3,000 Days of Caching Joy

So, what have you done over the last 3,000 days? I went in search of plastic containers! EVERY DAY!

From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River - Michigan to Georgia. Plus a few choice morsels in California, too. From -26° F to a heat factor of 110°+. Blizzards, business trips, holidays and pandemics. Let's not forget the times TaGeez and I were car-less. Such an challenging adventure!

But all good things come to an end, my friends. I said when it stops being fun, I would end it. And, heading into the new year, it's felt like such a chore. We've cleaned out our area, for months grabbing lamp skirts & street signs. I think the last 50 days were the greatest challenge with Michigan's Stay-at-Home order and the global pandemic.

But as I sit here, I'm resisting the urge to slip on my Wellies and go grab a P&G. How do people do this? You just go home after work?!? TaGeez is willing to continue this madness with me, but it's time. We are turning our focus to more hiding, walking geotrails, and planning more adventures. I can't wait to see where this takes us!

As of today, I have the sixth all-time longest streak in Michigan and the third longest active streak in Michigan. I will enjoy it for the next seven days when Team Hugs surpasses me in both.

Thank you, my Sweet TaGeez, for your willingness to share this insane journey ❤️ And Thank you for all the hiders that made this possible!

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!

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 :)

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!

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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!

1500 Days, Baby!

With all that's been going on over the last few days, I almost missed it....

DAY 1500 ON MY CACHE-A-DAY STREAK!

Phew.... the first 1500 are always the hardest! 

Things Have Changed in Four Years!

My friend, John, sent me this cartoon. It really made me chuckle. Boy, geocaching has really gone mainstream in just the last four years.

Sorry - I don't have a source for this.

Why is four years on my mind?  Because I've completed another year on my cache-a-day streak! Can you believe it?

It's much easier to do when you are surrounded by other LMW - Like Minded Weirdos. Nope, I don't know when I'm stopping - it's still fun, and we have many adventures ahead of us this year!

TOTT: Winter in Michigan

On some of the recent podcasts, they've talked about "essential tools of the trade (TOTT)" or "must haves" in your geocaching bag.  I was thinking about updating a blog post on that, but how different would my answers be? GPSr, iPhone, spare batteries, tweezers.....

Check out a handy summer kit here: Geocaching 101: Caching Kit Essentials

But one thing nobody seemed to mention was the need for different tools for different weather.  I have different gloves, coats, wellies/boots depending on the season.  Bug spray in summer and hand/feet warmers in winter.  In summer you carry extra water and bug bite remedies, and in winter you carry extra water and a different road emergency kit.

Winter finally struck in Michigan during the Super Bowl - we received 16.7" of wet, heavy snow.  I'm grateful it's not as bad as last year but am a little worried as I'm just 4 weeks away from completing my 3-year cache-a-day streak.

What is driving me to do this crazy streak?  I have no idea.  But I'm having a blast!

As you've seen in a recent post, the snow mounds are getting bad.  TaGeez and I are finding ourselves climbing banks and skidding down the other side.  If the bank is too high or too steep, TaGeez helps to propel me over it, both ways.  It's fun but tiresome on workdays.

On Thursday I needed a quick find as I was meeting Dad for dinner and didn't want to cache afterwards (the temps were supposed to drop drastically as night falls).  I stopped by one of RayQix "Happy Birthday caches" that I've been saving for such an occasion.  See the problem?

Happy Birthday Hawaii Vi - Chik'n House GC5APTF

This one disturbed me.  It was one of my "emergency CaDs" and it was buried.  There was no way to get it out without drawing MAJOR attention as it's in the parking lot of a Chicken Shack and located RIGHT up on a very busy road.  I had to use up another one of my emergency caches nearby.

You might be thinking about whining about nothing, but, after caching for almost 1100 days straight, the pickings in my area is getting slim.  And I had less than 28 more days to go with the threat of Michigan's unpredictable weather looming....

This one ate at me so early Saturday morning, after dropping TaGeez off at work, I circled back here.  I figured at 7 a.m. there would be little traffic (and a sparse chicken-buying public).  As I hadn't expected to go for this cache when I sleepily left the house, I arrived unprepared (don't ask where my emergency car shovel is - it's a sore subject).  Digging out my ice scraper, I set to work.  I can't imagine what the patrons of the family restaurant across the street were thinking, watching me wail on an ice block with the handle of my scraper, but I got it!

As I said later in my log, I've never worked so hard for a cupcake!

Afterwards, feeling all accomplished, I headed off for chores.  Stopping in the local hardware store, I spotted these babies and have added them to my winter caching supplies!  Kid-sized so they fit easily in my trunk and less than $5 apiece.

No snowbank is safe! And, yes, I did get my car shovel back.

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Winter Streaking Tip:

I normally leave the house with a plan, but we know about the best laid plans, right?  This major snowstorm really did some damage. I find if I'm DNF'ing caches and still need the daily fix, I will check the recent activity of other streakers to see what caches they found accessible.  Nothing like pulling up to a GZ and finding footprints leading the way and the cache unburied!