MWGB19: Knights That Go Nano

In town with my knight-in-shining armor, TaGeez, for a wonderful weekend at Midwest GeoBash (15 years - congrats!) We enjoyed 3 days of camping, seeing old friends, finishing 45 Adventure Labs, attended 5 events and finding 31 geocaches. 

TaGeez had to work Friday morning so we didn't arrive and setup camp until Friday afternoon. Making short work with camp, we were soon off to explore and make great memories!

I think the theme this year lent to some pretty fun geocaching! We expected Medieval Renaissance, but it actually followed the lines of Monty Python!

We met many knights seeking the reward in the field...

scrapcat - ProBob - ACLCoordinator - TaGeez

This was our first Favorite -- it took more than the knights of the round table to figure this out. There were like 20 of us :)

Excalibur

Dragon's Breath

HE SAID HE'D SHARE! TaGeez found the food trucks! Excited to find that Outlaw Smokehouse opened a brick-n-mortar in Napoleon, OH. Oh, so dangerous!

He promised to share!

Did someone say "Tin Foil Hat Night"?

Fire made a friend

Saturday morning found a big surprise - friends from Chicago! ShortyKnits and ScottBerks swooped in on their bikes and stopped for a hug, a picture and some trading. Have you checked them out? They did an episode on the Midwest Geobash here. I'm a proud Patreon member!

ShortyKnits - Scrapcat - ScottBerks

Besides many creative geocaches, MWGB created 50 (yes, 50!) Adventure Lab Caches this year! They created 3 (sets of 10) featuring the Fairgrounds, 1 (set of 10) on the history of Wauseon, and 1 (set of 10) for the Poker Run. We arrived at the end of the run, but we managed to grab a few of those before heading home.

The Knights who say ni

If it's Saturday then it's Treasure Hunt! Purchase a ticket and try your luck in the show ring. Each ticket earns you a few minutes with a metal detector. Listen for the beep to win a t-shirt trackable and a raffle ticket. Show your trackable to the nice people at the table and you could win again! AND WE DID! A Garmin Vivofit 4!

As the heat rose on the fairgrounds, we decided to head into town (and the glorious AC in the car). Time for the History of Wauseon Adventure Labs and highly-favorited geocaches. Oh, I LOVED this first one!

Take And Read Diverse Intriguing Stories

Do you have NANOCACHEPHOBIA? This will either cure it or make it worse!

NANOCACHEPHOBIA

Back in time for some vendor shopping, finishing our Adventure Labs and closing ceremonies. TaGeez couldn't help making a new friend.

Official Midwest GeoBash Photo

This is genius! We bought this battery-powered Ryobi fan during our power outage several weeks earlier. TaGeez packed this - thankfully! Spangler Arena during closing ceremonies was in the high 90's + humidity. Pack hundreds of bodies in the stadium seating with no air movement is normally Hell! Now we had friends stopping by and standing conveniently behind us to cool off. 

Closing ceremonies were over, but the day was not cooling as the sun was going down. With only 10 minutes to get there, we made a break to the local movie theater for the latest Spiderman movie and AC. Made it! And we had time for popcorn & drinks, bathroom breaks, and sitting our butts in the best seats! We saw the last Spiderman in this same theater, too.

Sunday arrived to a deflated (and dead) air mattress, a pancake breakfast and packing our wet camping gear. With the day already getting steamy, we headed for a final cache and then home.

Not before stopping (again) at Mama C's Donuts in Maumee! On the way in to Bash, we had stopped at the Quilt Foundry when we had a sudden urge for donuts. Lo! Here's a donut shop near the highway so we decided to give them a chance. HEAVEN! The freshest, tastiest donuts! So turning out  of the fairground gates, our car magically headed back that way for a dozen more. 

Mama C's Donuts - Maumee

We decided to make an adventure of our trip home by grabbing a few more caches and a stopover at Libbey's Glass Outlet in Toledo! Later that night, I finally succumbed to watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- now some of those caches made sense!

MWGB 2019 swag

Hard to believe I've logged 8 Midwest Geobashes so far! 

But here's another one in the books! 

Road Trip Apps!

I was listening to my friend, Shortyknits, on GeoGearheads this week (GGH 210), and she mentioned Furkot. She's working on several challenges at once (Illinois DeLorme, Illinois counties, and Illinois Virtuals) and had a really successful adventure in the new year. She and ScottBerks made a major dent in finding qualifiers while criss-crossing across the state. A wiz at trip planning, she said she used Furkot.com


FURKOT - Miss the turns on your terms! Use real dates, find interesting places, book hotels with ease

Furkot is a free trip-planning website (that works just like an app on your mobile device). You can plug in multiple stops and the planner will route the most efficient route from one destination to the next. You can pick dates and even travel times - travel times will accommodate sightseeing stops but keep you on track from missing check-in times or sundown, if needed.

From their site: You can even plan meal stops and add gas stations to your itinerary. Not to mention biking paths, museums, monuments, climbing routes, national parks, scenic views — add as many as you want. Furkot will keep you on track. You just need to show up.

A website that's also mobile-friendly and works like an app

When I posted this online, another friend, Yellowjeeperman, said he's been using Roadtrippers for years.

ROADTRIPPERS - Maps built for travelers.

YJM said, "If you like finding things on road trips, awesome restaurants, cool spots to stops, highly recommended places, movie locations, it's the best app."  I have to admit I enjoyed clicking on the Attractions & Culture and Points of Interest features. Looking at my local area, it was pretty thorough. 

Besides the standard Food and Accommodations, I can also see my family enjoying the Guides: Roads & Rides, Camping, RV'ing, and Destination Strange. Destination Strange wonderfully reminds me of my favorite website: AtlasObscura.com. Have you been? Talk about fascinating places and a fabulous website, too!

Both a web site and a free app

Now, YJM is a very helpful sort. He also mentioned another favorite travel app: Sit or Squat by Charmin!

SIT OR SQUAT - Need a bathroom on the go?

This is available via a fee app or online.  At first I poo-poo'd his suggestion (pun intended) until I remembered that we're going to Washington DC and Central Park this year. Talk about tough places to find a public loo! Good suggestion, Brad!

Both a mobile website and a free app

Still and all, I can't end this post without mention my buddy AstroEricJ's favorite, WAZE. 

WAZE - Outsmarting Traffic Together

I wrote about WAZE after our epic journey from Michigan > Indiana > Illinois > Wisconsin > Minnesota > Iowa > Illinois > Indiana > Home. This is social media for traffic. As you travel along your route (and it will route for you if you plug in a destination), you will see real-time traffic issues like accidents, construction, traffic slowness and police presence as reported by other Wazers. Waze is smart enough to navigate you around these hazards in a fun, interactive way.

Available as a free app only

Now, this is definitely not all-inclusive, but this should make for some interesting experimentation this summer on the road to DC and NY. Especially if we acquire a mobile wi-fi like AstroEricJ - yes, wi-fi on a geo-adventure (drool).

UKGCPC: Cacher of the Month!

Fabulous surprise on Facebook Sunday morning - Collin and LJ from the UK Geocaching Podcast are featuring me as Cacher of the Month on their August podcast!

The honor includes:

Their hilarious take on my interview questions

Featured on their webpage

I'm their Facebook cover page, too!

Check out the last 12 minutes of Episode 45 - August Mish Mash to hear about my "tank" adventure in Maine and tobogganing down a Michigan hill on my butt!  And when you are done, make sure you submit your entry for COTM, too!

Oh Beep! My Question!

Cool beans! My "Ask Dr D" question aired on the Oh Beep! Geocaching podcast (episode 62).

Listen at minute 40:31 where they sort of... Well, not really... answered my question.

Yo, Fools! It's pronounced "Mish-igan"!

Wherigos: Shout-out to Michigan Geocachers

Michigan Geocachers rock!  Woot!

I was listening to this week's Oh Beep! Geocaching podcast (episode 58).  Eric, from Groundspeak, and Mark, from the UK, were talking about the differences in geocaching dependent on the region/country. 

Then Mark asked Eric about the future of Wherigo.  Eric said some determinations were to be made within the next 6-9 months.  Then (around minute 25:45 of the recording) Eric made mention along the lines of "talk about how different folks play…. In Michigan, in the United States, they [Wherigos] are pretty popular".

Granted, it was a small mention, but my friends and I have been creating some fabulous Wherigos lately using Ranger Fox's Wherigo\\kit.  I just thought it's cool that someone from Seattle was talking to someone in Great Britain and Michigan came up.

GeoTalk - A Loss

I just heard the heartbreaking news that Darren Osborne (Spindoc Bob) lost his battle to cancer.

Darren was the long-time host of Australia's GeoTalk podcast. He told the most wonderful tales about caching in the Outback, and the roving reports just fed my urge to explore.

It deeply saddens me as as I remember many of his last episodes talked of completing a major Australia historic cache challenge - heartbreaking knowing it won't happen. I'm so sad for his family.

He had a fabulous accent and kindest voice. I still have his congratulatory email when I won a geocoin on his final show.

His nephew, Ryan Osborne, has started a fund for cancer research and honoring Darren here.

You can still access his podcasts on iTunes or at the show's website. This is a great loss.

Geotalk Winner!

Just listened to Episode 104 of the GeoTalk podcast ("caching down under") and heard my name! And it was pronounced correctly TWICE!

I forgot during one of Darren's (Spindoc Bob) recent podcasts that he requested listeners to email their 2014 geocaching goals (mine was to complete a dozen Earth caches plus more quality caches in 2014). My name was drawn, and I won a 2013 New South Wales Geocoin! Awesome!

I love this show.  I love the roving reports from Australia and New Zealand.  I love hearing about the types of caches they find, the challenges they complete, the dangers they deal with. Caching "down under" is on my bucket list, but I don't know if I'll ever afford it.  I can dream while listening to this podcast, though.

I have to admit that I've been lucky, of late.  I won several geocoins through GeoGearheads last Fall, Detroit Zoo tickets through their caching series, a Huron Metropark pass in their MGA13 drawing, Travel Fleas via the Podcache Show, a flashlight during a live taping of GeoGearheads about a week ago, and another flashlight during the taping of the Chicago Geocaching Podcast's 100th episode.  

I thank my lucky caching stars!

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.