Category: Movie References

/ Eric Schudiske /

A Journey of 1001 Days of Geocaching

Editor’s Note: Kiet and Jill Callies (kietc) along with their daughter visited Groundspeak HQ on June 18th, 2010.  It was their 1001st straight day of geocaching. The journey began on September 22, 2007 and ended that day at HQ. Kiet authored this guest blog. This is his story.  These are his words.  Here’s what you can learn from a team that completed a geocaching streak of 1001 days.

Kiet and Jill Callies with daughter McKenzie. Geocaching username "keitc"

When we started our streak on September 22, 2007, it was a reboot of a previous 41-day streak, broken by work commitments, which just whetted our whistles for the big one. No other commitments would interrupt our next streak until June 18, 2010 – a thousand and one days later. In that time, if stringing our finds together like a necklace of pearls, we traveled nearly 60,000 miles and made finds in 15 states.

The original streak probably began as a pacesetter for reaching a milestone by the year’s end. The big streak was to prove we could go all the way. We started setting the goal of 100 days, then a year and, if a year, why not a thousand days. Then, again, why not be literary, like A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, A Thousand and One Geocaching Days.

I almost carried the whole load alone. However, this was never meant to be a loner’s endeavor. My wife and daughter stepped in my place a couple of times. Once, during one of life’s frustrating moments of defeatism when I decided to give up on everything and pick a fight with the world, my wife, unable to witness the regret I would face in the after-moment, took my daughter and made a find to keep the streak alive.

The next generation of geocacher, McKenzie Callies.

Now, to maintain such a streak, the quality of some caches suffers. Though we have seen and discovered some amazing things in the course of our adventures, both obvious and hidden, we often had to settle for some mundane finds – a film canister tucked under a lamp post cover or inside a guard rail, which can be demotivating when these are the majority of your finds. Then I stumbled upon the Danboard and Stormtroopers 365 photo projects and was inspired.

One of the things we enjoy about geocaching is the context of location. There is a reason why someone chose a particular location and decided to share it with others. Now you can argue whether the location is worth sharing, but you cannot deny that it now has context, a story. I decided to lay another narrative on top, and my medium was Legos and Star Wars.

Legos are small and portable, perfect for travel, and like in Star Wars, we as geocachers use technology to get us close to the truth, the cache, and then use the mystical, or our geo-senses, to actually find it. Over-thinking it? Probably. I grew up under the strong influence of the original trilogy, and besides that, Star Wars is just so cool. On Day 779, I introduced the Star Wars Lego storyline and have managed a few chuckles here and there.

Click the picture to view Kiet Callies Flickr page

Now that the streak is over, and I have had time to digest it all, I will tell you that I did experience withdrawal and guilt the next day, June 19th. What’s next? In celebration of geocaching’s 10-year anniversary, to find a cache placed in each month of geocaching’s existence. Isn’t setting goals fun?

/ Eric Schudiske /

Roadtrip? Just add Geocaching…

Lackeys and friends celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the "The Goonies" film and add geocaching to the fun

You can’t take it with you.  The adage is a common enough saying, but when it comes to geocaching, it’s an outright lie.  You can take it with you whether you’re road tripping for business or during a family holiday.

A group of Lackeys did just that this weekend.  They road tripped from Seattle, Washington USA, one state south to Oregon.

Why? The Lackeys revisited a movie at the heart of all things geocaching.  They took part in the celebration “Never Say Die – The Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration”.

“The Goonies” is a classic location based treasure hunting film featuring a pack of outcast kids seeking a pirate’s hidden treasure with the mob in hot pursuit.  The movie based in Astoria, Oregon.  “The Goonies” is in a word, hilarious.

But what’s hilarity without sharing the fun with friends?  Enter the Lackeys.  In true geocaching tradition, they created an Event Cache.  More than 50 people showed up to share their own stories of hunting hidden treasure – though geocachers were not armed with a treasure map or chased by the mob (I hope), they were packing some serious GPS power.

Trackable t-shirts

There were also Trackables (like the t-shirts in the pictures.) trivia and trading at the Event Cache. Getting any ideas about hosting an Event Cache?

Right now, there are over four million of your geocaching friends out there in the wide world.  If your holiday travels take you to a fun and exciting destination, why not add geocaching to the equation?

You’ll be able to finally put faces to geocaching usernames and connect with local cachers.  It’s easy to create an Event Cache, just go to the Hide and Seek a Cache page.  Begin planning your Event Cache by reviewing how to Hide a Cache.

Your next road tripping adventure will multiply in fun.  Because with geocaching, you can take it with you.

Let us know, what has been your favorite Event Cache?  What’s your advice for a geocacher who’s thinking about attending their first Event Cache?

/ Eric Schudiske /

GPS and Geocaching Begins an Eight Billion Dollar Upgrade

You won't be lost in the woods anymore (we hope). New GPS satellites are expected to increase accuracy.

The U.S. is upgrading its constellation of GPS satellites.  They’ll be replaced in an effort to greatly improve accuracy.  Good news for geocachers. The replacement satellites are expected to sharpen the accuracy of your GPS device from about 20 feet to just an arm’s length. They’re also touted as being more reliable – meaning you won’t lose the signal as often.

Hopefully, this means fewer Did Not Finds (DNFs) on the horizon. But it’ll take a while to reach the horizon.  The first generation of satellites will reportedly be swapped out one for one over the next decade.

The launch of the first of the next generation of GPS satellites has been scrubbed three times due to weather or technical glitches. The fourth time proved to be a charm.  The rocket carrying the satellite lifted off Thursday, May 27th from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The satellites’ software will be upgradable while they are in space and also continue to broadcast an atomic clock, keeping time to a billionth of a second.

Besides guiding travelers to destinations, ambulance crews to emergencies and owners to lost dogs, how else do we use GPS each day?

/ Jeremy Irish /

Geocaching.com Finds a Blog

It’s hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago since we started Geocaching.com as a hobby web site. During this time we have heard some amazing stories. I’ve had many incredible personal experiences and have met some amazing people.

We’ve always lamented the lack of time to tell the stories of geocachers, geocaches and geocaching experiences. This is why I’m so excited about the launch of this blog and Groundspeak’s Lost & Found.

Eric tests hempl shampoo
Eric Divines the Property of Shampoo

Eric Schudiske has joined on as one of Groundspeak’s newest Lackeys to manage Groundspeak’s Lost & Found and will be the main writer for the Geocaching.com blog. A journalist by trade, Eric brings years of professional journalism experience both online and as a former reporter for the KING 5 News, the Seattle Washington N.B.C. affiliate. Already he and our videographer Reid Kuennen have gathered some amazing videos to share with you.

We’re reaching out to the community to find the best stories of geocaching. At first, we’re telling stories we already know about, but we’re hoping that this will inspire other geocachers to come forward and tell us their own stories.

Eric will be managing our @GoGeocaching Twitter feed, Flickr account and Facebook fan page as well as cultivating the many geocaching stories for this blog and for Lost & Found. I’ll occasionally chime in as well as other Lackeys at Groundspeak when we have something to share.

Now go out and create some new adventures! We’ll be waiting for your stories when you get back.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Hold the Aluminum, I’ll take the Ten Years! Cake

Tennessee and Virginia geocachers put the sugar rush in 10 Years!

If you follow tradition, the gift for a ten year anniversary is, of all things under the sky, aluminum.  You could buy your loved one some real nice aluminum siding or the fuselage of a plane.   Neither is very practical, unless you’re not the interested in making it far into your 10th anniversary.

Geocachers celebrated 10 Years! this past weekend in a much more suitable style, with CAKE. They offered the loving gift of thousands calories and a five minute sugar rush, not kitchen foil.  Smart choice.

There must be some nerve bundle deep in our cortex, some where near the command and control for your blinking and breathing, that mandates we snap pictures of the cake at events.  You should see the pictures on our Flickr and Facebook pages.  Australians know how to make cakes. And lets not forget about the pastry stylings of geocachers in Denmark.  All were impressive.

What’s more impressive might just be the people who showed to eat the cake and celebrate ten years of geocaching together.

10 years! Czech style.
10 Years! South Carolina, USA
10 Years! Argentina
10 Years! Buenos Aires, Argentina

This decade has been quite a ride that spread geocaching from a lowly cache in Oregon to every continent on the earth and even to the International Space Station. More significantly the family-friendly adventure has spread inward, to this little nerve bundle in the cortex. Not only does the bundle fire control commands for blinking, breathing and urges to take pictures of cakes, it’s where geocaching has found a home for many.