Geocaching Roadtrip 2015

Woot! Earned our "15 Years of Geocaching" souvenir with an FTF this morning! A quick find with TaGeez at Puzzle Solving 101 - Projections at 6:38am.

Fun to unlock my souvenir and discover this year's mission:  Geocaching Roadtrip 2015! Complete 5 quests to earn 5 special souvenirs plus a bonus one!

After each quest begins, you'll be able to complete it and earn your souvenir until September 2, 2015. So pack your bag, load up on snacks and set your road trip playlist, because here are your quests and their start dates:

• June 19: Find a geocache with 10 or more Favorite Points
• July 3: Attend an Event, Mega-Event or Giga-Event
• July 17: Find a T5 or D5 geocache
• July 31: Find an EarthCache or attend a CITO
• August 14: Find a Mystery Cache

TaGeez and I are already plotting! Our trip to GeoBash will knock out quite a few! A most excellent start to May!

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!

La Vida Geocaching!

Hey, I have to share.  Did you see the really cool FTF prize I won this week?

Bright and early Sunday morning TaGeez and I received a new cache notification.  The cache was 7/10ths of a mile from home (and truly just up the road).  We headed over for a bright and shiny smiley to start our day. Imagine our surprise when we arrived home to receive an email from the CO which basically said, "Did you miss the FTF prize?"

YES! Yes, we had!  The cache was a skirtlifter called Live the Life GC5RPM1, outside LaVida Massage in Ferndale. When we lifted the lightpost lid, the container had rolled out and away.  We never lifted the lid all the way - even returning the container we just lifted it enough to tuck it back into place because the container was too large for the hide spot.

Before heading out for the CITO weekend, I made the trek back to the site for our prize.  It was kinda weird and kinda funny to walk up to the lamp post and see someone snapping pictures of me from a nearby storefront.  Mrs. GeoTrekTrio works at LaVida and her boss had supplied the FTF prize!  I must've been a sight in my ragged hoody, geoaching pants, and muck boots (remember, I was heading out to clean some parks).  

Thank you to the GeoTrekTrio and LaVida Massage for a great way to start my weekend!  Boy, after cleaning those two parks, I REALLY needed a massage!

CITO Fever in Michigan

Oh, my.  Southeastern Michigan Geocachers sure do like their events.  We have 6 CITO's scheduled in the very immediate area (plus a few more if you are willing to drive).  But kudos to those that came out last weekend to lend a helping hand with only a promise of a smiley and no souvenir.

CITO at Dorais Park GC5NGQ8

Dorais Park is home to one of the Dorais Park Velodrome.  "Built near an urban hill known for soap box derbies, the Dorais Park Velodrome was home to decades of bicycling champions before it was lost to neglect.  Then, in 2010, a group of renegade mowers found it again."

Our mission this past Saturday was to clean up this forgotten park so the Detroit Mower Gang could come in and cut the long grass after the Winter.  The Detroit Mower Gang is a group of crazy yet wonderful volunteers on lawnmowers who visit park to park in the boundaries of Detroit so the communities have a place to gather and play.

Biggest hauls of the day was an abandoned Skidoo, a large mattress, and enough parts to almost make a car.

Spring Pool Party 2015 GC5M8F9

Several hours and 34 miles away is the Park and Ride in Milford.  I believe the South Lyon Trekkers were the first people to ever contact M-DOT to adopt a P&R.  Several times a year cachers congregate in the lot for a cleanup and then head towards downtown Milford for Dairy Queen.

Largest hauls were the multitude of dumped tractor trailer tires and many abandoned truck parts.

I can't wait to see what this weekend brings!  Remember to attend a CITO from April 24th - April 27th to earn the latest Geocaching.com souvenir.  I'll post some pictures from Belle Isle!

My Heart Broke a Little Today

Email from Groundspeak:

Effective April 21, 2015, a one-year moratorium is in place on all new challenge cache submissions. It does not impact previously published challenge cache listings. 

For more information about the pause, see the Help Center article (http://support.groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=675). 

Challenges are my favorite part of geocaching - I'm the owner of 7 of them. I had one more really tough one in the works - just 1 qualifier short of publishing it!

Bummer that this means no new challenges at Midwest GeoBash.

I think YellowJeeperman said it best: "This could either be really good or really bad."

Live The Life!

Woot! FTF within minutes of publication! It was truly "just down the road from me"!

Coolest part? Awesome spa gift set as an FTF prize! We were so focused on retrieving the cache and hoping for a blank log that we missed it! Luckily, Mrs GeoTrekTrio emailed us, and I returned before an STF showed.

Thank you, TheGeoTrekTrio and LaVida Massage, for a wonderful start to our Sunday!

Hoodwinked

This is Hoodwinked GC5RN9W. 

It's a nano in the grass.

I didn't find it. No surprise.