The cache is not at the posted coordinates so there is no need to visit there. I got good reviews on my previous "Geocaching Friends" DF80 cache so I decided to make a sequel. You will need to figure out the coordinates from the the story below. This paragraph and the last paragraph are NOT part of the puzzle so there is no need to worry about them. The lesson from this puzzle is to learn something, maybe even something new, about the Geocaching.com website. So enjoy the stories and good luck with the puzzle.
When my previous DF80 cache published, I got a message from Pacholik about an error I had made with my information. Sure enough, he was correct and even though it did not affect the puzzle, I had to make the correction so my FACTS were correct. I am always about the FACTS and try to be as accurate as possible. I have edited the first puzzle cache at least a dozen times now to make it as accurate as possible. It’s like Power Trail caching, I want to physically be at each location to claim the find!
Speaking of Power Trails, I was asked to be the Finance Person on the GeoCoinFest 2017 committee and who else is on the committee? Gus, the owner of the ET Power Trail, which is considered by many to be the Grandfather (or is it Godfather?) of Power Trails. Turns out he did the Las Vegas GeoCoinFest and would be a great asset to help us with the 2017 Fest!
Speaking of Las Vegas, we were on our way back from Montana as our son moved there last year and we delivered some furniture to him and got a chance to see Yellowstone. On our way back, not only did we find a cache in Las Vegas hidden by an OC cacher, we stopped just south of Las Vegas at an ARCO and I grabbed a cache there and who was the last signature on the log, bvkbugger! It seems OC cachers are hiding and finding caches anywhere and everywhere!
One of the great things about Geocaching is the diversity of people who do it. People whom you would probably never cross paths with in your daily routine but because of caching you get to become friends and acquaintances. I was at an event and I asked a buddy, “Who is the lady with the colorful hair?” and he says ‘That is MissLusyD’. I had seen her found logs before but never met her and because of Geocaching, I got to meet a fine young lady whose hair matches her personality!
And finding Geocaching friends is not limited to just local folks. I mentioned my uncle in my previous puzzle, and for those that don’t know, he lives in Oregon. So when we go visit him, we go Caching! I was in Oregon on the Pi Day celebration, 3/14/15, and was able to attend a morning Pi event in Albany and an evening Pi event in Salem, OR. At the evening event, I met Toro55 and introduced him to my uncle. Now, they go out together once or twice a week to go caching. He still messages me occasionally for help on puzzles!
Oh, I forgot to mention who else is on our GeoCoinFest 2017 Committee. We have a great “Volunteer Coordinator” in woodscout! I joke with him that I have the easier job. All I have to do is control the money, he has to control the people!! And for what we have planned for the GeoCoinFest, we will be needing a lot of volunteers! We hope to break the GeoCoinFest attendance record, currently held by the event in Las Vegas!
When I heard about the DF80 event and caches, I thought, “This sounds familiar?!” Oh yea, back in 2010, there was a series of BT50 caches. I moved back from Colorado to California, in 2010, after my mother passed, so I could care for my father. So when I started caching here, I saw all these BT50 caches! What or who is a BT50 cache? Ahh, the famous, or is it infamous, bajatym. He was turning 50 and cachers were helping him celebrate. What OC cacher has NOT heard of him? He is quick to find new caches, great at doing puzzles, hides a plethora of caches and makes challenges that are, well, ‘challenging!’ Actually, even some of his traditional’s are quite tricky! He truly adds spice to the OC Caching scene! By the way Barry, I was born in 1960 also!! Maybe we should do some BTIM60 caches in 2020?!?!
If anyone ever visit’s the Geocaching Forum, there is an ongoing thread called, “Pictures – Cool Cache Containers” and the thread was started way back in 2004 and still stays very active. There is almost 6,000 replies of unique and interesting cache containers. We have a cache hider here in the OC who takes a simple, traditional hiding spot and makes it into a complete story. Her name is IWillFindIt!! and if you have found any of her caches, you will know what I am talking about. Whenever she publishes a new cache, I can’t wait to see how she decorated it, very unique and interesting.
Silly me, how rude, I forgot to mention whose cache I found in Las Vegas! You might know them from their local “Rubik’s Cube” or “Save the Typo’s” cache or maybe their multi Russian Cache! GC69V3T is their Las Vegas cache and I dare any of you to see the picture I posted on my log. Who are they? Of course, RNADNA. I still laugh at that picture!
I love to do research, and I love numbers. So when I meet a cacher, I like to see how many finds they have and/or how many hides. I see when they started caching and when they last visited Geocaching.com. One of the early cachers in OC was camsoradap (PAFR) and what I found is that she started caching on my birthday, August 9. If I would have been smart, I would have also started on my BD but I did not make an account until I actually found a cache, which was on August 24. I also would have made a shorter name so it would have been much easier to sign logs!! Maybe something like N2MTNS!
Most geocachers like to keep a certain radius cleared around their home. Maybe a mile or two, some folks 10 or 20 miles. I was just about cleared up to 5 miles when I noticed our infamous cache hider had hidden one at a Costa Mesa In-N-Out. Talk about MUGGLE activity!! So I put on my Green Worker’s Vest and start searching. As I am looking, guess who walks up and says, “What are you doing?”
Haven’t we all been there?! It was littledebbie, another OC cacher with over 10 years of experience! Well, we never found the cache and the CO had to replace it. She was the FTF for the replacement and I got it much later. But we had the chance to have a very nice and friendly conversation.
Have you ever noticed how many cachers are named “Mike”?? The first cacher in this story is Mike, my first DF80 Puzzle cache has a couple of Mike’s in it and oh yea, me! Another Mike, aka mmarmont (PAFR), get’s to celebrate his 10 Year Geocaching Anniversary on October 18th later this year. He should also be over 14,000 finds by then. Two great milestones there, Mike!!
Have any of you ever made more than one trip to find a cache? Two trips? Three? How about FIVE Times! GCHGFB was one of those caches that I just could not shift my paradigm to make the find. It was a hide by one of Orange County’s most prolific hiders, who have over 1,000 Cache Hides, Team Geo-Rangers (PAFR)! Read my found log on 6/9/2012 and you will see what I wrote. I know I spent over 2 hours on a 10 second cache! The only other cache I ever made more trips for was a penny hidden in The San Juan National Forest of Colorado, that one took me 7 trips to find! I loved the TGR hide so much I copied it on my SCRABBLE puzzle cache!
Ooops, I am getting long winded again but I just love telling stories. So let me just add two more recognitions that deserve to be mentioned. SoCalGirls just celebrated 10 years of Geocaching earlier this year on April 29th, congratulations. They have also logged over 1,100 trackables! And in my previous DF80 puzzle cache, I said I tried to avoid making Bad Posts. So I searched my most found cache, GCWD98, for a very good post, and I found it. It was written by Lancita on 2/10/2016, and she said, “This is one of the best caches I've found! What an amazing find!” These types of logs make cache hiders want to hide more caches and better caches! It does not have to be long to be GOOD!
The puzzle story is over so everything after this is just information. The cache is hidden where it is going to take a large TOTT to make the find (it is not a tree). Please take care and do not risk injury or death to make a find. If you find it but want my help, I live less than a mile away and if I am available, I will help you if I can. There is an Abraham Lincoln to greet the First to Find, so let’s let Druid Frank be the FTF.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.