5 in an Hour!! That's a Cache Dash! (DEF SPOILERS)

So, the hubby may have had less than excited remarks regarding caching, but he sure seemed to have fun with Banksey and I after swim today! In fact, it was at his urgent pressing that we cached into the night today! Kewl!

So, first off was Don't be a Cad- Cadwell Park Umatilla. I had come here once before, but didn't log a DF because I ran out of time. Technically that might be cheating, because I see a lot of other people logging DF's and mentioning it getting dark, or they had to leave before a complete search. Whatever, I say. It is a continuation of the earlier search- the PAUSE button of Cache Dash, if you will.

Banksey, unfortunately peed all over his shirt at swim practice, so he is rednecking it and shirtless on caches today. First we spot a local resident we have decided to name Darwin.

He lives in this hole in the ground that Banksey all but wanted to put his arm down. We tried to convince Darwin to come play, but he obviously had prior engagements, so we moved on to the cache.

The hint here is "Look toward the Back", and I get stuck on thinking it should be hanging on the chain link fence just behind these trees. I must admit, I was ready to call the search quits when hubby said, "Found it!"

"Around Back" meant on the back side of the tree. A excellent hide. LizardPajamas and Joe is quickly becoming a favorite hider for me. This was well hidden, almost too hard/camoed for it's 2 rating- until you find it, and then it seems appropriate. Weird how that works.

Back in the Jeep to Loose Caboose at the Umatilla Library. Way easy! But full of cobwebs too. So....maybe not. Took Joe with me for good luck and to distract anything with more than 4 legs. He did very well!

Onward to Jarrod's spot. There is a sign here that's a dedication-I don't know who Jerrod is, and can't seem to find out. Oh well- I'm not up for a sad story today anyway. My little Pickle and Joe strike a pose under the Gazebo as it gets darker.

Hey, look who was just here yesterday! A Scarlet Rose- I find this funny, as I just left her at Cadwell.

There was a dead turtle that I snapped a picture of, but decided not to post because it was truly disgusting. I have never seen the inside of a turtle shell....I think their intestines are about as long as ours. Anyway, hubby makes a joke that the cache is hidden in the half left shell and I almost hurl.

Next over to the Umatilla Historical Museum, and Tim hopped out of the Jeep. It's not really at the museum at all- but it's close. I have an AWESOME handheld unit because it zeroed in right in front of a fence...at what appeared to be nothing. Tim walked back and suggested that the coords might be off. I remembered seeing well hidden caches that looked like rebar sticking out of concrete or bolts that were really hollow magnets and thought Why Not Here?

I sooooo love these kind!

Then, as night approached we tried to hit Hay Batter Batter out at the new large park. This park is huge and awesome I have no idea how it ended up in Umatilla! I'll post more pics when I go back for some Day Caching.

We ran out of daylight, but Parker had a blast chasing this Cuban tree frog.

Boys will be boys, I guess.

WTF?

It's 3:40 p.m. on a Thursday, I am getting ready to get the Pickle and load up for swim lessons. I want to grab a cache location just before leaving- and geocaching.com is DOWN?????

In the meantime, here are a few terms to help along the way:


Benchmark - Geographic marker placed by the US Geological Survey at an exact set of coordinates. A spin off of geocaching uses benchmarks in a manner similar to virtual caches.
BYOP - Bring Your Own Pen (or Pencil). Most micro caches are too small for the miniature log book and a writing utensil, so the cache owner is reminding you to take your own on the hunt.
CITO - Cache In, Trash Out. Refers to an ethic whereby cachers try and leave an area in better shape than they found it by picking up any trash they encounter after finding a cache.
DNF - Did Not Find. Indicates that the cacher searched for a cache, but could not find it.
GCxxxx - Abbreviation for a cache identifier used on geocaching.com. The "xxxx" is a four character alphanumeric value (i.e. GCPMTT).
Geodashing - GPS game in which players atetmpt to get to more random coordinates in a playing field than the other participants.
GPSr - Global Positioning System receiver. Usually referred to just as a GPS.
FTF - First To Find. Refers to first cacher to find a cache after it has been placed.
GSAK - Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. A popular software program cachers use to manage cache information, send and receive data to and from a GPSr and convert coordinates between the major mapping formats.
Micro - A very small cache container. Altoids tins, film canisters and waterproof match holders are common micro containers.
Muggle - A non-cacher. Taken from the Harry Potter series. Often used when warning other cachers to be careful about exposing the location of a cache to non-cachers when its hiding place is not in a remote location.
Muggled - Interfered with or taken by a non-cacher.
Multi - Short for a multi-cache (see below).
Multi-cache - A series of caches in which each cache provides coordinates to the next subsequent cache (typically a micro) in the series and eventually to a regular cache container. The simpliest multi can have one redirector, the hardest can have many, many more.
Newbie - An inexperienced geocacher.
Park 'n Grab - A term used to describe a cache located close to a parking area and requiring little walking.
PI - Poison Ivy, the scourge of Central Texas geocachers (sometimes written as P.I.).
PnG - Abbreviation for Park 'n Grab (see above).
Pocket Query - Custom geocache queries generated by geocaching.com and emailed to premium members. These can be easily downloaded to a GPSr.
Redirector - A cache which will only contain a set of coordinates in order to send the seeker to the actual cache being hunted. One piece of a multi-cache (see definition above).
Spoiler - A hint to make finding a cache easier.
STF - Second To Find. The Silver medal winner in the race to find a cache first.
Swag - Slang term for the treasure and trinkets found in a geocache.
TB - Travel Bug. See definition below.
TFTC - Thanks For The Cache.
TNLN - Took Nothing, Left Nothing. The cacher did not exchange an item from the cache contents.
TNLNSL - Took Nothing, Left Nothing, Signed Log. Similar to TNLN above, but also indicating that they signed the cache's logbook.
Travel Bug - An item passed from cache to cache. Travel bugs are assigned tracking numbers and their travels can be tracked online. Many travel bugs have stated goals, such as making its way to a specific city or country.
URP - Unnatural Rock Pile. Refers to common practice of stack rocks on top of the cache to hide its location. The resulting pile often stands out to natural formations.
Virtual - Refers to a virtual cache, which does not represent a hidden container, but a location or monument that the cacher is supposed to find. Virtual caches are confirmed by answering a question posed by the cache owner in the description.
XNSL - Exchanged Nothing, Signed Log. A variation on TNLNSL (see above).
YAPIDKA - Yet Another Park I Didn't Know About. Refers to the fact that some caches bring people to parts of town they know little about.


Well, there must just be alot of cachers out today, the site is back up and running 5 minutes later. Whew!

Here is a link for more:

http://home.earthlink.net/~prime.suspect/geolex/

Island Lake (Hog Island)

Well, it's still raining. I think Central Florida has recieved a total of about 9 inches, which means that the ground to get to the Island Lake Cache is surrounded by water. A very famous marketing campaign comes to mind as I contemplate stopping by on the way home from Banksey's swim lesson.

It's a Jeep Thing.

Why else do I have this ballsy vehicle if not to adventure- and what better place than close to home, so it's off to Island Lake..

First- this picture in no way does it justice....the narrow path that I had to drive through to get to the general location of the cache. Ahead you can see a small path that looks pathetically flat in 2 dimensions- however, in person it's a bit intimidating. My jeep barely fit through it- AND it doesn't level off to flat road after that crest. No. It has a 45 degree incline down. Whew! I love offroading!

After 4 days of constant rain in the area, a normally grassy spot looks like this....

And this......But does that stop me?

Here is just an example of some "puddles"- they've been working really hard on becoming lakes.

Brought the cache back to the truck- took a Jim Beam visor for Pokey- left the Mini Martini. :) This was fun- like playing in puddles! :) Thanks for the cache!

Jeannie O In the Rain

(Forgive any typos- please, and just know that I have excellent grammer....a patient toddler running around and NOT grabbing my laptop.....not so much)

Just around the corner from mi casa (sp??- hey, I'm not Spanish) is what should be a fairly easy cache- Jeannie O. I have brought Parker to this park many times, but today I came alone. I was on a mission.....and it was raining cats and dogs.

Actually, I had come here earlier on the Saturday before, but had to log a Didn't Find. Let me just say, though I haven't been doing this very long, I have quickly grown to severly dislike this little blue sad face.

So, I had come with the hubby and Parker earlier, but couldn't find it. I will say that rather than it being that this is only my 3rd cache ever, or because I tend to give up to early, I will instead blame this non find on the fact the I argued with the hubby the entire time on why geocaching was so much fun and a great family outdoor activity. He still finds it "ridiculously unecessary". Alot of men just don't get this, I have noticed. Weird that, at least in my personal experience, women would be more into the "scout" and "scavenger hunt" side of caching. Huh. Go Figure.

So I came back today in the rain with my spiffy new GPS. (That ill be my next blog, btw. The units I tested and hated vs. loved. Once you get under the cover that it so obviously points you to- it sorta bounces everywhere.....but when you get over the dark creepy places your fingers must brave..... Eureka, just about the time I started to say- "There's no way this is a 1.5!"

Ha. I guess I just need more practice! Oh, well- I think this was such a good beginner cache that I give it a THIS ROCKS award!

Thanks to LizardPajamas&Joe!

Pt. 2 Tanks Jim and Sixteen Candles

It would have made more sense, I admit, to leave this as one post. We have a to be continued due to the fact that while driving through the Tennessee mountains, my air card works in 3 minute intervals. Everytime we drive through a path cut into the giant rocks- I lose connection. But Banksey is asleep in the back- and what better time to blog!!?? (I of course am not the one driving......duh)

So- Sixteen Candels.....wow. That one was kind of a bee-otch compared to Tanks Jim...and it was supposed to be a 2. Maybe it's just because Katie and I are too girly at heart to really WANT to dive into thorny bushes and muck. In the end, we rolled up our sleeves and dug in.





Okay- so maybe we're wrong on the location? The GPS says it's right here....but here is a pile of thorns and I just kleep waiting to step on a dead body under all the brush.






Am I totally abnormal that I worry about things like that often? Dead animals don't freak me out in anyway- but if I came across a person I think I would be scarred for life! Ewww....






But we were beginning to get discouraged....it should be right here!

So, we think we should recheck our details. Maybe no one has found this for like ten years and it's completely buried in the muck. So we are going to log back online and see when the last find was.



But.....this was the Bermuda Triangle of Illinois.....no cell service, no GPS and no internet.

So I decided to take some pics of the local grafitti while Katie patiently curses the laptop........





















After confirming that this cache still existed we began The Drunken Bumblebee Dance, it look a something like this.....

Shortly after this dance I decided to lean against a tree while Katie continues searching. What I didn't expect was that this tree would be decaying to the point that it was *mushy*....yes, that is correct. A solid piece of wood, rather than hardening and becoming petrafied somehow became a compost's dream. Ugh. When I sank into it's sludge I freaked a little and turned and......drum roll please.....I found it! The ammo can. Can you see it too?

Tanks Jim and Sixteen Candles

On a recent trip to surprise and see the Fam Jam, Katie (a.k.a A Scarlet Rose) and I decide to attempt at least a few caches close by. We chose Tanks Jim, a small log hidden in a magnetic key holder on an army tank, and Sixteen Candles (next blog post), an ammo box hidden near a pavillion in a park.

Tanks Jim is a 4 out of 5 difficulty, but honestly we found that one far easier than the 2 difficulty at Sixteen Candles.

Here Katie and I punch in our GPS coordinates to pin point as close as possible this itty bitty cache. The weather was awesome. Sunny and slightly breezy. 68 degrees here is a very different 68 degrees from home. It felt more like the mid 70's......weird.

Here's our obstacle ahead. Despite the daunting task, we are determined to find this log!

Stepping all over this tank reminds me of a summer I left to stay with my uncle in KY. All I remember about the location was Hells on Wheels Blvd. I thought it was cool that I could say a curse word- HAD to infact- everytime I mentioned the road. Tee hee....Hells on Wheels Blvd.....Tee hee. He let me climb inside a tank that summer. They are very compact inside- not for the claustraphopic at heart. :)

Katie searches under the tank......it's pretty dirty under there, but sacrifices must be made! She tells me that her hubby John usually eyes the cache first, she never seems to see them, so it's a good thing I have come along. Hopefully, I will improve the odds of discovery.

I actually got my head a little stuck here, but that wasn't nearly as freaky as waiting for some spindly spider legs to touch me so that I would high tail it back to the car with a serious case of the heebie jeebies.

Katie found it! It was small enough to hide in her hands! I won't share the details of where this was hidden, just know it was WELL hidden! The satisfaction will be so much better if you're ever there to find it yourself!

Katie and I sign the log on April 9, 2009. Wow! That was really fun and a great challenge! I can't wait to get home and find some more locally. I already have plans spinning in my head on how I can mod the Jeep for some Ocala National Forest hunts.

And the Conquering of Tanks Jim!