Have you ever Waymo'd to a Cache before?

I’m in Phoenix for an Engagement Summit, and I arrived with a baggie of trackables. Unfortunately, there are no sizeable caches near my hotel, so I started looking further out…

Wait! What’s this? Is this… a Waymo?! 

OMG! A driverless car???? Saw this on CBS Sunday morning, but we don’t have these in the (currently) frozen tundra of Michigan! WOW! That made heading out for a cache even more irresistible! Where can I go and when can I find time to get there? 

Searching "nearby", I spy the Bookworm's Haven about 6 miles from downtown. OK, so that makes this a double puzzle cache because you can’t plug coordinates into the Waymo app, so I had to solve that first. Luckily the CO confirmed the address for my peace of mind.

Thursday afternoon arrives, and I found free time during a quiet lunch to head on out! What a hoot! LOVED the ride! And Waymo’ing to a cache should be a square on a geo-Bingo card!

I arrived within 16 minutes to the cache, and then I watched as my car just drove away... I could've booked this as a stopover in the Waymo app, but it would've only stopped for 5 minutes, and I didn't know how long it would take me to solve the puzzle to unlock the cache.

 Residential caches are always awkward, but me, in business casual, standing alone with a Ziploc full of trackables? Luckily, the container was obvious, and the puzzle was quick.

This was a fun, well-maintained cache! I enjoyed it immensely. I signed the log, swapped trackables, and left a path tag for the CO.

❤️ Fave point for such a nice cache and fun puzzle.

Then I had to stand around for another awkward 8 minutes until a new Waymo could arrive. I love to drive, but I really want a driverless car now!

A Piece of The Revenant Comes to Michigan

Two weeks ago Geocaching.com announced The Revenant was storming the geocaching world! They are sending out 20 props from the movies as trackables!

Big announcement on the Geocaching.com blog!

I shouted to all and asunder SHOW DETROIT SOME LOVE! SEND ONE THIS WAY! Little did I know that one of the trackables, a Revenant shield, had quietly crossed the border and was nestled safely in the BIG Orange Travel Bug Convention Center in Niles, Michigan!


A trip to Niles was in store....


Once we heard one of these elusive trackables was in Michigan, plans for a road trip filled Facebook! This is like a current day "Ape Cache" - a piece of Hollywood stepping into the geo-world - and we wanted to see it before they disappeared forever.

Last Saturday, MaxB on the River, owner of BIG Orange, dropped the trackable at a local event in Volinia, Michigan (a mere 149 miles from home). Road trip! Into the car and heading west on the adventure were myself, TaGeez, RayQix, PaRaDiZ, and Kachehuntr!

We're going to see it!

Or maybe not.

Imagine our shock and wonderment when we pulled into the park and NOBODY WAS THERE! A 3 hour road trip and we missed it? Did I really have the time wrong? CRAP!!! And no internet to contact MaxB or the event CO because we were in the middle of nowhere!

So, what do you do? Well, geocache! Virtuals, Large caches, and oldies! Views of beautiful dams, railroad bridges, lakes and small town centers.

RayQix and Kachehuntr

Much to our joy MaxB messaged us to say they were home and had the trackable in hand. Off to Niles we head! What a trifecta! A Large travel bug hotel, a piece of movie magic (trackable) and meeting MaxB on the River! What a lovely couple! They told us the tale of bringing the prop to Michigan and their vow of silence until Geocaching.com's announcement was made. Fun! Fun!

Check it out!

RayQix, Kachehuntr, PaRaDiZ, scrapcat, and TaGeez
in front of the iconic MaxB travel post!

TaGeez with the trackable

MaxB on the river displaying the trackable prop
Up close, it looks like road kill - LOL

Afterwards with the evening ahead of us, we visited more Virtuals, Large travel bug containers with a side trip to Indiana to (re-)visit an oldie!

A Weep in the Nite! GC96A4
Read the story on this one!

BLOCKHEAD GC3PZQ6

Wolverine Wildlife Adventures and Travel Bug Hotel GCKADW

The best part was driving through these lovely small towns along US12 enjoying the Christmas decorations with good friends. BEST way to spend a Saturday night in December!

Life is too short not to enjoy an adventure at the drop of the hat! Happy caching!

#TheRevenant

I am Scrap. Scrap the Cat.

I AM SCRAP.  SCRAP THE CAT.

DO YOU LIKE TRAVEL BUGS AND CACHE?

SAY! I LIKE TRAVEL BUGS AND CACHE!

I DO! I LIKE THEM, SCRAP-THE-CAT!

AND I WOULD FIND THEM WITH A BOAT.

AND I WOULD LOG THEM WITH A GOAT...

AND I WILL MEET THEM, IN THE RAIN.

AND IN THE DARK. AND ON A TRAIN.

AND IN A CAR. AND IN A TREE.

THEY ARE SO GOOD, SO GOOD, YOU SEE!

SO I WILL PLACE THEM IN A BOX.

AND I WILL HUNT THEM WITH A FOX.

AND I WILL TAKE THEM FROM A HOUSE.

AND I WILL PLACE THEM WITH A MOUSE.

AND I WILL FIND THEM HERE AND THERE.

SAY! I WILL GRAB THEM ANYWHERE!

I DO SO LIKE TRAVEL BUGS AND CACHE!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU, SCRAP-THE-CAT!

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+


Did I happen to mention that I was born on Dr Seuss's birthday
and have worked in the "book business" for over 20 years?