More Geocaching

Last time we were telling you about our new hobby of Geocaching.  Well this past weekend Geocaching is about all that we have done.

First off, if you are reading this and Geocaching near our location in Indiana then you may not want to look at some of the below pictures, so as not to spoil any caches that you have not found yet.  

I will try not to give away too many details on where the caches are, but anyone who can put 2+2 together could figure out what caches I am talking about, so be warned.

Geocaching is a lot of fun and you can get some good physical and mental exercise from it.  We visited 11 sites this weekend and out of those we found 9 of the caches and came up empty for the other 2.  At one site we spent a good 3 hours looking, but never did find the cache.  Talk about getting a headache.

Today we worked on simple caches with a difficulty of no more than 2 (out of 5) so as to build up our confidence again.  It was a perfect day for being outside and getting some exercise.  I'm not going to say where we were, but the pictures may give it away.

A beautiful day walking outside today.

 Some of the caches are very tricky and hard to find.  The owners will camouflage their caches in ways you would never think or use containers that blend in perfectly with their surroundings.  One such container is below.  This one took me two days to find and was one of my favorite caches.

Cache camouflaged like a book.

Below is another cache hidden in a common pine tree on a trail near us.  This one took two tries to find due to the  Muggles that were there the first time.  It was raining the next day when I went back and so the Muggles were not as bad.

Geocache Spot.

This happened to be a micro cache which are usually only big enough to hold the cache log that you sign.  This one was not really too hard to find, but if you are dodging Muggles, it does not give you much time to be looking through the limbs of a tree.

Micro cache.

All in all we had a great weekend Geocaching and got plenty of exercise.  We also picked up a Travel Tag or Bug while hunting this weekend, which is also pretty neat.

Each Travel Tag or Bug has its own story and mission.  Some are to travel across America while others want to go overseas.  Some have very specific missions and so it is our responsibility to try and keep it on course.

This one's name is 'Anemone the Clown Fish Travel Tag' and he wants to travel to as many places as possible.  We help it along by taking it with us to all the caches we find and logging it online.  Once we find a suitable home for it, we will let it go so someone else can spend time with it.  Another request of its owner is to take as many pictures as possible of the places it visits. 

Our little pet (Travel But/Tag) that we picked up this weekend.

It was a great weekend to Geocache and I hope we can do it every weekend, even if it is just one.  With us heading south for the winter, we should have many opportunities to do so.

The LivelyRV Geocaching crew.  Ian, Ethan, Tia, Courtney, Avery, Misty, & Chloe.  Don is taking the picture.

The weather was wonderful with a perfect temperature and no wind or rain.  We did not have to worry too much about sunburn and the bugs were not out as bad.  Misty only had one friendly spider land on her arm but she did not receive it well.  All in all I would say it was a perfect day for Geocaching and doing something as a family.

Ethan, Ian, Avery, Courtney, & Tia posing in the sun.

 The below picture was one we had to take to satisfy a find for one of the EarthCaches we went to today.  This type of cache is more for educational purposes than finding a cache of goodies or signature log.  Today, the kids learned how towns know when the rivers are rising to flood stage, so they can plan evacuations properly, and they never even knew they were in class.

Courtney, Tia, Ian, Ethan, & Avery at the gauging station on the Wabash River. 

So, that was our weekend and a good one at that.  We are a little disappointed that we did not find all of the caches we set out to, but there is always tomorrow and with it we will have a new perspective, which should help improve our geosense.

God bless!

Don, Misty, & Kids.