Thursday, August 29, 2013

Cachin' in August Part 5

August 24:  Back at home after a few days in Missouri, we got up early for a breakfast event at Ryan's in Union City to celebrate Comet Clover achieving the 1,000th find.

August 25:  After church, minnie mouse and I went to Union City for lunch at Arby's and pick up caulking at Lowe's.  While in town, we found Monster in the Bushes!, a unique style of hide.

August 26:  Business run into Gibson County and visit to Medina.  Since I had time, I left the easy one in town alone and went out of my way for 3 cachers that were out of town.  Spring Creek Bottom, a regular size cache at a TWRA hunting area.  Appears this area get a lot of dumping too.  dont TRIPP, had concerns if I would find this one, but quick search, it was there.  Ready to Launch, almost regretted coming after this cache.  Easy guard rail, but parking is an issue, traffic was heavy and came close to my new truck sliding into the guard rail.

August 27:  Another business trip to Henry County.  Being that I have no cases in placement, it has been to my advantage to have cases in Weakley, Gibson and Henry counties at this geo-time.  Returned to Memorial Park in Paris to grab 2A's, B, C & D #1, coordinates are off by 57 feet.  Guess another phone cacher?

August 28:  Travel to caches to grab cache days in this month getting a little tiresome.  Another run to Union City to grab One More Time-Which Way-NOT!!! WARNING!!!

August 29:  Made another trip to Union City, this time ignoring the new 3 caches, 2 of which I drove past to pick up, DA PLANE!! DA PLANE!!DA PLANE!!.  An easy P&G near the airport.  Afterwards, I was catching up on Facebook and read where LSUMonica had passed away.  I edited my log to reflect this loss to our geocaching community and made the find to this great cacher and friend of mine.  She fought a hard fight against cancer.

August 30:  Had business in Gibson County, visited a small park on the older part of Medina, Medina Little League, where I also signed the name of LSUMonica who lost her 4-year battle with cancer this week.

August 31: Last day of cachin' in August and picked up two new caches, UC Bound 1 and UC Bound 2.

In conclusion, I was not able to log a find every day and none of the finds were in my home county, I had to travel several miles. I did observe that a few cachers who were out of the game or no longer competitive, did revive for this streak.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Cachin' in August Part 4

August 23:  Disaster Relief Mission coming to an end and due to prior engagement, myself and 3 mission workers are heading towards home.  I did get to meet docbaker57, who was in my camp the entire time and he was caching in the evenings.  We returned a different route going through the Ozarks and since I had a muggle entourage with me, I generally wanted to keep to interesting caches.  We stopped at Privy , one of the best containers I've seen in my 8 years of geocaching.  Next stop was Houston Always, at a Wal-Mart shopping center.  Good opportunity for restroom break.  Then we headed south towards Highway 60 and we stopped at Willow Series 1, I made this harder than it was, but found the cache.  We drove on Highway 60 and I was pleasantly surprised the road is now a 4-lane.  Back in 1991, I traveled to Springfield, MO on Highway 60 and was a winding, slow 2-lane.  Heading West, we stopped at Big Spring.  I visited this location in 1991.  We continued west along Highway 60, finding Eagle Scout Project Bat Boxes, a really cool location of a bat box above the cache.  At this point, I wanted to connect counties from Poplar Bluff, MO to Sikeston, MO.  We made are final stops at Zebra One and Crossroads of Southeast Missouri.  The last cache was on my bucket list for another reason, the cache owner has twice visited Weakley County and I wanted to return the respect by finding one of her caches.

With the mission to Missouri, I've found enough caches for one part of The Traveler's 5-State Challenge

Monday, August 26, 2013

Cachin' in August Part 3 (Disaster Relief)

After completion of the 50+ run of Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky, I was driving around Martin and when stopped looked at my gmail on my smartphone and informed of a Disaster Relief Mission with Southern Baptist.  I was aware of the high possibility of deployment but have experienced stand-downs when advised of a pending mission.

August 18:  Made a quick slip north of Fulton, KY and grabbed On the Rail ~HWY 51S, an easy guard rail cache.

August 19:  Met up with disaster relief team members in Martin and Dyersburg. I was asked to take my own vehicle due to that I was scheduled to do something the coming Saturday.  Prior to meeting folks in Martin, I quickly found Which Way Again in Union City.  We left Martin, to Dyersburg and then participated in a 2-vehicle convoy towards Waynesville, MO.  On the way, we stopped for a bite to eat and I picked up: Rt66 Mo-Diamonds Are Forever, a cache in reference to the famous Route 66 that runs from LA, California to Chicago, IL.

August 20:  On mission demolishing a mobile home.  Went into town and grabbed, Wire Road Stop, a nice virtual.  Road with local police officer and he knew of geocaching and the virtual.  Later, I returned to town and found Treasured History, a good ammo can at an antique store.

August 21: Was given a mission to grab supplies in town and quickly found Yummy Fun at a McDonald's.  We started at the work site and I really got to know all about Flood Recovery, the art of tearing our sheet rock and flooring.  It was a hot day and didn't wanted to cache due to not feeling well, but decided to go after, Roubidoux Spring Earthcache.  It was good that I went after this cache, I splashed the very cold water on my face to which that helped me.  Everyone on my team did the same, one lady took her boots off to soak her feet.

August 22:  Since I knew we would complete our current job this morning, going to another job and plans to go out to eat, I got up before everyone else and made a before sunrise find at Waynesville/St Robert I-44 Travel Bug Hotel.  While not a hard find, it was tough in the dark even using my Surefire tactical light.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Cachin' in August Part 2 (August 17)

As I continue to work on The Traveler's 5-State Challenge, I teamed up with dhrnrcpa and Pharmd93 with a 50+ find sweep of southern Illinois and a few caches in Kentucky.  We picked August 17, a Saturday and was also International Geocaching Day.  During the trip, I colored in Pulaski County, in Illinois, which was my first ever trip to that county.  Almost all the caches were of the Park and Grab variety,  We would visit over a dozen cemeteries, a few guard rails and many fire hydrants.  

The most significant caches we found were:  Bird Man  which we would read it was the grave of the Birdman of Alcatraz.  I also completed, once again, the What's Shaking Series with the new cache in Paducah.  Another interesting cache was:  Kimball's Granite Sphere & Xenoliths an earthcache.  

We cached for several hours in the heat and humidity.  We also had to deal with rain showers from time to time.  

Cachin' in August Part 1

Groundspeak is offering souvenirs for finds on any day in August; pushing the agenda to have a 31-day streak.  My personal best streak of 18 days was set in August 2010 when on R&R leave from Operation Iraqi Freedom.  With caches being 20 or more miles from home, I would not be able to complete the streak, but am enjoying the time getting out and seeing different places.

August 1:  Trip on business to Paris and grabbed West Fam #1, looked closely at the back 9 of the disc golf course.

August 2:  Duties in the office and home prevented any trips on this day.

August 3:  Planned to attend a CITO on the Land Between the Lakes, while on the way, my truck developed mechanical problems.  Problem was a blown head gasket and this cacher limped the truck back home with no cache finds.

August 4:  Stayed near home, out looking for a new vehicle.

August 5:  Planned trip to Nashville airport, during my lunch hour, I picked up:  Here's to You!, #9, #9 (Your tax dollars at work), Two Grand for Tennessee, Music City Travel Bug Hotel.

August 6: Took a day off to find a new vehicle.  After purchase of a 2013 Nissan Frontier, I grabbed Welcome to Union City #2

August 7: New caches popping up on Union City, side trips are being made.  Found Which Way?

August 8: Trip to Paris and found 2 A's, B, C & D #3

August 9: Another trip into Henry County and found John, the closest cache to my home and only one within 20 miles.

August 10: Attended Disaster Relief Training with Southern Baptist in Union City.  Prior to class, I drove to Hickman and found Hickman Bluff Project

August 11:  Yard work at home, no time to cache.

August 12:  Side trip to Union City, once again, found Veteran's Park Pavilion

August 13:  Business took me to Gibson County and picked up Go Hornets!   and Medina Micro

August 14:  A return trip to Union City, Veteran's Park Pine.  Took a walk around the trail.

August 15:  Business in Paris and found 2A's, B, C & D #5, this one was difficult.

August 16: Visit to Milan and grabbed Field of Dreams.

More to follow......

Friday, August 2, 2013

Virtues

Saw a new series pop up called the 7 Heavenly Virtues. Having a light day, I hit the series. Did have two DNF's, but at one location, I didn't feel comfortable and selected it would be better to return another day. Was a good series and completed some of the caches in the rain. Despite, I didn't find two of the caches, I was able to determine the coordinates. Arrived at the final stage and rain was much more steady. Found and signed the cache when a bolt of lightening hit very closed. With storm on top of me, it was best to end caching for the day.