Being that the majority of my caching I am alone and finding the geocaching site by accident, I did not have the advantage of someone taking me under their wing to guide me of the in's and out's of the game.
I stumbled across the geocaching site by accident late one evening while browsing around the Where's George site. Already a GPS owner and knew some of the basics such as marking a waypoint and following the arrow, I was ready to find my first cache. I begun the game with a Garmin GPS 12, an old GPS that I owned since the year 2000. It saw more activity in a storage drawer than in my hand. Found a little over a dozen caches with the GPS 12. Having some left over money from a tax return, I went to Target in Jackson and saw the Garmin Legend. I went home with it and used it for a year. Within a month, I purchased Metroguide and some time after that, I was detailed maps on the Legend. However, it was limited and still printed Mapquest maps of areas I did not know and had not heard of GSAK.
Begun to hear more about Pocket Queries and GSAK on the GOWT forums, not understanding or experienced it myself, I took the opinion it was a negative. Cachers were fussing about coming up to a cache to only realize it was a guardrail or lightpole micro and etc. Being that I studied the printed cache pages, I knew what I was hunting long before I left home. Thus, I paid $30 just to move maps around!
In October 2005, with around 200 finds to my credit, I attended a KTAG event in Fairview, Kentucky. I cached along Hwy 79, through Clarksville mall area to the meeting. From the meeting, cache pages were made available for the caches placed nearby. I was entering the coordinates and decided if one popped up, I would go after it. Yogi came over and invited me to go along with him and Team NAB. I sat in the back of the Team NAB cache mobile but could see the ease that Nashville Joe and Yogi had with navigating the backroads. Something at the time, I could only dream of.
In December of 2005, I went with a crew to Bridge, No Bridge and rode with -boatman-, I received more experience with auto-routing and decided then I would upgrade at tax return time. He also showed his PDA where cache pages were stored on it. I was amazed how easy he had it. A few days, later I purchased a used PalmPilot from BigDaddyD. He provided me some instruction. After a rough start, I begun using Pocket Queries and was Plucking away at caches. A couple of months later, I purchased a used Garmin 60cs from Yogi when he upgraded to the Garmin 60csx. He provided me with some training and auto-routing soon came to be. With the addition of the PDA and Garmin 60cs, my cache production went from 8 finds a week to 12 and was on my way to the 1K.
Today, I have advanced to just about all I can do. I do use a laptop with nRoute and connect the Garmin 60cs to the laptop, using voice turn by turn direction. With another tax return, I upgraded to the Garmin 60csx. As for technology, I have met my limit, there maybe little more I can do, but since I cache alone most of the time, I have reached my limit in cache efficiency and seek to maintain my average of over 10 finds a week.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
I miss the new TN Cemetery Geocaches....
For almost a year, Tennessee geocaches have had to endure the Groundspeak ban of new geocaches placed in Tennessee cemeteries. One of the items I brought up was that I have been rarely bothered while geocaching in a cemetery. Only one time, I have been asked what I was doing and had it not been for a micro in a wooded area, I would have been in and out quickly without anyone noticing me.
Today, on June 23, I set out for Mayfield, Kentucky to find three new geocaches. Wooldridge Monuments would be the last. I started the day with two DNF's. Traffic was unusual for a Saturday morning and the parks were full of muggles. I went onto Woolridge Monuments. I had heard from the cache owner, Pirate of the Cache N Carry of his intentions and awaited the new cache. The site was awesome and spent some time admiring the scene. I hope others will soon descend onto Mayfield to find this geocache.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
1991 Gulf War
When my enlistment expired from the United States Navy in August of 1989, my intention was to attend the University of Tennessee at Martin and join the Tennessee Army National Guard to fulfill my 8-year obligation. I have served four years active duty and was stationed for a little over three years at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. The Navy was not what I wanted to do but wisely, I had entered into the Montgomery G.I. Bill upon enlistment and the money would be very useful when I began college full time in August of 1989.
After some help from then Senator Albert Gore, Jr, I was transferred from the US Navy inactive reserve to the Tennessee Army National Guard and joined the 1174th Transportation Company in Dresden. I knew very little about the Army and had to be tutored about Army uniform regulations, drill and ceremony and customs. I quickly picked up on the changes. Not long being in the Guard, I went to the rifle range, I was given a M-16 assault rifle and the bolt. I asked if I needed the bolt? The armor had a surprised look on his face and asked me if I ever fired the rifle in basic. I explained, that I was in the Navy and only fired the .45 and .38 caliber handguns. And if Infantry type work was needed, Marines would do it. I was given about two minutes instruction, placed the bolt in the weapon and explained which end was the danger part. I will have to say that currently, my Class A uniform, I proudly display the expert badge for the rifle and sharpshooter for the handgun.
In August of 1990, I was out running around town and having a good time and dropped in at a another friends house and to see the Iraqi Army overrunning neighboring Kuwait. Some one commented, that I would be going to war. In November of that year, his prediction came true. When the 1st Infantry Division was alerted for deployment to Saudi Arabia, my unit received the call. Just before Thanksgiving, we were in training at Ft. Campbell, KY.
In early January, my unit was flown to Saudi Arabia and within a week, we were deployed 30 miles south border of Kuwait. Our routines quickly became working on trucks, guard duty at night. At that time, most National Guard units (like mine) were not equipped with night vision. Guard duty was boring and the January nights were very cold.
During the early morning hours of January 17, 1991, I had was given a break from guard duty and laid down for a quick nap. Just fell asleep when the commander entered the tent and said the war had begun. During the night, we could hear faint explosions and jets in the air.
The air war continued, out mission continued, we hauled fuel for the 1st Infantry Division. Later, the entire 7th Corps was moved 70 miles of our positions in order to secretly attack the Iraqi positions from the west and not from the south, where they expected.
In late February, the ground war began, being on the wrecker, I was not assigned to one of the forward transport platoons, but I do recall being at the forward positions when the ground war began. I was under a truck, hooking up the truck for transport and could feel the ground shake from the bombing of the B-52 bombers.
The ground war only lasted 100 hours. Later, our company was re-united in northern Kuwait. Our camp was surrounded by oil well fires. There is no telling how much smoke and oil I inhaled those couple of weeks. When the 101st Airborne was re-deployed home, the 1st Infantry Division was ordered to secure the western flank and our unit was moved to southern Iraq. A few weeks in southern Iraq made the days go be longer without much to do. We did play volleyball every afternoon. And the summer heat was beginning to show.
The unit received order to redeploy to home station, we move back to Saudi Arabia and then to King Faud Airport. We spent a few days washing trucks and equipment and lived in a parking garage. Our unit was unable to be all together on the same plane home. Married soldiers, solders with health problems were allowed to go home first. I was on the second flight and went home about a week later.
The 1174th Transportation Company hauled over 13 million gallons of fuel and logged almost 1 million truck miles in support of combat operations for the 1st Infantry Division. We suffered no KIA or WIA. However, the unit did have two soldiers MIA for a couple of days.
After some help from then Senator Albert Gore, Jr, I was transferred from the US Navy inactive reserve to the Tennessee Army National Guard and joined the 1174th Transportation Company in Dresden. I knew very little about the Army and had to be tutored about Army uniform regulations, drill and ceremony and customs. I quickly picked up on the changes. Not long being in the Guard, I went to the rifle range, I was given a M-16 assault rifle and the bolt. I asked if I needed the bolt? The armor had a surprised look on his face and asked me if I ever fired the rifle in basic. I explained, that I was in the Navy and only fired the .45 and .38 caliber handguns. And if Infantry type work was needed, Marines would do it. I was given about two minutes instruction, placed the bolt in the weapon and explained which end was the danger part. I will have to say that currently, my Class A uniform, I proudly display the expert badge for the rifle and sharpshooter for the handgun.
In August of 1990, I was out running around town and having a good time and dropped in at a another friends house and to see the Iraqi Army overrunning neighboring Kuwait. Some one commented, that I would be going to war. In November of that year, his prediction came true. When the 1st Infantry Division was alerted for deployment to Saudi Arabia, my unit received the call. Just before Thanksgiving, we were in training at Ft. Campbell, KY.
In early January, my unit was flown to Saudi Arabia and within a week, we were deployed 30 miles south border of Kuwait. Our routines quickly became working on trucks, guard duty at night. At that time, most National Guard units (like mine) were not equipped with night vision. Guard duty was boring and the January nights were very cold.
During the early morning hours of January 17, 1991, I had was given a break from guard duty and laid down for a quick nap. Just fell asleep when the commander entered the tent and said the war had begun. During the night, we could hear faint explosions and jets in the air.
The air war continued, out mission continued, we hauled fuel for the 1st Infantry Division. Later, the entire 7th Corps was moved 70 miles of our positions in order to secretly attack the Iraqi positions from the west and not from the south, where they expected.
In late February, the ground war began, being on the wrecker, I was not assigned to one of the forward transport platoons, but I do recall being at the forward positions when the ground war began. I was under a truck, hooking up the truck for transport and could feel the ground shake from the bombing of the B-52 bombers.
The ground war only lasted 100 hours. Later, our company was re-united in northern Kuwait. Our camp was surrounded by oil well fires. There is no telling how much smoke and oil I inhaled those couple of weeks. When the 101st Airborne was re-deployed home, the 1st Infantry Division was ordered to secure the western flank and our unit was moved to southern Iraq. A few weeks in southern Iraq made the days go be longer without much to do. We did play volleyball every afternoon. And the summer heat was beginning to show.
The unit received order to redeploy to home station, we move back to Saudi Arabia and then to King Faud Airport. We spent a few days washing trucks and equipment and lived in a parking garage. Our unit was unable to be all together on the same plane home. Married soldiers, solders with health problems were allowed to go home first. I was on the second flight and went home about a week later.
The 1174th Transportation Company hauled over 13 million gallons of fuel and logged almost 1 million truck miles in support of combat operations for the 1st Infantry Division. We suffered no KIA or WIA. However, the unit did have two soldiers MIA for a couple of days.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Congressional Medal of Honor
Muggles whom have negative attitudes towards geocaching often ask me “What to you get out of the game?” Geocaching has taken me to the graves of three Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients. The three include: Medal of Honor Recipient in Atoka, Tennessee, a virtual. A multi which resulted in a DNF for me, Crab Orchard Stone, tallest one around in Crossville, Tennessee. Shelby County Medal of Honor Recipient in Bartlett, Tennessee. That cache is a mystery cache that I completed with my daughters this past weekend.
I am blessed to participate in a game that can take me to the graves of these men, some of which gave everything in the defense of our nation. Only Jesus ranks higher in my book of the most honorable people I would like to meet.
I am blessed to participate in a game that can take me to the graves of these men, some of which gave everything in the defense of our nation. Only Jesus ranks higher in my book of the most honorable people I would like to meet.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Bicentennial Trail
After weeks of discussion on the RVG, KTAG and GOWT forums, I set a date for the Bicentennial Trail cache run. The Bicentennial Trail is 6 miles of paved trail that used to be a railroad, just west of Ashland City, Tennessee. The date was Saturday, November 11, 2006. Pharmd93 and his son, Sherlock121 arrived at my house, loaded up my gear and traveled to the trailhead. As we arrived in Ashland City, we drove by Brickbat66’s house, picked up two bikes and invited Brickbat66 along for the cache run. We each had bikes and I was very happy for that. Walking the 6 miles would have been tough on that cool day which had some light rain.
There were 16 caches along the trail by Silver Dragon, GotGOD?, family-fun, Alaskan Snowman, JayPea, BigOldBoots and Yooper Cachers. There were no DNF’s on that day. I had already found Bicentennial Trail by Silver Dragon previously, and watched Pharmd93 and Sherlock121 find the cache. A few minutes later, we hit the trail on the bikes. One cache, I really remember was Root Canal. That one was a difficult climb. Later while looking for Thanks Joe, the cache owner Alaskan Snowman rode up on his bike. He was checking on us and went forward to check on one of his caches. We went along the trail finding more of the caches. Some were more difficult than others. The scenic view cache was Taschenlampe, which was a great view and interesting hide technique. We stopped long enough to a few pictures. Hit the trail again. About that time, Tennis40love called me and told me that she would meet us at CRB TBug Hotel. She was on foot and found us. She had found the caches on the east side of the trail and wanted to join us on the west part. She was the only 1K Club cacher on the hunt and we were in great need of her experience and wisdom. We proceeded down the trail and got into the Yooper Cacher series. The micros on that part of the trail were very difficult, the last one Micro Yoop being the most frustrating. It was a great experience for all of us and even without a bike, keeping up with Tennis40love proved to be challenging. At the end of the trail, was JoGPS who provided transportation for us to the vehicles parked at the trailhead.
We departed each other and I rode back home with Pharmd93 and Sherlock121. We stopped for a few caches in Montgomery, Stewart and Henry Counties.
There were 16 caches along the trail by Silver Dragon, GotGOD?, family-fun, Alaskan Snowman, JayPea, BigOldBoots and Yooper Cachers. There were no DNF’s on that day. I had already found Bicentennial Trail by Silver Dragon previously, and watched Pharmd93 and Sherlock121 find the cache. A few minutes later, we hit the trail on the bikes. One cache, I really remember was Root Canal. That one was a difficult climb. Later while looking for Thanks Joe, the cache owner Alaskan Snowman rode up on his bike. He was checking on us and went forward to check on one of his caches. We went along the trail finding more of the caches. Some were more difficult than others. The scenic view cache was Taschenlampe, which was a great view and interesting hide technique. We stopped long enough to a few pictures. Hit the trail again. About that time, Tennis40love called me and told me that she would meet us at CRB TBug Hotel. She was on foot and found us. She had found the caches on the east side of the trail and wanted to join us on the west part. She was the only 1K Club cacher on the hunt and we were in great need of her experience and wisdom. We proceeded down the trail and got into the Yooper Cacher series. The micros on that part of the trail were very difficult, the last one Micro Yoop being the most frustrating. It was a great experience for all of us and even without a bike, keeping up with Tennis40love proved to be challenging. At the end of the trail, was JoGPS who provided transportation for us to the vehicles parked at the trailhead.
We departed each other and I rode back home with Pharmd93 and Sherlock121. We stopped for a few caches in Montgomery, Stewart and Henry Counties.
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