I got an e-mail telling me that a travel bug of mine, called "The Platinum Plug", has been picked up in Baden-Württemberg in Germany from a Geocache called Hexenpfad by geocacher 'tuifab'. The log entry was posted in German as "weiter geht die lange Reise beim Stand von 19710km". I used a Google translation service which translated the entry as "continues the long journey with the score at 19710km". For those of us on this side of the Atlantic, that is 11,912 miles so far.
I invite you to visit the web page for "The Platinum Plug" for the rest of the story behind and about this highly successful travel bug. This bug was released on November 11, 2005. It was the very first travel bug that I released into the Geocaching community. It has been more successful than I could have imagined. Thanks to all who have shared in this adventure.
Use the comments area to share a story of your most successful or just your favorite travel bug.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Geocachers help a worthy cause
OK. It has been a while since I have posted here, but this is a worthy cause and I want to help spread the word. The folks at GroundSpeak are seeking the help of Geocachers everywhere to win a contest which will donate a bunch of prize money to help get GPS receivers into schools. I won't re-write their story, but you can read about this here:
http://www.10balloonies.com/2009/12/enlisting-geocachers-for-darpa.html
http://www.10balloonies.com/2009/12/enlisting-geocachers-for-darpa.html
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Long list for 30 days
How cool to see such a long list of caches and TB listed on my account at Geocaching.com. I've been on three outings in the last 30 days now.
On 3/29, Team TBSM went out and worked 24 caches. All four of our dedicated cachers were out for this event, even after a night of wet snow. We did a bunch of "urban" caches up near Schaumburg, IL. The 24 caches in one day was a personal best for me and I logged my 200th cache find. The funny part was that this 200th find was in an outdoor gaming area in front of a Senior Center. Oh the irony of a grown man playing treasure hunt and having this be his 200th find.
On 4/4, I made a trip with my wife down to Valparaiso, IN. While she was in meetings Saturday AM and early afternoon, I went geocaching. I quit around 1pm to meet my son for lunch, but I had worked 11 caches by then. That's the most I have done while caching solo in a single day (and a half day at that). I purposely stayed toward the south-west side of town because we had plans for Team TBSM to visit Valpo later this month and we would be approaching from the north east.
And just last Sunday, 4/26, Team TBSM was to head toward Valpo. Regrettably, only myself and Baloo were able to make this trip. But we found 50 caches in that one day, a new personal best. Here it is Wed night and I just now finished logging those 50 finds, but I'm not complaining. I had made a comment earlier in the day about maybe making it to 50. And Baloo pushed me and worked extra hard as our navigator to find us those last caches that we would be able to work on our way home after dark. We got the last cache about 11:45pm.
So now that I am done logging, I have pulled up my own profile page and I see that I have worked 85 geocaches (and a number of Travel bugs) in the last 30 days. When I pull up the list tomorrow, those caches from 3/29 will no longer be listed on the page. I wonder how long it will be before I have so many caches on the 30 day log listing.
I'm having so much fun!
On 3/29, Team TBSM went out and worked 24 caches. All four of our dedicated cachers were out for this event, even after a night of wet snow. We did a bunch of "urban" caches up near Schaumburg, IL. The 24 caches in one day was a personal best for me and I logged my 200th cache find. The funny part was that this 200th find was in an outdoor gaming area in front of a Senior Center. Oh the irony of a grown man playing treasure hunt and having this be his 200th find.
On 4/4, I made a trip with my wife down to Valparaiso, IN. While she was in meetings Saturday AM and early afternoon, I went geocaching. I quit around 1pm to meet my son for lunch, but I had worked 11 caches by then. That's the most I have done while caching solo in a single day (and a half day at that). I purposely stayed toward the south-west side of town because we had plans for Team TBSM to visit Valpo later this month and we would be approaching from the north east.
And just last Sunday, 4/26, Team TBSM was to head toward Valpo. Regrettably, only myself and Baloo were able to make this trip. But we found 50 caches in that one day, a new personal best. Here it is Wed night and I just now finished logging those 50 finds, but I'm not complaining. I had made a comment earlier in the day about maybe making it to 50. And Baloo pushed me and worked extra hard as our navigator to find us those last caches that we would be able to work on our way home after dark. We got the last cache about 11:45pm.
So now that I am done logging, I have pulled up my own profile page and I see that I have worked 85 geocaches (and a number of Travel bugs) in the last 30 days. When I pull up the list tomorrow, those caches from 3/29 will no longer be listed on the page. I wonder how long it will be before I have so many caches on the 30 day log listing.
I'm having so much fun!
Team TBSM
Well, I have actually been doing lots of Geocaching in the last several weeks. It's about time I put up a new Geocaching Blog posting. I'll tell the stories of the outings another time. For this posting, let me introduce you to Team TBSM. I have to tell you about the team members and their handle or name on Geocaching.com, before I can explain the team name.
There is 'Baloo&BD' (aka. Dave), a long time friend of mine. We were Cub Scout leaders together. Those with any history in Scouting will recognize the reference to Baloo the Bear, teacher of the young boy, from the Jungle Book story. Besides Scouting, we used to work together at Ameritech. We were in a bowling league together (that might have come first). And we are both Ham Radio operators. And Baloo was the person that introduced me to Geocaching. He has a gift for teaching.
Next there is 'TheBaers' (aka. Mike). He's tall, moves fast and he is one heck of a geocacher. He seems to love it when a cache gets challenging. I have know Baer for the shortest time within this group. But what time we have spent together has been quite enjoyable. And we do have fun comparing our high tech gadgets.
Next comes me. I am know as 'kschu' on the Geocaching.com web site and many other on-line venues. I've been using the name as a login for over 25 years now. Say it fast and it sounds like a Sneeze, hence one of my nicknames is 'Sneezy'.
And finally, there is the "Cobbler Guy" (another aka. Dave). The Cobbler was also involved in Scouts when I met him several years ago. I think he was also introduced to Geocaching by Baloo.
So the team is made up of Two Bears, a Sneezy and a Meal. Hence the acronym TBSM. I don't know which one of the guys came up with that (it was not me). It is much simpler than writing out all of our names. And caching is a whole lot more fun when I am out doing it with these guys.
The next posts will describe the March and April TBSM outings and my own little outing in between. Milestones and/or record breakers in each.
There is 'Baloo&BD' (aka. Dave), a long time friend of mine. We were Cub Scout leaders together. Those with any history in Scouting will recognize the reference to Baloo the Bear, teacher of the young boy, from the Jungle Book story. Besides Scouting, we used to work together at Ameritech. We were in a bowling league together (that might have come first). And we are both Ham Radio operators. And Baloo was the person that introduced me to Geocaching. He has a gift for teaching.
Next there is 'TheBaers' (aka. Mike). He's tall, moves fast and he is one heck of a geocacher. He seems to love it when a cache gets challenging. I have know Baer for the shortest time within this group. But what time we have spent together has been quite enjoyable. And we do have fun comparing our high tech gadgets.
Next comes me. I am know as 'kschu' on the Geocaching.com web site and many other on-line venues. I've been using the name as a login for over 25 years now. Say it fast and it sounds like a Sneeze, hence one of my nicknames is 'Sneezy'.
And finally, there is the "Cobbler Guy" (another aka. Dave). The Cobbler was also involved in Scouts when I met him several years ago. I think he was also introduced to Geocaching by Baloo.
So the team is made up of Two Bears, a Sneezy and a Meal. Hence the acronym TBSM. I don't know which one of the guys came up with that (it was not me). It is much simpler than writing out all of our names. And caching is a whole lot more fun when I am out doing it with these guys.
The next posts will describe the March and April TBSM outings and my own little outing in between. Milestones and/or record breakers in each.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Making plans
OK, It has been way to long since I have posted anything here. I won't make promises that I may fail to keep, but I will try to keep up with this better than I have.
I spent hours tonight going over GeoCaching.com pocket queries with data on caches in and around Busse Woods in Schaumburg, IL. I have plans to join 3 friends on what may be an all day caching run. There are bunches of caches within a 2 mile circle up there.
While I was at it, I added user sort tags to most of the caches within probably 10 mile circles around my home and work. So the next time I download caches to my GPS, it will have lots of data on lots of caches that I had never noticed before. It surprises me (although it probably should not) how many new caches there are in my area.
With my Palm Pilot out of commission (needs a new battery, at least), I will be hard pressed to carry much cache info with me. I don't normally take the laptop with GSAK loaded along with me. I'm going to try to load an older laptop with just GSAK and see if I can make that work for me.
More later, Ken
I spent hours tonight going over GeoCaching.com pocket queries with data on caches in and around Busse Woods in Schaumburg, IL. I have plans to join 3 friends on what may be an all day caching run. There are bunches of caches within a 2 mile circle up there.
While I was at it, I added user sort tags to most of the caches within probably 10 mile circles around my home and work. So the next time I download caches to my GPS, it will have lots of data on lots of caches that I had never noticed before. It surprises me (although it probably should not) how many new caches there are in my area.
With my Palm Pilot out of commission (needs a new battery, at least), I will be hard pressed to carry much cache info with me. I don't normally take the laptop with GSAK loaded along with me. I'm going to try to load an older laptop with just GSAK and see if I can make that work for me.
More later, Ken
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Arlington Midwest IRAQ War Memorial. I found this site while Geocaching near the Wisconson Dells this last weekend. I would not have found this had it not been for the hidden geocache. This is one of the more memorable sites where I have "gone hunting". I spent more time looking around the memorial than I spent actually looking for the cache.
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A closer shot of just one of the crosses in the field. This cross is for Lt Kim Ballard of Mountain View, CA. As I looked at that cross, I prayed for peace and comfort for her family and thanked God for special people like Kim who give everything for their country.
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The flag pole appeared to be one long birch tree branch. Imagine yourself standing here. Looking at the picture is not the same as standing there.
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Monday, October 03, 2005
My Geocaching Adventure
I am setting up this new Blog where I can record my "adventures" in Geocaching. I am a registered user on the Geocaching.com website. You can view my profile and my list of caches that I have sought out over there. This will be the place where I tell the stories that go with those cache hunts.
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