This is a simple two-stage multi cache. You will need to get information from the posted coordinates to get the final coordinates and sign the log.
The final coordinates are:
N 43 22.ABC W 92 07.DEF
Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II is the creator and painter of the Freedom Rocks seen throughout Iowa. He is a mural artist, and is painting rocks to thank and honor veterans for their service to our country. Ray plans to paint a rock in each of Iowa’s 99 counties. The Howard County Freedom Rock located here in Cresco is the 68th county rock painted on his Iowa Tour. He is extending the Freedom Rock Tour to hopefully include a rock in all 50 states.
Did you know…
- Ray’s inspiration for painting the first Freedom Rock came while watching the movie “Saving Private Ryan”.
- The first Freedom Rock was painted in 1999 near the town of Fontanelle, Iowa, where he grew up. The rock had been the host of graffiti for years. Ray decided to paint the flag raising at Iwo Jima on the rock to honor veterans on Memorial Day. It was painted over. He repainted it and it lasted a year. Now he paints a new scene on that rock every year.
- He uses a special paint that costs from $300 to $600 a gallon made with silicate and can last up to 100 years.
- Ashes of veterans are mixed in the paint on some of the murals. The helicopter on the Freedom Rock near Fontanelle contains the ashes of about 100 Vietnam veterans. He does not paint over that helicopter. People continue to send him ashes of Veterans to mix in the paint.
- Because they are a big part of his projects, Ray hides the names of his family members in each of the murals: Maria, Michael, and Indie (short for Independence).
- Ray incorporates ideas from the community in each of his designs.
- The Howard County Freedom Rock has an American flag (as does every county rock),
- a Civil War soldier,
- portraits of Cresco’s Five Admirals,
- two ships where local veterans served,
- a portrait of Captain Ellen Church, a local woman that was the world’s first stewardess,
- and a portrait of Lt. Commander Edouard Izac, a local POW that escaped not once, but twice, from the Germans during World War I, even jumping through the window of a moving train to escape.
To get the coordinates for the final, you will need to visit the Freedom Rock. There are flags at the site. You are looking for a sign near the base of the American flag pole.If there is a lot of snow you may have to uncover this metal sign.
- A= The first digit of the day (the digit on the left)
- B= There is a four digit number on the sign that is not a date. Add the third and fourth digits of that number to get B. (Just as an example, for the number 6789, 6 would be the first digit, 7 is the second digit, 8 is the third digit, and 9 is the fourth or last digit.)
- C= the third digit of the year
- D= the last digit of the year
- E= the first digit of the day plus the fourth digit of the year.
- F= the third digit of the number that is not the date.
N 43 22.ABC W 92 07.DEF
The cache is located along a bike trail in town. You can park along the street just east of the final coordinates.
Information on this cache page was found on the Official Freedom Rock website and from The TPD Online (Cresco Times Plain Dealer).
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.