Pizza Dude

We head off to do a few of the caches hidden by Pizza Dude. We can call him that, seeing we just met him recently at our first geocaching Event. What fun....meeting everyone.

Anyways, we really don't know his style, although we had read in some logs, that he was being mentored....great...by who else....yep Alphabet man ! And since you already know my success with that ! Anyways....

We get to the site of the first cache....gps still down....we remember reading the hint about musical instruments or something....we head in. We decide to choose a set up with slides and etc. We first eyed the monkey bars, because we thought it said something about monkeys, but NO WAY...if it was on there, it was a nano...with a super strong magnet. So, we choose the latter.

Now remember this is made for kids, not adult geek geocachers. We climb up the plastic rock wall, and go head in...what a site for any " pass-er-by-ers" Peanut took a picture of me, attempting to get into some little 4 x 4 square. If she wants to live to raise her 3 boys....this will never be posted.

We spent quite some time on this little play set...actually probably more than the kids do. We touched, and tried to undo every screw and bolt on this 1 million part toy.
We, I am telling myself, sat so long doing this, because it turns out we were in a "room" with musical "do-higys".

Peanut heads in a new direction, as I start the e-mail to the FTF dude. I hate to do that...it is like admitting defeat. Really we just wanted a teenie-tiny hint. I think the response would have been just alphabets....like....ROFLMAO !

But, we were saved, seconds before I go to hit the send button, I hear....Got it !

Whew....geocaching without gps is a whole new level of difficulty! Good thing you weren't there to see me get down !

We think we are getting better

Due to circumstances beyond her control, Peanut misses the 6am caching call. She stops by at 3pm, dressed in jeans and tennies ( it is 87 degrees out) and wants to go caching. Sure....but Pizza Dudes caches, are all terrain of 1-1.5, so what is with the jeans? And...that is when she announces....we are going to get "the tunnel" ! Oh....
"the tunnel", yep I am in...let me change my clothes! (sign #1....we are getting better)

We decide to do a small collection of 5-6 caches in one town, then buzz over for "the tunnel" I have printed off, just the map showing the location of the caches.....hoping to do this in some sort or orderly fashion. ( sign # 2)

We head out on our quest, the 1st stop of the day, will be a cache, that we had been meaning to get to, but never got around to. We stop there first. We are in a park. We get out our phones, and go to our Geocaching applications. Nothing! What? Ok, lets try again...nothing. Well eventually we get a message saying " no communication" So, basically it is saying we are s--- out of luck! Well, we didn't drive out here for nothing! This cache is placed by someone we know, know the style, know what they like, so I decide to do a little "profiling". ( sign #3)

Hmmm....this was placed in their early days, so it will be a cammo hanging, or a taped container at the base of something...tree or bush. Looking around we see, about 10 evergreen trees...that would be #1 choice. So, now we are trying to "think" back to when we read the logs....ok, is this the one where Alphabet man said, he hated this kind of cache...or do we just know that from the cache event? Anyways, lets go with the first thought...the evergreen tree! ( sign #4)

looking around, I choose the cluster of evergreens, in the middle, but in the back...This cacher would not hide something, where everyone would be watching...plus the cache would be reached from the back, thus hiding the cacher even better ! The base of the trees are pretty "open"....so we are going for a hanging.
Past experiences tell me, it will be at 5 foot-ish high, or it will be low, but on a branch where you have to pick up another branch to see it! (sign #5)

So, now we have it narrowed down to 4 trees, I am guessing the middle 2. But I am still trying to figure out the right or the left one...( hey can't tell you everything!)

Ahhh...got it! (sign #6) So much for profiling...makes me think twice about MY next hides! So, we are off to the next cache...hoping our phones will be up soon...
We are clueless on the Pizza Dude!

The grumpy old man

Monday comes, after a really grueling weekend, I am off to "cache" up on a few things. Replacing wet logs, replacing muggled caches...and the likes. On my to do list, is to go into town, and do a few errands. It was while I was in town, I decide to look up a few caches in the area. I have been carrying a TB that needs to be dropped. The first challenge is to find a cache that is big enough to hold him. Seems like everything is a micro! Ok, so I see where there is one located not far from where I was, according to the log, it looks like a regular size, and according to the map, it appears to be out in the country. Great...no woods...no ticks....this will work out fine!

I arrive in the general area, and slowly drive by, checking out the site, I do a turn around a little ways down the road. I pull up to the sight, and pull off the road, it is on a corner ( typical bush hide) I look around...no one...I get out...I grab the cache...I return to my car. EZ ! As I am signing the log, decide to do a travel shoot ( while in the car) and as I am stuffing this TB into a small container, I see this gentleman, riding down the road on a John Deere tractor. From now on, I will refer to him as Grumpy old man !( GOM) He drives by me...and if looks could kill, I would not be writing this ! He turns left, and drives on. I am now done, and need to replace the cache...I drive down the road, and do a turn around in the nearest driveway, and as I am headed back...here comes GOM ! So, I am thinking, he must be going to mow...and of course, he is going to mow, exactly where I need to return the cache! So, as I am coming to the intersection, I am trying to decide "how to do this!"

The phone rings, and I can tell, by the tone, it is Peanut...."whatch ya doing? " This is good, I will explain the dilemma to her and she will have a good suggestion. As I am sitting at the stop sign, talking on the phone...here comes GOM and he pulls right up to my car window ( on the JD) and he is hollering at me.....hmmmm...so I roll down the window, clearly I am on the phone, but he don't care. So, I tell Peanut, I will call her right back...and as I am hanging up, I can hear her saying...No, don't hang up!

On my side of the phone, I see GOM as harmless, but I am also thinking he is going to be making a citizen arrest ! On peanut's side, she hears GOM, and pictures Barney Fife and thinking he could possibly be carrying the 1 bullet, he is allowed!

The following conversation takes place:

GOM: what you doing? ( sternly)
Me: ( sweet little geocacher) nothing
GOM: what business you have out here? By now, I am taking in the whole look and attitude....he doesn't really look like a fellow cacher...( lawnmower was the give away)....but maybe his kid or something has that cache, and he is seeing if I am gonna admit I am geocaching. So, before I can decide on the game plan...
GOM: There has been robberies down here and I want to know what your business is ! So, by now I am trying to decide if he thinks I am running "a business" from this corner, or if he thinks I am robbing houses! Really? I mean REALLY ! It is noon on Monday...I wouldn't be doing either ! I mean it is only noon! So, I decide to play it straight.
Me: Have you heard of geocaching? ( no answer) A world wide game using Gps? ( no answer)
Me: ( cheery and smiling) Well, there is one hidden right over there, and that is why you may see some people stopping and
GOM: I seen it, plastic container under the bush, but I ain't touch it.
Me: Oh....okay..... so I stopped to get it and
GOM: I seen you

Wow, and he is getting madder, so now I don't know if he is mad, that I am on public property, at an intersection or if he is mad, that I took the plastic container that "he seen"
Me: Well I needed to drop off a Travel bug and ( ok...this is not working) Do you live around here? ( trying to make small talk)
GOM: Yup, down the road there, where you turned in my driveway. I seen you, Been robberies out here
Me: well since you know about this, I might as well just put the container back.
(I get out of my car, holding the cache)
Me: See the little travel bug, he started in Germany, and he wants to go to New Zeland, and I got him in California and ( no response, just staring me down) so I will just go put this back now...

He stands guard, as I go to the bush to return the cache ( mean little sucker) and I am now whispering to the TB...I am sorry, I have to even leave you here with the mean guy, but hopefully someone will come get you, real soon. As I get back into my car...

GOM: You get out of here now..GO! Wow, I was really tempted to ask him, if I had at least till sundown! ( Ma always told us to be nice, but really! )

As I drove away, I can see him in my mirror, sitting on his little John Deere, wearing a little reflective vest, and those glasses, the kind that turn dark, when you are in the sun...with that mean little face, just watching me, making sure I am leaving town!

I sooooooo wanted, to roll down the window and yell at him " My John Deere is bigger than yours!" But I didn't!

( Ma would be so proud!)

Geocaching at the airport

Here all along I thought there were no geocaches placed at airports. Boy was I wrong!
As soon as my plane landed, I was into my first caching expedition. Actually, it was an unplanned cache. I had my location, I headed towards ground zero. I knew what I was looking for....It took me some time, re-checking the coordinates, looking and searching...and then just like geocaching you get a smiley as you say....I see it!

Just like geocaching! So I grabbed my luggage and I was off.....I did not want to post a DNF ! All my clothes were in there! :D

It's been a year.....

1st Sgt sends me an e-mail....to remind that it has been a year! WOW...a year of geocaching.
I really don't think I am any wiser ( older, but not wiser!) I have made some progress since day 1. I am richer....Monetary (?)...ah no, as I am still waiting on the movie deal. No... I am richer with Friends and Memories!

I have come across lots of critters, some dead.... some alive.....and some rubber. I have donated lots of blood to mosquito's and named my first tick. I have been scared "half to death" at least twice!

I am happy to say that I have been able to log a few "I found it" along with my DNF's. Grabbed me a couple Travel bugs over the year, and even sent one of my own out.

I have fallen down embankments, hugged a few trees ( to keep from falling) I have been attacked by thorns and a killer corn stalk. I have tripped over my own feet.. other peoples feet and had my hand stuck in a historic monument. Happy to report.... no broken bones...(yet!)

I have slid on the ice, slid on gravel, I have been stuck in the snow and stuck in the mud. I have parked on sidewalks, driven in ditches and jumped out of cars before they were put in park. I have raced to FTF's and ended up on unnamed roads ( not intentionally) Happy to report... ( as far as I know) never caused an accident. (Yet !)

I have been in more cemeteries than a funeral director. I have had to reboot my I-phone, reboot my Tom-Tom, reboot some friends, and reboot my brain!

As far as knowing...Up from Down...North from South, well I am still working on it! I have been lost in woods, turned around, turned upside down and have experienced an occasional "out of my mind". I have been reacquainted with "my other right" ..had a show and tell on poison Ivy was in attendance for the" Latest on Ticks" lesson... and...( best of all) fell in Love with Duct Tape all over again!.

I have learned what a LPC is, a preform, lock -n- lock, Bison tube and a nano. I have come across locks, screws, rocks and magnets ...all containing sign in logs. I now know that a Difficulty of 3 and a Terrain of 2...is all perspective...and I am STILL looking for "the" tunnel. I have re-confirmed my thoughts...that when it comes to hints...Men are from Venus and Women are from......( let's just drop that one)

My vocabulary is full of TFTC...SL...TNLN....FTF....BYOP...SWAG...GPS....CITO....GZ....ETA ...TB! This I get... but I still don't know what OBCJY stands for !

It's been a year....and still having fun! So, to all my geocaching friends...here's to year 2! Let's get older and wiser together! Happy Caching...see you on the trails!

No longer tickless....

I got my first tick. If I do a statistic page, I could add that to....first cache...first TB...first FTF...100 caches's and 1st Tick!

Who knows where I actually picked this little guy up...somewhere between cache 1 and cache # 10 for the day.

I decided to name him....dead tick...dead, dead tick!

It all started as I was waiting in the car while Peanut ran in for snacks ( she is a good snack person) the whole sweet/ salty/chocolate thing going on. Anyways...I look down on my jeans and there is a bug....a small black bug...right on the thigh of my jeans! So, I do the obvious...I squish him...but he doesn't squish! I am thinking...is this a tick?

Sitting next to me, in the door thingy...is a bottle of nail polish remover...I grab it and sprinkle some on my jeans...okay...I pour some on the jeans...then I take the cap and
hold down "the bug". With my free hand I spray the remaining contents of my "deep woods off" over my entire body.

Peanut returns to the car...she is over come by fumes as she opens the door. "Don't panic", I tell her...but this may be a tick! I lift the cap....yep she says...."it is a dead tick" And then she proceeds to explain, the dot on the belly, the deer tick explanation...the whole burying the head in your skin...the sucking the blood..the Lyme disease....

OMG! I am "feeling" ticks all over me for the rest of the day. The 20 minute shower was not hot enough when I got home!

So far....no sightings!

Anyways ...a landmark... my first tick...a very dead, dead tick!

WARNING.... Don't mess with me...I am armed with nail polish remover!

And so it all begins...

Previously....on The Blog. Peanut goes geocaching for the first time, and becomes instantly addicted. Turns out she is pregnant with triplets. Summer ends, triplets come....Aunt Yoda buys them geocaching t-shirts. Peanut returns to work. The holidays role around, all 3 boys are finally home, Peanut and I occasionally get a chance to say "hi" at work. The New Year roles around and Peanut switches to the day shift. The car pool begins...

On a typical drive home from work...after a typical weekend shift....Peanut and I are doing the usual chit-chat. I am driving and not paying too much attention. I swear, I thought the car knew the way home. Suddenly I realize that I have made a wrong turn. So, it looks like I will be "snaking along" the back roads, just a few ( lots of few) blocks out of my way. Peanut knows this area. She starts telling of her grandma stories ... she is pointing out a small area of trees, part of a walking course ... and peanut says..." This would be a great place for a cache"

And so it all begins....

Fast forward to the next am....( make that 4:15 am, to be exact) and I am picking Peanut up, for yet another "day". On the ride in, she is downloading the Geocaching site to her Blackberry. Yep, the whole wrong turn has stirred her geocaching addiction! The download is complete just as we enter the Kankakee area ... and she is all excited ... there is a cache, just a few blocks away... in fact it is in the same area that I was driving through yesterday... in fact it is on the walking trail! Yes...yes...yes... Calm down, I tell her, we will stop and "pick it up " after work.

And so it all begins....

Like a kid with a new puppy, she could hardly contain her excitement all day...we were going geocaching! I am trying to hide my excitement ( ha, ha) By the time we leave work I am versed on the childhood stories...the parks, the walking trails, the huge white tree....and on and on. I am just so happy she knows the area, seeing I am "tom-tom less" ( I didn't even know we were going geocaching after work!)

We get to the scene of the squirrel cache and she is out of the car, before ( I swear) I have it in park. There are no words for her enthusiasm ... after making an easy grab ... I check my phone for any nearby caches, and sure enough....THE white tree! Really, if you have done the cache, you know it is not really in the tree, but the hint and the story tell of THE tree. I really, truly have not seen anyone as excited about getting a cache... and this was probably what I was remarking on ... when I opened the cache. OMG... there was a "rubber rodent" of some type on the top...I jumped back so fast, I nearly dropped the dumb thing....this , of course, made the ripple effect...Peanut jumps, and then says..." oh, don't scare me like that!" Yea right...like I knew it was in there! So, like typical 8 year old children...we poke it...and take a picture!

And so it all begins....

We recover quickly and are heading home in record time...2 caches under our belt...I am smiling and Peanut is playing on the Blackberry...oh wait she says...There is a Travel Bug nearby....I want a travel bug...I have NEVER had a travel bug....

And so it all begins....