Spring Break and R&R

Jeff's R&R leave and Spring Break for Jen and Jacob overlapped last week. And we've been caching up a storm! We're up to 830 finds and we've set 82 caches!

Jeff got in on Friday night (3/12) and on Saturday (3/13) we found ourselves in Wichita for a bowling tournament. After Jacob surpassed his average by 33 points, we were out geocaching! We got 5 done on Saturday and then we found 33 on Sunday (3/14 Happy birthday, Pinipig!) We traveled here and there and all around Kansas. On gravel roads, on mud roads, on tar and everything in between.




The following Tuesday (3/16), we did not plan on caching. Honest. Really, we didn't plan on caching, but as soon as DA438's Gypsum series popped up, we were heading out the door hoping to grab some FTF's. We claimed 4 FTF's and worked on some of the 1900 series, then headed home. When we started logging in the finds, imagine our surprise when we discovered more newly published caches that had not been found! We quickly found a babysitter (thanks Mandy!) for Jacob and headed back out to try to find more Gypsum FTF's. We didn't claim any more FTF's that day, but did find a few more caches to bring our total for the day to 38 found caches. We traveled along miles of mud roads...our 4 wheel drive works great. I think we have 10 pounds of Gypsum Rd mud in our driveway!

We traveled to Iowa on Thursday (3/18) and stopped to do a few caches along the way. The Homestead National Monument outside of Beatrice, Nebraska has a few caches. It was a neat place to stop and learn some homesteading history. Jacob even became a Junior Park Ranger!

While in Iowa, we set a few caches. MillerTime4 found a few and claimed a few FTF's. And no, they didn't have an advantage since we're related!

That brings us to today...Monday (3/22.) Jacob went back to school while Jeff and Jen drove 182 miles geocaching in central Kansas. One of the coolest caches was an Earth Cache...Chase Artesian Well Site We drank some of the cool water that bubbled out of the well. After claiming the cache and the one nearby, we enjoyed our picnic lunch. Thanks to our spring snowstorm, Jeff was standing in some snow on the side of the road while the thermometer in the truck said 69*! Wow... It was so quiet out there...just the gurgle of the well. I don't know if I've ever been that far in the country, away from everything! What a great day...great company and great caching.

We've seen a lot of places in Kansas that most people haven't...or haven't noticed. Did you know Highway 50 between Strong City and Emporia is known as the Turkey Red Highway that celebrated the Wheat Centennial in 1974?? Well, now you do.

350.org (River of Action) CITO

This morning we went to Lego Laws and Wolf Spider's CITO event.
Even though we didn't go paddling down the Kansas River, we had a great time. Jacob and I each won a geo pin and a geocoin in the drawing.

October 24 is 350.org's International Day of Climate Action. Events were held around the world. We picked up trash along the Linear Trail and around the boat landing. The group that went paddling down the river also picked up trash along the way. There were 11 new caches hidden along the Linear Trail. Even though we didn't go boating, we enjoyed the crisp fall weather and we were able to find a few caches; and even snagged a co-FTF with Jadefalcon!

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=eb0b3068-4c87-457f-b758-24c13ba5c089

Thanks Lego Laws and Wolf Spider, we had a great time! Oh, Angela...I think Jacob has a little crush on you...he told me he had a great time picking up trash with Mrs. Lego Laws and then he blushed and giggled! :)

LAME Geocaching Event in Topeka

Jacob and I attended the LAME geocaching event on Friday night in Topeka. We had a lot of LAME fun! Lots of great conversation, heard lots of stories (tall tales included!) and ate some pretty good subs.

In May 2008, Jeff had just gotten back from a deployment in Iraq. He told me about this game type thing with a GPS and that is was like a treasure hunt. I was a little skeptical, but figured since he'd just spent 15 months away from us, I'd go along with his idea of fun. Jeff did the first couple of geocaches while I was at work and told Jacob and I what fun it was. I kind of raised my eyebrows at him and thought, "Fun? This is going to be fun?" A few days later, Jeff and I spent the day geocaching. I was hooked. It was fun! We have seen some awesome places during our geocaching travels and we've met some wonderful people. I had such a good time talking with everyone on Friday night. Thanks for taking the time to make this event happen!

Rock City

It has been a LONG time since my last post... We've had a few changes since August, which have led to less geocaching than usual. Mr. Diecast (aka Jeff) has left for a year-long deployment to Iraq. Mrs. Diecast (that's me) changed jobs and is no longer teaching 1st grade; but is instead teaching 2 classes at Kansas State University and also hard at work on her (my) doctoral degree in Literacy Education. So that leaves far less time for geocaching. :(

The days are starting to get cooler, and the colors are changing across Kansas. Jacob (aka Buggywasher) and I loaded up the Prius this morning and headed to Rock City for Nicoole and Debbie's Earth Cache. On our jaunt this morning, we saw signs that winter will soon be upon us. When we moved to Kansas 5 years ago, I used to think the fall colors here were such a let down. This year I really appreciated them...they aren't vivid yellows, reds and oranges like the fall New England colors. They're more subdued, quieter...Kansas colors. I love the mustard yellows, the browns, the rusts, the dark reds that look almost purple. The yellow orange, the tans, the russets, the greenish yellows. This is the first year that I've really noticed the landscape. It's taken me 5 years to appreciate what we have here.

We did a couple of caches before and after the Earth cache, but I must say the highlight was Rock City. The rock formations were amazing! I've said this over and over again, but if it hadn't been for geocaching, we would never would have visited this spot. Geocaching has brought us to some amazing places along the way.

Geocaching Pictures

Largest ball of twine! Jacob got to add 30 feet to it!

This is for you, JJTally!

Geographic center of the lower 48 states.

Echo Cliff

There is a geocache under the phone booth, but Jeff had to explain to Jacob about phone booths! You don't see many of them anymore and Jacob was amazed that this actually was a working phone!

All tuckered out after a day of caching!

The Delorme Challenge

We are in the process of completing the Kansas Delorme Challenge. I've written about this challenge before...Delorme has created a map book (see the picture above) for each state. The Kansas map on the back of the book is broken down into 65 grids, and each page of the book is one of these grids. In order to complete the Delorme Challenge, goecoachers must find or hide a geocache in each grid. This isn't an easy challenge...Kansas is a large state...it is about 400 miles long and 210 miles wide, covering 82,282 square miles, making it the 15th largest of the 50 states. (http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/ks_geography.htm) The eastern 2/3's of the state are pretty populated and there are lots of geocaches to be found. However, the challenge becomes more difficult in the western part of the state...some of the grids only have 1 or 2 caches!

At the same time, we're working on the Kansas County Challenge. This challenge is similar...you need to find a cache in all 105 counties! Again, this can be difficult since some counties only have 1 or 2 caches in them!
We have gone on 2 geocaching treks lately...the first was on 12/13 July and the second on 7/8 August. The first trek was 2 days, 878 miles across 2 states. We found 59 geocaches and completed 15 grids on the Delorme Challenge. The second trek found us driving 837 miles across 2 states. We found 62 geocaches, set 3 of them ourselves and completed 14 grids (all with temps above 100!)
We are sooo close to being able to join the Delorme Challenge Club! But, we are still so far away...14 more grids are left for us to do! All in southwestern Kansas...and another 800+ mile trip!

Geocaching has now become an obsession for us! :)