July 4th Weekend

We wanted to get a GPS that would work in the car, and that would work for Geocaching so we've been putting off buying one until we decide which would be best. We finally read this info on the Garmin Nuvi and paperless caching so we decided to give the Garmin Nuvi 200 a whirl. After downloading the programs suggested and running the macro, I had 500 caches within 200 miles loaded and ready to find in my new GPS! Although it doesn't do one thing we hoped it would, it's pretty cool since it holds all the info from Geocaching.com so we don't even need to print anything out to carry with us.

I think I'm going to like this one. We can find caches anytime we're out riding around without having to worry about having the computer to look them up. When we travel, we can download Geocaches for any area we go to and load them into the GPS. Way cool in my book! It will take a little to get used to maneuvering with the GPS when we're out of the car and walking, but we proved today with the caches we found that it can be done. I found it easier to use than the handheld Magellen we had tried.

Here is the info on our latest finds since my last post...

7/06/2008 - Sunday
Hail To The Chief - Z
This was the first cache we went looking for with the new Garmin Nuvi 200. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to use the Nuvi out of the truck properly, but we did manage to find the cache. This one was quite clever and took all 3 of us. I pointed out the location, JT spied the hide and Tim figured out how to get it out. Tungett teamwork! This was a 35 mm cannister.

Beyond the Horizon
This one is just around the corner from our house, down a street we've never been down. We saw a HUGE rat down by the water. It was at least 15-20 lbs. We also saw a snake and a turtle. We researched the "rat" when we got home and have decided that it was a Nutria. Basically a big rat that causes more harm than good to the wetlands. After wondering around for awhile, we finally managed to find the right coordinates and locate the cache. It was supposed to have a couple of trackables in it, but they were missing. We dropped the Road Warrior Cache Movers Geocoin we had picked up last month. This one was a quart sized plastic container.

Goodby's Current
This is at the new boat dock about 1 mile from our house. We've been meaning to stop and grab this one for awhile. It was a neat hide with cool camo and Tim was the one who managed to find it.

Is That What I Think It Is?
This was just around the corner and a fairly easy find. JT's sharp eyes spied this one. This was a small camo pouch.

Volunteer Cache
This one was down a path into a swampy wooded area. Although we were looking for a gallon sized plastic container, we walked around in circles alot looking for this one. I was stung on the legs several times by something, we ran into quite a few banana spiders, and Tim did a really cool jig when he ran into one. :) It started raining, we were sweating like pigs and I was ready to give up when I finally spied it hiding under a palmetto. It didn't have anything good in it so we signed the log and headed out.

Beat the Heat Meat & Greet (Event Cache)
At 3:30, wet from sweating and being in the rain, we headed to The Loop for an organized NEFGA event. We thought it would be a good chance to finally meet some Geocachers so we went. There were quite a few people and we met a few whose names we recognized from caches we had found. There were lots of coins to look at and be discovered. It was nice to put a few faces with names we've seen.

7/05/2008 - Saturday
Today we went to Alpine Grove Park off S.R. 13 to possibly spy out a spot for a Geocache. When we turned into the park entrance we saw 6 adults circling a tree across the street. They were obviously looking for a Geocache. We went for a walk in the park looking at possible hiding places and we crossed paths with them as they came in looking for a couple that were already placed in the park. We spoke to them briefly, but didn't introduce ourselves or get their names so I don't know who they were. Hopefully they'll log some finds there and we'll find out who they were. Now that we have our GPS we can go back and see about finding the ones that area already in the park. It was a nice park and we'll definitely have to go back with the dogs sometime and maybe do a picnic.

7/04/2008 - Friday

Joker Undercover
We were headed to some friend's house for a July 4th cookout when we realized there was a cache nearby behind a grocery store so weH stopped by to grab it before the cookout. Tim found it pretty quickly. It was a magnetic key holder with no magnet. We signed the log and left a travel bug in it.

6/21/2008 - Saturday

I-295 Loop Cache #4
We took my sister out to look for a few geocaches on this day. We only found 1 out of 3 we attempted. I was hoping we'd have a couple of exciting finds with her in tow so she could understand why we enjoy it so much, but unfortunately we didn't. This one was by a very busy road with lots of people looking at us and some people on a nearby bench waiting for the bus. JT managed to get down on the ground and find this magnetic keyholder's hiding place. Now if I can just teach him not to yell "I FOUND IT!!!" while holding it up in the air when there are muggles around we'll be doing good.

6/16/2008 - Monday

Henry Flagler's Railroad - Sunbeam
JT and I headed out on this afternoon hoping to be the FTF a new cache. It was nice location near the railroad tracks and JT found it. We weren't the FTF though. A friend of the guy who placed it claimed FTF.


6/12/2008 - Thursday

Pushing Tin
This one has eluded us a couple of times and we decided it was time to go and find it once and for all. 3rd time was a charm and we found it! Tim had looked at the area before, but apparently not quite close enough. He was surprised when he realized he had missed it before. This was a neat camo job, although it should have been easier for us. Finally, we can mark this off and not have to go back.

Took JT's friends out Geocaching

We kept a couple of our friends' boys this weekend while they went on a retreat. We decided to kill some time today showing them what Geocaching is. Since it was 92 degrees outside, we pulled up just a few to search for. We wanted to look for camo boxes to make it more fun for them since micros are harder to find and not fun for kids. The boys seemed to really enjoy it and both of them found one.

Lake Front
Our first stop of the day. There were a bunch of Canadian geese walking around the field, but that didn't last long with 3 boys to chase them screaming. This one took a little buchwhacking, but Jake saw it first but couldn't get to it. Mr. Tim stepped in and tried to claim the find though!

Pond with a view
Our next stop of the day was behind a shopping center on a little peninsular of land that jutted out into a pond. It looked like the type of place where homeless people were probably living. The kids and Tim went bushwhacking and I stayed on the outer edge. When I saw it and pointed it out, Tim argued he had already seen that and that it wasn't what we were looking for. One of the kids reached under the palmetto and sure enough, it was a plastic container painted green with the goodies inside.

Hot to Go Again
This one was hidden near Krispy Kreme so we decided to find this one and then go inside and have a quick sugar fix and head out again. JT found this one after having a little direction from his father. I sat this one out in the air conditioned truck while it idled burning diesel at $4.79 / gallon!

Pushing Tin
Even with 4 additional eyes, this one eluded us again!

Where's Jack?
Joseph saw this one before we even go close. This was a nice location behind an office building with a gazebo near a big tree and pond. I commented that it looked like a nice place to have lunch, my son JT (10 next week) said it looked like a great makeout spot! He's ONLY 10 and thinking like that already?

More Photos Here...

Out of town at a conference

I had to go to Lakeland, FL for a few days for a church conference and I checked out the area to see how many geocaches were hidden nearby and there were actually quite a lot of them. I didn't want to go hunting for them by myself though, it's more fun with JT and Tim or at least someone. There was one close by my hotel though, right behind a 7-Eleven so I was tempted to stop one morning.

Brain Freeze 6
This was a pretty quick find. Hopped out, grabbed it, signed it and was on my way. I was in and out so quick, not one muggle spotted me.

There are actually a lot of geocaches in Lakeland. It looks like a great place to run through grabbing numbers. Maybe another time when I'm not alone. At least I got to get at least one find while I was there!

Racoon, Ants, & Chiggers...

We took the GPS out tonight to give it a whirl as a family. Truth be told, in some instances we found it helpful, in some, we just walked around in circles. Of course, it would help if I actually read the manual, but I'm just not a manual reading kinda girl. :)

We started off the evening looking for a couple of caches, had dinner (played with the GPS during dinner trying to figure it out) and then went and looked for a couple more. I say "looked" because we didn't find a couple we were looking for.

So, here's a rundown of today's hunt.... dirty hands, ant bites, chiggers, stung by something, Racoon in the woods with a message, fun & aggravation.... typical geocaching experiences? :)

Grandpappy Amos & Luke
Made a quick stop on the way to my son's Karate class today. Took us a few minutes, finally found it. Once you find it, it's obvious. :) SL

Not Roy's Brother's Park
We looked hard for a long time and never found this one! I hope it's still there. We will be back after we see someone else finds it. Nice park though... never been there before. Nice stroll, good place to come and play. Thanks for the exercise, and the exercise in hunting...however futile. :)

At Home in the Woods
Too cute! Found this one while out caching close to home tonight. Wish I hadn't read the logs before we went though. SL In: Bracelet, toy car & toy coin Out: Baseball cards

Ride the Stadium Shuttle II, Almost
We found this one tonight while caching in the dark. It was a little scary after reading the snake post earlier! Found it without too much trouble, had to fight off some huge red ants though. SL
In: Red Serendipity Travel Bug, bracelet Out: Nothing

I'm a Grinnin'
This is at a business office planted by a worker there - I'm sure for their entertainment! Someone would have been grinnin at us had they been watching us tonight. We were like the 3 Stooges searching in the dark. It's pitch black there at night and we only had one lousy flashlight! We looked high, we looked low. We didn't find it. But, we will be back during the daytime!

Geocaching in the News

First Hide ... "24 Hour SVC at the Y"

Today I hid my first Geocache. Just a little camouflaged magnetic key holder hidden just about 1-1/2 miles from my house.

Since it's so small and there's not really room for anything, I only left one of those gold dollar coins for the FTF. It's a fairly easy find. The name gives the location away pretty well and it's in a location where it should be found quite a bit.

We are putting together our first ammo can to hide. Trying to figure out someplace really good to put it where we can still have access to monitor it and take care of it. My son is really excited about this one and wants to do it NOW but until we figure out where, he'll just have to practice patience. :) I'm glad he enjoys Geocaching with us. The only problem is, he's not really into "looking", he only gets excited when it's found and he gets to open it and check out the "goodies". Probably very typical for a 9 year old cacher!

Shopping for a GPS & a few more finds...

A few days ago I decided to go ahead and purchase a handheld GPS unit. After looking around a little bit trying to decide, I ended up with a Magellan Triton 200. I'm having a heck of a time figuring it out... I can't get the drivers to load into my computers (we tried it on 2 different computers) so I can't get the computer and GPS to connect.

I have gone and found a couple of Geocaches using it trying to see how accurate it was. I have to say where I was looking, the Google maps were easier for me to use to find things. However, using the GPS, the coordinates were right on for the caches I've found. There are a couple more that I got very close to according to the GPS, but there was a police officer parked right next to one and pond and a fence in between me and the other. So I'll have to go back for both of those.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to keep this Magellan or take it back and get something else. If you visit and have an opinion on any of the GPS units, please feel free to use the comment link and share your thoughts with me.

Found in the last few days:

• Stars and Stripes: Flying High
  My 9 yr old found it easily since we'd seen this type of hide before. However, I didn't understand the name or the hints given by others. Hmmm.... Left something.
  
  
• For Sale...Pond complete with ducks & cranes
  Coordinates were exact according to my GPS. Found it without too much trouble other than huge spider web, thick woods and a Momma bird who didn't like me that close to her babies! Took Red Serendipity Travel Dog Bug to move along to another cache. Left USA by Madhatters Neverland Geocoin, Butterfly keychain & bookmarks.
  
  
• Right on Target - Out in Plain Sight!
  Coordinates were exact according to my GPS. Drove right up and found it right away. It was cool camo though, wouldn't be noticed by anyone but Geocachers. Getting log back was a challenge!
  

Our First Time Caching as a Family

Last night I got online and plotted out some Geocaches along S.R. 13 which is right by our house. I picked 10 caches along the route which took us about 8 miles down S.R. 13 and back. This was Tim's first time out and with gas prices what they are, we wanted to stick close to home.

We ended up finding 8 of the 10 we looked for. The ones marked in red are the ones that eluded us.

• Is that fish I smell?
  This was Tim's first. He and JT went looking and it was obvious he was embarrassed that someone might see him so he wasn't looking too hard. After a few minutes, I got out of the truck, walked to where they were and found it right away. It was a magnetic key holder cleverly placed. Log only.
  
  After enjoying lunch at Mandarin Ale House, we returned to this shopping center to go to the Word to Light Christian Store that is run by Jim, a motorcycle riding buddy of Tim's. We picked up a few buttons, guitar picks, little cards and other witness items to leave in caches we find. If you're in the area, stop by and visit the store, it's really nice.
  
  
• The Tree
  This was a pretty easy find near The Tree Steak House. Tim found this one. Log only.
  
  
• Pushing Tin
  This was behind a shopping center and all trashy. We looked and looked but never found it. Maybe another time.
  
  
• Mount St. Helens, Not.
  This was another fairly easy find for me. But as soon as I uncovered it hundreds of HUGE red ants came crawling out. Another Log only.
  
  
• Between a Clown and a King
  We knew this was up a little high and it was raining pretty hard, so Tim went out of the truck solo on this one. It didn't take too long to find once he looked in the right place. Log only but we left one of the witness pins we just bought.
  
  
• Hail to the Chief - 3
  JT found this one hidden in an area of trees/bushes that he fit in better than us. I was surprised it was hidden so well given the bright color of the plastic box. There was quite a bit of stuff in this one. JT ended up taking a $2 Canadian coin and we left a McToy and another pin.
  
  
• Cold Kangaroo
  This was at the end of our trail before heading back and working the other side of the street. It was a nano and we never found it. There was some new wood fencing and we wonder if it was recently replaced and the cache gone.
  
  
• Fun in the Sun
  This was our best find of the day and the furthest we had to trek away from the truck. It was near Mills field and we had to hike around a little lake to the woods. After searching for about 10 minutes and getting bitten by a few mosquitos, Tim finally found it. It was an Ammo can full of all kinds of stuff. The instructions were to leave something sports related, so we left a Football card, McToy and some other stuff that people might could use at a ball park. We took a rain poncho, a light up ball and a USA Gold Madhatter Trackable GeoCoin.
  
  
• Ace in the Hole
  This was a pretty easy one. Tim and I found it at the same time, he was tugging on one end and I was tugging on the other. Log only but we left a pin in it.
  
  
• Slow Down What's so Urgent
  This one took us a little longer to find than it should have. Tim looked right at the spot and so did JT and they both missed it at first. Tim finally went back and found it. Had I paid attention to the title, we would have found it easier. Log only but we left a mood ring.
  

So, after 3 hours, which included lunch, that concluded our day of caching. JT was disappointed we didn't have more to go find. I was ready to be done for the day. It was a nice day of family fun without spending a bunch of money or sitting at home doing nothing.

So, I score that as a winner of a day! See all photos here.

More Springbreak Fun

We decided to go to Adventure Landing on the Westside today, so I checked to see what Geocaches might be available on the way. We picked several to check out.

The first one "Bens or Chucks?" was behind Bennigans near Chucky Cheeses. This was a fun one to find, I needed to lift JT up to reach it. It was pretty rusty, but we took a couple of things and left a couple and signed the log.

The next stop for lunch brought us to "I'm looking over..." Fortunately JT was there because he had to get down on the ground on his belly to get it. He was pretty excited since it was his first find on his own. We found some cool stuff and left the trackable Geocoin we found yesterday.

After having a bunch of fun at Adventure Landing, we were heading to visit my sister when I remembered there was one near a cemetary I played at as a kid that was supposed to be fairly easy. So we swung by their on the way and after just a few short minutes, I found the cache "5082". I took the Believer's Pin, a Butterfly & Rainbow pin (perfect to wear for Emmaus), and JT signed the log and left some of his treasures he had just won at Adventure Landing. I think he put in a pirate ring, fake fly, chinese finger cuff, silver cross and an Energy drink mix.


Judging from the fun he and I had today, I think we're going to become addicted to this! Tim had never heard of Geocaching until I started this week. Hopefully he'll be able to join us for his first time sometime this weekend. I think he's going to enjoy it as much as we are.

"The Star of Coffee Houses"

On our way home from the Zoo, we decided to stop at the Starbucks by our house because there is supposed to be a small cache hidden there. It's a magnetic key holder with just a log in it to sign. JT and I searched the area quite extensively twice, but were unable to find it. There were "muggles" watching us, plus the area is near the drive-thru so I'm sure people were wondering what we were up to.

We'll wait until it's found by someone else, see what they post in the log and then maybe go back. Since JT is still on Spring Break, we'll hit a couple of spots tomorrow in search of others.

Our First Find - "It's a JUNGLE out here!"

After reading all about Geocaching last night and using Google maps to locate where are few are around here, I was ready to go hunting for one today and hoping that JT would be as excited as I was about "treasure hunting". I guess I read a little bit too much about it last night because I remember dreaming about finding two micro-caches in my backyard on a windowsill. Pretty weird, but I'm prone to weird dreams! Besides, I knew they wouldn't be that easy to find... (at least in my awake state!)

Since we planned on going to the Zoo today, I had searched and found a cache called "It's a JUNGLE out here!" (originally hidden 06/10/05) just outside of the Zoo's entrance. Using Google maps satellite photos, I felt confident that we could pinpoint close enough to the Geocache to find it. So before we went into the zoo, we went to the location where the cache was hidden. JT and I got out of the truck and started searching. We looked all through the bushes, the grass, the mulch, the trees, a concrete thing... all around. We were at a private businesses parking lot and on their property going through their landscape, so I didn't want to stay long. Just as I was about to give up I remembered the log had said it was cleverly camouflaged... so I looked with new eyes.

I was pretty excited when I finally found it. It was truly hidden well! It looked like a plumbing fixture that normally you wouldn't think about touching. But, I checked it closer and realized I had found it! To be honest with you, I was more excited about finding it then I thought I would be. JT held it while I took a photo of him with it and then we took it to the truck to check out the contents.

In it we found a trackable Geocoin, a small action figure toy, some really gaudy homemade Christmas earrings and the log. I signed the log, took all the items and left a Free Zoo admission coupon in it and we returned it to it's original location like we found it... hopeful that soon someone else would come along and enjoy the find as much as we did!

When I logged our find on geocaching.com, I discovered that the coin was in memory of a man who had passed away. It started out in Washington state on 01/04/07 and has traveled by way of many caches across the country to Florida. It is now my responsibility to put it in another cache so it can keep moving along. So, hopefully tomorrow we'll be off to find something near home we can drop the coin into.

Discovering Geocaching

• "Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 540,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica." From Wikipedia

I've heard about Geocaching before and it sounded like fun, but since I didn't have a GPS and I thought most people hid things in hard to find or hard to get to places, I didn't really look into it.

Tonight I was online and came upon a mention of Geocaching again so I thought I would look into it. My husband, Tim, has been wanting to purchase a portable GPS unit for his motorcycle, so I thought this might be something fun for us to do as a family and give me an excuse to want to invest in the GPS unit.

So I logged onto Geocaching.com and spent quite a bit of time reading all about it and looking around. What I discovered is that there are Geocaches EVERYWHERE! There are several right here in my suburban neighborhood in public places.

I also discovered that with Google Maps, I should be able to pinpoint some of them close enough to be able to find them. So I decided my son, JT, and I would give it a try tomorrow. He's on Spring Break and bored and this would give us something fun to do. We are headed to the Zoo tomorrow so I looked for something near there and found one that is right near the entrance so we will check it out in the morning.

I'll post here how that goes!