Ohio GeoClash is in the books!

 

Another Saturday rolls in, and TaGeez & I found ourselves at another Mega event, Ohio GeoClash & Festival 2023, in Tiffin, Ohio.

We've never been to a GeoClash before, but we're trying to include as many adventures in this crazy summer. As far as we can figure out, cachers are grouped into 5 subgroups and go caching for points for their team. 

By the time we checked in, the groups were out so we decided to take it easy and let the whim take us. We did the onsite Adventure Lab, and we moseyed over to the Art Festival in the center of the park (OH, that lemonade was SO GOOD!)

Because of the heat, we decided to head into town for a few caches, historic cemeteries, more adventure labs, and, of course, lunch! Our favorite adventure lab was the Historic People of Tiffin Adventure Lab, with this beauty as its final. 

After doing the Historic Figures AL, we started to see those founding father's names all over Tiffin!  After a few, impressive local caches, we then headed home (with a quick stopover in Toledo).

Somebody seems like he had a good time 😊

WoW! Seneca County is very cacher-friendly, and they are rolling out a new Pizza geotrail this upcoming weekend! The last 2 were impressive so we're adding this one to our summer agenda!

MOGA! MOGA! MOGA!

 

MOGA! MOGA! MOGA!

That’s the shout that resounded from the U of M Flint ballroom on Friday and Saturday!

This last weekend was MOGA 2023 Cars Coneys Caches

Our first event of the year, TaGeez and I enjoyed cruising the backroads of Genesee County, where we nabbed over 115 caches and adventure labs including my 12,000^th find!

We enjoyed the Friday Night – Kick off, where we grabbed our swag and ran into friends coming out of winter hibernation.

Attended the GPS Maze at MOGA 2023

Completed an 82-stop GeoArt including the Tree of Shoes!

Ran into our old buddy, Signal again!

Earned the final “Wheelof Challenges” souvenir from April’s Geocaching HQ

And, our most favorite part, enjoyed driving the backroads of Genesee County to complete The Preservers GeoTour GC4D6. It was 9-stops at local nature preserves – so many birds, waterways, budding trees, and 1 disc golf tournament! Our favorite stop was pretty Buell Lake (TPGT – Grand Master Snapper GCA6W9T).

Luckily, Michigan weather was on our side this weekend with 82 degree days and sunshine.

Thank you to all the Auto City Cachers for the amazing job putting this on!

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! 

Numbers? YES! Numbers Of Friends!

Oh, what a cast of characters!

I've been caching steadily for the last 4 years, and some of the most amazing (and fun) people I know are geocachers. You are really missing out if you don't attend events or join the group caching and get to know this collection of like-minded weirdos!

I love that we come from all walks of life. The tech support guy with his high-end sedan talking caches with the dispatcher from the East side. That girl in the corner? She owns chickens. This cute young couple met while group caching at an event as well as the old couple sitting behind this keyboard. Him? He was homeless once, and he recently hosted an event at his new house.  Her? She's on her way to becoming a crazy cat lady. He carries a sock monkey. She carries around a trackable toilet seat. Automatic friends.  Equals.  A Team.

[Source: SCOOK & CITOCacher]

Now, I'm not saying every group around the world is as fabulous as the Michigan geocachers, but you must make your own magic. Below is the advice from our friends spanning from Windsor to Kalamazoo and Detroit to Birch Run for attending your first event(s).

ATTENDING YOUR FIRST EVENTS (Regular, CITO, and MEGA): 

• Join your local Facebook group.  It's OK to lurk at first to understand the personality of the group. When you are ready, participate in posts so they get to know you. Then, when you attend your first event, they will recognize your name and have an instant rapport when you introduce yourself. (scrapcat)

• Don't take things too seriously. We are a diverse group of personalities, and you have to find your fit. Oh, and bring cookies. We like cookies. (TaGeez) 

Depends on the type of event. Sound advice from Commander Overlord:

• If it's a mega don't really plan on meeting or talking to anybody besides who you came with. Most people have an agenda to grab as many caches or discover TB's or attend a schedule activity. 

• CITO's you may get paired with someone and learn their name but it's hard work carting that spare tire out of the woods. 

• Go to a regular local event and don't be afraid to introduce yourself. 

• Cachers have a common bond where ever they are. I just recently went to Baltimore and and attended a local event. I didn't know anybody there. But after an hour of talking I couldn't say the same. Just introduce yourself and have a good time. (Commander Overlord)

• Attend with someone like GLC... By the end of the event, she will have introduced you (and herself in some cases) to everyone! In other words, if you are a wallflower, find an outgoing person. I suck at attending events alone.  (JAKKofHearts) 

• Before the event, contact the organizer and say they are new and would appreciate meeting some people who could answer some questions. Recommend that they bring a list of questions, both general and specific. This may include how to work their GPS, enter coordinates, maps etc. A good event host will try and match them with someone or a group of people who can help answer their questions and provide some advice. (Skyecat)

[SOURCE: Prong]

• Sign in your attendance upon arrival. Mingle with everyone.. As a rule cachers are a very friendly bunch. Ask questions, share stories and have a great time Some events have agenda's to go by and some are very informal. (Grey Falcons)

[SOURCE: MWGB}

But, above all, JUST GO!

• Go prepared to talk to people. Cachers are a friendly bunch, but in my experience at events, they stick to their already established groups until you reach out. Just be prepared to introduce yourself and say hello. That's all it takes to make friends and learn from those more experienced than yourself. (Unlikely Family)

• My fiance and I did our first picnic this year at lake Erie metropark. Our next door neighbors were the ones who put the picnic together. "Carnval". We are not the talkative type but with the cover all bingo game we played made you talk to people and learn there names. We met a lot of great people and put faces to the caches they placed. (Allthingsparacord550)

• Go......and dont be afraid to talk to the people there. ;) (RayQix)

• Don't be afraid to meet new people. I wasn't went I went to 275 the first time. (necthana)

• The first Meet & Greet we went to....well we felt really out of place. It felt very Cliquey to us. We didn't know anyone and thankfully one person took it upon themselves to say "hi" because we would have been very discouraged. So I would suggest making it a point to introduce yourself to at least one or two people. Arrive "on-time" - not early cause you may not know where to find the group - and not late because it may get over crowded and you will end up sitting off to the side. (LynnGeoGin)

• Don't be afraid to introduce yourself, and never be afraid to mention that you are either new to caching or new to events. There are plenty of experienced cachers who love to welcome new people! A great sure-fire conversation starter is to ask a question like, "What is your favorite cache you've found?" Before you know it, you can sit back and listen to some great stories as cachers get VERY excited talking about their adventures. Which brings up my final thought this morning; events are a fantastic place to listen to others talk. You can learn SO much from the experience of others, and I have picked up many hints about those pesky DNFs along the way! Happy caching! (TinaAlmighty)

• The best advice I can give is: JUST GO!!! My husband and I were skeptical and went anyway and had a very good time. It was great to talk with other cachers who understood our new obsession, lol.(jocie1976)

• I was hesitant to attend my first cache event. I'm outgoing and social but really shy and reserved until I feel comfortable. I wasn't sure if I would know anyone or how I would be accepted and on top of that I wasn't a very experienced cacher at all so I was worried about etiquette. All I can say is just go. Make up your mind and go. The geocaching community is very welcoming and there is nothing to worry about. The people are friendly and inviting and lots of experienced cachers to answer questions. My only other piece of advice... Get there early as I realised that you get entered into a draw for geo-swag and you won't want to miss out on that. (Parkapoo)

• If you're there to meet other cachers, don't be afraid to start conversations and ask questions. Most cachers are very friendly people! Do some research about caches in the area, too - you may make a new caching friend and end up going caching with them! (RedhedMary)

• Go, be prepared to meet like minded people who may become some of your best friends,and have fun! Always read ALL of the information on the event cache page for information on what to expect and any requirements.(Ron & Lois)

Always worth repeating