OREGON400T

We have just upgraded to a Garmin Oregon 400T. So far it is very user friendly, like the idea of paperless caching, and being able to get the cache directly from the cache page into the Garmin from the computer and the touch screen.

How we got into caching

I've never done a Blog in my life, so this may all be in vain.
We were dragged into caching kicking and screaming, May, 2004.
One very warm summer evening our oldest son and family pull into the drive and said, "Let's go caching"! We knew nothing of this, we were computer illiterate, never saw a GPS in our lives and only understood the word from what we read or saw on the telly.
"What do you mean walk in the woods and hunt for what? We camp, but, I was getting older and was in no mood to tackle salty sweat that drew bugs and mosquitoes. We declined.
The following weekend we were camping with family and friends and after we were set up, our son puts a GPS in Hubby's hands and says follow it to the cache in VOLO Bogs near where we were camping. We did and it was my first encounter with poison ivy....ever! Also downed, rusted, barb wire fencing. We were eaten alive. We were hot, sweaty and I really knew I needed a shower.
For most people that would have finished it. Not us! We bought a Little Blue Garmin. Now, I found myself trailing Hubby and he was having all the fun finding caches. After much discussion, I inherited the Little Blue Garmin and he bought himself a Garmin Rhino. From there we realized his Rhino had a radio and if we had two, We could keep track of each other in the woods, etc., plus Co-ords could be sent from one to the other. We recently sent both in for repair and ended up with two reconditioned ones. Mine was in extreme need of repair as it has taken a dip in a river along with me (Not planned) rubber worn off and bare metal exposed. Both rhinos had tape holding pieces on. I even used glue on the aerial because the rubber guard had cracked in half.
Are we Cache fanatics?? You decide.

Renee and Wally (Happy2Wanderers)


Posted by Joe by request

Introduction

You can find me on Groundspeak as greywolf1242; the last two digits gives away my age. I’ve been an outdoors person all my life, trapping muskrats, mink and fox as a kid in Ohio. It was because of my love of the outdoors and my advancing age that I decided to get a GPSr to take with me on my long hikes in the desert, usually alone, just in case I needed to contact someone and let them know where they could find me in an emergency. Shortly after purchasing my first GPSr a friend called to tell me about the Groundspeak website. I joined the same day, Jan 16, 2006 but it was a little while before I actually got out to search for any caches. But, after that first day I became addicted to the sport.
Living on a limited income, and the increased gas prices this past year, kept me searching fairly close to home. But that also lead to an aspect of geocaching that I enjoy just as much…hiding caches! Unfortunately, that activity, under greywolf1242, ended last year for reasons I won’t go into. When I stopped seeking and hiding caches I had 900 finds, 270 caches hidden, of which 31 are now archived, 15 have been adopted out, and 18 went unpublished. I also have 217 Waymarks and 349 Benchmarks.
You meet some of the nicest people through geocaching. One of those people I’ve met was indirectly responsible for me finding out about Older But Wiser(?). Quietbreezes (Corky) was a very special person to all who knew her. Although she suffered through countless surgeries throughout her life in her battle with cancer, I never once heard her complain; not about the pain, nor about her lot in life. She was a very big inspiration to me in my fight to get control of diabetes I was diagnosed with a year and a half ago.
I had the pleasure of caching with Corky on a number of occasions, when she was feeling up to being out and about, and they were all memorable experiences. She was a puzzle solver beyond belief and had a good eye for finding those hard to find caches. Corky lived life to the fullest every day. The last time I saw her in the hospital her first words to me was to ask how I was doing with my diabetes, even though she was in extreme pain and minutes away from going in for one more surgery. Corky was always thinking of others.
The way Corky was indirectly responsible for me finding out about OBW(?), is through a cache I placed as a tribute to her while she was still in the hospital: Tribute to Quietbreezes (GC1C9HK). AbbysGrammy, Sharron, contacted me so she could contribute to Corky’s memory. Pull up the cache page and you can find out what can be done if you are interested in honoring a fellow geocacher.
Although I am no longer seeking or placing caches as greywolf1242, there are still 200+ caches out there that I have hidden, plus the 15 I adopted out. They will remain active as long as I am able to maintain them, so others can have the opportunity of adding to their numbers and see some sights they most likely would not have seen otherwise. Nearly all of my caches are hidden in the desert country of southern Idaho, so bring water with you if you decide to look for them. And I can still be reached through my profile on Groundspeak, should you be coming to my part of the country and want to get together or need some help in finding some of the more difficult ones.
I do have 25 other caches hidden under another name and if you are interested in those drop me a line through Groundspeak. I’m looking forward to some of you making a trip through southern Idaho so I might get the chance of meeting you…like I said, you meet some of the nicest people through caching. Thanks, Sharron, for the invite to join this group!

Lookin'Good & the Happy Hobos

After a chance meeting at a cache in Benson, AZ, we met the Happy Hobos again at a Flash Mob Event in Casa Grande and then for a day-long cachin' run up the Sun Valley Parkway in the Phoenix area. This picture was taken at the end of a record-setting day of us -- 45 finds!  We have really enjoyed their company and plan to keep in touch.  Thanks to OBW for bringing us together!

Tale of a cache container

Well, here is something I thought you all might be interested in-

I was at the staton (WELY) last Saturday in Ely, MN- taking phone requests for our polka program, when in walks a man I have never seen before. He says,"Are you eagleyes?" Flaberghasted I reply yes. In his hand he hand a cache container - I recognized it as one of ours.

Here is the story. He and his city worker partner were trimming trees at the Chamber of Commerce and hauling the branches to the compost pile. At some point, Tom saw my container in the branches that had already been hauled to the dump when they took another load there. Tom looked at it, and although he is not a cacher, he knew that Jim, his partner, was- at least Jim's son is and Jim has been caching a few of my caches with his son. So he kept the container- now, as we all know- our cache handles usually are secret to the general caching public. I thanked him after he told me the story and he left. I then went in to the DJ and asked him who this guy was- and Mike told me. The thing is, I wasn't supposed to be at the station that Saturday- it was by pure chance. Somehow Mike knew about the container, and when he saw me at the station he called Jim to let him know and Jim came. Well, now- I have sent them both restaurant gift certificates as a thankyou- BUT THE BIG QUESTION IS: How did Jim equate eagleyes with me?? I will never know- ever. It goes to prove that in a small town- people know you are dead before the undertaker does- probably in some cases, before the deseased even does. When I was a teen- grandma would go to early Mass and know, before I got up on Sunday morning, where I had been and whom I had been with. One Friday a few years ago we tried to sneak into town through the back roads about 11 pm, just wanting a private weekend with no social life. But- on Sat there was a welcome home polka request for me- someone saw us-Here I am 60+ years old and people still care enough to keep an eye on me- arghhhhh- I will never know how Jim equated me with eagleyes because when I asked him and Mike, they both just smiled - arghhhhhhhh. Happy caching.

HI TO ALL THE OBW'S FROM SUNNY BUT COOL MYRTLE BEACH

We were asked to post a couple of pictures by abbysgrammy so here they are. The first was taken recently after we got here for the winter months at our 2000th find and was a puzzle cache put out by EZtrack. The second was taken at our Christmas Bash hosted by ourselves and the other young man in the middle our good friend EXtrack. The third was taken at the November meeting of our group the Grand Strand Geocachers. Hope all is well with everyone and now that gas has gone way way down our plans have changed again for the spring and we will be setting out again across the country and we hope to be able to get together with some of you as we travel. Everybody take care and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a very very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Tweety & Coach..........ftjak

MINNESOTA to NASHVILLE

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=34437

This travel bug left Minnesota and is now in Oklahoma. Its goal is a cache near Nashville:

"Ce-der" Cache (GCTX02) Exit 40 off I 24

Help it along if you can. It is a metal state of Minnesota keychain.