R U Firesafe?

Imagine my joy when I received a message from my Australian buddy, Firesafe, that he was thinking of stopping by Detroit during his whirlwind visit to the States in April! Sure! Come on!  I have so much to show you!  DarrylW4 and I met Firesafe last year when we visited Chicago for the sendoff of the Chicago Geocaching podcast. We had said, "If you are ever in the neighborhood..."

Saturday started with the annual Spring CITO on Belle Isle.  Sure, Firesafe had only been in town less than an hour, but nothing says WELCOME TO MICHIGAN! like cleaning it up!  First stop - CITO souvenir earned!

Belle Isle CITO crew

Mosaics along the Detroit River

Afterwards, we headed downtown to grab some caches and then some grub at Green Dot Stables.  Too bad the weather was so overcast.

The Gateway to Freedom Virtual GCJH56

Heading back up Woodward, the sun finally came out, and we detoured to Woodlawn Cemetery for my wherigo.  Imagine our surprise running into BSW2010, Alona Spiegel, TeamGates and ProBob with the same idea!

SQ- Wandering Historic Woodlawn GC5C08W
BSW2010, TeamGates, Alona Spiegel, Firesafe, DarrylW4

BSW shouldn't have been caching.  He had his own CITO event that he was late for in Warren.  After another park cleanup (especially all that pesky geo-litter found every 528 ft apart) 15 or so of us piled into cars for the new Midnight Rider's cache.  How many cachers does it take to crack a monkey puzzle?  Oh, 15 or so.

Puzzler26's A-Maze-ing Nightmare GC5HJCC

Sunday found TaGeez joining our ranks.  As well as Firesafe's event, we were targeting Puzzler26 caches. Time to show off the local talent.  

But first... a stop in a cemetery.  And another. And another.  I'm sure Firesafe's wife was getting worried because EVERY photo had some type of headstone in it.  No fear! He made it home safe!

SQ- Clover Hill Park Cemetery Earthcache GC3KE10 with TaGeez

The Hobby We Enjoy (Presidential #20) GC40T2Q
Firesafe, TaGeez and DarrylW4

 One thing I have to give Firesafe kudos over was his willingness to try to local cuisine. After topping off a coney dog at National, he moved onto the local favorite, a Hani.

Experiencing the joy of the local cuisine
National Coney Island - Main Street

After a few more Presidential caches, off to the event we go!  It was an evening of good food, good fun, and Vegemite!

R U Firesafe? GC5PH3B

Obligatory picture with Caching Fire

Yep, a typical evening for this crowd!

Just a portion of those that showed!

 Apparently, we didn't scare him off.  I met Firesafe Monday morning for another geocache tour of Detroit.  There were so many things Darryl missed!

{GHQ} Heidelberg Redux GC2GA9Y

Firefighter Memorial at Elmwood Cemetery

Masonic Limestone of Detroit Earthcache GC3KM1D

Share Your Candy GC4T88Q

It was nice spending time with you, Firesafe. I hope you have some fond memories of the people you met and places we explored!

Podcacher 502: I'm a Winner!

I received a message on Monday from a geocaching friend in Australia (FireSafe), asking me if I had listened to this week’s Podcacher.  Nope.  It’s not Tuesday.  A creature of habit my podcast rotation is Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me for Monday’s commute and Podcacher for Tuesday. (I won’t bore you with the rest of the rotation, but now I have to insert The Moth somewhere.  Have you heard of it? I’m thinking Wednesdays).

So, curious at Firesafe’s enigmatic message, I loaded Podcacher episode 502 and started to skip through the episode.  Have you used the handy 15-second fast forward button on your player?  It’s a great way to bypass overly long segments on any podcast (sorry, like the News from the Northwest.  It feels like one long infomercial).  I must admit on some podcasts I listen to it at 1.5x speed for the same reason.

Big moment at minute 50:30

Ok, where am I going with this (in case this post’s title didn’t clue you in). 

I’M A WINNER!

I need a profile picture.  I look like a
deranged bowling ball!

Several week’s ago I entered the 2014 Compass Rose Geocoin contest and was one of 5 lucky winners!  I was too late to claim the limited edition Cosmos coin, but I did win my second choice: The Immortality Coin.  I’m so grateful for Firesafe reaching out to me when he did!  Isn’t it beautiful? 

It’ll pair beautifully with the Compass Rose Protection Geocoin I won earlier this year on the GeoGearheads show!  

Chicago Geocacher Podcast - Spectacular Weekend (part 2)

Continued from CGP - part 1
_______________________________________________________________

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.

Chicago Geocacher Podcast - Spectacular Weekend (part 1)

I had a ridiculously fun time this weekend in Northern Illinois!

The Chicago Geocacher Podcast (hosted by Scott Berks and Walt Grogan) celebrated it’s 100^th – and last – episode with a series of events near Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates, Illinois.  Now, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to their broadcasts <ding> you would understand both the joy and sorrow I’m feeling.  Around twice a month for 4 years this pair sat down and bantered the thrills & weirdness experienced in their corner of the geocaching world and the news at large.  And this show isn’t for children.

It’s not something you can describe here….. take a moment (or two hours) and shoot over to iTunes.  Download their Episode 97: Jewish Boy Scouts & Lab Caches and give it a listen.  This is a typical broadcast with the distinction of being the only podcast EVER to make me swerve off the road, in full belly laugh, and almost hit a guardrail (with, probably, one of those rare geocaches).

It feels like your best drinking buddies were just relocated overseas after completing a major project. You are excited they reached their goal, but you’ll miss them at the bi-weekly Poker party.

To celebrate this milestone, DarrylW4, Caching Fire and myself trekked West for one last drink goodbye.  Yes, I brought the Detroit Dragon – don’t judge me, monkey!

Starting off before dawn struck, we made our way towards Western Michigan and the Indiana border without event.  I found my first Indiana cache at the Visitor Center (Crossroads GC12GGE).  Funny thing is…. It had an old, damaged Cache-a-Maniacs logbook in it!  (Cache-a-maniacs was one of Darryl’s podcasts).  I logged the find quickly and received my Indiana souvenir. 

No other thing to note except Darryl’s GPS is ‘possessed’.  Just as we accessed the Indiana Toll Road 90, it directed us to exit just in time to grab a train cache (EJE 765 GC1VPVD) and then re-enter the toll road.

Making good time (and passing all those glorious VIRTUALS in downtown Chicago), we found ourselves at the La Quinta Hotel (Hoffman Estates) where we met up with Jeremy Collins (WyoKrewe from Wyoming) and Scott Thompson (Firesafe from South Australia).  After a quick check-in, we were off to cache the area while on the way to the first event. 

Firesafe, WyoKrewe, DarrylW4, Caching Fire, and scrapcat

Hamming it up at Walt's Microphone

Enjoyed a Quaint Cemetery, too

First event: Chicago Geocacher 100^th Episode Lunch Spectacular GC4ZP1N at the Billy Goat Tavern and Grill (Mount Prospect).  What a fabulous crowd!  We started with meeting Walt Grogan at the logbook, and then over to the counter for some pretty tasty cheeseburgers.  Everyone recognized DarrylW4, Firesafe, and WyoKrewe from the podcasts.

Sitting at the table, Scott showed me the geo-art (Signal) he made for the Oz Mega in South Australia – so cool!

Not one to be shy, I left the guys to chat while I visited table-to-table, snapping pictures of Fire with the locals and trading path tags.  Fire is photogenic and a great ice breaker. My favorite log was from Teper129, “This is undoubtedly the coolest trackable I’ve found.  Being a dragon myself (I breathe fire), I felt a connection with this guy.  Hope to see him again!”  He even included a picture of himself breathing fire in his log!

Teper129 - Kindred Spirits!

Here are a few of the pictures I took at that event.  There are more attached to his log.

Our hosts have a good sense of humor, too!

Scott Berks

Walt Grogan

Can't forget the group shots!

Jeremy, Scott, Fire, Darryl, and Elisa

The out-of-towners

After a group photo, we were off to do the Randall Road Romp!  It is approximately 200 caches within a 10-mile stretch of Randall Road.  Due to time constraints, we only managed about 75 of these park-and-grabs before the main event.  Darryl did an excellent job driving & navigating, while Jeremy, Scott and I were runners.  We used the “Scott & Walt” method – don’t completely unroll the logs!  There’s caches to be had!  Darryl made these awesome GGH (GeoGearHead) stickers to quicken things up.  This worked as long as Firesafe didn’t spot a Munzee nearby – LOL.

Of the approximately 75 caches, there were two stand-outs:

Cachesaurus Rex GC427P4 – LOVED it!  We had fun taking pictures and a breather here.  I made the find – it was nice finding one NOT located under a lampskirt.

Randall Road Romp #16 GC3Y610 – it might have only been a P&G, but (contrary to what geocaching.com says) it was my 4000^th find (on day #772 of my caching streak).

(To be continued..... part 2)