.5/4 <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a62cee70-4fef-4ac2-86b5-b405cb8e430e">The Forgotten Cemetery Tour III - GCRZ8V</a>. it was a 6 stage cemetery multi, with multiple stages per cemetery. It went through a lot of history about the person's family and other people influenced in the area. It took several hours to complete, and almost an hour<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2623739808_35a8fa8bf1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 92px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 69px" height="77" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2623739808_35a8fa8bf1.jpg" border="0" /></a> getting to the place, which apparently turned out to be right outside of California. The second cemetery showed us why it had <a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2622913599_49cb38814d.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 118px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 158px" height="221" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2622913599_49cb38814d.jpg" border="0" /></a>a 4 terrain rating, as within a mere 200 the altitude changed by, oh I don't know, 400 feet? It was pretty wild, especially for a cemetery. Anyways, we finished that, and I got one more block on my D/T matrix. Actually, </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Sunday alone I got 3 blocks filled in, 3 of 4 that I need to finish up everything within 4/4 (which is prett<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2623739808_35a8fa8bf1.jpg"></a>y exciting to me). I have less than 20 boxes left <a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2622913599_49cb38814d.jpg"></a>to completing my matrix: YES!</span><br /><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-75966897971395676772008-06-24T20:23:00.001-07:002008-06-25T06:37:22.638-07:00Brian's first boat...ish.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2608834909_a5d5f1d6b3_b.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2608834909_a5d5f1d6b3_b.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'd say the title says it all. I got myself my first boat...ish. A new cache popped up last night right on the coast of Ft. Thomas, only a few miles from where I live. It was called <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8f42a4f8-c467-46ed-96f3-f5f399d75336">"Red red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin' along" - GC1DF5N.</a> It was also a 1.5/5. I decided that I wanted to be FTF, and I also needed it for my Difficulty/Terrain matrix. Plus, I have yet to complete an Island cache or a cache that involves a boat or watercraft...so now seemed like the perfect first time. I went to Bass Pro and bought two inflatable boats, one for me, and one for Sommer Family. Here is my log for the cache:<br /><br /></span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Last night I saw this cache pop up and just knew I wanted to get it. I wanted to get it because it was a few miles from me. I wanted to get a FTF. I wanted to get a 5 terrain. I wanted to get another spot filled on my D/T chart. There was no reason I shouldn't go. So...what did I do? I went to Bass Pro and bought 2 inflatable boats (rafts) and called Sommer Family, "Hey Sommers....good night for a swim, eh?" Needless to say they were all for it. 7:30 rolls around and we embark on our journey. We set off from Brent Ferry about .64 away, march down the shore awhile, and finally decided to go in.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Red Red Robin wasn' really the song that was in my mind. Actually, It was Primus' "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" album that kept coming to mind. Just...sifting through that curdled mess of goop. I mean, I know people talk about how polluted the Ohio is...and how nasty it is...and about the mutated fish and what not, but is it really true? The answer is yes. If only you could see the dead fish we saw on the bank before going in. About 2 feet long....and hair all on it's back. Some mammalian sea creature I suppose. Anyways, back to the story. </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">So...it has been awhile since I've been kayaking or even canoing for that matter. I had to get back into the motion. Here is how it went tonight: </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Paddle in the water.<br />Stroke.<br />Paddle out of the water.<br />Hit Phil in the head.<br />Paddle in the water.<br />Stroke.<br />Paddle out of the water.<br />Hit Phil in the head.<br />Paddle in the water.<br />Stroke.<br />Stroke.<br />Wait...why is this spinning?<br />It's spinning.<br />Still spinning.<br />Like Kobe Bryant in the playoffs spinning.<br />Okay back on track.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">And another hit to Phil's head for the heck of it.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Anyways...so we get 234 feet from the cache GZ and what do we find, A DECOY! HOW DECEPTIVE! (not really....but we did find a floating pill container, and we kept it for evidence) </span><br /><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_A8Hw7CSF6vk/SGJJvwQAydI/AAAAAAAAABk/fLydmcPaZzE/s1600-h/b2d37adc-1cac-4d20-8a36-6d31ef360d6c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215812403203197394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_A8Hw7CSF6vk/SGJJvwQAydI/AAAAAAAAABk/fLydmcPaZzE/s200/b2d37adc-1cac-4d20-8a36-6d31ef360d6c.jpg" border="0" /></a>Eventually....the two twinks in the little raft looking thing among all the speed boats filled with people staring at us like two twinks in a little raft looking thing spotted the cache location, made the grab, and signed the log. Approximately 8:30PM...FTF! </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Thanks for the adventure. Upstream back was definitely easier, and a little rewarding. </span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Now if you will excuse me...I have a shower and 16 Advil calling my name.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">TFTC!</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">#1443</span></p></span><br /><span id="LogBookPanel1_lbImageMain"><strong></strong></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-45116087547316115212008-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:002008-06-25T09:05:34.270-07:00#1400<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Okay, so for 4 weeks now I have hit a milestone. That is pretty exciting! In my first 2 months of caching I hit 500. It took me around 2 weeks over the next 2 months to get my second 500. If I get to 1500 (I'm sitting at 1442) before the 13th of July, that would make my third set of 500 in 2 months again (being 2 months since I completed Mini-Me). That is great! there has been talk about double 1500 milestoning with Slammer47 or tripling with Ian for his 1,000th also...or POSSIBLY even quadroupling with Big Mamma K for her 1,000 also. Phew. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Anyways, let's talk about the milestone.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Ian, Kristen and I went to Springfield, Ohio (east of Dayton) this weekend with a mission. That mission was to grab <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=12a77b64-8da6-4edd-af6f-a165c3064da6">"How about these apples?!?!" - GC16Q52</a>, the 2/4.5 TUNNEL cache. I was nervous it wouldn't be there (as we have had such excellent lucky with our other milestone attempts). This one we did prevail on! We even had a few bags of apples with us to make it a little more fun! Here are a few pictures and a cute video for your visual pleasure. See more pics on my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/btbam/">Flickr </a>page. </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2606834956_0da64352e5_b.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3230/2606004329_2f69739bab_b.jpg" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-61533983021316921542008-06-19T08:52:00.000-07:002008-06-25T09:01:38.267-07:00DNF!!!!!<a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/768d105e-4086-46cd-b3b2-3d77e736157f.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/768d105e-4086-46cd-b3b2-3d77e736157f.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/f88d0505-2bb0-4709-8d6d-86d852b32b0e.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/f88d0505-2bb0-4709-8d6d-86d852b32b0e.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">So last night was the Fluttercat Chat (Event cache). We decided since the Sommers, Ian, Kristen, and I were all available, it would be a great night to try the night cache <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=87ce0250-6b19-4567-9957-f1df6b8c1314">"Caesar's Darkside" - GCACEE </a>right? WRONG! We had a great hike in. the area was beautiful, and we came at just about the right time. We had enough light to see around, but by the time we got to the destination we require darkess for, it was provided. However...that is also when the problems began...WE COULDN'T FIND THE REFLECTORS! It was aweful. We were out there I'd say an hour and a half with no luck at all. We called several people (as we always do) and no direction helped us find it. We came to the conclusion it is missing, and the markers have been removed. The bigger problem with that is that the owner hasn't logged into the cache site in almost a year, so this may never get put back for us to grab. Aweful. That is what a call a FAILED MILESTONE ATTEMPT! </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-60640089599357511392008-06-15T08:22:00.000-07:002008-06-25T08:33:48.814-07:00#1300<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2579779223_0e42930162_b.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2579779223_0e42930162_b.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Alright, alright. Moving right along. That same day (but not really) we got a double milestone (1300/500) with <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=615b3ce4-1e75-401e-8f2d-f1e87b01fca1">"Ammo with a Problem" - GCZJ6C</a>. This was a 2/4 tree cache. We hit it going into the evening. We had plenty of light when we started, but it faded quick while Sommer attempted to find the cache. I say "attempted" because once getting up and looking as well, we both determined this one was missing. We called Slammer, we called back home to read through the logs, we called Pokerbuzz. We tried everything we could to figure out if we were doing SOMETHING wrong. We weren't...it was just missing. Apparently it has gone missing a few times before also. We had done the work. We set up the rope...done the climbing...we were not leaving without a find. After about an hour and a half, we decided to replace the container with a new one, and a new log. We logged the find as normal - and it is a good thing because someone found it just a few days after us...YOUR WELCOME! Anyways...it was a well deserved milestone, as the climb was tricky - but good company (miss you Ian) and goof times made for a good cache. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-42000762269688251842008-06-15T06:57:00.000-07:002008-06-25T08:36:12.267-07:00#1200<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">So...I've been busy lately. doing what exactly? Getting caches. Eat, sleep, work, cache. That is pretty much all I do. I've gotten milestones every weekend the past 3 weeks, which is pretty nice in my book. the first one was Earock which I talked about in one of the last posts. the weeks after was busy with me, Ian and the Sommers. Out almost every night. Clearing Hamilton, grabbing some in Springboro, Middletown, Kettering. In that time was the "Thank You Reviewer Webling" event too where I finally got to meet Slammer47 in person.</span><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">One weekend the Sommers and I went to Dayton (Kettering) in pursuit of our next milestone - two milestones for me. I like to have a celebratory milestone, and sometime I sit on a few finds to make that happen, but #1200 just wasn't playing the right hand. I was sitting on about 75 caches, no milestone in sight. The only thing I thought to do would be to grab a liar's cache, and I picked the 5/2.5 <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e740ce90-12ab-495d-9e87-5a680abd6e9a">"A Fantastical Grand Adventure" - </a><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e740ce90-12ab-495d-9e87-5a680abd6e9a">GC18K1K</a>. The goal of that cache was to create a Sci-fi story. What a better way to go back in time and grab my #1200 than actually GOING BACK IN TIME. Here is my log along with some pictures:</span></div><div><br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Some of you may be thinking, "Brian, how do you think this is a milestone for you? You reached 1200 on 6/10/08 while out caching with Sommer Family? This is actually your 1287th find..." While you may THINK that is true, you don't even know the half of it. </span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><div><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/9b4e40b8-f0a4-4924-b9b7-b61427748235.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/9b4e40b8-f0a4-4924-b9b7-b61427748235.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div>There was only one way known to man to log this 1200 milestone when seemingly passing my prime opportunity to do so. I had to travel back in time. How does one do that though? What? you didn't know the powers that lie behind "GC18K1K??!" It's the ONLY way to do it! </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/61bcbaaa-547b-45a2-93b8-5062ff700f20.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/61bcbaaa-547b-45a2-93b8-5062ff700f20.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div>I crawl for miles, for what seemed like years. I was in darkness, the only thing I could see was a pinprick of light off in the distance. I followed it, for days and days I followed the tiny pinprick of light until it started to get bigger and bigger. Finally, I come to see a checkered pattern and burst of light. I had reached my destination. </div><div><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/81cd0d04-80e0-41fe-bd7a-8919dd637ad4.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/81cd0d04-80e0-41fe-bd7a-8919dd637ad4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div><br />I observe a creature unlike my own, holding what I knew to be the cache. Secretly and quietly, as silent as I could be, I make my way out of the darkness I once called my home. </div><div><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/7f427fe3-ea61-40bb-bb7b-fd6ab938c4c3.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/7f427fe3-ea61-40bb-bb7b-fd6ab938c4c3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div></div><div><br />The creature noticed me, he panicked, and started running away. I had to chase him...it was the only way. Through land and through water I pursued him. After nearly 3 hours the pursuit came to a close. I tackled the creature to the ground, leaving the cache flying through the air. The creature had met his demise. I ran after the cache, scooped it up with my hands, and fled to the "Anchor" : The time <a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/9a343ce4-b204-4538-93a5-76cf17500340.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/9a343ce4-b204-4538-93a5-76cf17500340.jpg" border="0" /></a>travel machine. I strapped myself aboard and BLASTED back in time. </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br />All of a sudden I was back in Sommer's car on 6-10-2008 grabbing park and grabs; the cache and log for GC18K1K was in hand. I had done it! This was now OFFICIAL my #1200! After signing the log it was time to come home. I mounted the anchor one last time, and fled <a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/c5310d89-8cb3-41e1-a079-090eb55d8ca5.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/c5310d89-8cb3-41e1-a079-090eb55d8ca5.jpg" border="0" /></a>back to the future. Upon arrival, I gave a shout of victory, raising the cache up to the heavens, and replaced as found.<br /></div><div><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/c5310d89-8cb3-41e1-a079-090eb55d8ca5.jpg"></a></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Back to the tunnel I went. I crawl for miles, for what seemed like years. I was in darkness, with nothing ahead in the distance but a pinprick of light.</span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><div><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />#1200 </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></div></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/c5310d89-8cb3-41e1-a079-090eb55d8ca5.jpg"></a><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/ce943c19-5ccc-410c-923b-d85e9aa96b3b.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/ce943c19-5ccc-410c-923b-d85e9aa96b3b.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/c5310d89-8cb3-41e1-a079-090eb55d8ca5.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></p></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><p></span></p><a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/c5310d89-8cb3-41e1-a079-090eb55d8ca5.jpg"></a><p></p><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></p></span><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-39621329782266081232008-06-05T22:03:00.001-07:002008-06-16T08:05:08.085-07:00The Traveling Cache, The 81, & More<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2546232149_87c1eaa62f_b.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2546232149_87c1eaa62f_b.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">So, I met this amazing caching group here called <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=75a85677-838f-47c0-9ef0-aae2319f7145">The Sommer Family</a>. Husband, Wife, Mom, Daughter. Really fun group (haven't met the daughter yet). Well, I had lunch with the Wife and Mom, and they let me in on a little something, something. It was a grandfathered traveling cache they had come across at Jungle Jims. </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=eb122641-0a1f-4774-ac3f-46b7e2f0532c"><span id="CacheName">"Final Approach" (MacGyver MOVING Cache # 27 )</span> - GCDB76</a>. I always wanted something like this in caching, and it was really cool to be a part of it, especially since it is extinct now!<br /><br /><br />Also, Ian and I's first cache in our new series got published: </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=324fb949-229e-4e8b-a35b-adbc57115638"><span id="CacheName">The Beginning, or rather, The End: The 81 Series</span> - GC1CWW7</a>. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><span id="LongDescription" style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">This series will contain 81 caches, one for each of the Difficulty/Terrain ratings (1/1, 1.5/1, 2/1, 1/1.5, 1/2, etc). Whether you are new to caching or old, 1,000 caches in or 10; this will walk you through it. Over the next few months we will be placing caches all over the tri-state of all difficult and terrain: puzzles, multis, traditionals - everything you can think of. Many of the ideas already created are completely original, and some will not be. The one thing to be sure of is this: if you complete the series - you will have the 81 and can then call yourself a "well-rounded cacher". We will soon develop our own Fizzy challenge puzzle for completing the matrix of OUR caches...and we are very excited to see this come about! </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />I also was able to go back to some of my milestone locations and take some new, cool pictures for <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=9b2a1a62-ae6d-461c-bfd0-759a20d4a86d">my profile</a>. You can also see them in my flickr gallery <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24804643@N03/sets/72157605400235298/">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">PLUS! </span>I updated my <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/Default.aspx?guid=9b2a1a62-ae6d-461c-bfd0-759a20d4a86d">bookmark lists</a> for a lot of cool things. I made a list of my <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=54a5b0b3-8821-4601-87fd-d19eae2f3294">favorite non-terrains</a>, my <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=b562dc26-c830-4cde-b7e2-34700b87e0cb">favorite higher terrains</a>, and my <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=7041ba9b-2400-4f22-be4f-d1b412e9175a">"Must Do" list</a>. There are now a LOT of items on my must do list, and lots of new milestones I want. Lots of fun ones, some scenic ones, and tons of high D/T combos.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-55575885135620427612008-06-02T21:21:00.000-07:002008-06-05T22:13:05.183-07:00#1100<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Boy has it been a busy month. Graduating, moving into a condo in Northern Kentucky, band, full-time </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">work status....and CACHING! I've managed to go up to Dayton a few times, and just went this past </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">weekend with Abuhhhh and jcklm for another mileston</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">e, #1100.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2546478265_4560189347_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2546478265_4560189347_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">We tackled <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2d7ea7ce-b614-40db-b712-b4280b65b283">Ice Pick Man's Cave Multi </a></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2d7ea7ce-b614-40db-b712-b4280b65b283">Cache - GC15Q4B</a></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> earlier in the day, which was one of Slammer47's favorite caches. It was a pretty </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">fun </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">tunnel cache. Here is a wonderful picture of </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ian apparently b</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">eing chased by the Ice Pi</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">ck Man.<br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/2546472725_4903c0e94e_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/2546472725_4903c0e94e_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">There is also </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">the wonderful picture of me and my Surefire L2 LumaMax</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">w</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">hich </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">illuminated my way.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/2547297092_819e4fed04_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/2547297092_819e4fed04_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br />Luckily, it didn't appear that anyone was following us....but</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> it sure was a looooo</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">ooooooong w</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">ay back out.<br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2546470877_983b3283d5_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2546470877_983b3283d5_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br />A picture of Ian and I at the end of the tunnel. All the information has been snagged - on to the final!</span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The highlight of our day however (besides the drinks, laughs, and 37 caches on the day) was the milestone, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8360cca2-e761-4df4-a1f7-5448e745c4b0">earock 2000finds - GC16GDJ</a>. The following post will have:<br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">SPOILER PICTURES! Please don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled!!!!!!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2546444905_e86972d416_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2546444905_e86972d416_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Just as a safeguard, the first picture will be of our whole team after finding the cache.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2546468407_ecb33ee29a_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2546468407_ecb33ee29a_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />I</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">t was a very interesting find for the cache. I heard S</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">lammer tell me that you will never find anything like this cache anywhere. It was rated 4.5/3.5. I was excited out of my mind. We get there, and the cache is a small container, just sitting in </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">a tree, maybe 7 feet off the ground. I got very frustrated. There is NO WAY this was the cache. Something had to be wrong. I tried calling Slammer....no answer. I tried calling Pokerbuzz....no answer as well.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2546465217_72af3de40f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2546465217_72af3de40f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">We decided we'd atleast leave the cache a little hard</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">er to get than we found it. </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">We decided to prop it up with a stick. After looking at that for a few minutes...we decided to go back to the car, and see if we can't get some rope and hoist the thing up higher. I kept calling Pokerbuzz hoping he'd pick up. As soon as we got back to the car, he told me that is NOT how the cache was supposed to be...so back in</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> we went to maintenance.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It was then....when we started working...I got to witness how gorgeous...how simply....amazing this cache truly </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">was.</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2546459449_b57cc38388.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2546459449_b57cc38388.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Slammer told me the tree used to be perfectly balanced in the V of this other tree. Can you imagine? A...60-80 foot or something long tree...perfectly balanced in the V of another tree. For 1) for that to even happen, and 2) for someone to find it to put a cache there. It is just incredible. That, or if like in this picture, the tree was completely leaning the opposite way...and the cache was sitting nearly 80 feet above you. How killer.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-39860741100807998152008-05-23T20:32:00.000-07:002008-06-05T21:20:56.309-07:00New Gear<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Well, it is that time of the year to buy new things for the upcoming season. </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I have been telling myself for 3 years I would buy som</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">e good camping stuff, and 2 summers have gone by with nothing purchased. Well, since I got some money for graduation, I decided to finally go out </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">and get some stuff!<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2546361007_c974101aa9_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2546361007_c974101aa9_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><br />First up I got some ne</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">w hiking boots. Merrell Chameleon Wrap Gore-Tex XCR's. Th</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">ey are super awesome shoes - perfect for geocaching. If you don't</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> believe m</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">e, just read the tag. Particularly note the part where it says made for people who endure "TERRAIN". These</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> will definitely be the shoes I wear this </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">summer while cracking down on the difficult terrains.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3085/2546361791_22f7c27b8e_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3085/2546361791_22f7c27b8e_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2546236755_3dbb5a9ccc_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2546236755_3dbb5a9ccc_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">2 Military style cots for Kristen (or whoever) and I to use. VERY comfortable.<br /></span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2546245463_838a402fb2_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2546245463_838a402fb2_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br />North Face Terra 40 Backpack. Perfect for overnighters and long day hikes - perfect for this summer!</span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/2547061392_0a2ea2fc96_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/2547061392_0a2ea2fc96_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br />Large enough tent for the cots and some extra room. Nothing too special - got it at Dick's.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2547057822_2d739a33e0_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2547057822_2d739a33e0_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br />Every guy should have a pocketknife...right? Just needed a new one.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2149/2547063710_7b8d501aa8_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2149/2547063710_7b8d501aa8_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br />New Leki trekking poles. I never knew how helpful they are until I started using them, and now I love them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/2546235615_9a955e6f8a_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/2546235615_9a955e6f8a_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br />A very nice sale at Bass Pro for a very small backpacking size sleeping bag. fits right into the bottom stor</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >age on my Terra 40. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2546233193_2acb3c2913_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2546233193_2acb3c2913_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /><br />20L Dry bag...just in case it gets a little too wet out there...</span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2547062372_5fda0c778c_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2547062372_5fda0c778c_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br />A nice 70 oz camelbak that slides right into my Terra 40 (set up for hydration).<br /><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br />Now for the cream of the crop. the big shabang. I also bought myself several flashlights. First off</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" > I bought a Maglite 4D LED lite. It seems everyone needs a maglite - the weapon light. How</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2555497418_54667b7617_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2555497418_54667b7617_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >ever, while I was at Bass Pro this guy showed me these Surefire lights. They were expensive, but I be</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >came obsessed with them, and now I have 3 of them.<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >The 6P LED, L2 LumaMax, and the C-3 Centurion. The 6P has 11 of 80 Lumens, the L2 has a 15 lumen stage and a 100 lumen stage, 18 hours/1 hour respectively, and the C-3 Centurion has a Xenon bulb in it which produces 105 lumens of white light for 60 minutes. All have their perks.<br /><br /><br /><br />I also bought a Nintendo DS with the addicting puzzle game "Professor Layton and the Curious Village," which Kristen kidnapped and beat.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-49538235452512085472008-05-15T10:43:00.000-07:002008-05-16T10:11:43.767-07:00The big 1-0-0-0.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2494363371_e058a57f4f_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2494363371_e058a57f4f_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, after th</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">e 900</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> milestone and the caches I had done prior, I was backlogged about 106 caches. Ian</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> had actually made a list - a map of caches if you will - for me to</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> tackle in his hometown of Harrison. It hit several surrounding areas, and I</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> went one morning trying to get as many as possible. I didn't think it would happen, but I reached the end of the night with a record 53 caches - and that was nearly solo (except for a few going around with Abuhhhh). Anyways, with all those caches, the ones I did while in Anders</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">on, and several here and there around Cincinnati, I had a list. 2.5 hours later (monday afternoon) they were logged and I was ready for a little caching break. I spent the next week only gathering about 12 caches. However - this was a good in leading me up to the next milestone: the Big 1,000.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />I knew exactly what I would do, The new epic Tipp City (north of Dayton) multi-cache Mini Me - <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6f9ce12d-891b-4c50-b244-ac019b81d5c1">GC1AW67</a>. Here is my log entry for this cache:<br /></span></span><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >"I knew nothing abou</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >t Slammer47 until I heard the name in reference to a cache: Evil Easter Bunny.</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > See, the whole idea behind this cache of his was nearly an exact replica of an origi</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >nal (or so I thought) cache idea I had thought of and was getting ready to put out, when my cohort ydissac informed me, "uhm, there is a new cache called evil easter bunny in Dayton that I think is just like the cache you were going to put out..." It was in hearing this that I became mildly upset, but th</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >en emailed the owner telling him that 'great minds must think alike'. He then responded telling me that if I was going to be coming up to check it out, that I should wait and come up for this new multi he was putting out, and it would make the whole trip up for evil easter bunny worth it. Well, a week or so came, and the cache got published, but I thought nothing of it. 'Mini Me'. I don't really get it. He has Austin Powers pictures and some lines, but so what? 2.5/4.5, alright. Well, then I started reading ABOUT the cache...miniature versions of amazing milestones he had done. I had soon become wrapped around "Slammer47" and his incredible </span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >profile, full of wonderful milestone caches he had done. I began feeling down on myself, about how I haven't done any wicked sweet killer fun caches in my time. Now, I've only been caching 4 months...but I still felt I needed to pursue more. I had al</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >ready done the cache Lane Change, but we had sent up another member from our team to retrieve it.</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > Slowly, all of Slammer's favorite caches had been added to my "MUST DO THESE" list. However, in studying and prepping for my milestones, and coming quickly up to my number 1-</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >0-0-0, I thought...what a better </span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >cache to do than one that embodies all of these other caches in one...the very spirit of these</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > amazing caches, not only to Slammer, but to every other person who has used any of these caches as a milestone in the past. It is in that, I knew this had to be my 1000. I set out, thinking the worst...that some climb would be more than I could bare, or that the tunnel tigh</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >ter than I would be comfortable to enter. However, with Abuhhhh taking on the tunnels, and me doing the monkey work, I can successfully say that I have done one of the best caches to date, and recovered my 1000th cache. Thank you Slammer for the exciting cache, and the great memories. Now on the rest of the big versions!"<br /></span></span><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Here are some pictures from the different stages through the multi:<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2412/2495160800_5e8c93eb18_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2412/2495160800_5e8c93eb18_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here is Ian entering the first stage - A narrow tunnel with the second stage cl</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ue inside. </span></span><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></span><br /><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/2495162546_237c95fc7e_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/2495162546_237c95fc7e_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br />Me going after the second stage - A mini ammo box somewhere up this tree - only problem was there were no branches, only little nubs and notches along the way.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/2495164406_46a0261de5_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/2495164406_46a0261de5_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br />Me trying to retrieve a covered matchstick box tied to a branch just out of reach on the 4th stage while walking along a horizontally fallen tree over a little pond area. </span><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></span><br /><br /><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/2494344503_ac887c73a1_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/2494344503_ac887c73a1_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br />The 6th stage, the mini "Lane Change" - climbing REALLY high in the tree to retrieve the last clues for the final:</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/2495166114_c1ab77c11e_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/2495166114_c1ab77c11e_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Slammer had visited earlier in the day, preparing the cache, making sure everything was in tact, and leaving a travel jeep "trophy" for me to retrieve. </span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2495166408_f53188a1cd_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2495166408_f53188a1cd_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >A</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >fter caching</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > with</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > Ian around Tipp City, and clearing the 1,000 cache</span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" > mark, we celebrated with a set of wings and a few beers at BW-3 on our way back home. It was </span></span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >a good way to relax, and think about the past 4 months of caching. I can't wait for the next 1,000 and what they bring!<br /><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-73247672232265791792008-05-08T09:18:00.000-07:002008-05-15T10:42:54.246-07:00The 900 recap<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2038/2495157112_9613ac0390_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2038/2495157112_9613ac0390_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, it has been a little bit. I normally get really ant</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">sy </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">i</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">f </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I haven't cached in awhile, but it has been an exhausting past few days leading up to and just </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">after the 900th milestone. The day before we went to anderson for our double milestone cache we met up with jcklm to tackle Cincinnati's well known 1/4 cac</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">he, RR2K#L - </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=9ad88bed-e32a-4cc6-878c-8fe7152b6d7a">GC677B</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. I</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2495157488_33c1e62fe4_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2495157488_33c1e62fe4_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">t was one of the old railroad tunnels, long abandoned, </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">dark and WET. Well, the entrance was wet, the actual inside was pretty d</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ry. It was a creepy hike, not knowing anything at all to expect with the cache. We passed up it's locat</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ion on our way in, but backtracked and I made the find. We </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">got some celebratory pictures on the infamous "throne" and made our way out. What a fun cache...but, it was only a taste of what tomorrow will bring.</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sunday Ian and I went to Anderson, Indiana where the 5/5 "Hydrology" - </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f045c280-64c3-4d8d-9d53-c7cafa29bc36">GCXP99</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> lies. We didn't really know what to expect going into it. The aerial maps show up an icon on the side of a river. We couldn't t</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ell if it was actually in the water, or on the land. That information alone can give it a 5 difficulty. Al</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">so, it was a little chilly of a day. Maybe in the 70s, but for the beginning of May, that is still really cold to be getting</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> into a river. We still knew we'd do it anyways.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">We didn't ge</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">t but </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">a few caches on our way up, as we wanted to save for this milestone. We got to the cach</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2494337185_48d2d0324c_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2494337185_48d2d0324c_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">e at ne</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ar </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">1:30-2 o clock in the afternoon, dressed in our water clothes, and analyzed the situation.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> It appea</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">rs that we would have to get in. We got in the water, which since it had rained a lot two days prior, </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">came up to atleast my chest. The water</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> wasn't too strong, but it did catch us a few times. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">We felt more than confident that we'd find the cache, and not too long of looking secured that though. We found the ca</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">che, and got more than excited that we just 1) hit another milestone, </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">and 2) found a 5/5 cache! It was a rush. We swam/waded back, dried off, and spent the rest of the day/night caching in the area. Overall I'd say we had almost 35 </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">caches (I think 34). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3219/2495158676_42668ea3f3_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3219/2495158676_42668ea3f3_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Another cache we had found afterwards, as directed by the local cacher "doobies" to do was Big Ball of Paint - </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=40b3bf41-a8ed-47ab-9cfb-13671b0afb0a">GC12FPA.</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> The cache was at the Guinness Book of World Record's record holding largest ball of paint. The man there gave us the history of how it got started, how much it weighs and all that, then let us paint a coat on. We painted coat number 21,061. It was very cool, and made it to my list of favorite caches. This was the second cache I've been to at world record holding places (The other being the world's largest basket - </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=4c086b68-b687-46d0-baba-e34fb3c25169">GC8F96</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">).<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/2494339361_4a853bc158_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/2494339361_4a853bc158_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Another funny moment </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">of our day showing up for one of the caches, Another Shadyside Cache - <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=0b2372ee-298f-4528-a0b7-2b0146dca59c">GC105YW</a></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> that happened to be a 4/1 in a baseball park's parking lot. Anyways, it was one of those micro caches on the end of a piece of rebar in the concrete beams at the end of parking spaces. However, this particular piece of rebar had been welded to it's container, and the welding had broken off; leaving the cache stuck in the ground. However, ingenuity beat out strength and we chewed some gum and got it out. I replied in the log about how "big league chew" comes in handy here. I thought it clever.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-44439245101691557822008-05-05T04:05:00.000-07:002008-05-05T04:07:29.525-07:00Backlogged...back soon.Sorry it's been a bit since I've updated. I was planning my 900th milestone with a friend and in doing so caching constantly. I am now backlogged 105 caches, a few FTF's, and some nice pictures to go along. I'll update as soon as I can, but then on to planning the 1,000 milestone celebration.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-19498324474873444212008-04-26T23:29:00.000-07:002008-05-01T08:41:43.111-07:00Don't you just hate..<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2456393449_3cf9d9b400_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 159px; height: 155px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2456393449_3cf9d9b400_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Doesn't it just irk you when you decided to work on a puzzle or a multi only to not end up with a smiley in the end? Whether you wo</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">rk the puzzle and go to the coords and you don't find anything or you complete all the stages of a multi, and the final is no where to be found? Yea, that's pretty much what happened to me</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> today</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> on Children's Museum</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Multi-cache - <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCyvwy&Submit6.x=0&Submit6.y=0&Submit6=Find">GCYVWY</a> in Indianapolis, IN today. I was visiting as part of my schools concert choir tour (I play guitar), but just couldn't come up with the grab. The </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">bright side is I now have the coords for the final, but I still can't get over that I went and came up empty handed. The stages I went too were very cool however, so I suppose I can still be appreciative of that...<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.geocaching.com/images/icons/icon_sad.gif"><br /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-7263068129689772822008-04-25T15:57:00.000-07:002008-04-26T21:28:57.842-07:00A day in Oxford<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Another record day- 40 caches! Abuhhhh and I met up after work and decided to tackle the 5/2 puzzle final to <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=c8815b68-2d8e-4c97-95a9-20b9174fb3ce&wid=95845510-fae8-4dc1-ac40-8f09090ec15b&ds=2">Coach T</a>'s <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d90ca9e5-bf68-492a-b48e-fc94a985f8a9">Geosense</a> series. I had a talk with Coach about it, and he pointed some things out that I didn't notice before on the cache page which helped me in the direction to figuring out this cache without the coord fixes he provides in the previous 8 caches in the series. Abuhhhh got credit for being the FIRST person in the history of the cache to point out one very obvious (it would seem) aspect of the series, but we won't discuss that on here.<br /><br />Anyways, after finding this and one of the other pieces of the series, we headed for Oxford, Ohio. </span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2444105511_3b5ee95753_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2444105511_3b5ee95753_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">We tackled a good blend of caches: smalls, micros, unknowns, regulars. We tried to tackle the multi - but couldn't make it to the final by the time we finis</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">hed caching (around 1:30 am). We started off with some nice hikes on the Miami University Nature Areas trail system they have up there (over 15 miles -which several of our caches of the day were on). We managed to also complete 4 of the 5 caches on the trail system that runs right along side of the campus in the dark. It wasn't marked that we couldn't go on them at night, and it actually, I feel, made for a better more enjoyable hike. We got away from car noise, and really any form of noise at all. It was a pleasant night, and it actually made the quality of the cache and hide seem a lot higher.<br /><br />After the trail systems, and being in the dark already for atleast an hour, we decided to start nailing some of the P&G's. It was a nice blend, like I said before, of park and grabs, and stop, spend a little time but not too much and grabs.<br /><br />Abuhhhh's record to this point in one day had been 23, so we shattered that pretty early on - it was a great day. It had cured my itch I previously wrote about, and was a great time of hiking - finding some easy and difficult caches. I told Ian the only thing that could make this night would be a cop encounter -</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and we had success in that!<br /><br />We were <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d1031eb0-0b7e-4ee8-aa73-04b1b228aad8">Looking for Miami Beach</a> actually when it happened. I was down by the creek (in the dark mind you) while Abuhhhh was on the side of the guard rail by this bridge. I was looking when a cop car stopped next to Ian and he shined his light and asked, "You looking for something?" He told him we were looking for a geocache, and the cop asked if we had found it yet. He told the cop I was down looking for it, so I shined my light around to show I was there. Eventually the cop left us be, and I finally located the grab.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">8</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2124/2444105937_96a8355193_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2124/2444105937_96a8355193_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hou</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">rs later I can say I was pleasantly surprised how this particular night of caching after work went. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It w</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">as one of my favorite caching days, and the record day so far - 40! We'll try to get back in the area soon and tackle the rest - lots of good hikes left to finish!<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-81032940186396186082008-04-23T20:51:00.000-07:002008-04-26T20:57:30.748-07:00Itching...<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's one of those days; I'm sure you've had one. It's where you haven't had a chance to cache in awhile. Well, maybe it isn't even that bad - maybe it's just that you haven't cached yet today and you want too. I understand that some people aren't as <span style="font-style: italic;">obsessed</span> with caching like I may be, but sometimes if I don't get out to atleast 1 cache every day I get this itching. Last week I believe I went 3 days without caching and it was tough. I wanted to go out to Shawnee Park and finish it up, and do some caches surrounding, but nobody to go with. Sometimes running around on trails in a park alone just doesn't feel like much fun, and I'd rather not go. Caching alone in general isn't ever a whole lot of fun for me, it doesn't make it much of an "experience" as I feel it should be. I mean come on, it's not about the numbers...right? Anyways, I am planning on doing some caching tomorrow, so we'll see if I don't scratch that caching itch. </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-49984680590627975002008-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:002008-04-23T07:25:51.129-07:00GSAK and The Garmin GPSmap 60SCx<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Being a premium member of geocaching.com has some great benefits - one of which being the fact that you can build pocket queries.<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2435489320_22c756c25d_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 385px; height: 119px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2248/2435489320_22c756c25d_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you note in the left of the two pictures above you can see all the different queries I run. 500 i</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">n one area, 300 in anot</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">her area. Some run when I ask them too, others run daily. The picture on the right shows</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> the region of my "Cincinnati" query.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2434630489_d2be800cf2_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2434630489_d2be800cf2_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyways...one thing I love is organizing my queries, finds, DNF's, and basically just being able to look up caches if need be out on the road. How do I do this? I use GSAK, <a href="http://www.gsak.net/">Geocaching Swiss Army Knife</a>. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(GSAK) is an all-in-one GPX and waypoint managing system. It allows users to quickly download pocket query GPX files from email, load</span></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">them into m</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/2435817419_6cc222e059_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/2435817419_6cc222e059_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ultiple databases, organize and sort waypoints by distance or location, view target locations on various online maps, and send the waypoints directly to your PDA or GPS receiver. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">GSAK is a PC only program, however it runs off of </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.gpsbabel.org/#">GPSBabel</a> which works on PC, Mac, Linux, and several others. GSAK is free to use for 21 days, but after that it's $20 bucks to prevent nagging screens (which I still have). GSAK has lots </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">of cool features plus add-on "macros" that do other features. GSAK doesn't normally come as colored as you see in my picture on the above right. It is usually plain white (see above left), but I've manged to figure out the "highlight" feature that you can find under the "waypoint" tab.<br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/2434694621_55a24f213d_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/2434694621_55a24f213d_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Now, this does absolutely nothing for your GPS, and has no real imp</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ortance whatsoever...but it does make it look a little better, and easier to see what type of cache you are dealing with. As you can see from the image, I have loaded different columns of cache information I find important while I'm browsing: waypoint name, </span><span style="font-size:85%;">distance, bearing, container type, difficulty, terrain, DNF status, watching status, etc. I typically set my organization by distance from my home.<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2012/2435587874_766211e51d_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 115px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2012/2435587874_766211e51d_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">One macro that I run often on GSAK is one that generates Ipod notes. This macro sets up the typical c</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ache page in a note format so I can then browse them and read them paperlessly. It loads several most recent logs, the hint if one is provided, and the owner's description.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Another <span style="font-weight: bold;">great</span> feature on GSAK is actually two different things in one</span><span style="font-size:85%;">: 1) integrating a custom geoca</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ching symbol pack to use as your icons, and 2) setting up a custom name and note section for each cache </span><span style="font-size:85%;">you load. From <a href="http://www.thepropers.com/geocaching/60SeriesCustomSymbols.htm">here</a> you can download the macro and custom icon pack. so far the icon pack is supposed to work with the 76 series, 60 series, Legend</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> C, Vista C, Quest 2, and may work on etrex models. This icon pack, integrated with GSAK, will save Traditional caches as a traditional icon, multi caches as a multi icon, puz</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2435456452_6e05627e86_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 144px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2435456452_6e05627e86_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">zles as the puzzle icon and so on - instead of having tons of treasure boxes and no idea what kind of cache they a</span><span style="font-size:85%;">re. In looking at the</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> image to the side, you can see some interesting code in the "Waypoint name" field and "Waypoint description format" field. These are just special tags used to help me out in the field with extra data that sending a waypoint from the geocaching.com website alone won't provide. See, when you load a cache right from the geocaching page, the waypoint name is the GC#, and the Note is the Waypoint name - that is the only information given. My name on my gps map shows me, %drop2-%con1-%last4. %drop2 provides the GC name without the GC in front, since the GC is always in front of all caches. %con1 provides me with a letter of the cache I'm looking for, R being regular, S being small, L being large, U being unknown and M being a micro. The last one I use in my name is %last4, which gives m</span><span style="font-size:85%;">e a series of letters for the last 4 logs. FFFF means the last 4 logs were all finds, NFFF is a not find then three finds, etc.<br />Inside of the note feature for a cache, I have %Dif/%Ter %smart. This shows me the difficulty/terrain rating followed by a smart name, which is an abbreviated cache name. Here are some screenshots from GPSr.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2372/2435434060_36160885fc_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 95px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2372/2435434060_36160885fc_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The good thing about the symbol pack (I think) is having the smiley faces be your found symbol instead of the open treasure chest. To me, it just makes my GPSr seem more like a geocaching tool.<br /><br />You might be wondering..."how do I do all this to MY GPS?" I WANT IT! Everything you need...downloads and instructions, can all be found <a href="http://www.thepropers.com/geocaching/60SeriesCustomSymbols.htm">on this page</a>.<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-63781514276150675042008-04-21T12:31:00.000-07:002008-04-23T07:27:45.348-07:00The Micro Cache & My Future Goals<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/2431361785_9fccf9241e_o.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/2431361785_9fccf9241e_o.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm positive that everyone in the geocaching worl</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">d has come across a micro. I was in conversation with Catlon at the Winton Woods Afterparty about micro caches where he stated, "They should be a league all of their own," and I agree with this statement. As the pin pictured states, "Love to hate</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> 'em! Hate to love 'em!" It's very true. Micros are one of the types of caches that frustrate me beyond belief, but I love finding them. With micros being so small, they can be just about anywhere. Not only do you end up looking for a standard container - film canisters, bison tubes, nanos, or the like...but now people have moved to fake rebar, fake pinecones, hollowed out bolts, logs on the backside of magnets, and lots of other devious hides. It's smart in a hiding sense. I mean, you can only hide a regular or a small so well, however, there are almost endless possibilities to hide a devilish micro. I've become fascinated with these little guys.<br /><br />I've spent my first 4 months - 800 caches grabbing lots of micros. 44.5% to be more accurate. A lot of those micros would be considered "P&G's" (Park and grabs). P&G's would typically just be number building, and don't provide a <span style="font-style: italic;">whole</span> lot of excitement. Now I don't pride myself in getting number runs, but I like the way Ranger Fox put it in his profile, "</span><span id="ProfilePanel1_lblProfileText" style="font-family:verdana;">To me, the number game is more like the paperwork I do before I can go off and do what really matters--terrain." I feel like I've been doing paperwork for the last 4 months of caching, which I think is good. I started caching with the goal of getting 1,000 by the end of the year. With the rate I'm going, I should reach that by the end of May, having completed over half of my matrix - the lower half. Now with summer approaching I have the chance to go after some terrains. My new goals for 2008 consist of:<br />1) Reaching 2,000 caches<br />2) Completing my Difficulty/Terrain Matrix<br />3) Complete more Multi's<br />I can't think of a current cache I would call my "favorite". In looking at my <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=3dc53014-a3ac-498c-8119-304a3ee3c9f7">favorite</a> bookmark list, you'd see they are mostly well hidden micros. Looking at Slammer47 or Ranger Fox's profiles encourage me and get me pining for some real challenges. Half of the caches on Slammer47's favorite bookmark are now listed on my <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=7041ba9b-2400-4f22-be4f-d1b412e9175a">"I Can't Forget to Do These!"</a> Bookmark. It is these cachers, and those like them, that make me see there is a lot out there I haven't seen...and need to. Luckily, Slammer47 is from the Dayton area, which is just around an hour from me. This summer hopefully will be filled with lots of weekend trips to Dayton to start clearing out that area.<br /><br />Lately, I've been able to go caching with Abuhhhh and before that my friend ydissac. Abuhhhhh and I have decided this summer we'll start making trips - for number runs, and for terrain challenges. I rarely get myself to do multi's, however it seems people have the most fun on a good multi. Abuhhhh and I have decided we will work on knocking out hard terrains, challenging multis, and really scenic/good quality caches. I feel that geocaching is the thing that has finally got me out into nature like I've been wanting to do for the past 3 years. I've told myself each year I was going to buy a nice pair of boots and camping gear to get out and hike and camp. Well, now I'm finally doing it. I have a feeling the rest of this year will make for some very memorable sites and caches, and now that the blog is up, hopefully I'll have a way to remember it all.<br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-83080064432913772282008-04-20T18:44:00.000-07:002008-04-23T07:28:57.912-07:00Winton Woods CITO & After Party/Campout<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/2431144515_a09017b608_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/2431144515_a09017b608_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So my big number "800" wasn't spent on a c</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">hallengi</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ng mu</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">lti or </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">a</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">high terrain'd challenge, but it was one of my favorite geocaching memories. It was only my second event, th</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">e first being We</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">bling's Come & Go Breakfast. I love camping; and being able to wake up, have CITO in a</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> beautiful park, cache all afternoon, then spend my 6 o'clock on throu</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">gh the night relaxing by the fire with a lager, deep fried turkey, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">best</span> chili I've ever had, and lots of other geocachers around was a great memory. Kristen, my fiancee, was able to come out and meet up for dinner and camp out as w</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ell.<br /><br /><br />As most parks in the area, they are open from dawn till dusk. however, just .41 miles from the campground</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/2431146695_611a3fed86_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/2431146695_611a3fed86_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">s was one of two caches I still have left in the park. Ian (Abuhhhh) and his son (Monkey Midls), Kristen and I all decided we were going to go tackle <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3c6a6d97-6c42-48d7-b089-4c0933766cc8">GC15A7R - In the Belly</a></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3c6a6d97-6c42-48d7-b089-4c0933766cc8"> of the Beast</a> and <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6afbed47-55db-4e18-a7f3-1c0e78a2a823">GCMZB1 - HCPD - The Scene</a>. It was 9:30ish, so already dark...but it looked like </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">we </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">could bushwhack it. On our way out we teamed up with Team Nitro Maxx and began our hike. It took us a little over an hour to hike the over one mile mostly in the dark woods, but what a hike it was - not</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> really eve</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">n because of a great cache or a spectacular view, but for the excitement and the journey.<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-32787777574932559652008-04-20T18:27:00.000-07:002008-04-26T21:54:13.421-07:00A recap of 4 months.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Alright let's start at the beginning. I already mentioned to you the first cache I did with ydissac that got me hooked. (Read previous entry) That was one of four that day he took me on. I soon went back home for the holidays and started caching some around my hometown of Louisville. ydissac and I slowly started knocking off caches in the areas surrounding our work in Sharonville. I visited the fiancee's family near Granville and also spent an afternoon out caching there. Eventually, ydissac and I star</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ted hitting this <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=f34df986-5441-4a64-bd3a-02f4cb3ac3ec">Love Mad</a> series. Eventually I reached my first milestone, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6159122e-cf58-4a8a-acde-b95e49e9530b">Love Mad 23 - GC13CK3</a> It was different than most micros I've found - a log sheet behind a </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">reflector on a dumpster.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The next da</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">y I p</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">roposed to Kristen. I had been wondering how I would do it, and I had finally figured out how I would - geocaching.</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2431131627_b50b5a6ef8_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 80px; height: 61px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2431131627_b50b5a6ef8_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/2431948682_b25e956208_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 82px; height: 61px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/2431948682_b25e956208_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2356/2431949710_5a4aa028e2_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 83px; height: 62px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2356/2431949710_5a4aa028e2_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2012/2431135297_b1a0da04f2_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 65px; height: 86px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2012/2431135297_b1a0da04f2_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />On January 13th, 2008, I proposed to my girlfriend at Mt. Echo Park. We were going </span><span style="font-size:85%;">out caching on this cool, lightly raini</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ng day, and had stopped in the area. As we stepped out of the car, GPS in her hands seeking cache "GC1209" entitled "Surprise!", she started walking away from the cache location. As she made her way back she shortly after found a ca</span><span style="font-size:85%;">mo covered box. As she opened it she found a ring box...and in it, an engagement ring. I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me. Being the FTF, she took the ring. I myself left a girlfriend, and took a fiancee. The cache is now an active geocache, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d0600a6b-651f-4c67-b7ad-b3b755e48632">Our Engagement Cache - GC18KKF</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">After number 100, there was one day of caching I really enjoyed. I was out with my friend Kyle and we had the plan of taking some Mt. Airy caches out. Well, the first destination we had was this cache called <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1cf3c480-6772-49d5-813a-73ec1d136798">Crazy Bike Trail - GC15Q3M</a>. The problem with Crazy Bike Trail is that I didn't look anything up about before looking for it. I started reading logs after about a half hour of not finding anything, and read what people were talking ab</span><span style="font-size:85%;">out...RR2K#L and some other stuff. Since I was still new, I didn't know what RR2K#L was...thus not providing me with the information I needed to know where the cache was. Kyle and I left that area and finished all the caches on Kirby's Trail, which was a great hike, and a great series of caches. After we finished we went and grabbed some lunch, and I started reading some logs about CBT. I then came across the comment EarTrumpet had just made about maintenance on the cache. "</span><span id="CacheLogs"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Didn't see many spiders today, and the raccoon wasn't around, but I did see the bat. Let's see if this container outlives the first two." It was talking with Kyle about this little blurb that got us thinking we knew where we had to look. We went back to the site and immediately planned how to get to the cache. However, was that was the easy way? No...we hadn't spotted that yet. Our was was through the narrow chute...under the 200lb concrete slab we moved. Sheesh. But the good news is we made the grab, and it was the highlight of my caching career at that point. I can't wait to do more like these!<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_A8Hw7CSF6vk/SBQGCFHQjSI/AAAAAAAAABc/H-1917kdvfQ/s1600-h/yellowhandle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 57px; height: 137px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_A8Hw7CSF6vk/SBQGCFHQjSI/AAAAAAAAABc/H-1917kdvfQ/s200/yellowhandle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193782903067151650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">There were more here and there caches which got me to my next milestone, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC18ZD2">Yellow Handle Communicator - GC18ZD2</a> Yet again, another challenging micro, only because I had never, and still haven't found one like it. I guess the closest I have gotten to are some of the magnetic micros, but this one was on the back of the ad below the phone. Very tricky...took me several visits and having the owner, Liyah actually out with me to get this one.<br /><br />I slowly started trying to clear out my downtown area, and even went up to Dayton with Liyah and ydissac to try knocking out some caches there. We ran into POKERBUZZ, and they helped us with lots of caches around. However, one thing they couldn't really help us with was <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cd3cc387-2fa2-4622-bd3e-ac3df51ed72f">Lane Change - GCVYCK</a> , a 3/4 Multi cache. Liyah was the brave one to get this cache for us. What a rush just watching! This cache involved climbing 2 very different types of trees, <b>very high up</b>. Once to get the second stage, and the second time to retrieve the cache. It was neat going to a different area of town, as the caches even seemed to be hidden a bit differently. Always good to get a taste of how others do it.<br /><br />Soon I passed 300, and 400...hitting several FTFs and placing several Cache Me If You Can series caches, little places around Cincinnati that I love. I started clearing out Delhi, and getting into some of Colonel Mustards evil "LOST" seri</span><span style="font-size:85%;">es, such as <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2fbb9222-cf00-4f29-a4c5-af8c0dc81746">Lost Puppy - GCVBPM</a>, a nice 4/1 micro.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3149/2431565920_e5cc6f9556_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 110px; height: 147px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3149/2431565920_e5cc6f9556_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">On February 27th ydissac and I celebrated my 2 month anniversary trying to get me to my 5</span><span style="font-size:85%;">00th c</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ache. We had a record 37 finds that day with a nice puzzle called <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2ed0e6d2-9f4a-474f-a916-5fbb3100e795">Hybrid 5 in 1 - GC12XX7</a>. With this cache, it gives you a log and also coords for 4 other P&Gs. You get 5 smileys for the price of one. It was an easy micro, but so much fun! ydissac and I shared a late night drink to celebrate! You can also listen to Podcacher episode <a href="http://cdn1.libsyn.com/podcacher/PodCacher080317cra.mp3">157</a> for my phoned in Milestone.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">A lot</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> h</span><span style="font-size:85%;">a</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2367/2430752677_e91ab87b95_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 96px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2367/2430752677_e91ab87b95_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">d </span><span style="font-size:85%;">happened in between 500 and 600 for me. My buddy Andy was enlisted into the military an</span><span style="font-size:85%;">d was going </span><span style="font-size:85%;">away to boot camp. We were trying to figure out a good way to send him off. We w</span><span style="font-size:85%;">en</span><span style="font-size:85%;">t and bought some cigars, then went to the 4/4 puzzle, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=18c6272b-5af0-4ed9-ab52-a7347d99f579">Let that which illuminated you, illuminate me </a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=18c6272b-5af0-4ed9-ab52-a7347d99f579">- GCK</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=18c6272b-5af0-4ed9-ab52-a7347d99f579">FG3</a>. It was nighttime (as recommended), snowy, and scary as hell. We started off, and it was actually </span><span style="font-size:85%;">my friends Kyle and Bob </span><span style="font-size:85%;">who came u</span><span style="font-size:85%;">p with the find. Overall though, every had a great night and Andy was really glad we did that for him.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Not only that, but I went to Brazil for 2 weeks to play guitar for my school's choir tour. Since there weren't many caches there, I could only visit some of the <a href="http://www.waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&wft=3&uid=9b2a1a62-ae6d-461c-bfd0-759a20d4a86d">waymarks</a>. However, I did try looking for several caches there with my host, Noela. We went looking for a couple, but one hadn't been logged in almost two years, and the other a year. Luckily for me they both were missing. However, also luckily for me, the owners allowed me to log them, saying they would log me when they replace. <span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCQ91P">Brasilia e seus lugares encantadores! - GCQ91P</a> ended up being my number 550. However, while in Brazil...I started to forget about caching, and began obsessing over Brazil. The sites and sounds were gorgeous. I loved the place, and almost didn't want to leave. I got back home and immediately hated it...until I got back out caching again. I then realized I had lots to catch up with...and that I did!<br /></span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2178/2430752813_8deb2bb478_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 185px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2178/2430752813_8deb2bb478_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">I got to visit the <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=df85ab5a-8201-4954-a586-68b99f98ae0e">Shawnee Lookout Cache - GC31A</a>, the oldest cache in Cincinnati area/O</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">hio. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">I also tackled the evil 4.5/1.5 puzzle, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=abcc273c-ce43-4710-a959-57eea0c43bba">IDIC/ MADAME WITCH AND COACH T THIS IS FOR YOU!! - GC19XNG</a> I was so ready to be caching again, that I got to 700 in almost as much time as if I wasn't out of the country for 2 weeks. However, number 700 was not the easiest cache.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=eccd796e-88b2-4a55-bf14-93c75da5aafa">Pandora's Box - GC1A70R</a> is the name of my 700, and Abuhhhh's 400 - and it was a devil of a hide. It's a 2.5/1 puzzle, where there are 5 keys disguised as travel bugs. Each key has 2 numbers from a set of coords. Get all 5 keys, all put out randomly around the OKI area, and you get the coord</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">s to Pandora's Box. It was Coolhipwithit who first found out it was coming about. She was out checking on one of her caches when Hiram, the owner, was placing the first key. She quickly grabbed the key and proceeded to tell Abuhhhh of the new cache that was in the works. He soon found out that 2 more keys got dropped. I decided to grab those two keys. Let me tell you that one of those keys I went for was in Mt. Airy where the EVIL was REALLY working. I was on my way to the cache as some older man started following me to it. I was on the phone with Abuhhhh telling him about it. I'd look around me, and the man was hiding behind a tree watching me. I am really positive I almost got raped...or mugged. Ugh...this Pandora's Box! We asked Coolhip if she wanted to exchange numbers, and she said sure....but then no other word. We got worried for a bit, but then decided we had the upper hand, so we'll be okay - let it play out. Finally, I noticed where the fourth key was placed and ran out to get it. 3 of the 5 keys now rested with us. We got so wound up about it. Day and night Abuhhhh and I both thought about and waited for this last key to get placed. Finally...it did. It was in Kentucky, and I was at work. I called Liyah an</span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/2431140353_2ab12039d5_b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/2431140353_2ab12039d5_b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">d asked her if she would get it for us after telling her about it. She agreed. Abuhhhh and I were excited</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName"> that Pandora's Box would finally be open. However...Liyah also held off the numbers unless we'd give he</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">r </span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">the numbers we had. The evil has shown again. We started thinking, "what can we do, what can we do!" Finally we decided</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">, we'll just play it cool and see what happens. However, that only wor</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName">ked for so long as sleeplessness set in. It was the morning of the Doe Run CITO. After everything was over, we were walking back to the car when I had an idea - "what if Liyah has her key in her car? We could look at it and get her numbers!" I tried peering in, and low and behold it was hanging from her rear-view mirror. There it was...4 or the 5 sets of numbers. We finally got ahold of Coolhipwithit and decided to meet up, but we tried not to let out that we had that last set of numbers, besides...we all wanted to go together anyways. However, Liyah didn't feel up to it, so she told us the numbers, and we went out looking. While working on the wherabouts of the cache, Abuhhhh and I both got emails from Hiram saying he had to move the cache, and numbers from both of our keys had to be changed. We panicked, but got the updated coords, and started looking. First place we went too -nothing. Original coord location - nothing. AHHH! This Pandora's Box was driving us CRAZY! Later that day, while Abuhhhh and I were caching, Hiram called us, and told us there were coords we needed to ADD to what we had to make the cache work. We called Coolhipwithit, and she met us at the destination. We went out...and sure enough....THERE IT WAS! AT LONG LAST.<br /><br />Phew...a CRAZY milestone indeed.<br /><br />Around that same time...a CRAZY micro came out in Echo Park - <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c7bed288-b938-4dd5-8253-06857d66304a">Smaller than a Needle in a Haystack - GC1AWV5</a>. It was a 5/1.5. I wanted to be FTF, but the coords put me in the middle of a field. I looked there for an hour with no luck. Days went by, and a few comments by the owner put me closer and closer to the cache. The Witch was FTF, then someone else found, then another. I was getting frustrated with it being the closest cache to me, and spent 7 trips going out there, and 6 hours looking. Finally...I came up with the grab.<br /><br />I also ended up going back to Louisville for Thunder Over Louisville - the firework/ air show kick off to Derby. I loaded a query of earthcaches, virtuals, and some other caches around the city. It turned out to be a very successful weekend, pulling in 59 caches for me. It was until coming back to Cincinnati, and on the Winton Woods CITO that I was able to get myself to the big number 8-0-0.<br /><br />That in so many (or so few) words brings me to today.<br /></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4188888942766930103.post-85966553103235840482008-04-20T18:19:00.000-07:002008-04-23T07:29:58.787-07:00An introduction of sorts.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In attempting to have a regular geocaching blog, it wouldn't hurt to describe how I got to this position. My name is Brian; BTBAM for you geocachers. I am 22 years old and started geocaching December 27th, 2007. I work at a civil engineering company as a lab/field technician, and while out on a job along the East Miami River my co-worker Brian (ydissac) took me to my first geocache: <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=fc107ab7-1c58-4714-8fcd-c0b47b7dffb4">GCHPEC - </a></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span id="CacheName"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=fc107ab7-1c58-4714-8fcd-c0b47b7dffb4">Historical Cemetery #2 - Dunlap Station</a>. From that moment I became addicted. That day or the next, I'm not sure anymore, I ordered a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx from Ebay. Ever since, I've been caching nearly every day. Today, it's a week shy of 4 months of caching for me, and I just got my 800th cache. I've had lots of slow weeks (only getting 40-50 a week) but lately I've been averaging around 100 a week. I'm sure it will slow down, but for now I can't help it.<br /><br /><br /></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0