New and improved Geochain. One of my brothers got me a cute super bright flashlight for Christmas, and I was excited that it came with a carabiner on it. Another change was that I just could not find a pen that would clip onto the chain while still being able to make my mark on any of the random paper logs that we've found. So I went with a mini fine point Sharpie. I also noticed that leaving the chain in the car on freezing night temps, is not good on the pen or flashlight batteries. The retractable lanyard that I was wanting to do, will actually put it too low and knock on my dash. Harbor Freight stopped carrying it anyways, so no biggie. Overnight it gets clipped to my pack and brought inside. Have you made yours yet?

Geocache. Everything.

One last post before the New Year of 2015. I meant to do this sooner, as the content is Christmas. Ornaments. Specifically, Geocaching Ornaments. Walmart had clear plastic ornament balls for $1. I picked up a dozen or more of them for crafts. They do not split apart, but rather just the top pulls out, and you fill it that way. On Pinterest they had some similar ones to those. I couldn't resist making some myself.

This is the ornament that I filled as a Cache container. Its contents include: a very short pencil, a duct tape made GPS, some random paper material from misprinted logs, a regular log, foam letters to represent everyone in the house, and a band-a-loom panda bear that I found in Las Vegas NV this fall. I printed out the green official label, and used Mod Podge to cover it.

Ever wonder what to do with those wet or full logs that you find? Wonder no more. Keep them. I've come across containers that are so full of logs, that no swag will even fit in them. Logs that had gotten wet, from either caching in the rain or leaky container, that will never dry out in a small damp container. After a day of heavy caching, the girls and I came to realize that someone had been caching in the rain the previous weekend, and every log was soaked. A couple drops of water in a small container is normally bad news. We ended up just replacing most of the logs. At the end of the day we had a glove box full of damp logs. Took them in the house and they dried out the next day. Well now I had about 20 GC logs. The thought of throwing them away with everyones memory of each GC was not what I wanted to do. Several of them even had doodles on them. After making the GC Ornament, I thought that would be neat to do with these. I put the Official label on it, rolled each log up, and placed them into the plastic ball. Gave it a few shakes and they looked pretty cool. I've got 3 of them now, in fact, I gave one to a fellow Cacher friend. :)

GeoChain?

Oh what a wondrous adventure. Getting closer to reaching 100 caches. A little on what's been going on since last post. Our DD turned 13, and she asked to see Hunger Games Mockingjay, and to go Geocaching. Yes, it was a proud moment. :) I took her and to of her friends. It was fun. However, I've had this problem whenever I take someone caching with me in my car, no room to get into my Cache pack when someone is in the front seat. It's better because of the pack that I got, but there's not a lot of room in a Hummer. Swag bag I can keep in the console or to the side of seat. Pen, I always have in my shirt pocket. Log roller, swiss army knife w/tweezers, replacement logs, and flashlight, are all in my pack. If they were larger items, it would be worth it to have my passengers sitting against and on my pack. We got nearly 20 new finds for each of us on her birthday run. It didn't take me long to figure out a different system for park and grab (P&G).

A keychain, hanging from my mirror, or tucked in the console, would be clever. Something that ties all my tools of the trade (TOTT) together in one place. So here's my lightbulb. This is what I have so far.

Flashlight, log roller, mini snap pliers (we call them fish hook removers), a Bison and a Nano tube loaded to be hidden (never know when you'll come across a neat spot), a larger case that has bison and nano size waterproof replacement logs, and then some swag. I only have a paracord person on it at the moment, but I'd like to get a small zippered bag to hold swag items. So I've got 3 sections. One has the tools needed on the same ring, so they can be slipped off the carabiner. The hide tubes and spare logs are their own section. Then once I get by the store this evening to get some more rings, I'll have a ring with swag on it.

Something that's missing that I'd like to have would be a retractable keychain. We stopped at harbor Freight this morning and I glimpsed for one, but they were out. They are stronger than the ones that use string. We actually use the retractable ones here at the muffler shop for our strikers. Here's a picture I got offline of what it is. This would make it easy to grab the carabiner and pull it to me to get what I need off of it.

Here's a different option. I come across these keyrings quite a bit also. Their already set up to do just that. Come apart in sections. Here's a picture I got offline below.

Have I struck the Pinterest bone yet? Thanks for reading.

Showing off my Cache Pack

So after my geocaching experience in Las Vegas, I had realized that my EDC daypack was way too small to use since adding caching stuff to it. I think it was originally a daypack with a water bladder, and I had gotten it for the bladder only but it does make a nice little pack. Unfortunately outdated by newer models, I found one about the same size that features more pockets, lanyard ties, and drink holder pockets. I wish it hadn't been $40 though. I do really like my new one. I can get all my EDC in it, plus my caching items. Not too big to have to make room for in the car either. Also has soft machine washable material too. So I thought I'd share my Cache pack contents. :)

First we have the contents of the bag. A pack of WetOnes wipes, toilet paper, waterproof notebook, fav mini pilot pen, log roller, swiss army knife w tweezers, flashlight, loaded bison tubes, geocache brochures, spare logs and baggies, swag bag in an apple crown royal sack, pepper spray w armband, and a loaded pill bottle cache.

Below is the current contents of my SWAG bag.

So what's in your cache pack?

Geocaching in Las Vegas

During my 5 day stay in Las Vegas NV this year, my sole purpose (besides seminar classes) was to find as many caches as I could. This was much more difficult than I'd expected. There's so many people (muggles as GC's call them) everywhere! I spent 3 days looking for one just outside of the hotel I was staying at. I did find it, but man it was difficult. I haven't come across cache containers like those here in Oklahoma at that time, and found most to be ridiculously clever. Two that I searched for came down to did not find (DNF). My brother and his wife accompanied me for the most part. They really got into it too. We walked and walked and walked. I think I got in well over 20mi for my entire stay. This was my 4th trip to Vegas, but my first caching trip. I found micros, nanos, and tins. One was just a duct tape bag with a magnet in it. If you haven't been to Vegas before, there are literally poster boxes all down the strip, fancy fencing, and electrical boxes everywhere. I carried a trackable with me to drop off since it hadn't been in Nevada yet. Just finding a place to put it was a task. I ended up backtracking to one of the first ones I'd found, and forcing it into the tin. Now I know why some people tend to not grab trackables that are larger in size. Here's the one that I had picked up.

Several things that I wish I had for most of the geocaches was a more discreet pair of tweezers, a log roller, a battery box for my iphone, and a notebook. The Las Vegas strip is pounded with attractions. A notebook would have been more handy to write down the description and attraction point, than to keep using my phone. A log roller because I spent more time trying to get the logs rolled up to return than I did finding and signing. My EDC backpack that I carry also housed my geocaching things, this was a mistake. When you're on the strip, you've got a couple water bottles, wallet, purchased items, and if you're smart, a couple of blister pads. :) Then included was my swag bag (which i only carried small specific things on these treks down the strip), pen, iphone/gps, and a small flashlight.

A few of the obstacles I had to dance around was the homeless people. Asking for money or food, and they tended to hang out around areas that I was caching at. Security guards are also all over. Glaring at you while you check the lamp post and stand shady around it until the coast is clear. One location that we went to, we were spotted checking it out and asked what was so interesting about it. Come to find out that she had worked in the restaurant for awhile and tend to see many passerby's inspect the attraction. I wish I had brought some of the brochures about Geocaching with me to Vegas. I now carry a few of them in my backpack now. We tried explaining it to her with what small time we had, but she had to get back to work. Another cache location was directly located on a super busy intersection corner. In fact, as it got darker we gave up waiting for muggles to thin out and just dove in checking out the location. My SIL had told one guy that she had lost her earring. :p I checked this location 7 times in my 5 day stay, I DNF. Actually on the last time that I went back in the morning hours, there was a homeless guy sleeping on the ground in the location. So I could only peek around a little bit.

Just as most of the Las Vegas cache descriptions say, Most people are drunk or too busy to notice anyone else. Another useful tip is to be safe! I picked up what I thought was a cache container fallen from its location. When I picked it up, it revealed used syringes! This was in my other DNF location. A bed made of cardboard boxes, and a bicycle chained up to the fence most of the day. After finding the syringes, I marked that off my list.

Making your own Swag

Something we all get, aka Swag, is trade items left by Geocachers. One of the rules of GC is that if you take something from the container, you must replace it with something of your own that is of equal or greater value. Emptying the contents of a GC and replacing it with a handful of pennies, not cool. Unless they were rare I suppose. :p Anything not family friendly for all ages, is also not good swag. This omits leaving lighters, tobacco, alcohol, knives, and fireworks. Another rule is to remember to sign the logbook. That is the way to show that you did in fact find it, and since most caches are monitored, the owner normally double checks.

Anyways, in our adventure of GC, we've come across some very interesting and some not so interesting swag. In one cache we found, there was a personalized laminated business card like item that had the cachers username on it. I thought that was pretty neat. If I could make our own swag to leave, then other cachers could look us up and see how far the swag came from or a bit about us. I really like to place tradeables for the next cachers. So a run onto Pinterest, and a little creativity, I was able to make our own swag.

 Pictured above is my swag bag. I've got a nice collection of personalized stones, paracord dragonflys I make, collectible Lego minifigures (ones I have many of), pens from work and places I've been, military currency, Sonic coupons (I love these! They fit in almost every size container), and just some odds and ends.

I downloaded a sticker making template into Microsoft. Then used Paint to draw, cut, paste my own personalized labels. Copied it over to the template. Printed out they are square, then I cut them to circles. Using Outdoor ModPodge, I glue them to clear stones I got from Hobby Lobby, and then after they dry I cover the paper again and just around the rim of the stone. I only do the bottom part because when I seen this similar thing done, they covered the entire rock. It made it shiny, but it looked fake, and tended to peel off when scratched against something. On several of the stones I also stuck magnets onto the backs of them. The printouts have a clever little info on them, then my username and my state. Even though I don't have many other geocache friends, I like to think that the person that picks up something that I made will remember me. I've also done the personalized printouts glued to the inside of pop bottle caps.

I really like to use paracord in things around the house. I can now add paracord people to my swag creations. Here's a pic of the ones we do, but it's not my own.

Do you make your own swag? Show them off. ;)

What is Geocaching?

What is Geo-caching? We love it. Classified as a game of treasure hunts. We don't have a lot of time on our hands, and DH hates wasting time. If we didn't ride together to and from work, I would stop all the time at new locations. Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. You have to navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache container hidden at that location. Sometimes there's tradables (random misc items), sometimes there's just a paper to sign your username(log). Now to participate in Geocaching, you need to sign up at geocaching.com. That's where you get the coordinates of the caches. Here's a Show-You video from the site.

Anyways, I've participated in this many years ago, but never got really into it until it moved to the App stores. Now my phone or iPad are the GPS. Totally free through itunes. Recently I've gotten back into it. Mostly because of more caches hidden in our area. We also did some geocaching on bike too. Yesterday I became a Premium member for 3 months by donating $10. It shows even more caches in our area. In fact during our evening bike rides, we ride by 2 of them. I leave for Las Vegas this weekend for a seminar, and I will be enjoying many caches off the strip. I've also picked up a Trackable geocache, it's my first one so far. I'm looking forward to taking it with me.

I'm not going to go much into the description of geocaching, but it is something that us as a family like to do. I really like seeing what items people leave and take. I tend to leave an item or few when I find anything that will hold more than a signing log. Maybe I should change my username to The Gifter. :p I also wanted to leave something behind that people could go online and get some info on the things that we do, and have done. I like to hear of history of the people that were there before us. Leaving something with my username on it was what I started really getting into. I ended up making a template, and doing some of my own copy paste designing. I was disappointed to find out that the person that found a cache after us, had taken out the items I had put in there and not replaced them with anything. That's the point. If you take something, you have to leave something of the same or greater value. Over the weekend we found 2 caches that had, what I call minivan cache, in them. A plastic army man, a plastic truck with no wheels, a strip of stickers, a bead, and a yoyo with no string on it. These are all things that you would find under and in between the seats of our minivan when the girls were younger. I want people to find neat creative things. That's when making our own trinkets came in. Commonly called The Swag Bag, ours tends to get full of our own projects, rather than what we trade out with.

Here's some pics of our swag.

I downloaded a sticker making template into Microsoft. Then used Paint to draw, cut, paste my own personalized labels. Copied it over to the template. Printed out they are square, then I cut them to circles. Using Outdoor Mod Podge, I glue them to clear stones I got from Hobby Lobby, and then after they dry I cover the paper again and just around the rim of the stone. I only do the bottom part because when I seen this similar thing done, they covered the entire rock. It made it shiny, but it looked fake, and tended to peel off when scratched against something. On several of the stones I also stuck magnets onto the backs of them. The printouts have a clever little info on them, then my username and my state. Even though I don't have many other geocache friends, I like to think that the person that picks up something that I made will remember me.

Always encouraging people to DIY if possible, here are some starter backgrounds if you'd like to make your own personalized pieces. Just copy or save the image, then open in Paint program (or whatever you use), add your stuff. :)