Geocachers find key to Mini Cooper!
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/10/27/news/regional/10668781.txt
Monday, October 27, 2008 12:05 PM CDT
Independence couple win car contest
By JOSH NELSON, Courier Staff Writer
INDEPENDENCE --- No maps or big black X-marks led the Thompsons to that picnic table. Just coincidence and luck.
Luck first led Rick and Karla Thompson of Independence to that park. Coincidence caused her to look under that table. That is when she found the key to a brand new Mini Cooper wrapped in a plastic bag. The couple won the car after stumbling on the bag, part of Our Iowa magazine's Iowa Treasure Hunt. The magazine advertised the treasure hunt as a way to promote Iowa's parks to readers
"My first thought was this has gotta be a joke, this can't be for real," Rick Thomspon said.
But it was. The Thompsons picked up their new chili red Mini Cooper from a dealership in Milwaukee on Saturday.
The contest had been going on for more than a year when the Thompsons found their key in September. Editors added a block of counties in each edition showing where the key wasn't located. By September, about half of Iowa's counties remained, said Jerry Wiebel, editor of Our Iowa.
Wiebel said he didn't really have a reason for picking the park in Independence.
"It's just one of those crazy things I came up with," he said.
Wiebel said it did allow the editors to drive by every now and again to check if the key was still there. He was glad the contest lasted as long as it did.
When the Thompsons found the key, they weren't aware of the treasure hunt contest. They had been out geocaching --- an activity that uses global positioning system trackers and the Internet to create a high tech treasure hunt --- when they found the key. Participants hide "caches" in parks and other public areas, and searchers use the technology to track it down.
But Rick and Karla were having difficulty finding their cache. That's when Karla wandered off, thinking they may have been looking in the wrong spot.
"I looked up in a tree, and then I looked under some picnic tables and found the plastic bag packed up underneath the table," Karla said.
Inside was the key, and a note telling them to call Wiebel. There was also an article from Our Iowa discussing the contest. Since their find, Karla said, she's talked with several people who knew about the contest.
"I feel like I need to apologize to them for finding it, because I didn't even know about it. I just blindly stumbled onto it."
The one that may need the most apologies though, is their daughter, Rick said. She's been wanting a Mini Cooper for a few years. Now she's a bit jealous her parents won her dream car.
The car is a major relief for both Rick and Karla, who to commute to their jobs. Rick drives about 64 miles one direction each day to his job in Dubuque at a software company. His 1999 Chevrolet Lumina has more than 307,000 miles on it, he said.
Karla has a shorter drive to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. On days she works, she drives a 1997 Ford pick-up truck.
"I told him I get to drive it when I have to work, because I found it," she said.
She could have worn a patch
and maybe it wouldn't have been too noticable!
I would guess you like bushwhacking. Any time I do that, I'm always thinking of the snakes! 
Yesterday we got a cache called Sandy Bottom Snakes. 
I'll hope the owners dig it out at some point. I'll have to e-mail them with a suggestion. 
