Daughter Geoness Milestone of 100 Finds!

The second half of Team HHB miss Amanda aka Geoness hit the 100 find mark. Not bad for someone who just started a couple of months ago. She has already attended several events and has taken on Difficulty 3 / Terrain 3 caches. Like the one at the FlashMob Flower Hill caches in North Carolina.



Geoness has cache finds in five states including Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Often seen with dad HeadHardHat in the Raleigh and many neighboring cities. Geoness competes with HHH to find the cache first so she can be the first to sign the log. She helps a lot when it comes to micros and small caches but her eyes light up the most when ammo boxes are the target.





Please help congratulate the better half of Team HHB, daughter Geoness on her latest find milestone.

Congrats Geoness!

Milestone: HeadHardHat Reaches 300 Finds

Taking a quick break to note I finally reached my #300 find yesterday. Now granted this is microscopic compared to many of the other cachers in North Carolina, I am extremely determined about my continuing voyage to the four digit mark.

As an important side note, actually, I am more proud of this than my milestone. My daughter Geoness (Amanda) is six shy of her first hundred finds. How fast they grow these days. So kudos to her will be coming out soon.

TimMcGrawlookalike is Mess'n With My Old Suede Shoes

Came home last night from another successful evening run in Smithfield, NC and did a quick glance at my email to see if any new caches published; and what to my wondering eyes did appear? Not one but two new caches just a few miles from where I work in Oxford. The posts came rather late and in a secluded part of the country so I was pretty sure they were not going to get found until today. Especially since both of them were from TimMcgrawlookalike and he is the only cacher that I know who has a working pair of night vision goggles. For now...

Anyhow, I get up this morning and drop daughter Geoness off at the bus stop. Yes I did remember this time to completely halt the forward motion of the vehicle so she didn't have to do that death roll thing again. She looses her lunch money every time she does that. We said our farewells as the gleam of the red flashers approached. I could feel my palms grip the steering wheel just a little tighter with the sound of the bus echoing in the distance. "Lets do this", I thought to myself and I stepped on the accelerator. The engine whined from the strain, tires lurching forward and I was pressed hard into my seat as my car lunged ... to a safe and legal posted speed as all good driving citizens should. "Morning officer", I said and waved when I noticed the police car driving just up the road. Have to stop watching all those spy movies.

But I digress, did my 60 mile venture to the cache sites and had a grand time playing follow the bouncy arrow in the tall wet grass. Hey they were First to Finds and what's a little water when it comes to suede? The first cache was a unique tin can hidden in a nice cozy spot. Opened it up to find a brand new log book and best of all clean sheetz! I happily signed the white papers and moved on for number two.

The second was one of those mean little caches that I just hate. You know the ones that are hidden in plain sight. I knew it was there but could I see the darn thing, oh heck no. Coords were just a bit off but that was expected. I could feel the moister of my now soaked shoes seaping through my work socks. A few more minutes passed and then booyah - success. Signed the untouched log and then jogged, well okay skipped to my car so I could get to work.

So that was my morning so far. Sure I now smell like wet dog and it will take me an hour to pull all the burrs out of my pant legs but when it comes to finding First To Finds. I may be a bit obsessed...

Mutant Mantis Sighting - Michigan

It would appear that HeadHardHat's travel bug Mutant Mantis is up to more B-Movie antics by terrorizing Chelsea and Detroit, Michigan. Seen photographed here MM had a sweet tooth and took on the Jiffy Mix plant in Chelsea before visiting the Detroit Zoo.

More information as it becomes available.

Very Cool CITO (Cache In Trash Out) Idea

Saw this idea in Michigan last weekend and I thought I would pass the idea on to you.

In quite a few of the caches I noticed 35mm containers with grocery bags inside. On the outside was a label stating Cache In Trash Out. It went on to say that the enclosed grocery bag could be used to pick up trash on the way back to the car. Then you could replace the bag and place the container with a new bag into the next available cache.

What a very cool idea. Can't wait to make some of these myself.

North Carolina Five Day Road Trip To Michigan Summary

Fourth of July weekend.... What Fourth of July weekend?

Well another road trip to Michigan from North Carolina is under my belt. Think that is about a dozen or so now but the important thing is daughter Amanda is back home. The weekend blew by like it was not even there and I currently feel like I was run over by a semi. Below is the complete summary and there are several phone-in articles showing mainly my adventures going from NC to Michigan. Coming back home was for the most part tiring, wet and storm drenched. Add in the multitudes of traffic and beyond belief gas prices and you get the gist. Here are the stats:

Days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 4 - 6, 2008

Miles: 1874 - including visits to my family on east side of Michigan

Average Price of Gas: $4.19 with highest in Michigan

Hours Coming and Going: 16 hours going to Michigan (add in caching)
15 hours coming back to NC (holiday traffic)



Caching States:
North Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Ohio
Michigan

Number of Caches Found: 18

Number of Travel Bugs/Coins Traded: 26

Number of police cars sighted: 48 - no kidding. Including one near my first cache near RDU airport.

Visited:
Four cemeteries including are really cool one from early 1800s in Virginia.
Multitudes of rest areas (some even to use the facilities).
Almost went crashing down two steep, wet, muddy, brier filled hills whilst caching.
Was interrupted by a small herd of hill climbing cattle (did not know they can do steep trails)
Found caching partner in the form of a large black snake who decided to be resting in a bush I was looking in. Did not see the business end but the side of it I did see was like a 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe.
Drove through numerous thunderstorms in West Virginia mountains and near home in Raleigh, North Carolina

Mutant Mantis and my micro GPS travel bugs logged 1095 miles on this trip.

All in all a fun but exhausting trip. Glad now to get back into the caching hunts of home.

Ohio Turnpike On Our Way Home.

Ohio Turnpike on our way home.

Caching in Chelsea, Michigan.

Caching in Chelsea, Michigan.

Michigan at last. Cache Found!

Michigan at last. Cache Found!

Ohio TB hunting much better. Near Dover,

Ohio TB hunting much better. Near Dover, Ohio.

No TB Joy In WV.

No TB Joy In WV. Tried five caches and not a single trading bug. Took one in the leg on the last one. Wet, muddy hills and big honking brambles. You do the math. Killer was no TB, oh well. On to Ohio...

Amazing Virginia Landmark cemetary.

Amazing Virginia Landmark cemetary. Near Fort Chiswell, VA.

Mutant Mantis attacks Pilot Mtn, NC.

Mutant Mantis attacks Pilot Mtn, NC.

Cache Found! TB hotel near King, NC.

Cache Found! TB hotel near King, NC.

Road Trip to Michigan Starts

ROAD TRIP BEGINS! Cache Found! Near RDU airport. Found another mantis TB. Yes, that is a squad car.

Thank You Smithfield, NC For A Great Afternoon of Caching

A couple of months ago I wrote a fairly nasty blog entry about my adventures or should I say LACK of adventures while caching in the Smithfield, NC area. Well that area has done quite a change and I had an absolutely fantastic time there yesterday afternoon. What made the difference? For starters I noticed that over the past few weeks a boat load of caches were enabled back into service. When my last attempt happened I had 10 our of 13 caches come up as DNF's. So after I observed all the effort in getting the area up to a decent standard I wanted to give it another go and I am so glad I did.

First I wanted to take another whack at the DNFs I knew had been replaced which was a real joy to do. Then I headed downtown for an effective cache raid with hopes of some nice finds. I am happy to report that my expectations were not only met but exceeded. In those few hours I was able to find fourteen smiley faces with many, many more to try for on another day.

Thank you so much to all the cache owners of Smithfield, NC for making the area a great place to go geocaching.

George Carlin Said It Best... The Glass is Not Half Full...

Woke up extra early this morning because I really, really - REALLY wanted to get not one but two FTFs today. Greedy, sure but in GeoCaching for me finding a First To Find is better than a cup of coffee. I get pumped just anticipating those clean, untouched sheets waiting for me to start writing on them. Of course it does not always happen that way and another early bird simply found the worm before I did but it is always fun going for them.

Anyways I arrived at my destination which was about half way to work and about 35 minutes out. Read the description, verified the coords on my Etrex and boogied into the woods. What should have been a five minute bushwack quickly turned into thirty minutes of frustration and me late for work. Long story short I had to walk away from a FTF and I was not a happy camper. There could be a million reasons why this 1.5 / 1.5 find eluded me. Not enough coffee, sunspots, wrong coords, aliens playing with my head - again, basically tons of reasons. Ultimately I just couldn't get my act together. It happens so the title to today's blog entry was going to be "Missed it by that much" and it was a long 75 feet walk back to the car.

Then I remembered that there was another FTF out there and hopefully with my name on it. So I scrambled out towards Oxford with hopes of better results. When I arrived I followed the same game plan. Coords - check, Description - check, extra swig of coffee before it gets cold - check. Walked to ground zero, saw the hiding place and BINGO! a cach found. I personally thought the geo-angels harking in the background was a bit too much overkill but it was a nice effect and well appreciated. Soon after I had my prize in hand and opened the container. There in the spectral glow of the the rising sun was the virgin log sheets. Gleefully I signed the logbook and put everything back in place and hustled off to that other hobby I like to call work. Though now the title of today's blog was going to be "One out of Two Ain't Bad". I felt better and the bad aftertaste of my first hunt quickly vanished.

Just as I was pulling into the parking lot of my work place I heard a mention of George Carlin. God bless him he has always been one of my absolute favorite comedians. With that I pondered over all the footage and books I have witnessed and one tributing comment that he had made came to mind. I use it as a defining guideline that describes me on many occasions including when I go geocaching.

It simply states:

"The glass is NOT half full. The glass is NOT half empty. The glass is TOO DAMN BIG!"

Perspective in life was what George showed us so often. We can be optimists, pecimists or sometimes just step back and see things from a totally different angle. I will attempt to follow this next time I go out caching for FTFs. Thanks George for the reminder.

Another Michigan Road Trip Coming Up This Weekend!

Just once I would like a holiday where I don't have to travel 800+ miles and can really enjoy a three day weekend. Ahh well, such as life.. Good news is I can add to my out of state scores!!!

Yes I am heading to Michigan this weekend to pick up my caching gal Daughter Geoness. Some school based scheduling difficulties came up and she has to be in town and in school next week or I'm in big doo-doo. Don't you just love year round school systems? NOT!

So I will be heading up to the Great Lake State and back again. The cool thing is daughter can get some out of state claims as well. I don't think there will be many. Trip or so back it turned a 12 hours ride to a 16 hour ride and I don't want to do that again. Though one or two in each state should be enough.

I will also be taking my new Travel Bug "Mutant Mantis" with me. I let my temporary TB go back into the wild and I liked him so much I created one for myself. As seen in the photo he looks quite happy hanging from my rear view mirror.

Stay tuned to all the find, thrills, chills and good time adventures starting this Friday - EARLY!

WOOT! The Adventure to a First To Find Begins.

Boy, nobody was more surprised than me when I happened to notice a mystery cache smack dab in the middle of Raleigh had sat there for two days and no logged FTF. So taking a slightly altered route towards home I stopped by the area to take a chance of finding clean log sheets.

I was hoping for a relatively quick find but instead it quickly turned into a rather lengthy adventure. It started out simple enough by reading the description and attempting to find ground zero, in other words where we think the exact spot where the cache should be. I searched high, I searched low, I searched in between and all around. Could not find the little micro cache anywhere. Very frustrating and I think to myself, "I know it's here I can hear the darn thing breathing". I read the description again and validate my conclusions, I know it just has to be right here yet one little piece of the puzzle was missing, but what? This particular mystery cache was a series of directions all pointing from different directions towards the cache. Simple right? How hard could this actually be and yet 30 minutes vaporized already. I continue on through barbed wire and grape vine, grasping through Virginia Creeper and other questionable greenery, I am getting frustrated but I know this is a FTF and there is no way I am walking away from it.

Finally, after rereading the description for the gazillionth time it clicks. That one little fact which just didn't make sense at the time finally became clear and boom there was the cache. Right there all the time. Nothing can cause so much frustration and yet bring so much satisfaction at the same time. The worst thing you can do is give up. Keep on trying.

With hindsight I realized after finding this tricky cache there were some basic rules that I should keep in the back of my mind each time I go hunting for caches. See if this helps you.

Tips to the Wise,

- Read and understand the title of the cache. Not always easy - why? We usually interpret our first initial thought of a concept and stay with it. So if we read the title and come to a conclusion it usually takes some external factor to make us change our minds. If we make an inaccurate conclusion we will most likely be looking in the wrong place for a cache. In the case of this cache I did not fully understand what the title meant so the playing field was wide open. It wasn't until after I found the cache it made sense.

- Read and understand the description. In the case of this cache I looked for almost an hour and almost gave up twice before finding it. Again it wasn't until after I found the cache to fully understand one little invaluable piece of information in the description. In fact as I was rolling through the description the seventh or eighth time I kept saying to myself, "this doesn't make sense, why did they say that?". This is usually the point that gets overlooked the most and is usually the key to solving the puzzle. You just don't realize it at the time. So if you ever find yourself doubting your conclusions it is usually when you are the most correct. Find your doubts while problem solving and pursue them.

- Take Nothing For Granted. In Geocaching the obvious is your worst enemy. Because we tend to look for something that is "hidden" we forget to open our field of view to ALL that is around us. Some of the best compliments that I have received for my caches is by taking advantage of this very point. It also brings the greatest shock appeal when discovered. Nothing brings a bigger surprise than having a cache "appear" by always being right in front of you. This particular cache did just that for me. It gave me a preconceived notion of where it could be and then turned up right where I thought it should be but couldn't see it at the time.

- Use the Hint. Hints usually are the lifeline needed to give us that moment of change in our thought process. I have found it is better not to read the hint too early because if you use the hint initially you have nothing to fall back on. There is nothing left to help you change your thought process. If you do decide to use your hint be sure to try and understand it thoroughly. If you take the hint for granted it can trap you just as easily as the title or description.

Well I hope this cache log turned tutorial helps in some way. In the world of Geocaching every little bit helps.

Cache Found! Cupcake cache in Raleigh,

Cache Found! Cupcake cache in Raleigh, NC.

I just had to find me a cache this morning and this one was fun. The past couple of weeks it has been hot down here. Like real hot, upper 90s / low 100s hot. I'm sorry, I love caching but when it is so hot your travel bug melts off of your rear view mirror.... it's hot out!

So today we are actually NOT going to be in the 90s but a comfortable mid 80s which is normal for this time of year. So the bug got to me and I hit a quick grab and go on the way to work. As seen in the photo it was a cute cache container and I really enjoyed the gold doubloon I found within. Great fun in da morning.

Fortunately the past weeks were not completely fruitless. I managed to put out a seven part multi-cache called Six Little Green Stages: Multi Decoder Challenge, put out a rather clever cache in Oxford called Frankly, I Think You're Screwed and am working on something new that I think everyone will enjoy called HHH's Puzzle Tubes. More information to come in the next day or two.

Until then...

A Little Caching, A Little Rain, A Whole Lot of Friends

Had a really great day on Saturday. Spent the afternoon with my daughter Amanda (Geoness) caching in the Fuquay-Varina, NC area.

We started out by being able to get a handful of caches during the afternoon and even though we did not get huge numbers we did visit some real interesting places. For example, the photograph to the left shows the remains of an old mill off of Terrible Creek Pond. This was actually a DNF for us and with more search time I am sure we will eventually find the cache but that day we were tied to the clock and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. There were just so many areas the micro sized cache could be. Micros in general tend to be frustrating for me and after a short while my eyes were wondering much more on the actual mill wheel, granite pilings and other ancient tid bits that were just way too cool not to explore. We will come back soon and take another swing at this fun cache but for that afternoon more caches were waiting for us.





One of the most fun and most painful was a rather sharp edged adventure called The Heart of Fuquay which put us in a nice wood surrounded by wild raspberries and briers. It did not help that we were in shorts because of the heat but we managed to make it through and I just loved seeing Amanda's eyes get wide when we found the ammo box filled with goodies.

We traded a small tea set for Amanda with one of my signature first aid kits and the satisfaction of another smiley waiting for us when we log in at home.




Of course the icing on the cake for the day was attending the Our Friends the Wolves 5K Celebration Event. Here our good friend Horsegeeks a.k.a. Kenny and his wife hosted a fantastic get together at his home. The event was to celebrate the 5000th cache found by team Billwolf1 which is utterly amazing. About 30 of us invaded Horsegeeks Ranch where we had great food, fantastic conversation and a whole mob of fun people. Even though we did get a brief thunder boomer that came through it was not enough to even slow us down. What a fantastic time was had by all.

Cache Found! Wake Forest,NC.

Cache Found! Wake Forest,NC.

Missed FTF's, Night Vision Goggles, Mutants and Fellow Cachers

Missed FTF's - Well that's it then.. I am selling the house for a new pair of night vision goggles!

My phone went off last night around 11 p.m. telling me a new cache was posted. Jumped online and saw the cache named "The Lion Sleeps Tonight 3" was right on my way to work.

"Perfect", I thought. First thing in the morning I will drop off my daughter at the bus stop and boogie right over for a quick First To Find.

All the way over to the cache site I was really hoping to beat TimMcGrawlookalike to the punch, especially since the post came out so late last night. Would I make it in time? Would nice clean log sheets be waiting for me? My hopes were high as I opened the cache to see my prize, but nooooooooo. Not only did Mr. TMLookalike hit it last night but another relentless cacher mobettamerf who I do not think actually sleeps beat me too . Heavy sigh, better luck next time. Congrats to all and I will be out there next time.. Me and my night vision goggles .

MUTANTS! - If you have been reading my blogs you will see every once in a while a Mantis Sighting. Photos of this interesting TB have been taken by me in five states from North Carolina to Michigan and back (twice). With the permission of the owner I have been hanging onto the little guy for several months now and even though he seems to enjoy hanging from my rear view mirror very much I think it is time to let him go back into the wild.

There is a problem though. I too enjoy having a travel bug hanging from my rear view mirror but what could possibly replace my well travelled friend? Meet my new little friend - Mutant Mantis!

This guy reminds me so much of the old great B movie mantis monsters. Seen at left teasing my daughter Brianna. Mutant Mantis is going to be travelling where ever I go and will be photographed doing what movie monsters do, wreaking havoc upon the world! So look often to see what MM has been up to. Last I heard he was heading for down town Raleigh, NC. This should be fun!

Fellow Cachers- You just never know who you are going to bump into in the morning whilst caching. Was pulling up to my Taxman Cometh cache to verify it's coords and who do I see with a GPS in his hand but my friend Ringer2410. I scooted by not wanting to disturb his hunt but he must have seen my car and pulled up next to me after he was done. He apparently must have liked the hunt cuz he used cool descriptions like "very clever and devious". Just love making geocaching fun. We gabbed a good ten minutes or so before having to head off for work. This brought a smile to my face because it is always a treat getting some time to actually talk face to face with fellow cachers.

Special Note - Received a really nice email from Team P and USAFSP. They came by the Oxford, NC area this last weekend and hit everything. Since I have about twenty caches there myself including two series (Barnyard Fun and Playing On The Train Tracks). They had me on standby incase needed. No need necessary because they hit 43 for the day! So congrats to team P for doing a fine job of caching and in 100+ degree heat ta boot!

Upcoming HeadHardHat Caches Coming Your Way!

(Left - Note the all seeing eye of this cache gaurdian. What is it's secret? Click photo for a better look)

Sometimes it is a real flip of the coin whether I enjoy more the finding of caches or placing them. This week was the latter and it opens up some new territory for me.


First is a real zinger in the Oxford, NC area. It's called "HHH's The Taxman Cometh" (GC1CXX1). Fun for the whole family to find and a fairly quick grab for some and maybe not so much for others. Either way have fun, I know I did putting it there.





The second in the Clayton, NC area is what I would refer to as a newbie to intermediate level series entitled:


"Little Green Cache: Decoder Series Challenge" (GC1CVWY). It's a decryption puzzle cache series where you start with a quick grab and go smiley which leads you through a series of other decryption caches and then ultimately to a rather bizarrely hidden final cache. Should be a rather scenic and down right fun afternoon for all.





These should all be active by this weekend. It is supposed to be a real scorcher but the unactivated FTF coin which lies in wait should be a really good incentive.





Have fun folks!





-HHH

Daughter Geoness and HeadHardHat in Fuquay-Varina, NC

Well daughter Geoness and I took another swipe at Fuquay- Varina, NC for a couple of hours and pulled away with some nice nature trails and some Grab and Go's. Added ten caches to our ever growing list.

Seen to the left is her Geoness doing what she loves to do and that is finding ammo boxes. Sure she loves being first to find the micros. Mainly because the deal is who ever finds the cache first gets to sign first. But the ammo boxes is pure buried treasure.

I feel the same way too.. Shy of a half dozen ticks going for the ride we had a real great afternoon together.

I don't know who looks more forward to our time together but I know I am savoring mine while I can. She isn't going to stay 12 forever....