Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Having Fun

Teri and I have made lots of "fast" trips. It is relaxing for me to geocache along our way and slow down. In yesterday's blog entry I mentioned that this sport is good for grandparents and grandchildren. Well, it is also great for a husband and wife, as long as they are best friends, or working to become best friends.We left Saturday morning to see our daughter and family in Northern In. 400 miles is normally a 7 hour trip. Saturday was about 11 but we arrived fairly relaxed. As you will see we made lots of stops. Our first few were in the Effingham area.

Back in May we found lots of geocaches in Effingham while at the Vdub rally. I purposly saved some caches along the interstate for future trips. We travel I-57 often, from south to north Il. I try not to speed, much, in Il. nor buy gasoline there.This was a good cache. Teri grabbed it right away.

Another good one in Effingham. Teri crawled under a fence to get this one.

This is a team sport. My part is to look these things up before the trip and have an idea where they are, in relation to where we will be traveling. I use Streets and Trips gps program on my computer along with the gps maps from the site. Sometimes I can drive right up to a cache and snatch it without getting out of the car.

Look close, we had to stop for a shopping trip. Teri grabbed some birthday gifts for some of our grandchildren here.In this lot I did the drive up and grab, but forgot to get a picture. It was in a light pole in the shopping center. You know the one, its the one with the big red Amish barn. We grabbed 2 here.

I am not bragging. Sometimes I really get confused and miss my mark. I consider myself really good at map reading and knowing my directions. Its almost like I have a built in compass, but sometimes it gets off kilter.A couple must have patience with one another while playing this sport. Sometimes Teri has problems finding one. She calls on me and I walk right to it. It is really hard for me to keep a straight face in moments like this. I have to not rub it in, too much, because it will bite me if I do. May not find the next 5 if I mess Teri over.

Sometimes I do place a time limit on our stop. 10 minutes is long enough. I do not always get out of the car. Just depends as Teri finds many of these in just a few seconds.

Here is one I had to keep a straight face on. Teri just could not find the thing. I walked over, across the street, and snatched it for her. this was our last one Saturday.For prospective GMC buyers, this one is in Kokomo. Has been for sale for over a year. Might be a bargain. It is on 31 in north part of town, at a far lot.

Our first cache Tuesday. A rest are just north of Effingham. We have located most of the caches on I-57 now. At Salem we jumped off the interstate and headed over to 51.Teri grabbed this one right away.

Blow this picture up. Look under the Lions Club sign.I did not take pictures of all of our stops. This was our last one. I drove Teri right up to it. Oh, right before this one she couldnt locate one in Du Quoin, a new one. I got out of the car and walked over to it. I kept my face solemn. I know when I can rub it in and when I can't. For the weekend, we picked up 30 caches. Teri did 4 without me while I had the boys looking Monday.
Now, let me warn you, this can be stressful. Teri and I are competitive. It is too easy to let this come between us. Mostly my fault. I have to remember this is a team sport. We work together. With that in mind, Teri and I always do our best to enjoy the hunt. Retire early if you can. There is just too much in life to enjoy.
We love having the GMC to sleep in but we also have fun without it. I have gotten us into some tight spots while trying to geocache with the GMC and a car in tow. I can not always anticipate a dead end street, even with Streets and Trips. We have unhooked and rehhoked a few times to get out of a tight spot. I no longer let that upset me.
We hope that you enjoyed the ride. If you are coming to Du Quoin, in two weeks, Teri is putting on a seminar on Geocaching. She has been working hard on it and will have several hidden on the fairgrounds for folks to find. So, bring your handheld gps. Bring two if you have a spare so someone can use one of them. If you are in the market, the cheap Garmin handhelds are really good. The simpler to operate the better. Remember, there are no age limits on this sport. Young and old can bridge the gaps doing this together. When I was a kid we bridged the gap by working in the cotton patch. This is much more fun.
Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 7:19 AM

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