WHEN THE RAIN GETS GOING, THE CRAZY GO TRAVEL BUGGING

Rain!! Miles!! More rain!! Travel bugs!! No rain!! Geocaches!! And more miles!!

Anyhow, that's what Saturday last seemed like. I left home early Saturday morning to pick up BatikFraeak10 (worthy sister) for a long day's drive (well over 400 miles round trip) in order to attend our first ever Geocaching organized event.

In case you have forgotten, travel bugs are those little bits of metal attached to any suitable and semi-attractive object-think Hot Wheels cars or tiny dolls or other figures. The "TB's" (as they are known) are sent into the world of geocahing to do various and sundry travels and to meet diverse goals and objectives. Our first ever organized event would be a gathering of dedicated geocachers to place many (56 as it turned out) travel bugs in a specific geocache. The TB's would then be entered in a year long race to see which ones could accumulate the most miles during the 365 day period.

Along the way, and while we were in the neighborhood so to speak, we managed to travel over into both Kentucky and Ohio in order to grab a very few ordinary geocaches and get our electronic awards for caching in those states.

Mostly a photo display but ride along. Bring your umbrella.

Down the WV Turnpike we go in the driving rain.

But by the time we were in Charleston WV, the State Capital, the rain had ceased. Super cool, because our event gathering is only a few miles away.

A new (for us) type of travel bug. You can actually record this, and the other new and odd types of TB's we saw at the Geocaching.com travel bug home page.

Signing up. The SUV in the far background (raised rear gate) is the collection point for our travel bugs.

This is also a real TB and can be logged as found. It attaches magnetically to the owner's vehicle. A regular TB is only about an inch and a half long-quite a bit more convenient

Your's truly waiting patiently in line to send my travel bugs...who knows where.

Yet another travel bug variation.

Heading home from Ohio and our successful finds in two new states.

Nearing Beckley and back to wet roads but no more rain.




Thanks to BatikFreak10 for taking the traveling as well as several other pictures. A great, if a trifle long, day.

WINTER'S OVER, LET'S GO EAT, I MEAN GEOCACHING

It's been a long time since we last went out geocaching, at least it seems so. It's time to go out searching for those little hidden containers and treasures. But let's go eat first. At least that's how it seems.

I have to admit that when BatikFreak10 (dear little sis), Wiscongranny (wife Joyce), and I go geocaching food is seldom not far--in fact never far--from our minds. I think we all secretly keep one eye on our watches and only look out for caches as a secondary effort. In other words we're true members of the George family.

This is not the first find of the day, but rather a nice hide of what is known as a "Bison Tube". Don't ask me why.

What's different is that this one is hidden up above eye level. Almost without exception hides are down in or on the ground. Simply putting one up in a tree makes it much more difficult to find. Habit dictates were we look fist.

No this isn't the first cache of the day either, but very nearly the last one. This was a fun hide because the cache was a mini in a magnetic key box. Now where can a magnetic key box be attached to this old Patton Tank?? Think like just about anywhere. We did find the cache after a few minutes of searching and clue reading, but only after minute examination of the proper area of the vehicle.

This concludes the caching portion of this post. Let's go eat.

When we first arrived in the Bluefield WV/VA area BatikFreak10 just "happened" to mention that the local Dairy Queen--we seem to gravitate to the very worst of junk food establishments for sustenance during caching trips-- had an exceptionally tasty menu, we knew where we would be heading for lunch, but BF10 and I were a little taken by surprise when, after our very first find, Wiscongranny asked "Can we go eat now"?? While it did seem like a good idea (there were moments of silent introspection) we did manage to find a few more caches before succumbing to the inevitable and heading for the local "DQ". And there we instantly became...

Like kids in a candy store.

Mounds of that All American Junk Food (the hot dog) with layers of chilli, onions, mustard, and slaw were ordered. French Fries?? This DQ has some (speaking as a long term taste tester of french fries) outstanding fries, not at all greasy and in admirable quantity per serving ("we only have one size" the counter girl said). But we all ordered only water to drink ("I'm trying to cut back" we all said).

And then Joyce (I'm sure it wasn't me) said...

"Are we going to have ice cream"??

ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ICE CREAM"?? Dairy Queen is the home of the Blizzard, 8 ounces (in our case) of ice cream (is DQ soft serve actually ice cream??), various mixtures of goodies--usually involving some quantity of chocolate--of your choice and even whipped cream for the ultimate dessert treat.

"ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ICE CREAM"??

Silly Rabbit, Blizzards are for kids. And we sure were kids Thursday when we went eating, uhh geocaching.

We really overdid the junk food and ice cream treats. But we did manage to find some nice caches, then it became supper time...