Geocaching 101 Presentation

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https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6XaHXYlP7MuNjM2Zjk5OTctZTIyYi00ODcwLTk2OTUtN2MwYWUyYTEwMTA2

Challenge on the Mind

It's official, I have challenges on the mind. I can't stop thinking about them. Of course, a few of them have been on the list for some time now, but new ones just keep getting added. As of this moment, I am working to complete the Kansas County Challenge, the Kansas Delorme Challenge, the Kansas Virtual Challenge, the Kansas 2001 Challenge, and the One Hit Wonders Challenge. I know, it seems like a big list, but luckily, some caches overlap each other. The problem is, I have spent more time looking at the list instead of executing it. I have made Excel sheets, route sheets, and even a bookmark with all of the caches in it, so I can look at them all in one map. Tomorrow, we are making a larger than normal trip to pick up five caches on the list. In February, I am taking advantage of a trip my wife must make to Wichita, and planning on picking up some 67 caches on the list, including nine counties and two Delorme pages. And now that my wife and I are on the same work schedule, we have our weekends open for long road trips. It is going to be a fun trip, but I am looking forward to it.

Its been awhile...

Hello folks. It has been awhile since I have written anything on this blog. Times have been busy, and a lot of things have happened since then. We finally hit our 1000 mark! These last couple months have been really slow for geocaching. Finding time between our two work and class schedules has been a real pain, and our geocaching trips have suffered. It is nearing our last semesters of school though, and time should really open up from there. Since our last post, we have also hosted our first event! We were asked to host a geocaching event in conjunction with our hometown's 125th anniversary. It took a lot of time, a lot of miles, and a bit of money, but we were able to place 35 geocaches around the county (of course some cemetery caches), and we had a decent turn out of about 25 people. We are already looking forward to hosting another event soon. Also, we are only two caches away from reaching our 100th FTF, and we are really looking forward to it. Now all we need are some cachers to place more caches! So keep an eye out for us folks, as we have not forgotten our blog. Happy caching!

FTF #74 Out of the Park #2

So there I was, minding my own business at home, when the phone rings. Finally, a geocache close enough I don't have to waste 1/4 of a tank of gas to get it. The computer was being unfriendly and wouldn't connect me to geocaching.com, so I got the coords from the text and hit the road. As always, every red light and old grandpa stood in my way. Had to back track a bit due to closed roads, but got close enough to the cache to hoof it. As soon as I reach the grass, a vehicle pulls up with lights flashing. Oh great, another LEO encounter. Haha rkars, very funny. Turns out he has some caution lights also. Well, we walk our way over the GZ only to find Eric popping out from the trees. The search ensues, with four flashlights searching the area for a micro. Finally, rkars was able to come up with the find, and was generous enough to let us all log an FTF on the cache. What a guy. After shooting the breeze in the breeze for awhile, talking of course about geocaching, we headed our separate ways. Thanks for bringing us together again. It is always more fun running into other geocachers.

"The Canoe Crew"

With such a beautiful Saturday before Easter, we could not help but hit the open waters! Five canoes and ten geocachers equals a whole lot of fun. Nicoole (Nicole and Debbie), Boxstalker (Julie), Crawcocoa (Marty and Jessica), The Ravens (Michael), Phil and Verla from Oz (Phil), Legolaws (Eric), and us (JJTally) made a road trip to pick up a few paddle caches. We started in Lawrence to find seven geocaches located on an island in the Kansas River. The paddle was short, but the hike was long, and we were all tired from climbing through and over trees as we went. We stopped for a brief lunch on the island, and headed off to find more caches. We regrouped at Pillsbury Crossing to pick up another two caches down Deep Creek. The water was up and was the most beautiful blue color I have ever seen on a creek. We finished our day of paddling at Tuttle Puddle. The wind had picked up considerably, and caused us to finish our day early, but just in time to enjoy some great food at The Little Grill. All in all, it turned out to be a great day for geocaching and hanging out with friends.

FTF #76 Smoky Hill Oxbow

Picked up another JJTally FTF today with the completion of the earthcache Smokey Hill Oxbow, GC24DY5. This one took two trips to complete, since the coordinates listed were wrong. I know earthcaches are kind of a funny thing to log an FTF on, but I was the first to log. Don't judge.

Searching for Nothing

The better J and I had just sat down from a long day away from the house, and had just started to get comfortable when the cell phone started singing that song. There is only one or two times I would have said this, but I sighed, "Darn, another geocache." So, on went the boots, cache got downloaded, coats got zipped up, and out the door we went. I swear we hit every red light in town on the way out there. All five cylinders of the Colorado were pumping fast as we finally got to 177. As we pulled in, another car was already there, and another was just pulling in ahead of us. I put on my pouty face as I knew I had been beat. I still had enough adrenaline flowing through my veins to jump out of the truck and run through the grass, as I exclaimed, "Dang it Travis, I knew you would beat me!" Joykillers were the first on scene, followed by JBnW. Luck had it that nobody had found it yet! THERE WAS HOPE! After a few laughs, we quickly began to disassemble the hillside. Rocks, grass, twigs, nothing could stand between us and a FTF. Rkars soon joined in the search, and 5 flashlights became 6. What was once prairie now looked like a tornado had ripped through it. One by one, we got fed up, each of us having a theory as to where the cache could or couldn't be. Joykillers was the first to throw up the white flag, and then there were four of us left. We searched for another five minutes, then finally called it quits. We said our goodbyes, and pulled out, downhearted. But, as we pulled out, we noticed a black jeep pull in. My wife, who had spent the last portion of the search in the pickup keeping warm, said that the jeep had pulled in before. Interesting. They were obviously up to something, so I pulled out onto the road, drove down a little ways, and hit the ditch trooper style. Back to the overlook we went, and I knew something was going on as there was a flashlight by the tree. Well, it was either some geocachers, or drug dealers. I chose geocachers, and went down to say hello. As I walked down I noticed a pile of rocks that wasn't there before. I said, "How are we doing today?" The response was, "Good, are you a geocacher?" I had a good laugh. Turns out Shark101au had got the cache published just before he got it placed. Oh what a good laugh we had. After we said our goodbyes, I found the cache pretty easy, and signed an FTF. Now I know that the cache hider feels bad, but I feel terrible about this FTF, because there was a lot of good cachers out there in the cold searching quite hard for this one. But, look on the bright side, we all have one heck of a good story to tell!