Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
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Second Quarter 2010

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAG-CAAL Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 42.1470° W 088.1214° State: Illinois Date Found: 4/9/2010 3:34 pm Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 64°F/18°C Closest Distance: 2.1 meters Barrington, IL - NW of Chicago 35.27 miles from home

Dashpoint Name: Baker Lake Heron Overlook So after an intensive week of SQL2008 Implementation and Administration courses, preparing me for Microsoft's first level exam on the way to certified database administrator, the instructor let us go a little early on Friday, leaving me in a non-usual suburb of Chicago (Schaumburg) and leaving me with extra time for the afternoon. This dashpoint was only 7 miles from myclass location, so - off I went. Barrington is a rather upscale, but still quaint northwestern suburb of Chicago. There are some extremely nice homes in the area, but there's also a lake on the east side of town: Baker Lake. From the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website: Baker's Lake Nature Preserve is a 209 acre area containing a 112 acre lake with an island and a stand of mature open-grown oaks. The area provides visitors with an example of a nature preserve which was dedicated primarily to protect a breeding area for rare and endangered birds rather than for its plant communities. The preserve protects a rookery for 4 species of colonial nesting birds; black-crowned night heron, great egret, double crested cormorant and great blue heron. The area also supports common moorhen, yellow-headed blackbird, and black tern. Other species, especially waterfowl, are present during migration. The dashpoint lies on the northern edge of the lake, in the parking lot of a small overlook area just south of Route 14. I was able to reach the 2 meter mark in my car and then hop out to take some pictures of the overlook. I'll upload pictures shortly. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAG-BYUP Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.5876° W 088.8016° State: Illinois Date Found: 4/17/2010 6:17 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Wags, Grainger Temperature: 68°F/20°C Closest Distance: 36.9 meters West of Somonauk, Far West of Chicago 29.84 miles from home

Dashpoint Name: Gorgeous afternoon and some Good BBQ With a gorgeous day out and a lazy afternoon, we decided to take a drive to a dashpoint, and to take Grainger along for the ride. Piling the boys and the dog into the gas-saver, we trekked out US 34 - Ogden Avenue. This road travels some 1,122 miles from downtown Chicago, paralleling I-80 for the most part through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska before heading a little north of Denver and passing through the Rocky Mountain National Park to its final terminus at Granby, CO a the western entrance of the National Park. Oddly enough at the beginning of October 2009, we were there on our visit to Granny's Nipple (GDAA-ATOM) and even drove on US 34 from the western end into the National Park until the road closed - but at the time we didn't know it was US 34. The path to this dashpoint took us through small but familiar towns of Oswego, Yorkville, Plano, Sandwich, and Somonauk - with a forest preserve on the edge of Somonauk being one of our favorite sledding haunts. The dashpoint itself was between Somonauk and Leland accessible right off US 34, just 37 meters to the south in a cluster of trees - closest to a pine tree. On the way back home, we stopped in Somonauk at what looked like a very promising mobile BBQ stand, and I purchased 2 pounds of pulled pork. This is some of the best pulled pork I've had since Chattanooga (theirs is still the best). 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Summerfield Lake Cache by Geogrovers N 41° 43.785 W 088° 12.081 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 4/24/2010 Hunters: Kelly

Finished my work's server updates a little earlier than usual, so I stopped by on my way home. Nice little cache.

10 Years! (Chicago IL) - Dave's Chinese Dinner :) by Panther in the Den and GoGeocaching.com N 41° 48.477 W 088° 01.143 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 5/3/2010 Hunters: Kelly, LOTS of other cachers

Good food, good fellowship. Sat with PattyTracker and Corp of Discovery - reminisced about caches and adventures.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAH-CAAJ Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.3289° W 088.1969° State: Illinois Date Found: 5/15/2010 7:04 am Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 59°F/15°C Closest Distance: 83.9 meters Near the Lorenzo Road Exit, Frontage Road near Wilmington, IL (WSW of Chicago) 21.71 miles from home

Dashpoint Name: It's a Scout Weekend My son had another National Jamboree “Practice Campout” with his patrol (The Duct Tape Patrol) and the rest of the Rainbow Council 702 contingent down at the council scout reservation. This was only about 6 or 7 miles from the camp site, so after dropping him off and making sure he had everything all set, I buzzed over on some back country roads heading for the Interstate (I-55). The dashpoint location is visible from the interstate, (see this link in Google Maps), but to reach the magic circle, you have to head to the farmhouse that houses the point and follow the path back to the tree nursery that the point lies on. The home at the entrance was quite quiet at 7 a.m., so I drove back as if I were shopping for trees, did the turn-around circle, and headed back out. The point was easily scored on this lazy Saturday. The rest of the day would be spent coming back out the 20 miles to the Council to work as the Chaplain spending time with the Chaplain's Aides planning the Scouts Own Service, and then taking my 4th grade scout to the Inter-troop Competition of four Boy Scout troops (he's bridging next year). Our troop won! 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAH-CADA Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.4248° W 087.8891° State: Illinois Date Found: 5/30/2010 7:09 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sam Temperature: 84°F/29°C Closest Distance: 65.3 meters Between Manhattan, IL and Monee, IL - SSW of Chicago 23.13 miles from home

Dashpoint Name: Wille Brothers This was a nice long drive in the country on the last Sunday of May. My younger son and I took the time to pile into the car and drive to Arsenal Road/Manhattan Blacktop. This road heads from the Mobil/Exxon refinery found at the intersection of Interstate 55 and the Des Plaines River, through the refinery and on through the old Joliet Arsenal. The historic arsenel has now been converted to an army training facility ground, a portion to the Midewine Tall Grass Prairie and a portion to the Lincoln National Vetrans Administration Cemetery. Passing across the old Route 66, we saw the sign indicating the direction to the cemetery - it would be at this location in 24 hours that President Obama would be giving the Memorial Day address. But we continued east through the tiny hamlet of Manhattan, Illinois (where my parents once lived) and on east to the intersection of Manhattan Road (formerly known and The Manhattan Blacktop) to its intersection of US Rotue 45. At that intersection is the Wille Brothers facility - a residential concrete specialists (according to their site willibrothers.com). The dashpoint lies in the field just to the west of a residence (also to the west of the Willie Brothers facility. The intersection of Route 45 and Manhattan Road offered a Gas City for a fill up of the Yaris, and the stomach of both the dad and son before heading home. 3 points to Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAI-CAAV Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.4230° W 088.1378° State: Illinois Date Found: 6/1/2010 7:14 pm Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 80°F/27°C Closest Distance: 47.6 meters South of Joliet, SW of Chicago 15.85 miles from home

Dashpoint Name: Dejavu All Over Again, and a Sense of Loss This was a nice shorter drive in the country on the first Tuesday of June. This spot was actually passed by me on May 30 when I traveled out to GDAH-CADA. As I mentioned in my last report, Arsenal Road heads from the Mobil/Exxon refinery found at the intersection of Interstate 55 and the Des Plaines River, through the refinery and on through the old Joliet Arsenal. The historic arsenal has now been converted to an army training facility ground, a portion to the Midewin Tall Grass Prairie and a portion to the Lincoln National Veterans Administration Cemetery. This point is one of the entrances to the training ground of the old Arsenal. There is a pull-out to the ESE and east of the dashpoint that is within the magic circle. I pulled into the spot and took a few photos of the entrance (uploading later). This is “Entrance Number 4”. I was able to get a few photos, which I'll post later. Of note, this point is only 2 miles (3km) from my maternal grandparents' retirement farmhouse. Google Earth shows the farmhouse clearly in its Mar 2008 imagery, but the Oct 2009 shows the start of the construction of the major inter-modal transport facility being built in the southern Joliet area. A high retaining wall now sits on the site of the former neighboring farmhouse to the north, and all that is left of my grandparents home is a falling down picket fence and the trees that surrounded the yard. The homestead, which had been sold back in 1988, has been bulldozed and sits under a mound of earth to the south. This was the home that we had numerous Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners - Grandma and Grandpa's house from when I was a little kid, and one of the first longer drives I did with my drivers license (first obtained some 27 years ago). I was a bit surprised the house was gone, but it was just memories at this point. 3 wistful and nostalgic points to Markwell and Trailblazers

Loch Ness Monster by cubmaster105 N 41° 44.179 W 088° 10.032 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/5/2010 Hunters: Kelly, Sam

Sam and I looked and looked - cache not there?

Do Your Best by Free-cachers N 41° 43.880 W 088° 09.899 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/5/2010 Hunters: Kelly, Sam

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Found today with Sam - it was a great little hike with lots of frogs involved. Tadpole-like froggies hopping across the road, a koosh-ball frog in the cache and a volunteer geocoin with Signal placed in the cache. Too bad we couldn't find GC23NMY near by.

Ruins by the Lake by vtaltos_1 N 41° 36.504 W 088° 10.384 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/13/2010 Hunters: Kelly, Drew

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Found with Drew (first cache for him in a LONG time).

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAI-BYOT Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 40.4386° W 089.4407° State: Illinois Date Found: 6/14/2010 11:59 am Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 71°F/22°C Closest Distance: 100.0 meters Southeast of Peoria, IL 104.38 miles from home

Dashpoint Name: A Trip Down Memory Lane On vacation this week I decided to take my two sons to see my old stomping grounds. When I graduated college, I taught music in Delavan, Illinois for two years, then moved back to my hometown of Plainfield. We packed into the car this past Monday morning without much of a real plan, and drove south about 170 km to Delavan. We saw the school, we saw our old apartments and ate at Avanti's Italian Restaurant (40.67431, -89.53996 - have a Gondola). But while in the area, we also hit GDAI-BYOT, which is just off Interstate spur 155 that goes from Peoria to Lincoln (just north of Springfield). While I was teaching in 1989-1991, this wasn't an interstate, but just a two lane road. Since then, it's been upgraded. The dashpoint was just off the interstate exit, in a little neighborhood that ended on a cul-de-sac. The actual point lies in the back yard of a house with a fish-mailbox (picture to be uploaded soon). After hitting the point we went to the town I taught and back up to Peoria, but it was a pretty quick pass into the driveway to score the magic circle. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX43-YSIL Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.2169° W 088.4185° State: Illinois Date Found: 6/14/2010 4:03 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 71°F/22°C Closest Distance: 44.6 meters Flag: Bermuda Mazon, IL 31.01 miles from home

Geovexilla Name: On the way home from Nostalgia On the way home from our trip south where we hit GDAI-BYOT, we took Route 47 back in through Dwight, Mazon and Morris, which meant that we drove within the magic circle of VX43-YSIL. The point is to the west of Route 47 in a newly growing cornfield. I was able to pull of the side of the road after and intersection and let a couple of truck pass me before taking a picture or two out the window.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX43-TYWI Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.2959° W 088.5908° State: Illinois Date Found: 6/16/2010 1:17 pm Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 76°F/24°C Closest Distance: 71.4 meters Flag: Brazil Seneca, West of Morris 30.42 miles from home

Geovexilla Name: Teaching Scouts to Teach Scouts Geocaching I was out at the Rainbow Council Scout Reservation teaching the staff of Summer Camp about geocaching, so they could teach the scouts about geocaching. Our Council has a set of about 20 eTrex H units (little yellow) and I had them find some bright Easter Eggs around camp with clever clues for the names. The water spiggot outside the First Aid building was called "Dihydrous Monoxide for Medicinal Purposes" - you get the idea. After lunch, I piled into the car and headed out the 6 miles to the west to this point. It lies west of the DuPont factory which is west of Morris. The road that used to travel just to the south of the plant is now incorporated into the plant itself, so I couldn't take the direct route. After a mile south, a mile west, then a mile north, I found this flag just east of a heavily graffiti-covered bridge to the east of Seneca, IL. One Brazilian Flag for Markwell

Slippery Slope by GeoRon N 41° 40.402 W 088° 23.605 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

Father's Day Stop #1: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the first of several stops in the park today, and the first non-find. The slope itself seems to have been cleared in the area, so maybe the container itself is gone. But the stop reinforced the need for bug spray for the rest of the trip.

GOJAC's Classic 300 by G.O. John and Carol N 41° 40.047 W 088° 23.891 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

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Father's Day Stop #2: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the second of several stops in the park today, and the first find. Quite a bit of whacking through mosquito infested areas, but the find was a good one. Nice solid Ammo can. - Dropped my 2005 Volunteer Coin (#4) in the cache.

I Saw Another Wee Key by GeoRon N 41° 39.944 W 088° 23.978 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

Father's Day Stop #3: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the third of several stops in the park today. The area seems to have had some cutting done. I wonder if the cache was taken.

Zowie, GeoRon's 3000 find! by Abell N 41° 39.925 W 088° 24.120 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

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Father's Day Stop #4: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the fourth of several stops in the park today, and probably the WORST for the mosquitos (well - best for them, worst for me). With the little creek running beside the location, they were just waiting in ambush for someone with some fresh blood. I worked quickly and then dropped my 2008 Markwell Volunteer coin (#13) in the cache.

GeoRon's 3rd Anniversary Cache by GeoRon N 41° 39.773 W 088° 24.153 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

Father's Day Stop #5: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the fifth of several stops in the park today. No I was gettign into familiar territory. This cache was just a nice little hop from the path, and it was definitely a familiar path. Skirted some bikers and dropped 2008 Markwell Volunteer Coin (#12)

For the Love of Saw Wee Kee by TeamSeekAndWeShallFind N 41° 39.583 W 088° 24.301 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

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Father's Day Stop #6: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the sixth of several stops in the park today, and undoubtedly my favorite cache. I passed the location of the original Saw Wee Kee cache (GC778) on the way. Having visited the older cache back in 2001, I was definitely better prepared to find the way to this cache. What a great path - you have to watch for the entrance to the trek, but once you're there it's easily recognizable on each revisit. Up the hill, down and crossing the little creek by the stump, then ride the ridge between the waters. Very cool. Most of the time cachers find an existing cool cache and then place one closer to the parking lot. This cache is the exact opposite, which makes it VERY nice in my book. I took the time and dropped some of my 2005 Markwell Volunteer Geocoins in the cache (#02 and #03).

Saw Wee Kee by Photojon(Adopted by TeamSeekAndWeShallFind) N 41° 39.678 W 088° 24.230 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Revisited: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly, Drew

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Father's Day Stop #7: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the seventh of several stops in the park today. Revisited this cache on the way back from GC1GHF1 (For the Love of Saw Wee Kee. I must say that the container is not in the same location or hidden in the same manner as originally placed. Either way, it's a GREAT cache and worth visiting. I dropped my last coins for the day, 2005 Markwell Volunteer Coin #01.

I can see it by jonzil N 41° 40.114 W 088° 23.731 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

Father's Day Stop #8: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the eighth of several stops in the park today. I scoped the area pretty clearly, delving into mosquito infested brambles. If the cache is there, I couldn't find it.

NoSWK2 by GeoRon N 41° 40.307 W 088° 23.608 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 6/20/2010 Hunters: Kelly

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Father's Day Stop #9: A great day through Saw Wee Kee park on Father's Day. This was the ninth of several stops in the park today. I had not been in the north side of the Saw Wee Kee park, but this is much more meadows and prairie than the main section with the mountain bike trails. Very nice caching area. I found the last cache of the day after a short rummage off the trail and deposited my last 2008 Markwell Volunteer Coin from my pocket #14). The true adventure came in the fact that rather than following the trail to the road only 350 feet away and then walking the nice level 0.42 miles on the road, I decided to backtrack and hit the path at N 41 40.215, W 88 23.694. That actually made the hike a full one mile to the car, and it was packed full of up-down-up-down-up-down-up-down. By the time I got back to the car, I was dehydrated (forgot my water) and light headed. Drank up, went to the gas station and got more water and a 44 oz drink - feeling MUCH better! All told my Father's Day trek was 3.3 miles car door to car door.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX44-IJIR Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.3440° W 088.2296° State: Illinois Date Found: 6/26/2010 12:36 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew Temperature: 83°F/28°C Closest Distance: 24.8 meters Flag: Canada Between Morris and I-55 on Lorenzo Road 20.62 miles from home

Geovexilla Name: BSA Swim Test Out again to the Rainbow Council Scout Reservation for a Jamboree preparatory event. The boys need to be certified as “swimmers” to be able to do some of the activities like white-water rafting on the way back from the National Jamboree, but if the scout is not attending summer camp, they need to be certified. So, we trudge the 45 minute trip back down to Rainbow Council Scout Reservation spend 10 minutes at the waterfront doing certification, and then head back out. This time rather than going through Morris as we usually do, we went toward I-55 to hit this point before its expiration. The point is along a dead-end road with crackling power lines to the west. We rolled down the window to take a photo, and the buzzing of the high-tension lines were quite loud. I think it had to do with the onslaught of rain we had this week. Walking through camp on the muddy trails was like walking through the Everglades swamp.

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On to Third Quarter 2010

Last Updated:
July 6, 2010