a trip up north

Wasn't expecting to actually have a weekend off... since I haven't had a true Saturday and Sunday since last May.  We decided to head north to visit my mom and grab a few caches.  I was looking for a milestone cache along the trip as well.  We went over to Ironwood, MI for some fresh pasties from one of the best bakeries in the north, then grabbed a few caches in the UP.  Headed back across toward Ashland and decided to visit Potato River Falls (GC14AJF) for #2600.  The falls were roaring, but it was pretty cold with the 4 inches of snow that had fallen early Saturday morning.  Seriously, it's past the halfway point of APRIL... shouldn't we be done with snow?


Anyway, headed back to Madison on Sunday, and stopped in Fifield for an FTF.  Headed down the road hoping for a second, but saw fresh tracks in the snow.  Wish I would have paid attention on the way up... both caches have been sitting out there waiting to be found for over a week.  I could have doubled my total!

What a way to start the season

I had my first varsity game of the spring soccer season last week, and ended up starting it off with a bang.  I realize that you can't please both coaches all the time, and I never expect to... but sometimes you would hope that coaches handle all aspects of the game as well as others, especially the losing part.
Game ends up tied at the end of regulation, so we go to overtime.  A girl for the home team only 3 minutes into the first OT attempts to trap a ball off her chest, but hits it with her arm.  Twice.  I call the penalty kick right away, and the game winning goal is scored.  As my assistant referees and I are signing the paperwork, the losing coach comes over and says to my AR "that was a really tough call with the sun in your eyes."  I turned to her and immediately informed her it was my call, not his... and the sun was at my back.  You know it's an obvious call when all three people at the scorers table see it and say it was a PK. 

Maybe someday coaches will figure it out...  and I say this as a former varsity coach.

power trail on the horizon

since I haven't had much time for caching lately, a lot of new caches have started to accumulate around me.  There's enough in the area for two full days of caching, plus a bike trail with 50 or so caches that would add another day about 15 miles away.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a full day of caching, and next week finishing anything I missed.

In two weeks I'm heading to an event in Oshkosh after the EAA Fly-In.  Last time I was there was about 5 years ago, so it'll be cool to check it out again.  Because of my work schedule I don't get to many events anymore, so it's nice to see a weeknight event.  If you're going to be around for some caching before or after the event, let me know.

no new caching... but a new house!

haven't had much of a chance in the last month for caching... in fact i've only found one cache since May 13th.  we closed on the house May 25th, and have finally gotten everything nearly unpacked.  only a few random boxes left, and then I can start working on some of the fun stuff.  most of the garage is organized, just needs a few more toys.  a few updates will be needed, but it'll be a fun ongoing project.  we'll have pics up on facebook tomorrow most likely... just waiting for the weather to cooperate a bit more.  so far, i've only been able to mow the front half of the lawn.  the back will just have to wait until wednesday or thursday.

house time...

A week from today we finally close on our new house.  not sure how many days I'll be able to cache in the next month as we get everything moved over and done the way we want it.  First step will be the kitchen...  the wallpaper needs to go, and so does the paint on the cabinets.  after that we have a few small things to take care of, but it's basically move-in ready.

last week caching was quite the adventure...  Smashing Ground and I decided to do The Artful Dodger (GC585B) in Gov. Dodge State Park.  to put it lightly, it did not end well.  all total, it was 6.5 miles of up and down trails and a DNF.  decided to come back another day to figure it out and went for a few other earthcaches in the park instead. 



This week I took the bike to Milton for the Whimsical Tails series before a soccer match.  The trail was in really good shape, but nearly half of the caches were not.  It was disappointing to see how many of them had fallen into disrepair or had disappeared completely.


hopefully tomorrow the rain will hold off...  heading to Rockford, Il with Commander.  He's looking for a big day, so hopefully we can hit close to 50.

First big numbers run in a while...

last week Clayton (Smashing Ground) and I took our mountain bikes out to Waukesha for a trip along the bike trail.  We ended up getting a lot more than we originally planned...  the north trail netted us 70 caches.  We ended up clearing the trail long before our time limit expired.  Next week we'll attempt the south trail and finish the States series at the very least.

This week I finally got a chance to travel up to Mellen to do a bit of caching.  Not so many finds, but lots of caches placed.  Two are about to be published in Copper Falls State Park (GC277VP and GC277W3) as well as another FFR cache in the Chequamegon National Forest (GC279JC) and one in front of the DNR Service Center in Mellen (GC277VB).  I have a few more on the agenda for placement, but it'll be a while before I get back up there.

Soccer season is also kicking in to full gear...  a few games this week, and 4 games a week through May.  now I just need the weather to cooperate.

that four letter word...

starting with a "w" seems to be getting in the way of geocaching and everything else lately.  it's been tough to make the adjustment to 40 plus hours a week when my previous work days were kinda few and far between.  soccer season has started, so I've had a few games early on.  the next few weeks will really pick up with even more games. 

tomorrow will be the first day caching in a few weeks...  I'm heading out with Smashing Ground to do one of the bike trails near waukesha.  we'll probably be making 2-3 more trips in the next month or so with our bikes just to see how many we can get.

also getting ready to hide a few more caches up north...  they should be popping up in the next two weeks or so.  now i just need to find a few more ammo boxes...