Anyone going Geocaching this weekend? **NEW CACHERS...POP IN!**

[Pin Wizard]

Wow! Now I'm behind with my reading.

lilallybean...Glad you've had such fun at a couple events! We just had an event yesterday. Lots of fun (as always!) I guess there were between 45 and 50 people there. And the person who organized it didn't think it would have a good turn out since she posted it just two weeks beforehand. LOL! I was glad to finally meet one of the guys I've been e-mailing with for months! I would be a few caches ahead of him, then he was ahead of me by a few. We kept this up a long time! He's now up to 1,019 himself! Yesterday was definitely a fun event. Had someone from Richmond show up and another from Lynchburg! It was great to see them!! I usually see them at the Richmond events.

I have to agree with Mike. You'll have more and more events scheduled. And may have some that become a tradition! Next we'll have Richmond River Rally IV in June, then the Hampton Roads group's annual picnic Labor Day weekend. And let's not forget Geo Woodstock in NC in May!!!! Don't know if I'll get to that one, but we'll see.

Mike...So glad you had some more time with your son!!! So your son is headed to Norfolk on Friday! I'm taking Friday off from work...and looking forward to it! That evening I'm getting together with a few of the Geocaching ladies to do a night cache in Virginia Beach. Should be interesting. LOLOL! I'll keep reminding myself that the eyes I see are foxes! Not quite sure how harmful they are. LOL!

That is too much about the gas! "Summer gas"???? Unbelievable! I'll be crossing my fingers it doesn't go up too much this week since I want a return trip to Fredericksburg this weekend. It wasn't a bad drive at all! Definitely do-able for a day trip. We were out the door at 7:30 a.m. and headed back at 5:30 p.m. Back home by 7. Good trip! Found 16 of 18 caches I was looking for. Although it was discouraging at first since cache numbers 3 and 4 were the two DNFs. Didn't want to continue that all day. And we did a neat Earthcache!!!!!! LOVE those! GC11PJD

Glad to hear both pineapple caches are doing well! I'll have to think about one of those.

Happy caching!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Hello, fellow cachers!

Checking in to see if any of you are getting out there! It's been warm here this weekend. Yesterday we were back in the Fredericksburg area. Their high for the day was forecast at 84 degrees. Had a blast finding 20 caches for the day! Woo hoo! A new record for us. And then there were the DNFs.....

Anyone else becoming a huge fan of Earthcaches? We recently did two in Fredericksburg. Amazing stuff! I'm on a roll with them! I had submitted a request for (I believe it's) Earthcaches.com after having completed at least three caches in two different states. Got a cool pin and sticker from them yesterday!! I'm on my way! I think for the next and following levels, Earthcaches actually have to be placed. Hmmmmmmmmm. Will have to do some research on that!

Hope everyone is getting out and finding lots of caches!!

Happy caching!

 

[MiJo]

Hi Everyone,
Sandy: I'm sorry to say but we haven't been out in quite a while. We started some big home improvement projects a few weeks ago and they have been taking up all of our time. Also, I'm getting back into ham radio, after a 17 year hiatus, so I've been putting the little bit of spare time I do have into that. Once these projects are done, we should be getting back out with the dogs. Hopefully!
David is in Norfolk and he seems to be doing OK. He still hasn't seen much as he can't figure out the bus schedule, although he has found a few people he knows. He should be there another 4 or 5 weeks.
We have done at least one Earth Cache. We have a park near us called Ringing Rocks State Park. It includes a large boulder field and the boulders actually make a "ringing" sound when you hit them with a hammer! It's pretty neat. There is a cache hidden near the boulder field that includes a hammer or two for those who come without one. An old legend has it that birds never fly over the boulder field but I'm not sure how true that is.
I guess that's it. Have fun caching and enjoy this nice weather!

 

[Pin Wizard]

http://www.gohrt.com/schedulesandservices/busroutes.html

Maybe that link will help David with schedules if he's looking for public transportation. Glad to hear he's doing okay!!

Ringing rocks? I was briefly reading about that cache not too long ago. I guess I had forgotten it was in PA. It sounds interesting!

Projects will keep you hopping. A few weeks ago we went caching with someone else on a Saturday morning. He and his wife are STILL on a project to raise their house. He's been talking about this forever, so I can just imagine. Just as we were headed to our last cache in the park for the day, his phone rang,, and it was his wife. She said the water had just been cut off...and they didn't give her advance warning! LOL! She wasn't happy. The person caching with us said he hadn't been out in ages, and this was a day to be out! LOL! Hope your projects are going well!!! And have fun with the ham radio!

 

[lilallybean]

Sounds like you have been having a great time hunting! Mike, I sure understand about being busy and not getting out much. I spent the weekend with the triplets and let my sister and her hubby get a little rest. After Church Sunday I decided to try and pick up one that was just a block or two from her Church. While walking away from the cache I saw a group (like 10 people) walking towards me with GPSs in hand. This was just the second time I have come across other cachers. Turns out they were a church group who caches together. They mentioned that their pastor had jsut placed a new cache a few miles away and they were headed there. I joined the families and off we went. At the new cache we saw an Eagle!While there we ran into ANOTHER family of cachers! I left the group at this point and grabbed two more caches on my way home. Not many finds, but it was still a fun day. There have been several finds of our caches lately. People really seem to be enjoying our Pineapple one. I have plans to place several more, so I will keep you all posted.

BIG news around here...our local TV station had a report on Disney coming to the Branson area!!! Who knows how accurate the reports are, but here are the links.

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=3000216

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=2996205

 

[Pin Wizard]

Let's try this again. Yesterday the battery on my lap top died as I was typing. Usually I get a warning a bit before, but not this time!

lilallybean...Good to hear that you found some people on the trail! That's always fun. I especially love it when they're newbies. I ran into a couple in Fredericksburg a few weeks ago and knew they were Geocaching. Of course they were trying to hide the GPS. LOL! Kept us going in circles in the grass. Not much there, and the name of the cache seemed to refer to a fence. After checking nearby drains and manhole covers, finally remembered to check the parking curb. Sure enough, that was it! Good thing I have found those before.

We have a minister in VA Beach who has put a series of caches out at a bunch of Episcopal churches...his buddies. They've been fun. I still have to figure out the puzzle to get the last one. We had to fit puzzle pieces together and cross off names of the churches in his diocese and a few phrases. Still working on it!

Saturday we headed down the Dismal Swamp Trail in Chesapeake with a bunch of people from Richmond. It was a great turnout! There were 18 adults and one little one being pulled along behind a bike. Had lots of fun and lots of caches. Love it when you're on a paved road (that isn't used for cars any longer except for an occasional one of a nearby resident.) And all the caches are right along the side of the road. FANTASTIC!!! Still managed to come home with three ticks. If you take a look at "Scratchy," you'll find our group picture.

Keeping busy, Mike? How are the projects going?

Anyone else???

Happy caching!

 

[tammyandtommy]

I cant wait till Sunday! Its always Geocaching day here.... BTW we ran into other cachers for the first time and they pronounced it differently from us, so how dooooo youuuuu pronounce caching? LOL Ok and anyone from the berks county area? On geocaching.com we are boucntigger

 

[tammyandtommy]

OMG did i really kill this thread?

 

[lilallybean]

Welcome to our thread Tammy/Tommy! You didn't kill the thread, we just log in sporadically. Hope you have a great time Sunday. I will get to stay home and clean out the basement to try and get ready for a yardsale. Have to make some $$$ to pay for the gas for our trip to THE world in just 1 month!!!
I was talking at work today about how I wanted to go geocaching this weekend, but wouldn't be able to. My boss heard me and wanted to know what it was. Now she wants to go!!! To funny...been at the new job for a month and the boss wants to hang out with me! Hope she likes it!
I am so hyped about our trip. We had planned on going to Universal, but since our oldest can't go we decided to go back to WDW!!! I am so thrilled!!! One of my sisters (not the one with the triplets) is going too so it should be fun.
The family that was supposed to go with us to take the smaller condo (next to, but not connected to ours) just backed out! We are trying to find somebody else to take their place. Sure is short notice so I am not sure how this will work out.
Well time to get back to grading papers....have fun hunting!!!

 

[tammyandtommy]

lilallybean!
Thanks for the response,and I know what you mean today we are getting ready for next weeks yard sale, and if everyone cooperates then we can go out Sunday

 

[MiJo]

Hi Everyone!
I'm back! Man, it seems like it's been months since I've visited the Boards. I guess it's possible it has been.
We actually got out to look for a cache a couple weeks back; it was our first attempt in a few months. We didn't find it but we did come very close to a deer getting a drink in a creek and I nearly stepped on a nesting turkey. Once I saw the turkey, I was very leery of poking around too much and it started to rain, so we left the area empty handed. We will head back to that one in the near future. The loss of our Border Collie, Koati, back in January has taken some of the joy out of caching for us. She really enjoyed it, especially after she retired from Search and Rescue. We do have some vacation coming up, though, and I'm sure caching will be a big part of it.
We just haven't had time to do any caching lately.
In some news from Easton, our son Mike's house is finally on the market and he is still job hunting for something computer related. He almost took a job in Richmond, VA, but has decided to stay in our area for the time being. Erin started walking a few weeks ago and now we're chasing her all around! She's a total joy to be around. Our Navy son David is back at Andrews AFB after completing his "C" School in Norfolk. And our daughter, Melissa, just found out she's pregnant so I'm going to be a Pop Pop for the 2nd time!
I have also gotten my ham shack completed and I'm back on the air, usually very early in the morning and sometimes in the evening for a short time. If anyone's interested, I'm NQ3D and I'm usually on 40 or 30 meter CW at 5:00 AM local.
I guess that's it for now. I'll have to stop by on a more regular basis again.
Oh yeah, WELCOME TAMMY and TOMMY! We're practically neighbors!
Good caching, everyone!~

 

[lilallybean]

WOW! It has been too long since we all touched base with eachother! So how are you all? Everybody enjoying the summer? Anybody have any big plans?
We just got back from 10 days in Florida! We spent 7 days in the park, and for the first time made it to DTD! What a blast! I must admit that I could tell that I am not as young as I once was. My feet were hurting SOOO bad I actually had to tell my family I was done at DTD and I just wanted to go. That is so not like me. We did 4 of the virtuals in the parks and loved it. We also added 6 states to our list of caches! We are now closing in on 350!
We had a great time in the parks...we didn't really get 'a dream', but we still enjoyed it.
More later...right now we have the triplets here visiting so I want to spend as much time as I can with them.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Hi, tammyandtommy!

I seem to get notices from this web site few and far between. Glad you're having a great time caching!! Pronunciation? Geocaching...Geo (like the little car,) and caching (like cash!!) I've come across a Dr. Cash while I'm at work. Wouldn't you know that every time, Dr. "Cache" flies off the keyboard. LOL!

We're hoping to get out tomorrow for some caching ourselves. Today was actually the first day we spent at home in a long time. It felt strange.

I cant wait till Sunday! Its always Geocaching day here.... BTW we ran into other cachers for the first time and they pronounced it differently from us, so how dooooo youuuuu pronounce caching? LOL Ok and anyone from the berks county area? On geocaching.com we are boucntigger

 

[Pin Wizard]

Welcome back, Mike! And welcome back from Disney, lilallybean! I can't believe the last time I was on this thread was at the beginning of May. So unlike me. Mike, congratulations on the expected grand baby! Wooo hoooo!!! And Erin must be a lot of fun at this stage. She'll be racing you to a cache any day now.

After a few trips to Fredericksburg, Richmond, the Eastern Shore, and a couple other places, we seemed to be slowing down a bit. Not that I'm cutting back on caching, but there aren't enough in the immediate area. And the drives have gotten old! We'll probably hit an area of Virginia Beach tomorrow, and a few near home that I have been avoiding for months. I'm tired of seeing the same caches on my opening page of caches near home. LOL! I guess we better get a couple of them. Let's hope that all the ticks and snakes are sleeping tomorrow!!!

Happy caching!

 

[HelenePA]

I've heard of this before.. I NEVER thought there would be any in my area!! Boy was I wrong!!!!!!!! of all the places for there to be a cache... there is one about 15 ft from the back of my YARD in the local park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahahahaha Seriously! 15 ft from my back gate.. HOW werid!!!!!!!!!!!! ahahahahah Must get GPS Must get GPS!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Hi, HelenePA! Glad to see you here!

So close to your backyard...wow! Can you try and find it based on a hint? How big is the cache? You remind me of how exciting finding that first cache was.

In the past few weeks we went for a cache which was near the place we found our first. Our first was archived due to being muggled a couple times. And the cache we recently found nearby was placed by the same person that placed our first. It almost felt like our first hunt again. It was great!!

Hope you get out there and find this one! It may start you on a fun sport/hobby/OBSESSION!!!

Happy caching!

P.S. I'm sure you will now notice people out there looking around. LOL! An entertaining show for you!

 

[HelenePA]

its a micro cache... I dont know if I can find it... maybe.. I'll have to go look tomorrow.. maybe tonight ahahaha there are a few reports on there of them looking around in the dark with flashlights at least I wont call the cops now that I know WHY they are out there with flashlights! are they usually buried? out in the open? Maybe i'll go look around now... this is funny!

 

[lilallybean]

Hi Helene and welcome to the fun of geocaching! Caches are NEVER NEVER NEVER to be buried. not sure what type of area your park is, but I would suggest looking in tree holes, around rocks, and in bushes. Micros are often...not always...empty film containers so think about where it could be hidden, where would it fit? Some micros are VERY tiny...like the size of a tylenol capsule! If it is a cache that has been around for a while you may even see a 'geotrail' look for a path that looks like it would lead to nowhere, follow it and look around where it ends. I hope that helps you some and have a great time with it!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Wow! They are lucky you haven't spotted them before with flashlights and called the police. I don't know about your park, but around here 99.999% of them are clearly posted with hours of dawn to dusk. I'm actually rather amazed that one I have in a park does not have hours posted at all. Very strange for this area.

GC.com's guidelines say that caches are not to be buried. Although some people are right on the borderline! We've actually stepped on a couple caches before finding them. Some people dig a hole in the ground large enough to put a cache in, then cover it with pine straw, leaves, whatever is available. Grr. LOL! It's flush with the ground and is tough to find. My favorite method is the "tink, tink" method. Poking with a stick and listening for something that isn't right. Glad someone told me about that way back when. LOLOL!

Lilallybean is right about the micros. Lots are 35 mm film canisters that are wrapped in camo tape. Wouldn't want to you find the container in the bushes too fast! Micros can be anything from a "nano," the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil, to a key box. Wide range!! Sometimes reading previous logs will give you an idea of what you might be looking for. Definitely check the trees and bushes, the base of trees. Anything! LOL! Not much help, is it! When it comes to the holes in trees and even some bases of trees in the roots, you might want to get a small stick laying around to poke with. I've read logs of people finding other things in holes! I'm out there poking everything with sticks. Wouldn't want to find a spider or snake in one with my fingers!

Let's not forget the unusual containers out there. There are fake rocks. Yup! Turn it upside down to find a little trap door. Could be a film canister inside or just a log. For some fun, visit ebay and type in Geocaching. You can usually find some unusual containers pop up. Even a fake flower to add to your garden!

Let us know how it's going at that cache! Fun!!!

Happy caching!

 

[solferino]

We love geocaching! It's kind of changed our perspective on how we see the world.

DH hid a nano (smaller than a micro) a couple of weeks ago. It's a hollow bolt with nuts on the end- log is rolled up inside the bolt. he found an empty hole in a guardrail at one of the state parks and put the bolt through that. And people have found it.


It's VERY VERY VERY popular around here- in August there's a tournament coming up, we're hoping to do it as a team with my dad and DH's brother and his wife. A public school nearby has a geocaching club for its students. So cool to see the kids getting involved.