Stage 1
To start, you need to learn some Rhode Island history. Below are some key moments and events in the history of the nation's smallest state. A little research should help you complete the dates.
Rhode Island was discovered in xxAx by Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano.
Roger Williams founded the first permanent white settlement in Rhode Island at Providence in xxxC on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians. Forced to flee Massachusetts because of persecution, Williams established a policy of religious and political freedom in his new settlement.
In xBxx, Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for expressing her beliefs that people could talk to God by themselves, not necessarily through a minister. She and some others, including William Coddington and John Clarke, founded the town of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island. In 1639, Coddington left Portsmouth and founded Newport on Aquidneck Island.
On May 4, xxxH, Rhode Island was the first colony to renounce allegiance to Great Britain and declare independence.
The Battle of Rhode Island, August xE, xxxG, although indecisive, was notable for the valiant efforts of the First Rhode Island Regiment, also known as The Black Regiment. The First Rhode Island was a nearly all-black unit made up largely of recently freed slaves. This unit repelled three separate attacks by Hessian mercenaries, and the regiment tenaciously held position and inflicted heavy casualties upon the British.
On May 29, 1790, it was the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution, demanding that the Bill of Rights, which guarantees individual liberties, be added. Because of this hold out, the state earned the nickname, Rogue Island.
In xxJx, Samuel Slater's mill in Pawtucket became America's first successful water-powered cotton mill.
St. Mary's, Rhode Island's oldest Roman Catholic parish was founded in 1828. The church is best known as the site of the wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier to John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1953.
The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the U.S. Open, was first held in xxxI at Newport, Rhode Island.
George Lerner of New York City invented and patented Mr. Potato Head in xxxD. Lerner sold Mr. Potato Head to the Hassenfeld Brothers of Rhode Island, who owned Hasbro Inc., the toy company. When it was first sold to the public it became the first toy to be sold through national television advertising and netted Hasbro over $4 million in Mr. Potato Head sales in its first year of production.
BBWolf+3Pigs found their first cache, Weaver Cove aka Shoreline Public Access #5, June 13, xxxF.
Now that you have the dates completed, you can find Stage 1 (Pacific) at:
21 ab.cde
157 fg.hij
In the container are a set of coordinates. However, the coordinates are for Stage 2 (Atlantic)! So now what?
Stage 2
You need to team up with a cacher from Rhode Island (properly pronounced Rho D'Island) who has found Stage 1 (Atlantic), and swap the necessary data. Here's how you do it:
1. Look below for notes that any Rhode Island geocacher may have posted requesting a partner to exchange coordinates with. If you find someone, click on their user name to get to their profile page, then email them via geocaching.com and arrange the trade between yourselves.
2. If you fail to find any such notes, you can post one yourself on the counterpart Rhode Island cache page, GCVABR - From Sea to Shining Sea (Atlantic), requesting a partner to exchange coordinates with. Hopefully, someone in Rhode Island who needs a partner in Hawaii will read your note and contact you via geocaching.com. (You may have to wait a bit for this to happen.)
3. If you've waited more than three weeks without finding a partner, please contact the Rhode Island cache owner, and he will give you the Stage 2 coordinates. (Of course, I could give you the coordinates myself, but that wouldn't be in keeping with the interstate spirit of this geocache!)
Stage 2 is stocked with terrific Rhode Island items sent by BBWolf+3 Pigs, owner of the Rhode Island cache. If you need more incentive, the FTF prize is a brand new 2006 SquareD22 geocoin. I have sent Hawaiian items over to stock the Rhode Island cache. When you make a trade here, please try to exchange Hawaiian theme items that we can use to restock the Rhode Island cache when needed.
Important Notes
Please do not post premature "found it!" logs. If you post a "found it!" log before completing Stage 2, your log will be deleted (after fair warning, of course).
Also, please remove any partner-seeking notes you post on the Rhode Island cache page after you've found a partner. Otherwise, you'll keep getting contacted, and folks there will be frustrated by the clutter of old notes. Whenever we find outdated notes on these two cache pages, we will remove them.
Finally, please don't post any coordinates on either of these cache pages. Posts that include coordinates will be deleted as soon as they are discovered.
Good luck! -- KLB