Chicago Geocacher Podcast - Spectacular Weekend (part 2)

Continued from CGP - part 1
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Main event: Chicago Geocacher 100^th Episode LIVE Spectacular! GC4Z6NX at the Penny Road Pub (Barrington).  Feeling a little tired and ready for the next event, the four of us arrived to find approximately a hundred other cachers in the Pub’s basement (coded for about 50 people).  Perfect party atmosphere!

The LIVE taping of the show was a hoot!  You’ll have to listen to it yourself.  I enjoyed everyone doing their own milestones and the out-of-towners making stage appearances (I didn’t go up – I finally got my hands on some grub).  My favorite part of the show was finally seeing, for the first time, the “friends from the show”: Toppercat, Dinaworks, Brandon, Shortyknits and Action Rick Jackson.  None of them looked as I expected them!

Dynamic Duo

Darryl, Walt & Scott

For the last time, we heard about Scott & Walt’s Recent Caches, TopperCachesÔ, Caches of the Show.  They wrapped up after the broadcast with CGP trivia and raffle prizes.  Fearing I would win a packet of “Cock Soup”, I was ever so glad to pickup my new flashlight from GXProxy.

We rounded out the night with my new Geocoin (with a slight error – notice the blank blue field across the top? It’s missing “The Chicago Geocacher”) & commemorative patch.

Final event: The Day After the Big Event – 100^th Podcast GC503Y6 at the IHOP next to our hotel, the La Quinta (Hoffman Estates).  Darryl messaged early – he needed a few more caches to reach a milestone by the event so we hit a few in the parking lot.  My favorite was called Follow That Swans GCNCJN – as we were nearing, the swans came over for a visit!  Lovely stroll.

The breakfast was relaxing – first time I’ve been to an IHOP in a decade.  The guests-of-honor sat with us. At our table was Scott Berks, Jessie Brown, Walt Grogan, Jeremy Collins, Scott Thompson, Darryl Wattenberg and, of course, Caching Fire. 

As we were leaving, we caught sight of this… not sure what to make of it.

Saying goodbye to Scott and Jeremy, Darryl and I headed towards Beverly Lake.  It’s SO close to the hotel – how could we leave without it?  Beverly GC28 is the third oldest active cache in the world!  With a posted date of 05/13/2000, at the moment it boasts 585 favorite points.

Darryl "waiting" at Beverly

We found Beverly GC28!

Just as exciting were the caches we found along the way: Little Diversion GC2JM5E, I found WHAT at Beverly? GC390RX (SO fitting after doing the RRR yesterday!), and Blammo! GC1VTYY.  I think one of the things I’ll remember most is the soot, though.  They were doing controlled burns along the paths near Beverly lake within the last week, and the trails were a fascinating patchwork of blackwatch (burned areas), green (new growth) and yellow (trails).  With the overcast weather, I couldn’t get a decent picture to share.

We rounded off the trips with another find for my Jasmer (Cache in the Woods GCE979), a webcam (Visions of Salt Creek GCGVRN) and several other random beauties that crossed our paths.  I ended the day with “most states in a day”: 3.  I’m hoping to break this stat when I return this year with TaGeez to grab the Chicago Virtuals, more caches near Beverly Lake, and finally hit Wisconsin.

I’ve spent the last few days reading Discover logs for Fire (nicknamed “Fire Paws”) and accepting friend requests from Illinois.  Hopefully, I’ll meet them again at one of the Megas.

Thank you, Walt & Scott, for 4 fabulous years of podcasts.  I can’t wait to see what you do next.