Geo-2012

Making the Naughty List on 12/12/12!

Yesterday we attended a mob event…more exactly, a geocaching flash mob event.  That’s an “event cache” where geocachers gather at a specified date, time and coordinates and “spontaneously” show up at the same time.  A picture is usually taken and you log it as a cache.  Yesterday’s gathering was a  Decatur Area Meet and Greet Event (D.A.M.A.G.E.) set up by Sixrows and titled “Making the naughty list.”  About twenty of us gathered at 12:12 PM on 12/12/12 in front of Santa’s House in Downtown Decatur.   It was fun catching up with old friends and making some new ones.

While at the event, Dr. Bill commented that I haven’t updated my geo blog in a while….hence this post! 

Since the last post we completed our 2012 goal of caching in the 48 contiguous states.  We put over 35,000 miles on our car and cached in each state, along with two Canadian provinces and the District of Columbia.  We had a blast…not only caching, but seeing many sights we’d only read of and visiting friends all over the country. 

Mona and Laura in the North Woods

In the course of our travels we found over 1200 caches and we cached for 250 days straight.  We found caches coast to coast…from San Francisco Bay to lobster docks in Maine…and then on down to Key West.  We cached in the mountains, deserts, swamps and prairies.  We cached in Yellowstone Park, Mesa Verde, the Everglades, the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks where we saw incredible fall colors.  We’ve been to the North Woods in Michigan, the Cadillac Ranch in Texas and even found a few caches written in French in Montreal.  Name a state (other than Alaska and Hawaii) and we cached there in 2012!

It’s hard to pick the most memorable cache….perhaps it was the one in Montana where I was so busy watching out for bears and buffalo and ended up falling into a bed of cactus.  Or maybe it’s the “cache” I found on Fisherman’s Wharf that turned out to be a rat trap.  Another contender is the cache we found by Ben’s Chili Bowl in downtown DC with Margaret and Pete…and then we went inside to sit at Obama’s table and have chili and half smokes! 

Of course there's a cache here!

And of course, Mona’s most memorable cache was the Web Cam Cache on Fisherman’s wharf…because of the bird “poo attack” that gave her the excuse to buy new clothes!  She also loved the one we found in Orange Beach under the Boardwalk.  Speaking of the Boardwalk, caching on the Atlantic City Boardwalk was really cool….just glad we were there before Hurricane Sandy!

Also we will remember our 2012 caching year for the different animals we have had to be careful of while caching.  Here in Central Illinois we watch for skunks, spiders and the occasional snake, but it’s a little different in other parts of the country.  In our travels we cached in areas that had rattlesnakes, jack rabbits, wolves, grizzly bears, alligators, elk, tarantulas, scorpions, panthers, crocodiles and buffalo.  Whew!  We also cached in several areas known for Bigfoot sightings.  (No, X, we didn’t see any!)  Oh….and can’t forget Roswell where we kept a keen lookout for aliens!

The map on the right gives you a general idea of where we traveled.  Our car, Red, has a travel bug on it and we logged it at many of the caches we visited.  The map doesn't show the two trips that involved air travel, because, of course, Red had to stay home.

2012 was definitely a big geocaching year for us…  Lots of caches, lots of miles and lots of fun!  I even got an article about Cable Car Caching published in FTF Geocaching Magazine!  Yep, 2012 was a big year for us….now we've got to figure out some new geocaching goals for 2013 to make it even more fun!

Happy Geocaching!