And As A Trimble Outdoors User Council Member...

Well I am proud as punch to announce that I have been asked and have officially joined the Trimble Outdoors User Council. What does this mean in the big scope of things and to you

For you my ever growing band of faithful followers (and you know who you are) this is the beginning of hopefully a very long and communicative relationship with the owners, developers and support people of a cutting edge company. It has always been my intent to do honest, straight shooting reviews and tutorials about any product I can get my hands on. Being on the council to Trimble Outdoors or any other company will not sway that - EVER. What this WILL do is allow you, my readers, to voice what is on your mind about a given product so I can send those thoughts directly to the right people. Straight feedback where it counts and you know that you can't beat an opportunity like that with a stick. What else?

With Trimble Outdoors I get access to all the "goodies" where I can take my time and do reviews and tutorials the way they should be, no fluff, some laughs and presented as they are being used while they are being used out in the wild. Again you have the ability to bring up situations and conditions that you would want to have tested. I'll show you what happens, good, bad and indifferent. The point is you now have a say but it is up to you to email me your thoughts and ideas. headhardhat@gmail.com

The other very exciting opportunities will be to work on products in development. Get a birds eye view of what is coming out in future releases. Now I can't promise you everything but what I can do is let you know all that I am allowed to tell. You now have a front row seat with Trimble Outdoors products so be sure to keep tuned to my blog on a regular basis and send those comments, ideas and suggestions in. GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?

Remember, this is one of hopefully many other companies that we can be a part of. These are very exciting times! -HHH

Here is the link to our new Trimble Outdoors Request Page for all your comments, suggestions and ideas. http://hhhtrimble.blogspot.com/

Yeah I'm Not A Complete Idiot

After a four DNF slump I make a comback with a really nice logic puzzle cache. Woot!

About @%&*$%&$# 'n Time

Took me almost a year and countless attempts for this bad boy. It was out of action for a bit but recently opened back up. I DNFd yesterday but was determined to find it. The fact that it was 60 feet from the coords may have had something to do with it. Phew another DNF off my list. YES!!!

Much to my surprise the geocoin that I took from the geocache to move along turned out to be unactivated. A prize as it were. I thanked the op big time.

It Is The Place To Be

Had to smile big time when I put this FTF find together in Oxford, NC. Drove past it a hundred times and never realized it was there. Now where is Zsa-Zsa?

Curses, Foiled Again

Tried for this FTF but was beaten by an hour thanks to Dflye. Gadzooks!
Cool area for a hide. Used to be a house or store maybe?

A Geocaching Documentary For Three FTFs in One Day

I have looked on YouTube and there are a couple of videos that state they show three FTFs. I'm sorry but the ones that I have observed really do not show much of anything. I wanted to document as it happens and the lengths many geocachers go through to be the first to sign those clean sheets.

Here is the video and if for some reason the plug in does not work correctly the actual URL will take you to the correct place.

We hope you enjoy this interesting and fun filled geocaching adventure featuring HeadHardHat the host to the GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Series.



Here is the link if the plug in is not working as expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcUJNiYmTuw

You can find all of our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos at:
http://www.geosnippits.com

The Potty Talk Series Continues

This was number one of number two FTFs in the Creedmore, NC area. But I digress...

This morning brought a laugh and for a Monday that is saying something. I had read last night of three possible FTFs (First To Finds) on my route to work. The first which was closest to my house would have been the target to go for if it weren't for the two other FTF possibilities up by where I work. So I decided to go for the two near work and somebody else can snatch the close to home. Anywho about halfway to work I get a phone call from a fellow geocacher asking if I went for the FTF near my home. I thought it quite humorous that they wanted to know if it was worth going for the early morning find based on my actions. I'm not THAT obsessed am I? Oh who asked you ;)

As I approached Creedmore, NC I had everything ready for me to pounce on the first of two. Sure enough I made the quick park and grab with little effort yet still noted the unusual geocaching container. That TML sure is one sick evil dude! He assures us that the "container" is not a retread but I still want to wash my hands after putting it back. Icky.

Number two of this morning's FTFs was only another mile or so away and I made quick work of it and signed the clean sheetz.

Doing geocaching really perks me up in the morning and gets the juices flowing. See now all I can do is think about TML's geocache... Gotta go wash my hands again... yuck.

You Ask For It and We Deliver - GeoSnippits Tutorial Videos

I woke up this morning with about ten different ideas for what I wanted to do for my next GeoSnippits Tutorial Video. I reached over and started reading my emails via my blackberry phone. Isn't technology wonderful?

One of the first was an email from a very fine grandfather known as obxnomad a.k.a. Bob.
He mentioned how his grandson and he loved watching GeoSnippits and reading my blog. He also mentioned how it would be great if I made a tutorial on how to put together and place a geocache. It took me about half a second to think of how I would do it and what a great suggestion that it was. Needless to say thanks to Bob our latest and greatest GeoSnippits is now live on youtube.

Here it is:




I liked the idea so much that I have decided to do an entire series based on the viewpoint of putting out each size of geocache for the first time. In this video we concentrate on 35mm containers. We show how to cammi them up and some great suggestions on where to hide them in the wild. The next video will be on the small size but instead of concentrating more on the making of the geocache (which we will go over) but instead we will focus on finding good places to hide that size geocache. As we progress up through the sizes you will gain more and more information until you are a well informed geocacher.

You can look forward to the future episodes in the weeks to come. Keep checking on our GeoSnippits website at http://www.geosnippits.com, this blog or on youtube.

Meet Anson and He's a Geocacher - Hi Anson!

One of the very nice things about Geocaching is how very much of a family style network it can be. You call someone to go on a Cache Raid tomorrow, someone else calls you with a PAF (Phone A Friend) asking for help on a geocache you found a month ago. Someone else wants to hold an event so we can get everybody together to party and well... party some more. Throw in random instances of caching and you can see pretty much how this community works and what a great community it is to belong to.

So when I received and email from Anson and his wife Donna to stop on by and go over some geocaching basics I jumped at the chance. That and I found out he literally lives about two miles from my house - the more the merrier - except when it comes to FTFs but we won't bring that up right now - now will we ;)

Anyhow, I really did get a kick out of going to Anson's house and to chat with him for a while. I explained a bit on the basics of a GPS which I believe he already new quite a bit about. Not that would keep me from talking. I also asked for him to check out NCGO which is North Carolina's Geocaching Organization. We discussed geocaching events and that I would tell him the next time I know one is coming up so he can meet even more of us. All and all a really nice guy and I can't wait for the next time we can go geocaching together... Except of course when it comes to FTFs and all bets are off, huff, huff, huff... but I digress.

If you are interested in finding more about geocaching in North Carolina here are some need to know links.

Geocaching.com

North Carolina Geocaching Organization

GeoSnippits: Geocaching Tutorial Videos

GeoCache:I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?

A Geocache By Any Other Name...

Well it can't be said that TimMcGrawlookalike doesn't have a great sense of humor. He is in law enforcement which gives him privy to all sorts of goodies. Like those night vision goggles I want so bad I can't stand it... but I digress.

Anyhow he has a really good idea that I am going to help with in which we are going to populate the Creedmore, NC area with some great geocache hides. His first attempt utilized a special geocache container. Now if you take a look at the photo you will most likely figure out what it is. It's definitely waterproof with no spills and fairly durable... Know what it is? Let's just say if you have been to your doctors lately or needed to comply with a drug screening you will know it very well.

When I first opened the geocache I looked at it. Thought, "no couldn't be", and promptly put it back into it's hidey spot after signing the log. Then when I was sure it was what it was I called Mr. TML to tell him how much of an evil, sick man he was.. I loved it.

His remark back was, "at least it wasn't used", ummm yuck.

So you see it takes all kinds when it comes to creative geocache placement and at least this one didn't have to go into that little hiding spot behind the medicine cabinet door. Ewwwww.

Early Morning FTF on the Way To Work

Imagine if you will a 300+ pound fat guy climbing up an eight foot tall 80 degree angled berm, with evergreens, at night. What could happen?

Granted the large semi nearby made for good cover so security didn't have to come a looking and that is always a good thing.

Overall I had a great time scurrying in the dark and chilly temps whilst climbing on all fours up the rather steep and dirt covered hill. The exhilaration is really something in situations like this. While I am going through it in my head I am calm yet excited to make the find. My hands shake a bit and I'm not sure if it is because of the cold or the thrill of the hunt. Either way I am smiling ear to ear in early morning dark and would be hard pressed to want to be anywhere else at that moment. After a quick search I was able to add another FTF to my ever increasing collection.

Signed the log and headed off to work. Good Times.

How Does The Timing Of The Published Geocaches Work?

I noticed something rather interesting today whilst Geocaching. Let me explain things as I remember them happening and you tell me if this is normal or not.

It was getting towards the end of the work day for me and about 3:45pm. I get out of work at 4:00pm and was getting everything in order for tomorrow. Just before I actually left for home I took a final look at one of my Pocket Queries that tells me if any geocaches near my route have not been found yet and in fact are still FTFs (first to finds). There was one at the southern portion of the loop that goes around Raleigh, NC and I wanted to see if it was potentially still a candidate. It was indeed still there but what caught my eye was a geocache closer to where I work near Oxford. When did this pop up? I checked and sure enough no one had made a claim on it yet. I don't remember getting an alert on this one, but oh well, lets give it a shot.

At quitting time I went into my car and drove over to cache site and low and behold there it was and I signed the clean sheetz. Now with me was a cache sheet to another geocache out of my normal driving range that also was an FTF. If I hurry I might be able to get this one too before the sun went down. So I started driving towards it and getting ready for the 45 minute ride to get there. At about 4:20 or so my BlackBerry goes off and I have new emails. I read them and see three newly published geocaches near where I live. Hot-diggity, forget this one I'm going for the FTF frenzy. What I found odd was the last of the eight or so that published included the one that I had just found. That's odd. For some reason I knew through my pocket query and google maps of a geocache before it was announced via email. Now in the back of my head I guess that makes sense but I just never noticed it before. The drive continues.

At about 5:10 or so I get down to Garner and start looking for my three FTFs to come. I drive up to #1 and quickly make the grab. Much to my horror someone had beaten me to the FTF! Well shoot. I halfway smiled when I realized it was Ian the geocacher I had just met a couple of days ago and goes by IKranak. Okay that is only one, wonder if he...? yup, as I opened geocache number two, there was Ian's signature. Heavy sigh, maybe got bored and didn't know about number 3..... Well shoot. There again was Mr. IKranak's happy signature on the almost clean sheetz. Phttttzzzzzz. Hey I had the thrill of the hunt and three more smilies to my list.

Then I get an email from another fellow geocacher asking when did I sign the logs? I texted back to him explaining what happened and when. I wonder if he thought the quick finds were something new as well. I read Ian's logs and he just happened to be filling his automobile with gas around the time the geocaches went live on geocaching.com but did not post via email yet. He was using Geocache Navigator like I was using my pocket query. Either way we gained a few minutes advanced notice (manually of course) before the official publishing.

Have you ever seen this behavior before with Geocaching.com? Wonder since the new format/update if the timing is a bit off for some reason..

Your Thoughts?

That Would Be Number 500

Looking like the coffee finally kicked in. I managed geocaching finds numbers 499 and 500. Note the micro geocache between my index and middle finger. My goal is to find 1000 by the end of the year.

HooHaa TB Race - Just A Nut Lands in Scotland

Well the finder who picked up my HooHaa TB Racer "Just A Nut" needed a wee bit of help getting him logged into the correct cache in Sollas, Scotland but we managed to get it done. Now with 3544 Miles under his belt and puts it firmly in THIRD PLACE. It looks like Nut will get a chance to rest from his long trip. You see the island that he is on has a grand total of two geocaches on it. There is another island just north east of it that has a bunch but I have no idea how long it is going to take for someone to come see this one.

So be sure to check the bottom right of this blog and keep up with the rest of the HooHaa TB racers.

It Was a Cold and Dreary FTF Evening

Could not believe this little guy remained untouched for two days. Went way out of my way home to pick him up. South Raleigh at rush hour... Am I insane?

Well I Didn't Want Another FTF Anyway

Looks like someone, make that someones beat me to the punch on the geocache. Curse you Zuni and 31Coupe (shakes fist in air).

Next To Last of LunchTime Geocaches

Ever go to a geocache site and it was so quiet the silence was deafening? This little key holder cache was on the far side of Henderson, NC off a little known highway in the middle of nowhere. The white noise of in my head made me feel I like I was under water, almost a pressure of sorts. Weird. When that subsided you could hear all sorts of birds scurring around in the nearby briers.

Anywho, this is next to last of the geocaches within lunch time reach. Heavy sigh. Here's hoping for more placements soon.

Java and a Nightime FTF

Morning. Add another FTF to my ever growing list.

I saw this one pop on the radar just before midnight last night. Came really close to just going out and getting it but I decided to take the chance and wait until after I dropped off my daughter at the school bus stop before heading out into the darkness to find this beastie.

This nighttime find had me freezing my fingers looking under all sorts of rocks. Luckily the area was pretty muggle free with only a few cars driving by.
After about ten minutes of scouting via flashlight in hand I soon was signing the clean log sheetz.

Tried out a new coffee brand this morning and a FTF ta boot - I'm lov'n it!

News Flash!!!! Thought that I had lost my good flashlight on this little adventure. I was so into getting the log signed and on my way to work that I did not notice the lack of my illumination tools.

It sat there all day and I gave it about one chance in ten that it would still be there by the time I made it there.

Bingo, sitting right out into the open and in perfect condition.. Bad Flashlight, Bad.

My Wife Has Been Talking Again

I was geocaching out in the Cary, North Carolina area on this cold and windy day. While driving to my next find I happened to see this interestingly worded sign.

First thoughts into my slightly twisted mind was "Instant Gratification Zone?", followed by, "My wife must be talking again".

I know that the people of Cary can be almost considered friendly but sheeze.

Oh Yeah Baby Ammo Box And More.

Had a nice day off today. Was a bit cold in the mid 40s but times of wind made it brisk. I started out with attempting two FTFs that did not turn out the way I wanted. Hey, it happens. I headed out to Cary, NC and was hitting my first geocache when my phone rang. It was my wife who just came out of the gym and wanted to go out for some sushi. Well I never turn down sushi and besides it was just down the street from where I was and it gave me enough time for a couple more finds before she would get here.

The first was a quick 35mm hide near the restaurant parking lot and a fine park and grab. The next was a bit more challenging as shown above. It was a good 250 feet of bushwack through some serious brier patch. The growth was thick, fresh and yet somehow I managed to work my way through with a minimum of scratches. Did I ever mention the importance of wearing a good hat when in a brier patch situation? If I haven't.... wear a hat, your scalp will thank you.















The end result was a fine medium sized ammo box and before I knew it, it was time for sushi.

Lunch came and went and I really did not mind the lapse in Geocaching. My wife and I can talk for hours about a whole lot of nothing and that is great for us. We always had that ability to just jabber and since my daughter was in school it was just us. Next thing you know 90 minutes have blown by. Good Times.

The rest of the day went fairly well but the weather was deteriorating fast with the wind picking up and the temps slowly dropping. I managed to find thirteen for the day with only 3 DNFs. I think I found every color of the rainbow when it came to bison tubes and a goodly share of skirt hides and smalls. When it came to ammo boxes I found several and that is always good.

Below is a nice slide show video of some of the hides and finds for the day.

Meet-Ups With Fellow Geocaching Seekers

I was out on my day off trying to get a couple of FTFs that were near my house.

As I approached the geocache ground zero in a gas station parking lot I noticed another car just sort of sitting there. Well I have a game plan today and wanted to head out to another hunting ground so I took a chance to see if I could actually find this cache without raising too much attention.

As I exited my vehicle I was greeted by a big smile and a question that I immediately knew that I was in the company of friends.

"Is your Geocache Navigator working?", he said with a grin.

"Now how would he know that I had...", thought I and then he told me.

"I saw some of your videos", he said.

I introduced myself and he told me his Geocaching handle was Ikraynak.

I looked down at my BlackBerry and it seemed to be working just fine. I stated that since mine is working to give it a shot and find this cache. We looked at the description and had a pretty good clue the area to search. My first choice came up empty but Ian hit it on his first try. As we were signing the log we talked more about our sudden dependence on Geocache Navigator and how it has made geocaching so much easier.

It was great to talk with Ikraynak and to meet up with his very nice four legged caching buddy. It just goes to show you never know who you are going to meet up with and I am so glad that I do. Being able to put a handshake and a face with a name makes geocaching so much more fun.

Oh and a "Curse You" (clenched fist to the air) to Cachuman for beating us to the FTF. What you sleeping on your monitor lately? ;)

Placement of Geocache Near Owner's Home - I Don't Think So

I know that putting a geocache on your home property can be a really cool thing to do. You get to see and many times meet other geocachers as they snoop around looking for the hide. This in many cases is fine to do but only if the hide is extremely easy and obvious or in an area that the neighbors won't think you are a burglar.

Had one today that popped up less than a mile from my house. Took off like a shot to go find it and after a little bit of stumbling I realized that the geocaching find was on private property. Double checked the description and sure enough it stated that it was and also to mind the plants. Well the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I thought if it was in plain sight and could be done quickly I would give it a whack. Walking on their lawn I started looking around. My GPS of course decided to start bouncing the closer I was to the actual homestead. "Great", I think to myself. I triangulated the best that I could and checked around some bushes. I could hear cars driving by on the road behind me and I started getting the heebi-jeebies.

That was it for me, I was too close to the house and didn't want to go behind the bushes and the house to look. So with a quick shrug I am calling this one. Shame I would have loved another FTF but not this time.

Once again shows that a good geocaching placement is important and you need to think of the finders when you place it..

Your Thoughts?

Geocache Placement, Just Because You Can...

Went out today after all my mid-day Valentine's activities were done to see if two possible hiding areas were acceptable. They were only a couple of miles from where I lived so I figured I would be gone an hour tops.

You know how a good idea seems great at the time but if you do the slightest bit of research it goes straight into the dumper? Yeah well, geocache area number one stopped me cold when I started hiking into the area and a big fat No Trespassing sign was staring me in the face. Well shoot this was going to be my my first really mean geocache hide. The area in question currently is dormant of the Kudzu plant. You know the plant that ate the south? Right now the vines have completely died into a mass of dark brown. Even now it is starting it's regrowing and in a few weeks the plants will once again be climbing sixty feet into trees, over signs and anything else not moving. Yes I was going to put a geocache smack dab in the middle of one of these fields, but nooooo, darn legal formalities.. Will have to search for a different spot. Needless to say that blew almost an hour of time right there.

Geocache area number two had better possibilities but a few strikes against it. I wanted to do one of my famous "string" hides. That is when you find a nice area to put your geocache and instead of putting in a nice hidey hole on the ground you hang it from Cammi parachute rope up into a tree. That way not only does the finder have to spot the cache in the tree but also figure out where the tied rope is to get it down.

The issues I had with this area is first it was on Highway 42 which is a terribly busy road. There is a parking area but you would have to cross said busy road. For some no big deal but for me I don't want anybody getting hurt. So that was a strike one. Next getting down to the stream area of which I wanted to put said hide you had to go through a fairly trashy area. Over the years people have dumped refrigerators and standard garbage you see on the side of the road. Again for some no big deal for me all I could think of was snake hideouts. Things were starting to look a little shaky. I scouted around anyways thinking if I did find a perfect hide that I would increase the difficulty and tell for kids to stay away from this one. So off I go and after 30 minutes of scouting I did find a nice placement location. Was actually about to get the final readings and all and that was when I noticed the tiny grill and matrice. I do not know if the person or persons was still living in the area but I sure as heck wasn't going to put one of our geocachers in danger. Sorry not my style. So I quickly took a photo or two and got the heck out of there.

So even though it looked good on paper to put two really great geocache ideas. It does not necessarily mean that you should. Checking out the area first is a great way of knowing if a geocache is a good placement or not.

Day For Finding Past DNFs

Well today seemed to be a perfect day for taking previous Did Not Finds off my list. This geocache I attempted last fall and the area way very swampy even for horse trails. Went out today and walked right up to it. Not bad for a Friday the 13th.

After Four DNFs - Found! Devin Lake #2

After four attempts I finally can take the Lake Devin geocaches off my list. Yes the stars aligned, wind blew in the right direction and it was Friday the 13th. I was given the opportunity to leave early from work and take a fifth crack at this pesky geocache called Devin Lake #2. So after crossing the rickety old bridge I took a quick walk up the trails into the well known geocaching area.

A sigh was heard by me as I once again started looking for the needle in a haystack like so many times before.


Time slipped by and just when I thought all hope was lost I saw something out of place. It was secluded in the rocks but something did not look like it should. The expression on my face had to resemble a retriever pup who after running full bore slams on the breaks. Looks at the object and cocks his head to the side going "Unhhhhh?"

There it was, my prize after almost a year of searching. So I signed the log and put everything back for the next hider. No sense crying over spilt sweet tea. There are other geocaches to find ya know....

Happy Camper Finding Lake Devin #1

Lake Devin is near Oxford, North Carolina and it had in it's local trails two geocaches that have been taunting me since I started geocaching a year ago. Lake Devin #2 was a geocache that I had tried several times but with no success.

This afternoon was a continuation of a glorious sunshine filled day with the highs in the mid-sixties and a feel about it that just screamed the beginnings of Spring. I was staring at a three day weekend and my boss was kind enough to release me of my daily grind so I decided to give Lake Devin another crack.

Lake Devin #1 was placed about half a mile into a park like set of rustic nature trails. I do so love walking such trails especially when you have a large lake in the background and yet surrounded by trees. Very scenic.

I found ground zero right away and the hiding spot was quite obvious. Within a few minutes I had signed the very nice log, traded travel bugs and was on my way for number two well pleased that this was finally off my list.

It Is The Size That Counts

Nano found near Raleigh coffee house. Just to show you the size to scale. That is the writing end of a pen on the right and the magnetic nano to the left. Figure it the equivelant to your pinky fingernail in size.

Below shows what a nano looks like when taken apart to sign the log.

Blustery Skirt Hide During Lunch

I couldn't stand it anymore. Henderson is a bit Northeast of where I work in Oxford, NC. For the past six to eight months the absolute worst traffic was caused as they worked on I-85 between these two towns. Needless to say we did not travel to Henderson much because we wanted to be back from lunch sometime before it was time to go home for the day.

With the construction finished I had to venture out of the bubble of which I call my cube and go out into the sunshine. That would be that big shiny orb in the sky for the people up north in the frozen tundra. Like say New Jersey. Anywho the winds today were pushing 40 mph but that didn't slow me down for this quick skirt hide in Henderson, NC. I found two park and grabs which actually will leave me with only two other hides in the area that I have either not found or I have hidden myself. Those will be for another day.

I do have to note that on the way back I found a rather cool place to put a geocache hide. I drove by it by accident and literally turned around and drove back. I instantly fell in love with the cache area and set up the cache. It's called "Who Will Own The World?" (GC1MM6X) based off of an old calculator game I had known as a kid. Should be a real toughie. We shall see...

Lunchtime Geocache

Quick find in Henderson, NC.

Oh Look Another FTF - I Just Love Them

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to find four FTFs (First To Finds). Quite an experience for me and I enjoyed the challenge and anticipation of signing the clean log sheets. Today I was told that a fifth geocache was published later in the day near the ones I had found. I was surprised that at a day later no one had yet taken claim. Well I could not stand for that - to the geocache-mobile!

Sliding down the geo-pole and then forcing a 300+ pound man into skin tight spandex (now isn't that an image) I was off like a herd of turtles. This geocache was about half a mile from where you park and just on the edge of a large and popular lake. Even with the sun setting and behind the clouds I was confident to make the quick hike, find the geocache, sign the log, put all the swag back into the geocache, put the log in the little baggie it came in, put the baggie with the log into the geocach and close the lid... Oh and put the geocache back where it was and still get home for dinner. Visions of cold fish and broccoli still fresh in my mind and a sore back from yesterday.. But I digress.

The hike went quick but the wind had picked up as it blew through the tall pines. I could see the lake in the distance as I walked down the deserted street and the terrain suddenly turned very swampy. Not that suffocating feeling you get in a thick swamp but the creep factor was definitely there. Yesterday the sun was out and the sky was full of frolicking birds and prancing white tale deer. Today all you heard was the wind and the creaking of the trees. Because the area was muddy and wet with laying water everywhere you just know that there were some good creepy crawlies around so I took extra care as I closed in on the geocache. It was hidden as directed in the description and I made short work of the log and replacement of the cache. Took some cool photos of the lake and surrounding areas and it was back to the car I went.

Just as I was entering the last leg of the hike the sun came out for just a moment casting my robust shadow before me. I really must get to the gym more often.. The morale of the story? Well there isn't one. I drove home after finding my car where I left it which is always a good thing and I had home made fajitas for dinner and watched Dirty Jobs. I still think I will end up on the couch but that is because of the potential tick factor. Now where are my aspirins???

Oh and I do love finding FTFs. It brings out the really competitive side of me. The End.

A Geocaching Record of First To Finds ( FTF's )

What an unexpected surprise of events of which unfolded for me today. I would have been quite happy with the quick lunch time geocache find I had earlier. Yet what awaited me were four just published geocaches. My phone alerted me to the new emails and I quickly scanned them. Normally they are all over the place and way out of my driving range. Yet these were clumped in two's and fairly nearby so out the door I flew, a puzzled look on my wife's face and then a roll of the eyes. She will never understand...

With my BlackBerry and Geocache Navigator in hand I quickly pull up the closest one and ZOOM at an Earth shattering safe and posted speed. Why do the police always show up when I want to be slightly reckless? But I digress...


FTF #1:
The first geocaches were out in a wooded area and at the end of a dead end road. I searched for about ten minutes and was able to find a type of geocache that I have only seen a couple of times. The more interesting tid bit was that there was No Log Book inside! Hey we are all human and I will be the first to say DOH! So I went into the trunk of my cachemobile and pulled out a spanking new log to fill said geocache. After signing it was placed back in it's very clever hiding spot.



FTF #2:
The second geocache was about .13 of mile down the same road I was on. What I mean is it looks like half way down the original road they put a guardrail up so you couldn't go any further but the rest of the road just continued on. Sure it was broken up over time but you could still see the yellow line going down the center. Found that odd and yet this is not the first forgotten road I have been on in this state. As I walked I could see dozens of large white tail deer everywhere. They were curious about me and most ran as I walked but the amount of deer was truly amazing. I have seen several deer in my back yard but nothing like this. Before I knew it I was at the geocache site and the find did not take as much effort as the first one. I saw all sorts of Cardinals, Robins and Thrushes chasing each other everywhere, quite fun to watch. After signing the log and putting this regular sized geocache in place it was on to number three.



FTF #3:
The sun was definitely going down by now and I had to hurry if I even had a chance at the last two caches. Fortunately for me this one was behind a small shopping center and ended being a quick find. My luck was still with me and if only I could make it to number four I would have my record. Okay maybe I was getting a bit greedy at this point but if you're going to be obsessed you might as well go all the way.

FTF #4:

The sun was down by the time I reached the my final destination and I grabbed my GPS phone and a flashlight as I exited the car. It was still partially lit out but that wasn't going to last long. Fortunately for me the geocache site was in a field and not near any muggles. I was just going to turn on the flashlight when I spotted my final prize hanging in a Cyprus bush. Figuring someone had to have beaten me to this one I was pleasantly surprised to again see clean sheets. Signing the final log and placing the container back in it's hiding spot I hustled back to my car. Triumphant with my new found record and yet still had to come up with a good enough excuse to tell my wife why I took so long and that my Salmon, rice and Broccoli were going to be ice cold. Another night on the couch I can feel it but woot what a rush.

I'm not obsessed.... Right?

Lunch Time GeoCaching

What a sweet hide. This one actually took me a couple of minutes to figure out the geocache hidey spot. There are severa areas of possiblity and you know me. Even when I read the heeds of the owner I still have to find the most difficult way of finding the cache. This was no exception and I have the bleeding pokes to prove it.

Once I figured out the spot and had cache in hand I had not a single DOH but a Double DOH moment. The first moment was when I reached down to my pocket to pull out my writing utencil and realized I left it in the car which was about .15 of a mile away. DOH! Then I actually was desperate enough to think I could use a stick to at least mark HHH on the log sheet. Then I realized I had already taken my geocaching carrying pouch which of course had several pens. DOH - DOH !

Needless to say we are glad to see a new hider in the area and look forward to more geocache finds.
Signed log and took nothing but the 20 sided die was very tempting.

Miss GeoNess Breaks 200 Finds Which Puts Her In The Rankings

Yes she's small, she's wirey and she fits in holly and Cyprus bushes really really well!

Miss GeoNess who took some time today to be out doing some actual geocaching instead of doing the photography and filming for GeoSnippits has broken 200 and is now officially ranked in the Geocaching world.

I'm personally proud of her. Especially for those times when I am too pooped to keep going and it's her who says "One more Dad, one more..."

Regular Cache in a Brier Patch

All I can say is ouchie! Those thick brambles can really getcha. Back to those in a minute.

What a day we had today while out Geocaching. We started out fairly early which turned out to be about Eightish. Headed straight towards our first cache in the Southern Raleigh, NC area. Wouldn't you know it that just down the road was a North Carolina original and an addiction to me. Yup the Krispy Kreme donut store was within smelling distance and we had to stop by and get them fresh and oh so yummy.

After I came out of my sugar coated stupor we moved on to the rest of our planned Cache Raid and took on twenty seven geocaches. Unfortunately two of them were DNFs but thems the breaks. We had an absolute blast and yes even when we get scrapes from those nasty brier patches it some how does not hurt so much when you are staring at an ammo box.

All part of the fun and I couldn't think of a better person to go geocaching with than my daughter Miss GeoNess.

Most Inventive So Far

Hitting a lot of micros today. This one was in my hand twice before the DUH moment.

Great Day Geocaching

Taking photos as we go today while geocaching South Raleigh.