Sun Setting on 2020

2020 was liked a deranged elevator - many highs and many lows. It was dizzying. 

☀️ Surpassed 10,000 geocache finds
☀️ Completed my 3,000 cache-a-day streak
☀️ Until the pandemic, I had 97 months of First-to-Finds
☀️ Enjoyed several adventures with ShelleyJean including Ohio geotours (Cornhenge!) and visits to Lake Erie Birding preserves
☀️ Created a Motown Adventure Lab and enjoyed over a dozen new AL's in Michigan & Ohio.
☀️ Earned each HQ souvenir including the Sun Sets souvenir below. 

It's amazing to see so many fabulous accomplishments. With the pandemic and then a series of losses & setbacks in the last few months, I forgot all the fun. But heading into 2021, things are already looking up starting with the 300+ caches being released on New Year's Day.

Wishing all our geocaching friends a safe and healthy new year!

7 Years and Streaking

Big milestone today! SEVEN years of cache-a-day streaking! 

Thank you to TaGeez for riding along in all this craziness and to all the hiders for the wonderful adventure!

Time for Winter Streaking

Ah, snow. The bane of geocaching cache-a-day streaking. According to the Weatherman (who is a Geocacher and should’ve ordered better weather), Michigan is about to get hit over the next 24 hours. 

Several years ago, I wrote a post about Top Tips for Winter Streaking. Today, I will employ two of them listed below. Now that I think about it, these are excellent tips for caching during high heat, too.

PLANNING

Snow is supposed to start around 4 am tomorrow and continue through Sunday. So, TaGeez and I will grab tomorrow’s cache after midnight – before going to bed – so we can settle in for the rest of the day. If we plan to leave early enough, we can grab today’s cache before midnight, saving two trips.

[Yes, in answer to your thoughts, we don’t cheat. We will physically grab one before the Witching Hour and one after it]

POCKET QUERY – Premium Members Only

This has helped SO many times! Setup a pocket query for geocaches found in the last 7 days [Thank you, Mr. Grundalow!]. Nothing worse than driving from one lamp post to a pine tree cache trying to find one not buried in a mound of snow. If there’s a storm and need your geocaching fix, you will have better luck with a cache found within the last week to target.

Pocket Queries are custom geocache queries that can be downloaded from the website. They are in a format you can bring along with you on cache hunts on your GPS and/or smartphone. [Source: Geocaching.com]

I run the following Pocket Query and save it to an offline file within my geocaching app. I’ll include links to larger images for easier viewing.

To start a Pocket Query, go to Geocaching.com and click the Play button (1). From the drop-down menu, select Pocket queries (2). When the Pocket Queries window opens, click the Create a New Query button (3). Click this link for easier viewing.

Complete the form based on your preferences and geographic location. I’ve highlighted a few key points, but this is not all inclusive. Click this link for easier viewing.

Days to Generate	I picked Monday to include the heavier caching traffic over the weekend. I also check the box to run weekly until Winter is over.
Selected Type	Pick and choose based on the types of caches you mind find at -26° F
That (And)	I’m looking for enabled caches I haven’t found or don’t own that have been found in the last 7 days.
Terrain	Let’s face it – I don’t normally do 5 Terrain in summer. Why would I hunt for them in winter?
Output	Check the Include Pocket Query name in download file name box. When it appears in your email Inbox you will know which file it is and update your offline folder on your geocaching app.

Hopefully you will find this a useful guide. Happy Winter Caching!

6 Years: A Little Streaking Never Hurts!

Six times around the sun!

Yesterday was 60 degrees and sunny so, of course, we had to have a blizzard on this great milestone day! After a failed FTF and with snowflakes coming down, TaGeez and I grabbed this little guy to  complete six straight years of cache-a-day streaking!

ShelleyJean asked if I'm going to make it a seventh. I guess it all depends on what the weather is like tomorrow :)

Day #2000: The Streaker

Day 2000 of my cache-a-day streak was a more subdued than expected. We received news of a loss in the family so we turned our car home from our Tennessee adventure.

Along the way I was reminded that I still had trackables to drop so we looked for the closest and safest cache in the area.

 This is how we found ourselves at the National Corvette Museum and the Kentucky Cache Across America Cache.

Afterwards we enjoyed a drive (and a cemetery cache) at Mammoth Cave National Park to clear our heads. Beautiful day!

Day 2000 completed. Stay tuned to see if there is Day #2001!

Day 1998: Big Eclipse Adventure

Hey! Look at this girl in Louisville, KY! 

What's that sign in my hands?

Cache-a-Day: Five Times Around the Sun

It all started on March 2nd, 2012. During a birthday adventure with my sister, WikidKriket, I found Almost Diagon Alley GC2QVWX -- the first cache in a 1,825 day odyssey! On Wednesday, I celebrated the 5th anniversary of my Cache-a-Day streak!

The timing was perfect for an awesome event - my milestone falls on the day after TaGeez's Birthday, the day before my birthday, and the scheduled Livonia event. With great fanfare, TaGeez and I created the Livonia Traveling Meet #58 - The Celebrations event GC6ZWYB for March 1st. 

With the help of RayQix, we hid three event caches, printed up souvenir labels to wrap Hershey Bars, printed out our signs and gathered raffle prizes. Completing a 5-year streak doesn't happen every day, and we were going to party! 

The night of the event was awesome! The weather cleared enough for friends to arrive from Down River and Flint and everywhere in between. Reports came in that Panera filled with many cachers in high spirits. The only person missing? The host. I was diagnosed with strep throat, and the doctor said I was contagious.

TaGeez, RayQix and WikidKriket

Luckily, with only two hours notice, my sister WikidKriket stepped into the breach and stood in for me. From all accounts, she and TaGeez did an amazing job! They even accepted my Golden PBN award from SCOOK and CITOcacher!

Thank you, SCOOK and CITOcacher, for my golden PBN

Thank you to everyone who attended the event!

---

EVIL, EVIL TEAM GATES

So, the first question everyone asks, "Are you ending your streak?" And, honestly, I was thinking maybe it's time. My five years included 7,132 finds in 26 states/provinces, from -26 degree snowstorms and 110 degree heat waves, 5 Megas, completing my JASMER, and 433 first-to-finds. It's been five years, the caches in the area are drying out, and I have proven to myself I could do it.

And then Team Gates released his caches!

He said he would. The day after my milestone party he was going to release brand new caches right on my doorstep. DRAT! How could I resist? They were signature Gates puzzles! So I ran for them - getting two FTF's with WK. 

Hey, it's no big deal. As TaGeez said, it's only 175 more days until the big 2000 days. That's a nice round number, and it will be summer!

Lucky 1100!

My original streaking goal was to surpass my "consecutive days without a find." I guess I can check that off my list.

Streaking x 2!

Today is my second anniversary of my cache-a-day streak! Grabbed it with TaGeez on our way to our birthday dinner (his is yesterday and tomorrow is mine). Woot!

Still Streaking....

About 10 days shy of two years. This winter was definitely a challenge to my skill, my determination, my bullheadedness. Until recently, this was still very fun but today involved thunder snow, Winter lightning, slush rain. Luckily I've had such great people supporting me!

Polar Vortex Geocaching Steaking

From my log (GC4W6PV):

Polar Vortex (n.) - The polar vortex is circulation of strong, upper-level winds that normally surround the northern pole in a counterclockwise direction -- a polar low-pressure system.  These winds tend to keep the bitter cold air locked in the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. On occasion, this vortex can become distorted and dip much farther south than you would normally find it, allowing cold air to spill southward. 

Polar Vortex Geocaching (n.) – The single inspiration to heed all weather warnings and stay indoors as arctic weather sits atop the Midwest region, draining all energy and desire from searching for containers in the woods.  Participants may, however, suffer the overwhelming desire for direct sunlight, pang at the denial of exercise along nature trails and cabin fever.

Polar Vortex Geocaching Streaks (n.) – The decision by many to leave one’s brains at home and venture out to -2˚ F weather with wind chill of -12˚ F, braving the chance of a freezing death, to find a frozen container buried under 8 feet of snow holding a tiny piece of paper that is either encased in ice or too tiny to unroll with frost bite fingers for a smiley and another day on your calendar.

Guess which one I’m suffering from?  Quick find – thanks for the series!  TNLNSL

Winter "Streaking" in Michigan

The cache page read "easy park and grab."

Day #677

And the streak continues!

It took longer to get dressed for this weather than it did to drive to the cache, find it, sign it, log it, and drive home!

Toasty Toes!

Out grabbing my Cache-a-Day with TaGeez today. The weather is 1°F ("feels like" -13°F) so we made a quick dash. My feet are still thawing.

They weren't toasty like they were on New Year's Day. After the Roseville event, we trekked through piles of snow grabbing new caches. My feet were warm and happy because TaGeez gave me the best advice:

> Put on a pair of thin socks (see blue cotton in picture).
> Adhere toe-warmers in the toe area (Never adhere toe-warmers directly to your skin).
> Cover with wool socks.
> Wear your water-tight LLBean duck boots

Wool socks give an extra layer for warmth, wicks away perspiration, and holds the toe-warmer in place as you slide on your boot.

I never noticed the cold on Wednesday and we were out for 10 hours in Arctic-like conditions tramping through the woods.

Novi Civic Center GC4VAXF

TaGeez and I had time to fill this New Year's Eve. We had several hours between leaving work early and attending a party. We decided to complete the onsite puzzle at the Novi Civic Center. I've never seen most of this art before. Brutally cold but beautiful!

iPhone Keyboard Trick: The Degree Symbol

I learned a really cool keyboard tip on the GeoGearheads podcast show #94.  To enter a degree symbol on an iOS device (like an iPhone), hold down the number 0 button on the keyboard.  A pop-up window with the degree symbol will appear.  Handy when entering coordinates or discussing weather.  (Sorry for the sloppy mock-up image, I was in a hurry and didn't see anything online I liked).

You can find the GeoGearheads podcasts on iTunes or http://www.cacheamaniacs.com/ - they also have an official website at http://www.geogearheads.com/ .  You will learn a lot about iOS and Android devices (plus a little bit about everything else) on this show.

Oh, and another note of excitement: Today is my 600th straight day of caching!  Woot!