King Kong Chasm

Just kidding.  Monstercatambush was commenting to me one day about how on caches that he's had a hard time finding you post something like, easy find, or quick find etc... so I thought I would do the same on this awesome cache that is not that quick to find.  I started down this chasm from Redhawk's cache "Outback Oasis" and then went to his "Lost Well" cache and then over to this cache.  The whole time I was skidding down the escarpment I was thinking about how hard it was going to be to climb back up.  I didn't see any giant gorillas but there was enough gunfire rattling around through the Deam Wilderness to take one down.

Thanks for the fun!

alphabet sOuP GC1T5Q3

Alphabet sOuP was an awesome adventure. When we finished, the final was unreachable unfortunately because it had fallen down inside the hollow tree it was hidden in.  Some day when I have more time (right) I'll put links to all of my logs I reference in this log.

 August 2 by Odyssey Posse
Darn that djhobby . . . despite the very explicit warnings not to do so set forth on the the cache page, he went ahead and broke this cache.

Luckily, I got a message from him via Facebook on my BlackBerry while I was out and about town. I was able to swing by and replace the cache with a camo'd matchstick holder in a more secure position. And that means I'm able to post this note and set the record straight before DJ posts some tall tale blaming lyncher for the malfeasance that hath been wrought on this poor cache.

All is good to go again!

 August 2 by djhobby
Woo Hoo! FTF (Fourth to Find) That's my goal from now on, to always be fourth to find. I figure by the time I get to a cache fourth, all the bugs will have been worked out. Not so with this cache though. Unfortunately it had taken a little tumble from it's hiding place and was not to be reached. I tried to hold Tommy's ankles and lower him down the hole, but he wouldn't quite fit. Plus he kept screaming about snakes and ticks being in the hole with him, but you know how he exaggerates!

Thanks so much for publishing this challenging cache. If it hadn't been for you we would have never seen so many new places, meet so many nice people, or experienced so many fun times. Let's reminisce for a while. (Cue the harp music and make everything go blurry for a second)

During the course of finding these caches I have been water boarded, Tommy has been run over, met two different sets of cachers, I realized Tommy is blind, Tommy realized I am blind, fowned awt eye caynt spele, realized I can't count, nearly drowned, broke a geochecker, drove 290 miles for a First to Find, realized I'm allergic to bikers, found out Tommy is allergic to rattlesnakes and ticks, I've used the force on muggle cops, been Framed by the cops, met a sponge, ate a giant oreo, learned a lot of history, met tons of orphans, shelled out hundred of dollars for Tommys lunches, composed a limerick, spied on by a guy named Hugh Jazz, learned to add a pair of tweezers to my caching kit, poked a hole in my pants with a throwing star, used your kids oil paints more than they did, made the ultimate sacrifice, got our freak on with a weed farmer, told some GREAT jokes, lost Tommy forever to the carnival life, ran out of gas, made 1,238 U turns, ate 53 bags of potato chips, watched Tommy accidentally swallow a nano cache, but most of all, we have had tons, and tons, and tons of fun!

Thanks for the great times!

 August 4 by Odyssey Posse
Congrats to djhobby on reaching his goal of being FourthTF on this cache. It's a quite specific goal that takes a lot more planning and careful timing than one might think. So kudos to DJ! I'm glad I could supply the caches for such a grand set of adventures to be had by you and Tommy. My final request is that you would share that limerick that you wrote. I need new material.

On second thought, just hold on the limerick. My next stand-up gig is actually in Nantucket, so . . . well . . . you know . . . that would be kind of awkward.

 August 4 by djhobby
Here's the original without any Nantucket references (GC1J2QQ)

There once was a cache 'round a pole
I searched and I searched every hole
I found the cache finally
It was very tinally
Now it's no longer my goal

So now I thought I should compose a new one.

There once was a cache about soup

No, No, I don't like the direction that's going in.

Let me try again.

There once was a cacher named Duane
Who loved to hide caches for the game
He hid a lot of nanos
and used a lot of camo
rolling up those tiny logs is a pain

 August 4 by Odyssey Posse
Excellent! That's some of the finest poultry I've read in a long time. djhobby a poet . . . and didn't even know . . . oh, you know how it ends.

It's a good thing I have a stable of young children who spend up to 2 hours every day rolling those tiny nano logs.

View Under Construction GC1R9YK

 August 2 by djhobby
After trying to approach this one from every direction but the right one for over a half an hour, we finally made it. We made 15 U turns on this cache, a new personal record. On our last turn around near the new road, I looked at Tommy and said, "Look Tommy, Parliament, Big Ben." I think he got the joke, but he didn't laugh. Then he told me that you have a cache named the same thing. I'll have to check it out next time, if I can get around to it.

When we finally got to within a few hundred feet we parked the car and started off towards the cache. Before we got too far, a truck pulled up and a curious fellow started up the road behind us. Thinking we may be trespassing, we turned around and introduced our selves. I said we were geocaching, and luckily he had heard of our sport before. He said he knew of an ammo can hidden down the tracks (GCD4D?), but not of the cache we were hunting. (I said, "View Under Construction?" and he said, "No, I live down the road." ??) He said when he first discovered the ammo can he thought it was used to trade drugs. I guess when he saw us he thought he must have found the kingpins of the whole operation and was wanting to get his freak on with us. Unfortunately we had to leave his company and venture up the muddy road. After Tommy took the track-hoe for a few laps around the construction site we got down to business. Tommy cried for his Mommy when he saw all of the weeds surrounding the cache area, and he didn't want to have anything to do with it. Especially after the "Just Say No To Crack" cache. He said he was afraid of another rattlesnake bite, but honestly I think he's a little scared of ticks. (which we found in abundance today, I'm thinking of changing my geocaching handle to The Tick, or ticked-off, or The Tick Hunter, or something like that) Anyway... as we got closer I was afraid it might be covered up with dirt. Just about 5 feet away from the coordinates there are piles and piles of dirt from the road construction. I thought, "oh great, we travel all over southern Indiana to finish this Alphabet Soup challenge, and on the very last cache we need to finish before the final, we won't be able to get to it because it's covered in a yard of dirt." Fortunately by this time Tommy had the hang of the track-hoe and uncovered the cache quite nicely.

So now we have finished the Alphabet Soup challenge A-Z, so off to Santa Claus to finish, if I can only remember were we parked the car.

Just Say “No!” to Crack GC1NBQM

 August 2 by djhobby

We found this one today without too much trouble. Tommy got bit* while reaching for cache, unfortunately it was in a very sensitive area of his anatomy. I immediately called a doctor, who said I should suck the venom out and Tommy would be just fine. When I hung up, Tommy worriedly asked, "What did the doctor say?" I looked at where the snake bit him and said, "Sorry Tommy, he said you're going to die."

*No Tommys were actually hurt during the writing of this log.

May the Schwartz Be With You! GC1VY8C

 August 2 by djhobby

While I was distracting the local diners with my John Candy imitation, Tommy scoured the area. After he gave up, I went to the trunk and got out our favorite cache finding tool and combed the area. It didn't take long for us(me) to find it after that. Thanks for the fun!

Peppermint #1 GC1WGMG

 August 2 by djhobby
Wow how strange is this? I was wanting to put out some caches in the area, and thought the water park would be an excellent place for an ammo can / travel bug hotel. So Saturday I came and scoped out the area, but there really wasn't any where that was a great location. There is still a lot of construction going on, and all of the landscaping around the parking lot is still yet to be done. So I figured I'll just place a small 35mm film canister for now, and when all of the construction is done, I'll find a place for my ammo can. So I drive back Sunday morning, find a suitable place for my cache, take the coordinates, and go on my merry way. An hour or so later I get an email saying there was a new cache published in the area. I think great, I'll find it today, where is it? And wouldn't you know it's at the water park! Well knowing that the cache I placed is probably going to be too close to the already published cace, I decided I'd better go get mine, and maybe I'll get a first to find on the new cache while I'm at it.

So as I'm circling the water park parking following my GPSr to the new cache, I notice the arrow is pointing right at the cache I just hid. Now this is just too weird, I thought maybe I had the wrong coordinates in my GPSr. But nope. I had hidden my 35mm film can only inches away from this cache! I hadn't bothered to bend over and scan the area as I placed my cache, if I had, I might have found this before it was even published. I was still first to find though, but just barely. Too weird, cue the theme music to the Twilight Zone.

 August 4 by Odyssey Posse
Found this one while we were in town today. The minute I saw that light pole, I felt a magnetic attraction that was simply overpowering. So after I signed the log, I went ahead and hid my own cache right alongside the other one.

No, not really.

But I did think about it.

TFTC!

You Can't Fight City Hall GC184B6

 August 2 by djhobby

Tommy and I found this one as a bunch of carnies looked on. I guess they were just setting up the rides for the Schiezenfest. One of the homely carny girls smiled a gap toothed come hither grin at Tommy and I haven't seen him since. Oh the life of a carny. Thanks for the fun!

Hide in Plain Sight IV GC1P7EH

 September 12 by djhobby
I asked the Monstercatambush on one sunny day
Can you help me to find my way?
You're so much older (probably not so much) and wiser too
Would you help me, Monstercat, I'm feelin' blue?

He said, "You're not doin' too bad, not bad at all
You're just tryin' to walk, son, before you can crawl
You've got stacks of DNF's to the sky up above
Now all you need is to find you a cache"

He sent me searching, got to make it found
He sent me searching, I said, "Look on the ground"
He sent me searching, he said, "Look all around"
And I'll tell you maybe it can't be found

Son, you can find anything in this Geocaching world
But you won't be happy, son, till you find your cache
You can be happy, if you try
Find Hide in Plain Sight IV and you'll be satisfied

He sent me searching, got to make it found
He sent me searching, I said, "Look on the ground"
He sent me searching, he said, "Look all around"
And I'll tell you maybe it can't be found

He sent me searching, got to make it found
He sent me searching, I said, "Look on the ground"
He sent me searching, he said, "Look all around"
And I'll tell you maybe it can't be found

Oh, you sent me searching

Get your daily dose of Iron! 2 GCK3ZW

There were millions of mosquitoes here

 August 23 by djhobby (666 found)
I looked for this one for about 30 minutes and never found it. I'm pretty sure the mosquitoes have carried it away. I tried to get them to take me to the cache, but they couldn't quite lift me up. Everytime they got me about 2 feet above the ground I would slip out of their combined jaws and fall to the ground. I was willing to risk it, if it wasn't for the river. I think they carried it to the other side, and I didn't feel like risking a dunking.

Gus Paved the Way GCJ26G

 June 22 by djhobby
Before looking for the cache, I decided to visit this memorial for one of our local heroes. I have always considered Gus a national household name, but one day at work a couple of younger coworkers proved me wrong. Somehow the topic of Gus Grissom came up and one coworker, who was raised in Illinois, asked who is Gus Grissom. Well I was shocked to say the least, I thought everybody knew who Gus was. Then I asked him if had ever seen the movie "The Right Stuff" and he asked if that was a music video for one of those boy bands from the 90's..... Well after my fit subsided, I thought I would ask another rather young coworker who is also from Illinois if he had ever heard of Gus Grissom, and he said yes much to my relief, "Isn't that the guy on CSI?" What are they teaching these kids now days, especially the one from Illinois.

Anyway, as I went in, I noticed that there wasn't anyone around, and something I've always wanted to do was to see what it would be like to sit in that capsule. So since I was all alone, I availed myself and shoehorned myself down into the Gemini capsule. Now no illegal make believe would be complete without some pretend chatter between myself and Houston, with me making the chhr sound and saying over all the time. Then unexpectedly after flipping one of the million little toggle switches in the capsule, it lit up and started to hum! Evidently they had never disconnected the batteries!! Now this is awesome news. NASA has made batteries that will hold a charge for over 40 years!! Do you know what this means for geocaching? We could charge our GPSr units, throw them in our pack, and not ever have to worry about them being flat again. I was so excited that I pumped my fist in elation... and accidentally hit one of the buttons that controls the thrusters. And wouldn't you know it, they still worked! But unfortunately the capsule started spinning around like a top, and I had to scramble out of the thing before it killed me. As I stood there watching, the capsule started spinning faster and faster, crashing into everything, much to my dismay. But not wanting to get into any trouble I tore out of the parking lot before anyone was the wiser.

Oh yeah, your cache is missing.

Can You Spot the Cache 2

What, Me Worry? or: How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love the Coin

This is the story behind the geocache I recently had published "What, Me Worry"  I'm sure some people are curious at to why I dedicated a cache to the reviewers, and in particular The Mad Reviewer. 

A few months ago, the only interaction I had ever had with a reviewer were a few short suggestions about difficulty ratings, or attributes, the general sort of things that go along with trying to get your cache published on Geocaching.com.  Then in April, I published two caches, that I thought were going to be an on going series called What/Where.  I have wrote about those caches in more detail here previously, but basically I posted a satellite image from Google Earth of where the cache was hidden and that was it.  The local reviewers published them, the caches had a few finds, and they received positive feedback.  But for reasons not of my local reviewers doing, they had to be archived.  I was a little upset at first and I sent the reviewers a note to pass along my concerns about my caches being archived, for no good reason in my opinion at the time, to whom ever wanted them archived. I never heard back from the reviewers, and afterward I thought maybe I shouldn't have voiced my complaint. Hey it's just a game, and if I want to play with the frog, I have to play by his rules.  I also realized that geocaching.com is not the only place to post a puzzle cache. (But it is the place with the most traffic)

After that, things began to change slowly.  Realizing the human element behind the reviewers, I started leaving more and more detailed reviewer notes, I even joked a little.  Then I published "The Deam Wilderness Watering Hole."  I left a question in the reviewer notes and the The Mad Reviewer kindly provided an answer, and even suggested a funny name.  And over the last couple of months, every time I have published a cache I have tried to be more and more personal in my reviewer notes.

Then out of the blue I recieved an email from The Mad Reviewer.  She (I'll refer to The Mad Reviewer as female, I don't know if TMR is male or female, but I have a feeling she is female, if I'm wrong I appologize) says she wants to send me a gift.  She explained that she had recieved some special volunteer items, and had decided to give them away to cachers that met a few key criteria.  She felt that I placed neat and interesting caches, and I was also kind to the reviewers and other cachers.  Now I don't think I am any more deserving than any other cacher, but hey if being nice to my fellow humans gains me accolades, I'll take them.  So after a few more email exchanges, she let's me know that I should be receiving something in my mailbox soon.

Well after nearly wearing the hinge out on the door to my mailbox, the post man finally left me my present.  In amongst all of the bills and junk mail I found the following:

Now how cool is that!  I feel like I won the Geocaching lottery.

And that's the story of "What, Me Worry? or: How I learned to stop complaining and love the coin!

Chipmunk Base Camp GC12DBF DNF

 May 11 by djhobby (464 found)

A long time ago there was a chipmunk named Nathaniel. For a chipmunk he was unusually squirrely. He would gather all the nuts he could find, put them in a big pile, and declare that he was the king of all Nuttingham. Then he would chomp off the meaty part of an acorn and put the acorn top on his head like a crown, and say Ceasar was his great great great grand rodent. Then he took up his tiny violin, and started playing Midnight Oil's "Beds are Burning" while he set fire to the forest, obliterating all signs of his pile of nuts or any geocaches in the area.