MOGA! MOGA! MOGA!

It was the eleventh hour in the great halls of Cachelot and the mood was dire.  The entire day had passed and still the sword was in the stone as no champion had yet come forth to pull the sword and claim the prize.  Yes, many good knights, along with a few lads, lasses and ladies, had mightily tried in vain, but none yet had succeeded.  Hurriedly, a Council of the Roundtable was called to discuss what should happen if no champion ever came forth.  Just as the discussion began the doors at the back of the great hall burst open and two young lads from ActMoritz strode purposely through the great hall.  Their eyes were full of fire and locked upon the sword!



The Council went quiet and a hush fell over the huge crowd as all eyes watched the two lads stride to the stone and kneel.  No one could quite tell what was going on: were they praying, or maybe invoking a mystic unlocking spell, or could it be they actually had solved the mystery of the stone?  Suddenly one of the lads stood, grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled.  You could hear the “swoosh” as the sword came out of the rock and the lad pointed the sword skyward! The crowd roared! We had our champion!

The story above is not just the stuff of legend…at least not yet… and if you haven’t guessed by now, the theme of this
event was Cachelot – Quest for the Dragon’s Cache.  Here at MOGA 2013 (GC3GN2E) you would find many caching knights and damsels, a few dragons and an actual round table….not to mention the aforementioned  Sword in the Stone, designed and built by cacher Sixrows  (Shawn Renfro).  To pull out the sword cachers had to find up to 48 “Knight’s Caches” hidden throughout the Lake Shelbyville area.  Six of those caches contained the numbers that would unlock the sword from the stone.  The two stalwart young lads who finally retrieved the sword were part of a four-person team (including their parents) that had searched over hill and dale to find the secret to the cache.

Can you find the Q in this pic?

MOGA 2013 (Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure) was held from April 5^th to April 7^th in Shelbyville, Illinois and in the nearby Lake Shelbyville area managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  The event was hosted by the Central Illinois Geocaching Association (CIGA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers.   The co-directors of the event were Racer2814 (Pam Rankin) and Gossamar (Tom Hankins) who are also CIGA board members.  Numerous local vendors along with vendors of geocaching supplies sponsored the event.  Actually, it seemed as though the entire town of Shelbyville was hosting the event because everywhere we went we were heartily welcomed and quizzed as to “what exactly is this geocaching thing?”  Even the local schools got into the act when they offered their high school gymnasium when the original venue fell through.

The CIGA Board plus "Cache Artiste", Sixrows

MOGA  got its start back in 2004 by St. Louis Area Geocaching Association’s (SLAGA) Brawny Bear (Mike Griffin)  when he created a geocaching competition known as the Midwest Invitational Geocaching Competition (MIGC) The three-day event was held at Hawn State Park in St. Genevieve, Missouri, and was sponsored by the St. Louis Orienteering Club with the cooperation of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. MIGC was attended by over 80 participants from seven different states - some from as far away as New Jersey.

Over the next ten years, MIGC evolved into MOGA, now the world’s largest geocaching competition.  This year’s event was attended by over 1000 geocachers from 23 states and from as far away as Australia.  Over 200 new permanent caches were hidden for the event along with 80 temporary caches hidden just for the competitions.

Best Costume Winners....See Anyone You Know???

MOGA 2013 really began back over a year ago, when Pam and Tom volunteered CIGA (Central Illinois Geocaching Association) to host this year’s event.  At the time they really had little idea of what was involved to put on such a huge event.  Over the ensuing months they have driven hundreds of miles and put in over untold hours just doing the advance work.  The work of actually hiding the caches began in December 2012 when CIGA volunteers hid about 200 caches in the 11,000 acres of the Shelbyville Lake Area and along many of the roads leading to MOGA.

The event kicked off in earnest on April 5^th, beginning at 4:00 PM.  Hundreds of cachers checked in, put on their orange event lanyards and strolled through Cachelot, greeting old friends, making new friends and, as always, sharing caching stories.  The evening ended with the BYO Bash, with costume contests, live music and even a magic show!

Early the next morning the caching competitions began.  First out of the gate was the Individual’s Competition with cachers seeking 40 punch-caches hidden in the hills and valleys of the Shelbyville Lithia Springs area.  Later in the day the Team Competitions began with caching teams seeking another 40 punch caches.  You can check the MOGA 2013 entry (GC3GN2E) for a list of winners of these competitions.

MOGA 2013 had lots more than just the competitive caches to keep everyone occupied.  There was a poker run, a costume party, plenty of kid’s caches and even a Wizard’s Challenge to test those who love puzzle caches.  Also several local caching organizations sponsored get-togethers throughout the weekend….including a pizza fest and a feast sponsored by Bear and Mad Chef!

Signal and Friend At The Awards Ceremony
Cute Couple, Right?!? 

On Saturday evening the winners of the competitions were honored at an awards ceremony.  Prizes were awarded for first, second and third places for each competition.  Hundreds of people filled the local high-school gymnasium to applaud the winners and to celebrate yet another great MOGA event.  As with most of MOGA 2013 activities, it was a smile-filled event!

At the end of the awards ceremony a special super-secret movie was shown.  The movie involved spies, intrigue and all sorts of mayhem….all leading up to the announcement of MOGA 2014, Geocaching Impossible (GC491R5) to be held March 28^th through the 30^th, 2014 in Athens, Ohio. Already, it looks as though the organizers of this event are going to carry on the excellent tradition of great MOGA events!

Alas, MOGA 2013 ended all too soon, but MOGA 2014 is already on the horizon.  In the meantime get out there and find some caches!

Big Nose George Parrot

We had an overnight stay in Rawlins, Wyoming and decided to look for a cemetery cache; hoping to find a grave of a Calvary soldier, an outlaw or some other old Weste3dex character and thus “find” a Wild West story.  After doing a search on geocaching.com we found a cache in Rawlins Cemetery, just a mile or so from our hotel.  Our target cache was Wild West Redux (GCG010).  With a cache name like that we couldn’t lose!

 Tombstone near Wild West Redux

We quickly found the cache and figured out the answer required which indeed was a Wild West story, but we wanted more.  We looked around the cemetery a little more, hoping to find a U.S. Calvary veteran’s grave or some other interesting graves, but didn’t find much of interest.  We resigned ourselves to leaving without discovering a bigger story and headed to our hotel.  But wait, all was not lost!  Shortly after dinner we received an email from scribbler, the Wild West Redux cache owner, saying that we had gotten the right answer to the cache and if we wanted more information about the cache’s story we should look up “Big Nose George Parrot.”  We immediately did a Google search and got, as they say, “the rest of the story!”

Big Nose was a cattle rustler and would-be train robber.  After a bungled train robbery in August of 1878, Big Nose and his gang shot and killed two lawmen that were on their trail.  Big Nose escaped capture for almost two years until he got drunk in Montana and bragged about killing the two Wyoming lawmen.  He was captured there and then sent back to Rawlins to stand trial.  There he was convicted and sentenced to hang, but while awaiting his execution Big Nose overcame his jailer and almost escaped.  This almost successful escape enraged the townspeople and they burst into the jail, grabbed Big Nose, and took him outside and lynched him.  That’s a pretty good Wild West story right there, but wait, there’s more!

No kin claimed Big Nose’s body so two local doctors claimed the body in order to examine it for clues as to why Big Nose was so bad.  They began by sawing off the top of his skull so they could remove and examine the brain.  They gave the skull cap to their 15 year old medical assistant, Lillian Heath.  Having found no abnormalities in the brain the good doctors then took the skin from Big Nose’s chest and thighs….and had it made into a doctor’s bag, a coin purse and a pair of shoes!  One of the doctors, Dr. John Osborne, later was elected in 1893 as the governor of Wyoming since statehood and he wore his “Big Nose shoes” to his inauguration.

You would think that having a rustler/train-robber turned into a pair of shoes would be a great ending to the story, but no…there’s more!  Roll the clock forward to 1950 and the story continues.

On May 11, 1950, construction workers unearthed a whiskey barrel filled with bones, a skull with the top sawed off….and a pair of shoes made of some strange leather.  Some locals remembered the stories about Big Nose George Parrot and they sent for Lillian Heath. 

Lillian Heath was the 15 year-old medical assistant who received Big Nose’s skull cap.  She had gone on to become the first female doctor in Wyoming and she was now in her eighties.  She had kept the skull cap all this time, making good use of it in a variety of ways including as an ash tray and a door stop.  She brought her half of the skull and it matched perfectly with the bottom half of the skull in the whiskey barrel.  Big Nose George Parrot was back together again at last!

We finally had our Wild West story, and so much more!  Thanks to scribbler and Wild West Redux we have discovered another piece of Americana that we would never have heard about without geocaching.  It’s amazing what you learn while geocaching!

Big Nose George Parrot did find his final resting spot in Rawlins, but not in a cemetery like most other people.  The bottom half of Big Nose’s skull and the shoes made out of his skin are on display in the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, along with some other related artifacts.  Next time you’re in Rawlins we recommend you stop by Wild West Redux, visit Big Nose at the museum and then find your own Wild West story that you can share with us! 

Geocaching Out West

We've spent the last three weeks out west: Arizona, California, and points in between.  It’s always fun to geocache away from your home base because you see a lot of different kinds of caches and you learn a lot of new stuff.

Mona wanted to geocache around Sedona, Arizona on her birthday.  We started with an Earthcache called Red “Rocks” (GC1DBA2).  This cache takes you to a location overlooking the valley and helps you learn to identify some of the beautiful red rock formations.  This is probably the best view in the valley that you can get to without climbing.  (Our climbing days were yet to come!)  Another neat cache we found on her birthday was Sedona Historical Marker (GC36JE1).  This is a cemetery cache that takes you to the grave of Sedona Schnebly, the city’s namesake.

A couple of days later we visited Jerome, Arizona.  At a nearby state park we saw a video depicting the town’s heritage.  The video was narrated by a ghost and a lot of it was set in an unusual cemetery.  We decided we wanted to find that cemetery.  We decided to look for caches that were probably in cemeteries.  We saw Los dias del muerto en Jerome (GCYXD6)and decided that sounded “cemeteryish”.  Sure enough, it took us down a little dirt road to an abandoned-looking cemetery…the same one that we saw in the video.  The graves here all around surrounded by iron fences and the graves are covered with rocks.  It’s very different from our Midwestern cemeteries!  (Not to mention it’s the perfect environment for rattlesnakes!)

There's a cache around here somewhere!

Two caches illustrate the wide variety of caches to be found in the Coachella Valley.  First up is Marilyn’s ASSets (GC3N8KX).  Here you are caching in downtown Palm Springs and trying to not attract the attention of the thousands of Muggles who are here to see Marilyn.  On the opposite side of the spectrum is Welcome to Palm Desert (GC331X0) where you’re trying hard to not attract the attention of the many rattlesnakes in the area.  Both were fun, but for totally different reasons.

We had been carrying a travel coin (Ocean Kami Geocoin) whose goal was to visit oceans.  We’ve been carrying the coin for about six weeks, knowing that we were going to visit Monterey.  Finally we got the coin to the Pacific at Monterey Bay View (GC36HA0).  Glad to have helped!

No wild horses, but no rattlers, either!

On the way through Nevada we stopped at a rest area hoping to find a cache to break up the monotony.  Darn, no signal!  We did some walking around to stretch our legs, read the signs about the wild horses that were in the area, then got in the car to leave.  Just then we got a signal and found that there was a cache (Break the Monotony of I-80 E1 (GC71BA)) up the hill 2 tenths above us.  Out of the car we went…hoping that the snakes and scorpions weren’t out because of the cold.  Got to the top of the hill and got a breathtaking view of the countryside…no wild horses, but we got the smiley!

We found two very interesting caches in Rawlins, Wyoming.  The first was at an old prison cemetery.  The Unclaimed (GCRREQ) takes you to the graves of prisoners whose families didn’t claim them.  All that is here are some simple stones with just names on them and a board outside showing their birthdays and the date they died or were executed.  At least one had “birthdate unknown”.

At second cache (Wild West Redux (GCG010)  we learned about Big Nose George Parrot, the Outlaw Who Grew to Be A Shoe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Nose_George) It’s amazing what you see/learn from geocaching!

Had lots of fun traveling and geocaching out west.  But, now we’re home and hoping to catch up on some new local caches. 

MOGA is soon and can’t wait to meet up with a lot of geocaching friends.  Hope to see you there!

Geocaching Safety

The View from the GZ (Ground Zero of the cache)

My heart is pumping.  I’m thrilled to be caching here…gazing at the mountains in the distance and listening to the roar of Yellowstone just a couple of hundred yards away.  I’m near the GZ of Electric Rock (GC1K5FJ) north of Yellowstone Park and there are wild buffalo, elk and bear in the area.  I’m quite aware of this and have taken the appropriate safety precautions.  Yep, got my bear bell on my walking stick, I’m making lots of noise as I walk and I’m approaching this huge rock with care…knowing that a buffalo could easily be hidden behind it. 

I was within fifteen feet of the GZ, but I wanted to make sure I was safe before I went for the find.  I decided I needed to peek over the truck-sized rock to see if there were any man-eating critters hiding behind it.  You know, just in case.  Just as I leaned over my tennis shoes lost their grip on the slippery rocks and I fell.  Hard!

As I lay there, gasping for breath, I had some extra time on my hands and thought it would be a good time to review the safety precautions published on geocaching.com and how well I had prepared.

Precaution #1:  Tell someone where you are going.  I had left our hotel room early in the morning leaving Mrs. M. sleeping peacefully.  I had not left a note as I planned only to be caching near the hotel.  As a bare minimum I should have left a note.  But even more so, this is an area where you shouldn’t cache alone.   Grade on this one: FAIL 

Precaution #2: Focus on your surroundings.  Yes, I was watching out for “lions, tigers and bears”, but I had paid no attention to the slippery rocks I was standing on.  Moreover, why was I wearing tennis shoes in this environment?   My hiking boots were in the car and I hadn’t taken the time to put them on.  Duh!  You need to be properly geared-up for your surroundings and you need to be aware of all the dangers.  Focus! Grade on this one:  FAIL

Precaution #3: Bring the right gear including extra water, batteries, etc.  I actually didn’t do too badly on this one.  My car was only a few hundred feet away and all the right stuff was in it, including a first-aid kit.  However, laying there on the rocks I could have used a drink of water.  Grade: Passed, but barely.

Precaution #4: Be mindful of where you are.  Be aware of local dangers such as poison plants or dangerous animals.  In my case, I was very aware of dangerous animals in the vicinity and I had brought my walking stick and bear bell for safety.  But really?  Would either of these have provided adequate protection had I encountered a buffalo or a grizzly bear.  I think not.  Grade: FAIL

Yes, laying there on the rocks I had plenty of time to reflect on my failure to take properly safety precautions.   I vowed to myself that I’d do better next time! 

About this time the shock of my hard fall was beginning to wear off and I was starting to feel another sensation.  Kind of prickly.  Made me think of an addendum to Precaution #4…something to do with plants….yes, plants, prickly….YEOW!!!!  I had fallen into a bed of cactus plants and my entire left side was covered with sharp, painful spines!  I jumped up and started using another piece of my geocaching gear…tweezers!

In the end, I got lucky.  I escaped with just bruises and “friendly” reminders from the cactus that I continued to pull out over the next four weeks.  But, it could have been much worse considering that I failed to follow so many safety precautions.  I’ve learned my lesson and I hope you will learn from my experience as well.  Geocaching is fun for everyone, but it can also be dangerous unless you practice safe caching.

Have fun and be safe!!!

(Note:  In the cache description the CO of Electric Rock warns of wildlife and cactus in the area.  Perhaps, Precaution #5 should be added:  Read the cache description and make note of any precautions listed!)

48 in 12

We retired on 1/1/12 and quickly set a goal for our first year; to geocache in all of the 48 contiguous states.  When we set the goal we were both skeptical…after all, that’s a lot of miles to cover in one year.

We began our quest in late February by driving from Illinois to California.  Our first new state was Oklahoma where we found Sleepytime In the Western World (GC2YFR9).  We were on our way!   On this trip we picked up nine states and saw some incredible sights including the Grand Canyon, cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde and alien exhibits in Roswell.  We even got to see our first Major League spring training ballgame!

That first trip was followed by five more driving trips and flights to Vegas and San Francisco.  In all, we traveled over 35,000 miles in 2012 finding over 1200 caches in 48 states and two Canadian provinces.  We saw many more sights, including Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Atlantic City and incredible New England fall foliage.

As always, geocaching took us to places we might have otherwise missed.  Just like Oregon Trail One (GC1DPYY) which took us to see the wagon wheel tracks from the 1800s. Another good example was  It’s a Long Reach Down (GC1R76F) which not only gave us a spectacular view of the Long Reach, but also took us along an enchanted trail with hundreds of tiny little fairy houses scattered throughout the forest.

And of course, Earthcaches really helped us learn more about the world around us.  One of our favorites was Hell’s Half Acre (GC15FHV) where we learned about Idaho’s volcanic past.  Another was Buffalo Pie – Badlands National Park (GC10RRP) which taught us how The Badlands were formed.  Not only that, but shortly after finding the cache we came across a prairie dog village and a herd of wild buffalo!

Another of our favorite caches was in Key West, Florida.  USA, all the way South (GC2C32) is located very near the southern-most point in the continental United States.  It is one of several caches that you can find while walking around Key West.  If you cache here you have to watch out for the chickens that roam the streets!

New York proved to be our toughest state to get.  Our first visit was brief and all we got was a DNF in Queens before we ran out of time.  After a few days in Maine and in Vermont we swung back through New York to see Ft. Ticonderoga.  Near there we found You Deserve a Break Today (GC2WJ3B) and accomplished our goal of 48 in 12!   

Of course we didn’t stop geocaching just because we hit our goal.  We kept traveling and caching, seeing more sights and making more friends.  Now, it’s 2013 and we can’t wait to see where geocaching takes us this year!

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!

Tag for Dad

Tag for Dad Travel Bug

We started in geocaching in August of 2010 and it wasn’t long before the caching bug spread through four generations of our family.  Although we all love geocaching, we all keep talking about how another member of our family would have really loved this sport:  Dad.  Dad was an outdoor enthusiast and he loved puzzles and gadgets…a perfect combination for geocaching.  Sadly, he passed in 2009, before any of us had starting caching.

My sister, 5-Bears, wanted to include Dad in geocaching somehow, someway. She ended up creating a Travel Bug in his honor and named it “Tag for Dad”.  5-Bears wanted me to be the FTF (First to Find) for this Bug so she created a special cache just for me and sent me the coordinates specifying that I had to find it at night.  Turns out the cache was hidden in a cemetery…in fact, the cemetery where Dad is resting.   This was definitely a spooky place for a cache, but I made the find, in a flower urn on Dad’s stone.  Creepy, but Dad would have loved it!

In case you didn't know....a Travel Bug is a geocaching item that has a unique identification number and it's taken from cache to cache by geocachers.  Usually, it's a small item that can easily fit into caches and it has a tag keychained to it with its ID number or it has the ID number stamped on it.  Most often, the Travel Bug's owner specifies where the bug would like to travel.  However, in this case 5-Bears didn't specify a preferred destination.  

WES37 (Geouncle) Making the Find

I asked 5-Bears if she wanted me to keep the Bug or release it into the wild.  She answered, “Let’s see where Dad goes.”  Soon after, I took Tag for Dad to Missouri and dropped him in Out of the Loop (GC2178Y) to get him started on his journey.  It wasn’t long before “Dad” visited southern Illinois, quite possibly his favorite place in the world.  This was where he spent many weekends fishing, 4-wheeling and exploring the Shawnee National Forest.  Everyone in the family thought this was so cool that the Travel Bug landed here!

“Dad” continued his journeys, visiting Kentucky and Massachusetts, but it wasn’t long before he made his way to Florida, another of Dad’s favorite places.  Florida is where Dad loved to take us for family vacations, looking for alligators, shelling and enjoying incredible sunsets.  Wow, what a coincidence that “Dad” visited two of his favorite places in just a short time!

"Dad" and 5-Bears in the Glass Box!

Now, “Dad” traveled north, making his way to Minnesota and finally to Chicago, Illinois.  Dad lived here for several years and loved Chicago.  He especially loved the Sears Tower (now named the Willis Tower) and wonder of wonders….the cache was near there!  This was too much for 5-Bears!  She had always hoped “Dad” would find his way back home and now it was time!  She enlisted the help of our geo-uncle WES37 and together they drove to Chicago and found “Dad” in Corporate Soup (GC2R5TX).  “Dad” was back with the family again!

5-Bears and WES37 celebrated the reunion by visiting the top of Willis Tower, where 5-Bears took “Dad” out into one of the glass boxes hanging off the side of the building.  This was quite a feat for 5-Bears as she has a fear of heights, but she wanted to do it in Dad’s honor.  Dad would have been so proud!

"Dad's" Travels

Our family is still amazed at where “Dad” visited.  What a coincidence that in just a year and a half this travel bug was taken to three of Dad’s favorite places in the world, even though none of them was mentioned in his goal!  Or maybe…just maybe, Dad really got to go geocaching after all! 

P.S.  “Tag for Dad” has now been moved to 5-Bears’ collection, so no more traveling for “Dad.”  But who knows, maybe he’ll be put out into the wild again someday to revisit a few more of his favorite places!