Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
In chronological order

Back Home

June 2002

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-BUXU Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.3787° W 090.5297° Date Tried: 6/1/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Sam and Drew South of Rock Island, IL 120.41 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

"You have GOT to be kidding!" After fresh-night's sleep at the local Holidome, we headed off to find this elusive dashpoint that looked to be a drive-by on the mapblast.com map. The map clearly shows a road with a cul-de-sac passing within a couple of decameters from the dashpoint. No problem. Unfortunately, what the map DOESN'T show is that the MAIN road shown on is a gravel road. The SIDE road is nothing more than two ruts in the grass along someone's fence. I said “Let's go!” and she said “You've GOT to be kidding!” But up and down the grassy hills we went. The grass between the two ruts was so tall that it was actually above the hood of our 2001 Olds Intrigue Sedan and my wife was getting pretty nervous. I could see the building that was shown on the map - the GPS said 450 meters. What passed for a road ended in a fence. Discouraged (but I think the Mrs. sighed in relief not discouragement), we negotiated a 42 point turn and retreated down the Flintstone's Carwash road. I said, “There's GOT to be SOME way to get to that building, right?” She started to get that look: He's insane. I consulted the maps and got us to the other main north-south road that paralleled the original main gravel road. This one was asphalt, but the turn off to get to the dashpoint lead us straight to locked gates in front of a sanitary landfill. She turned to me and said “Are they all landfills?” Well, lately they have been. Back around game seven and eight it seemed all they could find were llamas…

Cameron Woods Fairy Cache by Mike & Stef N 41° 39.160 W 090° 44.169 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/1/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Man, parking for this one was tricky. But what a gorgeous little cache site. We hiked in with the 2½-year-old on my shoulders and found it refreshingly cool under the canopy, considering that it was probably 90°F in the sun. Wildflowers were in full bloom and trees were breathtaking. We got within 100 feet of the cache and just as the description said, we needed to go off path. What the cache page didn't mention was that the waist high plants were stinging nettles. Luckily, I don't develop a bad reaction, and the skin on the back of my right hand only itched for an hour. I found two Travel Bugs with this cache: Elmo Wave Runner and The BackPack Apparently, they were placed by cachers also heading to the Spring 2002 Cache Bash - Yawningdog and Ken & Robin. Knowing them, they travelled together.

Wildflowers just outside the car

Growth on the trail not too bad

Waist High in Nettles

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-BUTI Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.8148° W 090.9453° Date Found: 6/1/2002 Hunters: Kelly Eastern Iowa, North of I-80, South of Route 30 140.55 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

"Shut my mouth and call me Kuzco" We had long given up the futile quest of making it to Des Moines for the bash and decided instead that this dashpoint would be the farthest west into Iowa we would go. We stopped at the I-80 truck stop for gas and a round of Krispy Kremes and headed off into Iowa farm country. This country is much prettier than the Illinois flavor. Corn, sure - but there's hills. Hills that roll up and down and make the roads turn bends and curves opening paths of wonderment. And so we found ourselves on the Herbert Hoover Highway, looking for an elusive "main" road. Driving through the turns, we were 2.25 km away when I said let's turn here and see if we can cut east. And then she saw it. A bovine pasture with a metal gate. The house across the road with the driveway. Teathered to the fence: LLAMA! Yes, Team Markwell is now a full member in the Geodashing phenomenon of Llama-spotting. He was tied to the fence just resting comfortably, and my wife spotted it. I screamed “STOP THE CAR! STOP THE CAR! STOP THE CAR!” and bolted out of the car. My son admonished out the window, “Daddy, watch out. They spit.” I quickly changed my approach as its ears lowered. My gentler movements seemed to reassure it. I approached and took several photos, the best of which are posted in the GD12-BUTI collage. I went back to the car and talked of Llamas and dashpoints and raisins drying in the sun until we finally found the "main" road we were searching for - again, paved with gravel. The rest of the dash was uneventful except that we could not score by the "main" road but had to pull a full 15 meters in to someone's driveway to score. The area was very scenic and we did snap two shots of the rolling hills of fresh corn fields on the way out. I think I've converted my wife - although she still prefers caches.

My Tenth Cache! Not counting the Photographer’s Caches Conundrum by Markwell N 41° 45.685 W 089° 41.208 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Placed: 6/1/2002 Hider: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I had an itch that I needed to scratch. I've been searching for all of these caches and dashes on this trip. When we checked in to the Holiday Inn, the desk clerk volunteered the information that there was a hiking trail right behind the hotel. There's a Walmart, two doors down. Too good to be true. So, I placed a cache. Not just any cache though. This one is very devious for the finder. I believe cachers in the area will be cursing my name on this one.

The 40th Cache by Mngop, Diceroller N 41° 50.168 W 089° 28.839 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/2/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Found it. Stopped in Dixon, Illinois to see the boyhood home of President Ronald Regan. Best thing abou the cache is that it saved my 40¢ in tolls by getting off at the Dixon exit rather than travelling the extra miles on the I-88 Toll Road. I only had to pay 55¢, but the toll booth just beyond the exit was 95¢.

Castle Rock Ridge Cache by Gary & Isabelle N 41° 57.703 W 089° 23.394 Difficulty: Terrain: Arrived: 6/2/2002 Hunters: None

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I was really hoping to get to the cache, but the powers-that-be determined it was not to be today. Rain started early, and drizzled on and off all day. The littlest one decided it was nap-time. Wife was starting to get car-cranky. I opted for taking the older of the two boys up the 110 steps to the scenic overlook, hoping to glimpse the Blackhawk statue this area is famed for. Either I didn't know what I was looking for, or it couldn't be seen from the overlook. We missed it. Still, a nice stretch of the legs. We found the cache parking area, but my wife indicated it was time to move on.

Southern view from the overlook

Drew at the top of the stairs

Stashed Cache by TeeFiver N 41° 49.703 W 088° 43.503 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/2/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A nice little park due south of DeKalb off of 23. Interesting that I had to travel back country roads to get there. Afton Forest Preserve has a very nice little lake and freshly mown trails. Unfortunately, we had two things against us. (1) People take their dogs here to train for scenting (leaving tons of remnants) and (2) The main path was flooded once we got past the bridge. We ended up having to take a short detour and hike through some mildly tall grass. The whole way out to the cache, I've got Sammy on my shoulders and wishing I could take a cattle prod to spur Drew on. I'm also commenting to Sherry that there must be a TON of dog poop in the area. She says there was, but she can't smell it now. Of course, she didn't have Sammy on her shoulders with his hiking boots right next to her nose. Found the cache after turning too early. Stepped on numerous large anthills (watch out for those things) and replaced the cache in its precarious hiding position. Great way to end our long weekend. I love my wife.

Sherry and Drew walking in front Is that dog poop I smell?

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-BYYL Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.8496° W 087.9464° Date Found: 6/3/2002 Hunters: Kelly Oakbrook Terrace, IL, due west of Chicago 20.41 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

"In the Shadow of a Corporate Giant" Oakbrook is known in the Chicago area as one of the corporate suburbs. There is very little residential, and what there is of it is VERY expensive homes. Just north of Interstate 88 is Oakbrook Mall. Complete with Nieman Marcus, Marshall Fields and numerous other stores, it is a very typical example of a corporate expansion suburb. Not too far from the dashpoint is Drury Lane Theater, complete with its own cache (Drury Lane Theatre), a little more than 3/4 of a mile NNW (1.29 KM). I happen to be "cache nanny" for this cache. But what's at the dashpoint itself? It actually lies across Spring Street from Oakbrook Terrace Mall in a parking lot of a major corporate headquarters. Once I got within 0.95 meters (according to my GPS) without ever leaving the car, I drove up and saw that indeed, this was the corporate office of a world-wide multinational conglomerate: McDonald's. The dashpoint is in one of the farthest parking spaces from the main entrance to one of the largest corporations in the world. Pretty cool dashpoint if you ask me. No, I didn't eat there for lunch - although they do have a restaurant in the main lobby.

Putt Putt Geocaching by bspeng N 41° 43.215 W 088° 07.826 Difficulty: Terrain: Tried: 6/6/2002 and 6/7/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew and Sam

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I tried one on the way home from work. Having previously found Ms. Weigand’s Better Half, I knew the area pretty well. My sons and I ventured off, parking only 130 feet from the cache. I let the GPS zero out for quite a while and found the area I was looking for, but in the end walked away empty-handed... mostly because the boys wanted some dinner. Very cool archeological find! From the relics and the condition of the area, I would think the defunct miniature golf course has been abandonded for about 10-20 years. I would hazard a guess that the individuals living some 200 feet away don't even know that the course exists. Very cool. I'll be back soon to claim this as find #80.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-BYYD Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 40.3854° W 088.0509° Date Found: 6/8/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Near Rantoul, Illinois 87.40 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Revisited” Just as MDM Expiditions pointed out in their report. Along county road 9. Only thing I can add is that Rodney was out loading his tractor with seed ready to plant his field.

Clear Lake Cache by mrpc90 N 40° 07.035 W 088° 17.218 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

First really good chance to stretch our legs. We arrived in the Champaign area still having a great time on the trip, but we definitely needed a good short walk. This cache provided us with the opportunity to stretch our legs and even see a pretty cool mulberry bush (that thing was HUGE). The Mrs. spotted the microcache before I could, even though I must have looked at it 7 or 8 times. Cool little hike of a cache on nice paved path.

Wow! Look at that! by Wsmith N 39° 06.450 W 088° 34.266 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A nice virtual - we had seen the object a year ago when driving down, but the cache had not been implemented yet. We actually made it to the base of the structure and took some photos there. It really is quite amazing.

It's a spoiler, but the little dot at the base is me.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-BYPA Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 38.8359° W 088.7967° Date Passed By: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Central Illinois 196.26 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Bypass #1” Not scored. We were pressed for time, and I really wanted to hit it. The wife looked at the map and decided that it might take me up to 5 minutes of hiking to get to the spot. Since it was on a freshly seeded field, we both agreed to pass on this one. There is a John Deere dealership right nearby, but the closest I got to the point (from the interstate) was 650 meters.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-BYOX Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 38.1884° W 088.8130° Date Found: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Central Illinois 240.70 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Puppies and Road Grass” What a fun one this was! The wife took us off the interstate while I scoped out the maps. Just 10 miles down the county paved road and a little jog to the left, and we'll pick up the East-West road and score easily. Whoops. The East-West road on the map doesn't really exist. It's a driveway to a run down (adandoned?) farmhouse. No tresspassing signs all over, and the driveway (my wife is starting to get annoyed) is two ruts with hood-high grass in the middle. C'mon - it's only another 20 meters to score. Into the driveway to turn around (and score!) and we're greeted by a sweet little mongrel mommy dog and her three puppies. Cute as a button, but sorely neglected farm dogs. We took some of my son's cherrios and threw them into a pile off the road so we could turn around unincumbered, and drove off still talking about the pups. Pics will be posted!

Kenny Lazzeri field by aquasleuth N 37° 53.274 W 088° 55.051 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Another chance to stretch the legs. We found the park in short order and parked within 100 feet of the cache. Since no one was about, it made finding the cache quite easy - except that the area seems to be a satellite reflector. Many of the previous logs indicated that their GPS went wild within the last 100 feet - and mine did too - pointing me all over the area. I finally found the cache and we decided to let the kids romp on the very cool playground about 200 yards from the cache site. Great stop. There was a little nostalgia involved as well: the playground equipment seemed to be from all different vintages. There was the short and tall slides that both my wife and I remember being in the Village Green park in Plainfield when we were growing up; there was also the “spider” (shown below) that was the exact same piece of equipment that I took a picture of some 14 years ago while my wife and I camped at Raccoon Lake in Centralia, Illinois (near Peoria). Great stop!

Spider Shot, duplicated from 1989

Drew doing the Spider Shot

Sam on the curvy slide

Two swinging boys

T.E. Bridge by aquasleuth N 37° 09.555 W 088° 40.765 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Another stretch of the legs and the back. I had long decided (ever since activating the Superman Travel Bug) that I had to visit the Superman Cache. We added this one since it was so darn close. Unfortunately, it appears that the cache has turned up missing. My son and I scoured that little bridge for almost 20 minutes, but no luck.

Superman by aquasleuth N 37° 09.688 W 088° 41.904 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A great little multi-cache. The booming town of Metropolis hides the oldest state park in Illinois. And it's pretty darn cool at that! We found the first location for the coordinates with little trouble, although I did have to use the encrypted hint. I was worried that gur cncre ybt vafvqr gur ertvfgre jnf jurer gur pbbeqvangrf jrer xrcg - naq vg unq orra erpragyl ercynprq, but I was wrong (Cyan words are ROT13 encrypted for spoiler). The reason I was so adamant about visiting and finding this cache was that I wanted to be sure that Superman would fit in the box when he got here. No problems!

Drew at the Superman Statue

It just so happens to be “Superman-Festival” and the Batmobile arrives as we're preparing to leave.

Drew's a pretty good photographer!

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CACA Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 36.5567° W 087.3819° Date Found: 6/9/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam 354.38 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Tennessee First” The first dashpoint scored in Tennessee. CACA is located in Clarksville, TN, near Fort Campbell. The actual dashpoint is behind the Ratchford Apartments, just near a playground where we let our kids stretch their legs. For future reference, if anyone needs CHEAP ammo cans for caches, go to the Army Surplus stores near army bases. They had rows of 50 caliber ammo cans for $6 US each. If I can FIND a 50 caliber one in my area, it's usually about $12-15 US. I picked up two!

My Eleventh Cache! Not counting the Photographer’s Caches Tribute to the Cumberland Trail by Markwell N 35° 08.073 W 085° 21.505 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Placed: 6/11/2002 Hiders: Kelly, Drew and Les

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Ever since last year, I wanted to place this cache. The year-long wait was worth it. I had practiced a devious device for cache hiding at the Conundrum cache early this month. That was just a warm up for this one. Using the same hiding method, but using a 50 caliber ammo box that I conveniently picked up on the way to GD12-CACA, this was a wonderful placement. I let the GPS guide me to the location of the archived Cumberland Trail Cache that I had found in our July visit last year. This was such a wonderful hike, I didn't want anyone to miss this area because Hikenit didn't re-establish a cache. According to my GPS, I placed my cache within 10 feet of the location of the previous one. Compare the coordinates... last year on top, this year on the bottom: N 35° 08.072 W 085° 21.506 N 35° 08.073 W 085° 21.505 However, I didn't place it in the same manner! This should keep them guessing!

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CAUX Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 35.4202° W 084.9722° Date Tried: 6/12/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry Mid-Tennessee, north of Chattanooga 464.54 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: Of Skinny Horses and Peacocks” What an interesting trip - even without the score. We wound our way around the back country roads of Tennessee trying desparately for what looked like a fascinating dash. This is right at the convergence of the Tennessee and the Hiwassee Rivers. We trekked down Armstrong Ferry Road and even found what TopoZone calls "Bunker Hill Road" and what Mapblast calls Gene Charles Road. Along the way, we heard the very distinctive call of a peakcock, and came across three very lean horses. No llamas, but at the point that we gave up, we scared up a white-tailed deer. The point was in logging country, and very poor country at that. While had I been alone, I would have had no problem scorring the point, since I had the kids with me and it looked like a trecherous 0.35 mile hike, I decided to show a little restraint and go ahead and take a pass. On the return trip, we saw two peacocks yelping in the yard nearby. Hmmm... Exotic animals like that, and no llamas.

My Twelfth Cache! Not counting the Photographer’s Caches Wow! Look at That! Again! by Markwell N 35° 46.700 W 084° 21.059 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Placed: 6/12/2002 Hiders: Kelly and Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Imagine our surprise. We had just gotten through logging Wow! Look at that! by Wsmith in Effingham on June 9, when we see an EXACT copy of the same structure near Knoxville! We had to go up and take the readings and set this up as a virtual cache, linking it to the other one. But we had an even bigger surprise: the man who BUILT the structure was there checking it out. Apparently, he saw a similar structure in Texas and found out how they did it. He then took the plans to Tennessee where he built this one. He had no knowledge of the one in Effingham, Illinois. So the cache is called: Wow! Look at That! Again!

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CIAM Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 35.8058° W 083.5737° Date Found: 6/12/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 474.87 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Commericalization Debate” Probably the most solid score possible of all the Tennessee dashpoints I could muster. This one is in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, right near Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountain National Park. The dashpoint is only about 2 miles from Dollywood and about a half mile from the infamous “Comedy Barn” that runs a Hee-Haw like comedy show every night. This place smelled of tourist trap. The dashpoint itself was right near a Belz factory outlet by a little creek. We easliy drove up to within 30 meters and scored. This actually sparked quite a bit of conversation between my wife and I on the merits and detriments of the commercialization of this area. I remember coming through here as a high schooler and being in awe of the pristine condition of the Smoky Mountains. Now that Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge have Dollywood, I felt that this splendor seemed diminished by the outlying commercialization that one had to traverse to get there. The wife countered that while there was a price, she thought that the expansion of tourist trade (including Dollywood) helped the area economically. Whether the bolstering of the economy is worth the price of the loss of pristine surroundings is best left up to each of us - I still found it quite distasteful.

mockingbird by sis and Murrcat N 35° 49.164 W 083° 09.575 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/12/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We had just purchased my wife's new Lowa hiking boots in Chattanooga, and she was really looking forward to trying them out. This was our first, best opportunity. The cache was also a hybrid letterbox which made it very interesting to me. We scoped out the potential sites, and my wife utilized her boots to the fullest with the steep climb mentioned on the cache page, but all to no avail. No cache could be found any where. Disappointed, we moved on.

God Kissed the Earth and Called it Asheville by Wanderlust and Laughing Moon N 35° 35.761 W 082° 33.285 Difficulty: Terrain: Dates Tried: 6/12/2002 and 6/13/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

We had dropped off the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for 3 days of “anniversary-ing” - but the one thing they asked us to do was visit the Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC. I said fine, but we would also do a cache in the area. This multi-cache was actually pretty fun, but the wife felt a little uncomfortable walking downtown close to sunset. I didn't have a problem, but I relented. We tried the first time on this cache we got an answer that didn't seem to make sense. We went to the north side of town and got up on a mountain with a great view and some REALLY expensive home, but no closer to the point than 0.25 miles. After visiting the Biltmore, the wife and I went over to the local mall to fruitlessly look for a skeleton key for the oldest boy, and I had an epiphany. I had written one of the numbers down incorrectly. We replugged in the coordinates and I looked at a town map we had gotten at the Biltmore. We tried again. No luck. We didn't even get as close as we had to the original coordinates. An e-mail to the cache owner will hopefully clear up our mistake.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CEYX Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 34.9525° W 084.2236° Date Tried: 6/14/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry Georgia-Tennessee-North Carolina Borders 510.57 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Chigger Ridge Road” Another fascinating miss. We hadn't originally planned on going this direction, but my father-in-law suggested that after we visited the Biltmore Estates we should take the more scenic southern trip around the Smoky Mountain National Park. In doing so, we drove dangerously close to CEYX. This one was found on a little off-shoot road called Chigger Ridge Road. We drove up the 30°+ incline on the gravel road (slightly wet as well) and finally got within 0.23 miles. I took one look at the shear 100 foot dropoff from beyond the road and used discretion to say: No Score. This area is actually very interesting in that the Ocoee River and the Natahala (I believe) River flow through here. This is the spot where the 1996 summer olympics held their rafting and kayaking games. Gorgeous rivers and a lot of Kayakers out there.

Rest In Peace by AprJhn & JaDan150 N 35° 02.080 W 085° 17.393 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/14/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Sherry and I have always loved National Cemeteries. The sense of awe one receives from visiting these national treasures humbles the visitor with the reverence for those who gave their lives that we may have the freedoms we so richly enjoy. We found the first of two caches in the National Cemetery in Chattanooga very easily. Turns out that the marker remembers the grandfather of the cache hider.

The Great Chase #3 by Baretone & Friend N 35° 02.056 W 085° 17.193 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/14/2002 Hunters: Kelly and Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

What an INTERESTING piece of history. This memorial in the National Cemetery is interesting enough without the history, but researching the history behind this memorial is truly - in every sense of the word - “cool.” Of all the references I have seen on the web, not one mentioned the Buster Keaton movie.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CAJO Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 36.9291° W 086.5415° Date Found: 6/15/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Bowling Green, Kentucky 337.98 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Of Corvettes and Trailer Parks” Near the National Corvette Museum… This was in a Trailer Park called "Country Living." Apparently, the dash is in lot #20 - and there are lots available. Pretty non-descript, but we did get a chance to take the expressway as an alternate road.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CAOR Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 37.7745° W 085.8163° Date Passed: 6/15/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Central Kentucky, Near Fort Knox 296.46 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Bypass #2” Pressed for time, we waved at this one on the way by from the interstate. Closest approach: 1.43 miles.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CAPI Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 38.3400° W 085.6713° Date Tried: 6/16/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam North of Louisville, Kentucky, in Indiana 265.35 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Clarkville Maritime” We really tried hard for this failure of a dash. I was itching to get on my hiking boots, but the wife said no. In retrospect I agree. We got within 499 meters by conventional roads, but the remainder of the hike looked like impenetrable woods behind freshly built homes. Not really what I was relishing for a hike on a rainy day. BTW - this is near Louisville, KY, on the Indiana side, right near the Clark Maritime Central for the Port Authority.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CANT Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 38.9525° W 085.9752° Date Passed: 6/16/2002 Hunters: No one Central Indiana, near Seymore 220.61 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Prophetic Dashpoint Name” A completely self-descriptive dashpoint. It's only 7 miles off the interstate. “What's the terrain look like?” Big hills. “Any roads nearby?” No, not really. “You Can't”. Closest approach: 7.09 miles from the interstate.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CAMI Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 39.4017° W 086.1060° Date Found: 6/16/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Central Indiana, south of Indianapolis 190.84 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Rolling Hills and Quick Dashes” On the way home from Tennessee via I-65. This was a short drive into farm country, with every turn giving us less maintained roads. The final stop was outside a home on a rolling hill. Just to the east of the house was a stream with a multitude of trees on either side. Since the car was only 250 meters from the dashpoint, I skirted the property for a 150 meter dash along the treeline to score and return to the car, just prior to catching a photo of the spot. BTW - very close to the very neat cache "Rest In Peace?"

Rest in Peace? by Chris48 N 39° 25.219 W 085° 58.565 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/16/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Another neat piece of history, with a well placed cache nearby. While the cache itself is about 200 feet from the historical landmark, it was a nice welcome off the path hike after having found (or failing to find) so many dashpoints. I scoped out this cache as a possible placement for Elmo Wave Runner, but there wasn't any water nearby.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CAIV Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 40.1403° W 086.6522° Date Found: 6/16/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry, Drew and Sam Near Lebanon, Indiana 132.55 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Indiana Llamas” We're driving a little ways into Indiana farm country headed for what looks like an easily scorable dash. As we're waiting 2.94 miles from the dashpoint for a one-lane bridge, my son shouts out from the back seat: “DEMON LLAMA!!!” Sure enough - off to our right, a llama farm. These critters had also just been shorn. We went the 3 miles up the road, and turned into a driveway of a corn farm to get within 25 meters of the dashpoint and returned the same way to further inspect the llamas. There was one striking one tied to a post in the yard. He had just been shorn, and there was a herd of about 15 more in various states of wool in the adjoining field. Pics to follow.

Critters by Dan Bollinger N 40° 29.238 W 086° 51.841 Difficulty: Terrain: Found: 6/16/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

The banks of the mighty Wabash River seemed as likely of a depositing spot for the Elmo Wave Runner as any we had encountered on the trip. This cache was incredibly easy, and a nice change for the day. How convenient to the road and a nice little stretch of the legs. The cache has been active so long, I think, due to the proximity of the workplace of Dan Bolinger. Wish I could do the same!

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD12-CACI Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.1253° W 087.3782° Date Found: 6/16/2002 Hunters: Kelly Southeast of Chicago, Indiana Farm Country 56.81 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Title: “Ponderosa Dash” We're driving along the interstate and I'm pleading with my wife: Just one more dash! She finally relents since the dashpoint is only 5 miles from the interstate. As we're driving along, my wife spots a sign: Ponderosa Sun Club. I don't know how wide-spread the reputation of this place is, but around Chicago it's kind of a big joke to us. The Ponderosa is one of the areas big "nudist" resorts - smack dab in the middle of rural midwest. No beaches or anything - just people who are "garmently-challenged." We stopped at the road sign and took a pic, and then travelled on to the dash. Unfortunately, the dashpoint was again about 333 meters in to a heavily wooded area surrounded by housing. Anxious to get home, I again opted to not score, but relish in the journey.

• Caches Placed: 2 (one real, one virtual)
• Caches found: 7
• Caches unfound: 3
• Ammo Boxes Bought: 2
• Ammo Boxes Used: 1
• Dashpoints Encountered: 14
• Dashpoints Scored: 7
• Geodashing Points: 20 (only 2 for BYYD)
• Miles Travelled: approx 2,000
• Llamas spotted: approx 20
• Peacocks spotted: 2
• Skinny Horses: 3
• Deer: 1
• Puppies: 3 (with their mommy)

Col. Bogey’s Cache by TwoCampers N 41° 36.404 W 088° 33.731 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/22/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Raoul

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

First of two caches with Raoul from the Chicago Tribune. He's doing a story on Geocaching for the Fridays section. I'm actually quite honored. I chose three caches of various terrain, but all happened to be by TwoCampers. This was the easiest on terrain, but evidently, the difficulty earns its - or I just couldn't find it. Either way, we were unsuccessful.

Best Cache by a Dam Site! by TwoCampers N 41° 38.377 W 088° 31.621 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/22/2002 Hunters: Kelly, Raoul

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A little more like a regular cache. We got to the same spot that Sherry, I and the kids had gotten to before, and ventured down the main path, but it kept getting us farther and farther away from the cache. Finally, I relented and turned back to the area that we had been in the last time. I asked Raoul if he minded getting his feet wet, and he was OK with that. So we hopped the creek and forged our way through should height grass. There we re-found the path and got to within 20 feet on the path. Once we ventured off, I let Raoul go first and told him what we were looking for. As he was looking in one spot, The Force told me it was in another spot, about 3 feet from where he was looking. I was right, and I think he was amazed. “What made you look in that spot rather than where I was looking.” “You are strong with The Force, young Jedi, but not strong enough.” Actually, I told him in had everything to do with experience in finding and hiding these things. So in the end, we batted .500, 1/2. He seemed pleased with the story, and I had a good hike. Now, about that cache at the bridge...

A PICNIC!!!

2002 Chicagoland Geocaching Picnic by Local Cachers N 42° 01.782 W 088° 00.965 Date Held: 6/30/2002 Coordinator: Kelly and many others

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

What a great day for a picnic! Temperature was 93°, humidity was a little on the high side, but the grove that we had as a location in Busse Woods Forest Preserve was perfect. On this map, it's Grove 25, shown as being just south of the North Pool, but in fact, the actual grove was south of where it is shown on the map. Actually, it was directly across the street from where Grove 24's number is. My best guess from the picture and the not-pictured people that I know about is that we had roughly 60-70 people throughout the day in attendance. Just about the same number as last year's picnic. Special joys from some distance cachers: Ken of Ken&Robin, Team Cheesehead Dave, Team Socket and Team CacheCows all from Wisconsin - and special guest ClayJar from Baton Rouge, LA. ClayJar had made it a point that Hard as Pi would be his 100th find. On to the events of the weekend...

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Friday, June 28

Kimi