Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
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May 2004

WAGS

Semper Fi's Wagner ("Wags") came home with Team Markwell on April 30, 2004. She has her own Geocaching.com account that will log her adventures as well. Here's to a long caching career! Any cache that has the Golden Retriever icon was found with Wags. Click on the icon to read Wags' logs.

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Rollin’ Down the River by ChicagoGeoTracker N 41° 42.871 W 088° 06.849 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/2/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Wags and I were in this preserve tracking down an imaginary Geodashing Golfpoint, when this cache appeared on the radar screen. In fact it was only about 100 feet from the trail, so I slung her up (to avoid ticks, etc.) and carried her the last couple of feet to the spot. Found the cache in short order and logged everything quickly. Wags was pretty tired, but did really well finding her first cache!

Birds of a Feather by woodsmom and greenback N 41° 49.829 W 088° 00.475 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/8/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A very nice event cache. I wasn't originally planning on going, but since the carpet was going to be cleaned, I decided to take Wags out to her first event. Nice to see a local park district taking such an avid stance FOR geocaching. There were nine temporary caches placed by the park district specifically for this event. I had time enough to try for four: Temp #2 N 41° 48.745 W 088° 01.021: Doerhoffer Park Temp - no parking and tons of muggles Temp #1 N 41° 47.548 W 088° 00.309: DGPD Museum - What a Cheer What a Cheer Temp #3 N 41° 47.889 W 088° 00.907: Prince Pond - Daffy about Ducks Temp #5 N 41° 48.262 W 088° 00.974: Pierce Downer Burial Site - Whoooo Goes There? Thanks to Greenback for a great event!

Target This Hidden Oasis by Greenback N 41° 50.620 W 088° 00.270 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/8/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

This was a poser. Wags and I got to zero out, but the clutter in the area had me spooked. Too spooked. After about 15-20 minutes, I gave up - but after getting back home to read the encrypted clue I know where the cache is.

BankOne by Greenback N 41° 48.546 W 088° 00.935 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/8/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

What a quick find. Nice change from the Target one.

Bring your whit by Cyberwolf N 41° 48.809 W 087° 59.648 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/8/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

This one got the better of me and Wags. We were there for quite a while with no success. After talking it over with Greenback, I feel better - since that seasoned veteran had difficulty as well.

Get The Knaack by Greenback N 41° 47.507 W 088° 00.199 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 5/8/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Too many muggles, too few parking spaces. Man - these parks are sure busy during baseball season.

’Twas the Night Before Christmas by Greenback N 41° 49.817 W 088° 00.438 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/8/2004 Hunters: Kelly, Wags

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Probably the neatest one, once I read the history on the page. Well, it's only a little history, but it makes this cache all the neater. I thought that what was referenced on the cache page as evidence of this being a farm was placed by Greenback. In retrospect, this is a really neat feature of this park.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD35-BYVU Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.3677° W 088.9745° State: Illinois Date Found: 5/23/2004 1:02 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Wags I-80 NE of Utica, IL 42.99 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: 33 Days After a Tornado Mile Marker 83 on Interstate 80 in Illinois. I reached 2 meters pulled off on the eastbound shoulder. The mile marker is literally 10 meters from the dashpoint. 3 points for Markwell and Team Trailblazers, please. Back on April 20, we were having a Cub Scout meeting when the tornado warning system went off. Plainfield is a little skiddish about tornados since the F5 tornado came through in 1990 and wiped much of the town off the landscape. The boys and their parents waited out the storm in the basement of the American Legion hall. News reports later indicated that the town of Utica (about 5 miles north of Starved Rock State Park) was hit by the tornado, and that massive rebuilding efforts were underway. Since mile marker 83 is only about 2 miles from the exit for Utica, I took the opportunity to visit the small town of 1000 people and survey the damage. Whie this was not the total devestation that Plainfield hit 14 years ago, 33 days after the storm, the damage could still be seen. I've got several pictures of the town that I'll combine into a montage. Of note, this was Wags' first Geodash. Wags is our 11-week-old Golden Retriever puppy, and the newest Geodog on the circuit, having found a couple of caches, been to an event cache, and accompanied on a few Geodashing Golf holes. This was her first Geodash, and she slept admirably through the long car ride.

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Last Updated:
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 10:45 CDT