Geocaching Update – Full-Time RV Life

A few months ago, I did a blog post on my new-found hobby of geocaching.  If you aren’t familiar with the activity, please read my previous post or visit the website for basic information on how to get started.  Since finding my very first geocache, I’ve placed trackables that have traveled to England, made a goal to get at least one geocache in every state we travel through, and have introduced several family members to my new addiction.  The hobby of geocaching has taken me to places I may not have seen otherwise–city parks, memorials, cemeteries, wedding chapels, and even road-side farmer’s markets.  It’s become a past time to share with family or explore on my own.

Below, I found my first magnetic key holder cache on Main Street in a small Texas town.  Yes, I looked ridiculous trying to be sneaky while looking for it.  My booty was down as far as it would go to search behind the stairs, but I didn’t care.  In the end, I didn’t even find it.  Mike found the elusive treasure.

Mike, my goddaughter, her mom Sherrie, and I found this one outside a caretaker’s shed in the cemetery where we visited the grave of Stevie Ray Vaughan.  There was even a ‘virtual’ cache (ones where answers to specific questions about a certain location are e-mailed to the cache owner to get credit for ‘finding’ it) at the Vaughan family’s final resting place.

Here was a simple one that we found well hidden behind a shopping center.  My goddaughter’s user name is Littleladybug, so she left her signature lady bug ‘swag.’

This was a little friend of my goddaughter’s who helped find this ammo box at the Irving Texas Historical Society.  Behind it was a peaceful serenity garden that I never would have found if it hadn’t been for geocaching in this spot.

We found a tiny microtube on the edge of the Mustangs of Las Colinas sculpture in Irving, Texas.

Geocaching has taken me hiking with dear friends and strengthened relationships with the young ones in my life.   After this particular adventure took us on a muddy trail, we had to pry caked mud off our shoes for days.

It has also been a test of my perseverance.  I found this after three attempts with four different people.  Just before we were about to pull out of this state park, I wanted to take a final look.  Voila!  Another ‘smiley face’ in my Geocache log.

Sharing this with my daughter was a hilarious experience.  We hiked, we gabbed, and we giggled.  We traipsed through poison ivy, poked through spiderwebs, and squealed in delight when we found the prize.

Signing the log book and logging it in the Geocaching app is a thrill.  We found it!  The smiley faces on the map are almost as fun as the smiley faces in person.

Some of the containers are cleverly hidden and even more of a challenge.  We poked our fingers in holes in trees, Dani got stung by a scorpion, and we’ve even done a few of the “OMG-get-this-spider-off-of-me dances.”  The most memorable time was when Dani pulled a lonestar tick off of her stomach with a Leatherman’s multi tool.   We couldn’t get the creepy clingy thing off fast enough.

Geocaching is even for princesses.  This was a clever container, too!

There’s a little fruit basket by the base of the sign.  There’s a geocache in there.  Pretty smart marketing, because we also bought peaches.

Even birdie homes have hidden treasures.  This was a first for us.  We looked literally everywhere until we finally decided to check out the obvious.

Some finds come with sweet stories.  We found this at a wedding chapel overlooking a beautiful view of the Ozarks.  A groom placed this cardinal geocache in a bush on the day of his wedding, which happened to be during a snowstorm.  It was in honor of a the bride’s mother who had passed away.

The ingenuity of some of the hides are amazing.  This one required moving a ‘pin’ (like a grenade) to activate the door of the birdhouse to reveal the geocache treasure.  We did it a couple of times, just for fun.

A huge yellow ammo box was hidden in out in the open in front of a senior citizen’s home.  The instructions for the cache asked us to turn and wave toward the windows because the residents got a kick out of watching cachers trying to locate the loot.

I found this one with my stepdaughter.  We were hot and sweaty in the 100-degree weather and were just about ready to give up when we finally located it.  It had interesting items in it, including baby rattles and pacifiers.

This was a lovely park in Alpena, Michigan.  I looked and looked and finally found a large Mason jar with the log under the tower.  It took a little bit of maneuvering to get it, and my stepmom was the first to retrieve it.

Another virtual cache brought me to the Michigan Fireman’s Memorial.  It was an honor to submit the answers with lines from the Fireman’s Prayer and the date the memorial was dedicated to the cache owner.

There was a cache in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in memory of a Bigfoot sighting in 1979.  I was locating the hide alone, and I will freely admit to looking over my shoulder for the elusive Sasquatch.  I left disappointed he was nowhere to be found, but I did locate a nice treasure in the ammo box in his honor.

The photo below is a cache located with my sister and niece.   It was in a cemetery close to my mother’s home at the grave of a young woman who died in a car accident.  The cache was placed in memory by her sister and was well cared for and often visited.  Since our family had three siblings who passed away suddenly, it was a tribute that touched us all.

Below is cute little gnome trackable that I started circulating out there somewhere–it travels from cache to cache.  The goal is for the old couple to make it around the United States before we do.  I’m not sure if they’ll make it, but I hope they enjoy the journey along the way.

 

 

Finally, here is my stash of goodies found in the geocaches I’ve located.  They range from odd to funny to just plain weird, but I love every one of the found items.

It’s a worthwhile hobby for everyone.  I wish I’d known about it when my daughter was little.  It’s educational, physically active, mentally challenging, and very low cost.  Most of all, it’s just a lot of fun and entertainment.  There are literally millions of geocaches out there and it’s an entire underground world that is all around us but not everybody sees.

Do you geocache?  Do you have questions about geocaching?  Please comment below.  If you need a ‘friend’ on geocaching.com, hit me up.  RandombitsRV.  That’s me.

Safe travels and happy hunting.

 

We don’t have a video on geocaching, but if you’d like to keep up with us on YouTube, the link is RandomBitsRV.  Check us out on Instragram, too–RandomBitsRV.