MOC Quartzsite Rally, Day Three

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

January 17, 2012

The temperatures are moderating, the wicked wind has subsided, the bright Arizona sun is glaring beautifully, the skies are blue as blue can be.

We will have a RV show here for the next two days, a local dealer brings 6 brand new rigs out to the circle, opens them up for us to look at, spend time sitting in, really getting a look at, and no pressure at all, take your time. Here is one of the new rigs arriving for the "show".

The girls gathered center circle, and strung all those beautiful beads into lanyards.  The colors were beautiful, the designs, likewise.

I was invited out to lunch with two special MOC gal friends, we had a great time doing some serious catching up, and good food too.  Back at the MOC circle Man was looking over those rigs.  No, we cannot afford one, but, we do have a couple we would consider if $$$$ was not a factor.  Anyone want to contribute to the 'new rig fund'?? Nahhh, I didn't think so!   LOL

Later in the afternoon, Man, J & D and I took about a 2 mile walk/hike.  We found 2 geocaches and got some much needed exercise.  Below, J on the left, Man on the right, using their GPS/geocache finding units.   That is Tea, J & D's border collie getting a bit of exercise as well.

Back in the circle social hour started before we returned, I didn't partake of the goodies, but, I have been reassured the finger foods were yummy.

Right at dusk this ultralight aircraft flew over the circle a few times.  I hope it was our aerial photographer!   We should know in a day or so.

A nice campfire ended the day, many stories were told, including, I am sure, a few good lies here and there. LOL  Much laughter, jokes, travel comparisons and bucket lists for future trips were shared.

After the several days of cold windy snarky weather, today was a delight.  We all took advantage, and all enjoyed!  There were a number of repairs and modifications made to units, as always.  It was a great MOC rally day!




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The Bee's Nest Cache

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Nope, that is not the given name of this cache, it is the name I gave it, cause to pull the cache out, you need to be a bit careful, as it is guarded by a nest, of bees.

So, this is called a drive by, you are supposed to be able to retrieve the cache without getting out of your vehicle.  Cute thought and clue.  Can you see the cache??  Nope, but, it is there, very close to that bees nest in the upper right corner.  I know the photo is pretty lame, and shooting into the sun too.

Once retrieved, there is a very dry log, actually two logs, and even a gift, if you are so inclined to take it.  Man and I don't take the gifts, we just look, smile, enjoy, replace and move on.  Today the cache contains a decal and 2 very small hair barrettes.

We tried to claim this cache during the summer, but the bees were very active.  After last nights freeze they were a bit subdued. Man was brave enough to retrieve it and put it back.

Logged it, blogged it, moving on - - -




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Man Gets Piney, And What A Cache Container!

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The other day Man and I decided to do a bit of geocaching, cemetery hopping, errands and treat our selves to lunch out.  It was gloomy and they had threatened (err, promised) rain, but, we are brave and left home anyway!

Our first stop was the cemetery.  While I gathered my records Man pulled out the GPS and discovered there was a cache 82 feet away!  Well, now then, how fun is that??  So, we started looking, part 1 was to find a stone, take some data from it and find new coordinates.  OK.  About the time we needed to put in the new coordinates, the batteries on the GPS died.  Well, that was a bit inconvenient.

So, I started reading stones, checking my records.  I finished about 2/3rds of the section and the rain started.  Hmmmmphhh.

Off to the grocery store we go, did our errands, purchased new batteries for the GPS and back to the cemetery we go, it had stopped raining.

Find, was a FAIL.  We are pretty sure we solved the clues correctly, and we suspect we know where the cache had been.  Not sure it was there any longer.  Resigned to a no find, I would have finished that section of the cemetery rewalk, only, yep, it started raining again.  OK, time for lunch.

On the way to lunch we actually stopped to find one more cache (cause it has stopped raining, AGAIN!), it is down there, really:

Don't see it??  Man did.  He has a bit of a 6th sense about these things, and here it is:

I managed to dig out the log, sign it, and NOW we are off to lunch.

After lunch (which was nomma nomma good), Man found another cache to search for which was on the way home.  This is supposedly a drive by where you don't even have to get out of your vehicle.  OKKKKK. Well, it is in an old phone booth, but of course, cute, get it, drive by??  Ya.  Only, that old phone booth is the home of a rather healthy nest of  - - bees!  Man being a bit allergic to bee stings, and me, well, not stupid and surely a chicken, decided we did not need to claim that cache at all.

Next, we decide to try once more to find the cache we could not find when the grandtwins were with us, another cemetery one.  We rechecked the clues, ending up in the same place as we were on our first try, and Man really got into the piney (one of the clues was, "It's piney.)  In fact, the piney bit him, leaving a long bloody scratch.

And, another FAIL!!  And, enough, we won't try again.

But, that bottle cap cache, that made the FAILS a little more palatable.

OH, and it never rained another drip all day, after it chased us out of the cemetery, nary another drip.  Don't cha love Mother Nature??




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Geo-Caching, With the Grand Twins, Day Three

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

So, where we were, oh, yes, we were somewhere in SE Michigan with HOT HOT HOT weather.  We did not leave the house until later in the afternoon, and then, we only went to the State Park near by.  I had read and studied the caches over there, and in my mind we had little business trying to find them, the party that hid them and wrote them up must be a survivalist.  Geessh.  On one there were notes that you would most likely have to walk the plank, err, logs, to get to the cache.  Another, it became very obvious very quickly that you best have a kayak, or be prepared to trudge through some serious water.  I tried to talk Man out of even trying for a cache at the park, but, he thought he found one that he thought sounded obtainable.  So, we parked by this very pretty little fishing lake (boats allowed, not sure motors are), and we went searching.

We ended up in a very heavily wooded area (no, I did not take any photos), the GPS said we were right on, not even 3 foot away.  That GPS said ZERO foot away. There was no cache to be seen.  We were also tromping around in poison ivy, the mom and gramma in me groaned.  Man got a dead limb/stick off the ground and used it to prod and lift foliage and look, he looked about 6 to 10 foot in any direction from the 0 mark.

FAIL.

The girls got discouraged, we were getting hot and sticky.  Time to high tail it out of there.  Back at Jolly we used drinking water and water less hand cleaner and more water to rinse off our legs where we thought maybe that ole poison ivy had rubbed up on our legs, cause, mmmm, ya, we were all wearing SHORTS!

Next: off to the beach, where the girls swam for some time, maybe 2 hours, they got some exercise, and we sat on the beach where it was not too hot for the first time in a couple of days, it always is cooler at the beach!  AHHHHHHH.

After their nice long swim we headed back to the house, had salads for dinner, showers and before we knew it, it was the end of the day.

The next morning, we had breakfast, Man and the girls played Clue, then lunch, and then the parents came to pick the ladies up and they were off and our house was quiet once more.

We have plans to have them come at least once more this summer, maybe twice. We are praying for cooler weather, I have several caches lines up that will be terrific and doable, and I found several that were written and placed by the fellow that did that first one, the cemetery one, that the twins loved.

We will live to cache again, and, oh, so far, no poison ivy itching by any of us!

Whew!



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Geo-Caching, With the Grand Twins, Day Two

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

If possible, and of course, it is and was, the HOT weather was HOTTER today.  We have plans to visit with some of our RVing friends, Shirley and David, down at Lake Erie.  The girls have never been there, so, they get to experience a new place, good stuff.

We had hoped to do some geo-caching along the way, found a cache in downtown Monroe Michigan, but, well, nature called upon one of us, and we had to forego the capture.  Instead we found a Mickeydees and ate and stuff.  Then, on to Sterling State Park where our friends were camped and where there are a number of caches and of course, swimming in Lake Erie.

We enjoyed our short visit with Shirley and David, as we always do, the girls said the water was not tooooooo cold.  Then it was "see if we can find the caches" time.

First cache, FAIL, we could not get close enough, and we passed the suggested parking spot, so we abandoned the search and started looking for another.  Personally I was not disappointed as one of the hints on this one was something about boulder climbing.  GULP.

Second cache, FAIL, found one parking spot, but, were not sure it was close enough either or even if it was the correct place, and it was HOT, so, we decided to try another approach to this cache.  It can be approached from several different start points. I put the GPS coordinates in the GPS unit we use in Jolly, I say to Man, just do what it says.  So, it takes us south on I 75, 2 exits, about 2 miles.  Then it takes us north (YES NORTH) on I 75, about 1 mile and then, without exiting the freeway, it announces we should go OFF ROAD.  OKK, however, we were on top of a bridge when the GPS announced we should be going off road.  Nope, not going off road from this point.  This cache was also abandoned.

I will say this, I was getting a lot of practice finding caches while rolling and discovered a few new tricks to using the web site and maps and such on the tablet.

So, Man says, forget this, find a cache on the way home, Dundee sounds about right.  OKKK Man, let's see what I can find.

Ta da!  One right behind Cabellas.  We know where that is, it is RIGHT on the way home.  Over 1,400 others have found this cache, if they can, we can.

And, we did.  The short walk in:

The hidden cache (it was behind that tree in the photo above):

And, inside, swag and fun stuff.  We have not taken any swag from caches, nor left any, we are happy just to find the cache.

So, one successful find, and Man says, find another along the way home.  OKKK, I am starting to get a bit brain dead tired from all this learning curve AND the heat and well, my Demon was starting to tank, but, I did manage to find another cache just a block off the route and Man found it.   On the photo look for words, typed in red,  "look left".  Yep, they are that hard to see sometimes.

And, here it is:

Enough with the caching in this heat, bring on the pizza!!


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Geo-Caching, With the Grand Twins, Day One

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

It is HOT this week in SE Michigan.  HOT HOT HOT.  But, we are doing a spot of caching anyway.  The girls have decided they like the caches that are written with lots of clues, a photo or two, and not hidden in light poles, the best.  Of course, the first cache we went for was the best of the day, maybe of several days!  LOL  Here they are walking from our parking spot to where the GPS said to start, way up at the other end of the cemetery, of course.

This really was a FUN cache, the GPS reading was for the front gate, NOT the actual cache, but, there was this great photo of the backs of some stones that really solved it for us.  The photo had on the side a bit of foliage showing, which also helped us find the correct area.  The hints had the family names to the north, south, east and west of the cache hiding place.  It was very cleverly written and hidden.  This was no park and grab cache, we had to use our observational skills, we all were involved, a great cache, no doubt about it.

Our next cache was a light pole one:

They found this one fairly easily, good hints.  And, inside:

We found another one in a light pole, the hint was something about LIFTING.  They figured that one out quickly too, and thank goodness, cause it started to rain and within just a few minutes it was a deluge.  Photos not worth sharing.

Just before we came home for the day, we let them try to find a cache we had previously discovered, and, again, it did not take them long.  (Give away hint, it was under that bottom plate of the light pole, the cache container has a magnet on it.  And, yes, we had them stay FAR away from those electric wires.)

Of course, their enjoyment of the first fun well written cache sent me to the net for a hunk of time to see if I could discover some more fun ones and not all poles!  LOL  The next day we will go over to Monroe, but, the heat would cook us in more ways than one - -



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GPS And The Old Leaky Memories.

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Ah, the minds of ole folks.

Weeks ago, Man purchases new GPS to play geo-caching. It comes of course, with cords!  GROAN

I mark said cords, with abbreviations, cause, they are small and I don't have a lot of room to write on.

Hand all back to Man, who puts stuff - - places.

Cut to about 10 days ago, he hands me a cord, marked, HHGPS, and asks, where did this come from and what does it go to?

Like I am gonna remember the abbreviation??  The GPS makes sense, we have several of those.  The HH makes NO SENSE.

I hand it from a cupboard door and look at it several times a day, shaking my head, not remembering - -

This AM, he wants to download stuff to the new HAND HELD GPS, but, cannot find the cord.

DUH, how bout that cord you gave me 10 days ago, I suggest to Man.

Yepper, he is happy.

I still cannot remember what HH stands for, but, am fussing with my own issues, so, it rolls off my active thought processes.

Man fusses with the GPS and the Geocaching web site, gets directions for GPS out, finally realizes he is not signed in on the Geocaching site(yep, it is that kinda morning).

After he gets past all that, major learning curve stuff, gets some caches downloaded, etc., we figure out - -

HHGPS = Hand Held GPS.

Well, DUHHHHH!

* Learn all about Geocaching here.
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