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Geocaching
Geocaching: Using a GPS device to track down some coordinates off the Internet for some fat loot.
Also, hella (yes, "hella") fun. It's kind of like getting a quest from an old man in a tavern and having to find some far off location with only a few clues. Except in real life. And it's much more respectable than LARPing.
This is actually a pretty wide spread hobby. Odds are, there are many locations in your hometown or nearby locals. There is even a number of locations here in Kewanee. Check out geocaching.com if you are curious.
Here I'll be keeping a record of all the locations we have found.
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Black Hawk Spring, located in Crapo Park (hehe), Burlington IA
This was the first geocache location that we have been to. Those accompaning on this adventure included my brother Bryan, Brian Layman, and myself. Thankfully, I learned how to upload routes to the GPS device about 40 minutes before we left, or we would of been wandering around much of Burlington for most of the day. Still, I wasn't sure how to use the device and probably wasted a half-hour walking in the wrong direction. When we finally got on track we came upon an awesome view of the Mississippi and later did some sperlunking in a cave at the Black Hawk Springs. Also, we were successful on our first time out and did find the geocache left by others. There wasn't anything particulary good inside, but more was there than a lone American flag mentioned on the website. The best part, I left behind a sweatshirt I got for Christmas that made no sense. |
| Black Hawk Springs - Burlington, IA |
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Narrow Roads, Near Swan Creek, IL
Mona and I went to Heritage Days in Macomb this last June, 2005 and decided to do some geocaching while there. We picked a spot called Narrow Roads and started out on our hunt. The weather was quite hot and intense, but we were steadfast. Driving near the site wasn't too bad...past a small town between Roseville and Good Hope. We had to park the car a bit before the supposed cache location and cross a small stream on foot. A bit further we encountered a heard of very inquisitive cows. One of them crossed a barbed wire fence while we were there. I thought he was trying to escape to freedom and avoid becoming steak. When approaching him, he went back into the field over the barbed wire. I guess Mona and I were more fearsome than the fate of becoming a main course. Weeds, and the barbed wire forced us to head back empty handed. Also, the GPS was flipping out a bit. Still fun though. |
| Narrow Roads - Swan Creek, IL |
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Temple of the Trees, located in Funks Grove, Frunk Grove IL
This geocache was in Funks Grove IL. A little town between McLean and Bloomington. Neil, Rebecca, Laura, Layman went out on this escipade. We had a little trouble finding the site, due to a crazy GPS, and old country roads that could of been marked better. Once we got out of the car, we had about a mile walk to the general area of the cache. The cache was located deep in a wooded area surronded by fields of nettles that are best described as Setinels from Hell. Neil and I did not wear shorts (even though the source website recommended such garb) and paid the price. Constand pain in itching. A few tears did infact fall from my eyes. Brian, Rebecca, and Laura were the real winners...as they had pants on. We found the cache, and got the hell out of there! Later, we stopped to enjoy the sunset and pick some flowers. |
| Temple of the Trees - Funks Grove, IL |
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Argyle State Park, Near Macomb, IL (really closer to Colchester)
Finally made it to some geocaching in Argyle! Participants: Me, Mona, Neil, Bryan, Brian, Kit, and Jeff. There are three cache locations out there and we hunted for the two that people can actually find, according to geocaching.com. It was pretty flippin' hot. I fell once (my back still hurts). Jeff fell, and got cut up. There were spider-webs everywhere. But we managed to find two cache locations in two hours. Again, nothing but buckets full of crap. Left some silly-putty and rub-on tattoos. What an awesome time! |
| Entrance to Argyle - Colchester, IL |
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Deadly Quiet (Cemetary), Heyworth, IL - 03/26/2006
I hadn't been geocaching for some time, and had been wanting to get out again. The weather was really nice today and decided to bust out Johnny 5 and go adventuring. This was a solo excursion but still pretty fun. I got to ride back with my little DBZ-esque buddy that I rescued from the cache. This really was a pretty neat cemetary with some very old plots. |
| Cemetary - Heyworth, IL |
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Suggestions, Comments, Concerns?
Touch me gently.
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