Gearing up for 2000

On Saturday I gave my uncle Duck a call hoping that he could help me get 20 caches to put me at 1999. It didn't take us too long to collect the caches needed. I had planned to find a good cache for number 2k and go for it today, but I had a lot of problems with gc.com this morning so I decided to hope for sunny weather next weekend and go out then. That give me a week to find a good cache. Anyone have sugestions?

These were my finds for Saturday.

Scenic Bayou?
ALF
Cee-Dar River
You've got mail
Venus Fly Trap
I.V.
4 some
Hand Made
No Fire in the Mountains
Read my meter
PWV
Another Door Open
One Shoe
Bundled
WALL*E
Western Express
Bo Peep
Steelhead?
Shari's
U hauled

7 Years

I found my first cache 7 years ago today. Doesn't seem like its been that long....

Albany, Roseburg and an old Highway

Saturday I got a call from my uncle Duck. He wonders if I'd like to join him on a trip to the "Got Cache!" event in Roseburg. And while we're at it why don't we drive up to Albany so he can get the ABC Challenge final. So of course I said "ok"

The drive to Albany included a brief stop for some cache maintainence and a few finds for me including

Just Past Heaven
Deedy Said So
Boat Ramp ?
Pipe Dream
Road Narrows 2

These are all great caches right along Quines Creek just off I-5 at the Heaven on Earth exit. Very nice series of easy caches on a good road.

On we went to Albany where after a bit of walking around we found the ABC final. Then back down the road to Sutherlin where we worked our way down Hwy 99 to Roseburg for the event. Good event... it did seem like out of town cachers outnumbered the locals. After the event we found a couple of caches and called it a day. These were our finds

Winter Ware
Which Way
Where is the whitevette?
BLAYZ BROILED
Desert Thunder
Memories of Old Highway 99 #7
Memories of Old Highway 99 #6
Memories of Old Highway 99 #8
Memories of Old Highway 99 #4
Memories of Old Highway 99 #3
The Slab
A Dutch View

A better Dog

Yesterday was the A Better Dog -- 03/07/10 -- 2:00 event in Cave Junction. It was held at Taylor's Sausage Country Store one of the best places to eat in the whole world.

It was a good turnout, but it didn't seem like anyone stuck around for very long. After the event I went with Duck and Biggieet_al and we found these caches

Meander thru CJ 5 Junction Ave
Meander thru CJ 6 Sherwood
Meander thru CJ 4 Lindilu
Meander thru CJ 2 Burgundy Lane
Meander thru CJ 1 Cottage Park Rd
CJ North
IVFD Station Four
My Daddys worst fears realized

Las Vegas

Just got back from Las Vegas. This trip was with friends and was more about shows then gambling (although I did my fair share)

We drove out to the Hoover Dam and saw Jubilee!, Penn & Teller, and 'O'. Also rode the roller coaster at New York, New York. I didn't attempt the indoor skydiving, but I watched as another in my group did. Plus I found time for two caches.

Welcome to Las Vegas
Welcome To This Fabulous Cache

Backlog - February 14

In my next backlog it is the day after the event. Daveydude and I decided to spend most of the day geocaching in Coos Bay. We found a lot of geocaches in town and revisited a few old ones. A few old Berliner caches were archived, but then revived in their exact same hiding spots as new caches. It was kind of fun to revisit old hiding spots. Another cache on the way home was very near the location of a long archived cache. So it was a day of revisiting old locations. These were our finds for the day:

You can't get there from here!
BERLINERS FERRY PARK # 4
BERLINERS FERRY PARK # 2
BERLINERS FERRY PARK # 1
End of the Road (AKA Village Idiot)
CACHE A MOVIE
Roosevelt Elk
Connecticut Cache
Oregon Coast responds to Pearl Harbor
Home Run? or Foul Ball?
Express Yourself
Who's in charge here?
The King Lies In Slumber #1
Gargamel's Hut
Totem Pole Or Stump?
Muggle-iscious! Round 2
Brussels.........but not sprouts !
Drive-in Theater Motor-Vu
"Can you hear me now?"
RDRCK
Socket it me ??
Smurf Village
Kinney Kache
BERLINER'S MINGUS PARK # 2
BERLINER'S MINGUS PARK # 1
Dr. Bern #5
Bandon Crossings
Rock Me Gently, Rock Me Slowly
Old # 104
At the Cross
Canyon Creek TB Bed & Breakfast

We also looked for City Limits which is about .12 of a mile from my house. Yesterday Dave dropped by for a minute and we found it. I now sit at 1950 finds. Perhaps I'll be able to find a few in Las Vegas next week.

Backlog - February 13

As usually I am a bit behind on my blog. This last weekend Daveydude and I headed to Coos Bay for the "10 Years of Geocaching", Wintertime Fun-1 #4 event. This is the second year I have attended and for many it is a must do event. There were nearly 200 people in attendance. We found a lot of caches on the way over and the weather was great. I found my 1900th cache on this trip. Besides the event these were our finds:

Eat first then you end up with gas
Umpqua Winery & Vineyard Series #15
Suicidal Tendencies
Last of this Dorsey of Gnomes
Kumbaya
Middle Fork View
PARK N PLAY
ENDANGERED BEAR
!!T.G.I.F!!
Supply Stop
Roadkill Cache
Oregon Keychain Exchange
It's A Boat Time
Captanrdr's Big Bank
Winter Lake
Cold hard cache!
Just A Lil' In-Spire-d
IPS on the Pacific
Urban Camo #3 on the Pacific
Seek & you shall find...
Ode To Freddy's Deck REVISITED
Turn around here!
Drive-in Theater Bay
Only you can prevent Forest Fires
March Madness
Pit Stop!
BERLINER'S ANCHORS AWAY!
Blackberry Pie
Metric Eyeopener

Weekend caches

Well the Blazer game might not have been all that great, but I did get a few caches

Treasure by the Loo!
One Degree: N I-5 Rest
Rip City Rhapsody
GD Series #6 : Fire On The Mountain
Blue Star Memorial Highway

The puzzle on Rip City Rhapsody was a fun one, but you'll need the hint to get the right coords.

Next weekend Daveydude has some 60 caches lined up. Hope the weather is nice.

Blazers game

Going up tonight to see the Blazers play the Lakers. Should be a good game. I've loaded up a handful of caches to find on the drive... to break it up a little.

Its been nice weather lately. Too bad I have been stuck at work with no time for geocaching. Next weekend however I am going with Daveydude to Coos Bay for the "10 Years of Geocaching", Wintertime Fun-1 #4 event. That should be a fun time.

March of Dimes time

Time to raise money for 2010. A lot of you donated last year and my team raised over $6000.

You might be asking what the money goes towards. A good portion goes into research. Some of it goes into programs to educate new mothers in ways to improve their odds of having full term pregnacies. And some is used to help support families whose newborns are in intensive care. When my cousin had her son someone from the March of Dimes visited every day.

Normally I don't bring politics into my blog, but I think this is an oppropriate time. There is a growing trend to "let the government deal with it." Letting politicians handle more and more issues with our tax dollars is not a good solution. I believe there are some things that the government just should not have a hand in. If we step up when we can and take care of our own we eliminate the need for the government, and their inefficiency, to step in.

I'm tired

I haven't had much time for geocaching or blogging. Last Wednesday I had a major router issue so I spent a whole night at that. Then the weekend was full of moving into our remodeled space. The new brach is all open... very few problems so that is good. If you have ever been in before you should stop back by just to have a look.

End of the run

I had a find everyday of 2010 going, but in the end I knew it would be hard to manage. I didn't get out of work until it was dark and had no desire to find a cache at that point. Oh well.

I probably won't have any finds this weekend as I have a major project to accomplish at work. Our newly remodeled branch should open this next Monday and I get to move all the PC's and get them hooked up this weekend. Should be a nice looking paycheck this month if nothing else.

Walk around the Rose Garden

After last nights game we stayed the night in Portland. This morning we took a walk around the Rose garden to find the cache Blazers Rock. It was an easy find without many people around. I made a short video to test an editing program I might purchase... its a total spoiler of the cache, but have a look if you like.

Blazers Win!

Took a trip to Portland tonight to watch the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Golden State Warriors. After a poor first quarter the blazers won ever other and won the game 105-89.

Even saw fellow Southern Oregon geocacher Beaver Lover at the game. In fact we sat in the same section... small world.

Found two caches on the way up and will probably look for a couple on the way back tomorrow. Finds for the day included

Back in the Woods
Saginaw Inn

Welcome 2010

I found my first cache of the new year today as the sun came through the clouds

Power Up Baby

Too close to home and too nice of a opportunity to pass up. If I were to decide to try the Days of the Year Challenge I would need to keep finding caches for a few days. I don't think I could keep it up, but I might try it through January. It gets easier after that.

Tomorrow I am going up to Portland for a Blazers game. Hope to find a couple on the way up and back.

Last Day of 2009

Another year has come and gone. Time flies when you are having fun... and even when you aren't. Its been an up and down year for geocaching, but a fun one none the less.

Highlights for the year include:

• Hid just one cache
• Reached the 1700 and 1800 find milestones
  
• Tied my all time high of 53 finds 01/19/09
• Had 43 finds 04/04/09
• had 38 finds 10/24/09

Some of my favorite caches of 2009 include:

• Automated Cache Machine redux
• Most Photographed Building in Oregon?
• A Kiwi Connection - Las Vegas
• summer wild flowers
• Nugget Butte
• Bigfoot Cache Revisited
• Hounds Rockpile
• Do Bears......in the Woods?
• The Flume
• ABC Challenge

Thank you to all of you who have hidden the caches found this year. Happy New Year and I hope to see you all out on the trail in 2010!

Is the year over?

It is just about time to do my end of the year write up. My geocaching this year has been spotty at best. Despite setting a lot of all time lows including Zero finds in July my total for the year was better then 2006 or 2007. That was mainly because of a handful of really big days including a tie for my all time high of 53 in a day.

I hope 2010 will bring a return of enthusiasm for the game. I have been itching to get out and find a few caches, but the winter weather and work have kept me in. As I stated before except for group find days when we are after numbers I plan to be picky and only seek out better caches... that should mean putting in a few extra driving miles and doing a lot more hiking.

The only real hike to a cache I did this year was to Nugget Butte with DaveyDude. The hike almost killed me, but I had forgotten how much I enjoy having to put effort into a cache. I'm not talking effort in finding it... I'm talking effort in getting there. Finding a well camoed micro in town might be a challenge, but its the physical challenge that I crave. Again this is not to an extreme... I won't be buying any climbing gear or risking my life... I'll stick to the trails.

Merry Christmas!

As is tradition I went out for a few Christmas Caches today. These were today's finds

Reserved for Doogie Howser, M.D.
ATM Tree
Alternate Entrance

I also tested out my new video cam. Here is a short and badly executed video of one of our finds.

December thoughts

It has been a slow time geocaching for me. I've been at it for almost 7 years now and I have always gone at my own speed. I think it would be easy to get burned out. Once upon a time very few caches bothered me... today I have more and more of a dislike for certain caches. Caches that are hard to find... in residential places... micros in the woods.

This next year I plan to be much more selective. I might go out for numbers with a group, but any caches I do on my own will be those that I think will be better then average. I purchased a new video camera and I plan to document these better caches on this site. I also plan to archive some of my old caches and really focus on hiding a few new quality caches. I've talked about it before... somehow I feel that this time it either happens or I join Lazyboy on the old retired cachers list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy turkey day everyone