Caching in Mulberry, Kansas

We finally get to go caching. We left Kansas City after Robby got off work at 6:00 p.m. and headed south. We didn't stop until we reached the cache site in Mulberry, Kansas. A nice little cache in an Altoid can in the root of a tree. An easy find. Since we're really headed to Arkansas this weekend we stopped in Pittsburg, Kansas and spent the night at the Comfort Inn.

Today's Stats:
1 Geocaches.
4512 Steps Today - 2.56 miles.
1069 Aerobic Steps.
236 Calories Burned.

Mary Sick Tonight

A very quite day today. Mary made a delicious meat loaf for diner this evening and really enjoyed that, but later Mary got very sick at her stomach. I was fine so we're not sure what's going on with her.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4760 Steps Today - 2.70 miles.
2924 Aerobic Steps.
257 Calories Burned.

Lots of JavaScript

For a change I'm really enjoying what I'm doing at work. I've really gotten comfortable with Javascript on the current project. It's a great tool to enhance web pages with forms.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4509 Steps Today - 2.56 miles.
2992 Aerobic Steps.
255 Calories Burned.

Today is Blood Day

We had a pretty uneventful day today. About the biggest thing we can come up with for today is that Mary had a blood test today. Mary fixed some cajun fish that we really enjoyed for diner tonight. I made a loaf of bread that was wonderful.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4520 Steps Today - 2.56 miles.
2613 Aerobic Steps.
226 Calories Burned.

Travis' Off-Road Adventures

We went after the 4 new caches around Kansas City today. When we arrived at the first cache in Olathe, Kansas, Travis' Off-Road Adventures, there was a man with his two sons parked right where we needed to be. We thought they would be off and gone fishing in a few minutes so we waited and waited and waited. I finally gave in and went over and got in the middle of them. They wanted to know what I was doing. They were interested. As I was searching for the cache I continued to explain geocaching. They begin to get excited and started helping me search for the cache. When I finally spotted it they were really excited. They all wanted to help me find the 2nd stage of the multi-cache. I let them hold the GPS. By the time we got to the final stage they wanted to go caching instead of fishing. I think we have another family hooked on geocaching. It was a lot of fun introducing them to caching.

After we left them we went over to Topeka to get a new cache. Then there were another couple caches in downtown Kansas City. We didn't get many caches today but it was a fun day.

Today's Stats:
4 Geocaches.
4233 Steps Today - 2.40 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
220 Calories Burned.

40 Years Ago Today - Climbing Telephone Poles

40 years ago today at this hour I was climbing telephone poles in Batesville, Arkansas and thinking about marrying Mary that night. The boss let me off at 3:00 p.m. so I could drive to Little Rock to get married.

So far today we are just sitting around home wondering how to celebrate our 40th wedding aniversary. I replaced Missouri's First Geocache a while ago. It was stolen last week.

We're just sitting around looking at pictures we took on last weeks' caching trip to the Flint Hills of Kansas. Here are a few:
The Lower Fox Creek One Room School House near Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. It looks kind of lonsome just sitting out there in the prairie all by itself. I can't help but think about the kids walking several miles to attend the school here.
We were very lucky. We arrived at the school house just as the National Park Ranger showed up to check on the building. He allowed us to go inside and take a few photos.




A few wild flowers along the way.

Tonight we went out to Holahans for diner. Great meal and we enjoyed ourselves. I had salmon and Mary ahd a full rack of baby back ribs.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2044 Steps Today - 1.16 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
81 Calories Burned.

Work, Work, Work and No Caching

Another 12 hour day at work. When I left work today we think we're in good enough shape on the project to take the weekend off. Thank goodness. I'm tired and blurry eyed.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1356 Steps Today - .77 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
48 Calories Burned.

Another 12 Hour Day at Sprint

I started work today at a little before 6:30 a.m. I had a big handfull of granola while I worked for lunch. I got off work at 6:30 p.m. The good news is that we think we're making progress on our project. When I got home I just kind of chilled out.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1269 Steps Today - .72 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
37 Calories Burned.

Hectic Day at Work

My day started at the usual time of 6:30 a.m. Since our current project is running behind we were told that we have to extra hours to guarantee that out project is ready next week. I didn't get off until 6:30 this evening. I even worked through lunch. Depending on how it goes the next couple days I may even have to work through the weekend.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
825 Steps Today - .46 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
32 Calories Burned.

Troubles with My Blog Server

This evening I worked on catching up my blog. After some trouble posting to the blog server I figured out the disk was full. After deleting some old files I freed up 12 gigs of disk space. All seems to be well now.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
5073 Steps Today - 2.88 miles.
3286 Aerobic Steps.
283 Calories Burned.

The Looney Lagoon

This evening we went after all six of the remaining caches in our 100 mile circle. The last cache was a night cache at the Looney Lagoon. It was about .6 mile walk in the dark along the shore of Blue Springs Lake. It was very nicely done and I enjoyed it.
Mary took this picture of the moon over Blue Springs Lake while I was going after the cache.

Today's Stats:
6 Geocaches.
7177 Steps Today - 4.07 miles.
1031 Aerobic Steps.
396 Calories Burned.

Beaumont Hotel and Airfield

It was a real treat this afternoon to visit the Beaumont Hotel in Beaumont, Kansas. The Beaumont Hotel is a restored 1879 hotel and restrant. We enjoyed a nice sunday afternoon lunch at the hotel. While we were eating a small airplane came taxing up Main Street and parked next to the hotel. Very unusual sight. We located 4 caches while in town.
The Beaumont Hotel was established in 1879. It has been remodled to reflect 1879 period.
This is the oldest wooden water tower in the country.
It was a strange sight to see an airplane going down Main Street. They say people fly in here all the time just to eat at the Hotel.

Today's Stats:
21 Geocaches.
4502 Steps Today - 2.55 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
231 Calories Burned.

The Flint Hills of Kansas

Today we got up in El Dorado, Kansas and headed west out of Cassoday, Kansas to the Flint Hills after a nest of new caches. The caches were scattered all over the Flint Hills. The sights were beautiful. It was very scenic. We found lots of old oil fields and ghost towns. We had a very enjoyable day touring the Flint Hills. This evening we met Brian and Carlin at the Cooper Kettle in Eureka, Kansas for diner. We spent the night at the Blue Stem Motel in Eureka.
A typical road that we drove on while traveling through the Flint Hills.
Most of the land was open range and we saw thousands of cattle. The land seems to be perfect for grazing cattle.
We were told that there are thousands of head of wild horses running in the Flint Hills.
This is a memorial to a cowboy who froze to death while tending the cattle and his boss put up this memorial to him at the spot where he froze to death.
A typical oil well. I think this is the closest I've been to a well that is pumping oil. The sounds produced from the pump are interesting.
Kansas is not all flat. We have been surprised at the number of beautiful water falls we have found in Kansas.
We had to drive about a mile down this road and then I walked about a half mile to the cache.
We spotted the buzzard on top of an old school house. He was just about to fly when I snapped the picture.
I was shocked when I ran into Ajayhawkfan at this old school house way out in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
We went across several bridge like this during our weekend in the Flint Hills. Mary is always worried when she has to drive across a bridge like this.
One of the caches we went after was Zonkey. We were surprised when we found these Zonkey's near the cache site.

Today's Stats:
16 Geocaches.
7145 Steps Today - 4.05 miles.
918 Aerobic Steps.
365 Calories Burned.

El Dorado, Kansas

This afternoon we headed west to Kansas. We found a few caches around Cottonwood Falls, Kansas and failed to find the cache in Cottonwood Falls.

Tonight we stayed in the Heritage Inn in Eldorado, Kansas. After diner Brian picked me up and we went after the El Dorado Midnight Root Cellar cache. Every way tried we ended up on the wrong side of the river or we ended up on private property and got run off. After a couple hours we gave up.

Today's Stats:
5 Geocaches.
11577 Steps Today - 6.57 miles.
3888 Aerobic Steps.
631 Calories Burned.

Caching in Vinland, Kansas

Today we picked up the Shutterbug Cache in Vinland, Kansas. It's a movable cache that we brought home with us and now we have to put it somewhere else.

Today's Stats:
2 Geocaches.
5464 Steps Today - 3.10 miles.
2926 Aerobic Steps.
318 Calories Burned.

On The Border

The most excitement we could stir up today was to go out to eat at On The Border. Great food.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
5120 Steps Today - 2.90 miles.
3240 Aerobic Steps.
299 Calories Burned.

Crashed Again

We just came home and crashed again this evening. Looks like we're all caught up on our 100 mile circle except for one night cache and it's just hard to go out at 9:00 p.m. to go after it.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4377 Steps Today - 2.48 miles.
2964 Aerobic Steps.
260 Calories Burned.

Crashed

We just come home and crashed this evening. Seems like we've been going day and night for weeks. Mary fixed a light diner and we just crashed.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4862 Steps Today - 2.76 miles.
3027 Aerobic Steps.
276 Calories Burned.

KCopoly Repair And The OverTones

After sleeping in this morning we went out this afternoon to repair some of the KCopoly caches that have wet log books or are missing.

This evening we took Brian and Carlin out to the Hometown Buffet to enjoy a great meal together and the Big Band music of the Overtones. We really enjoyed the Big Band Music of the Overtones.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1451 Steps Today - 0.82 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
46 Calories Burned.

12 Mile Missouri River Trip in Nebraska

Today Brian Yonke invited me to go on a caching trip. Mary and I left the house at 6:15 a.m. to go to Brian's house in Liberty, Missouri. Jim Shilt joined us and we headed to Nebraska. We walked a couple miles in the rain at Indian Cave State Park to find a cache I could not find a couple years ago. We also found another new cache in the park before heading to the river. We tried to launch Brian's boat at Peru, Nebraska, but the road was so muddy that Brian decided we should not proceed. We then drove to Nebraska City, Nebraska where we found a very nice place to launch the boat. We went downstream a little over 6 miles to the island where the cache was located. After some searching Jim found the cache. It has been trashed. The contents were scattered around and wet. We hauled what was left of the cache back to Nebraska City and put it in a dumpster. We had a lot of fun with the boat ride and searching the island for the cache. After several more caches on the way home we arrived at Brian's house about 12:30 a.m. By the time Mary drove around Kansas City the wrong way and covered over 100 mile we got home about 2:15 a.m. It was a very long day but I had a lot of fun. It was a very successful day of geocaching. Thanks Brian.

Today's Stats:
12 Geocaches.
23202 Steps Today - 13.18 miles.
7667 Aerobic Steps.
1366 Calories Burned.

White Jeeps and New Caches

We started out this evening to find the two remaining caches in town and put out a couple more White Jeep Travel Bugs. We ended up being the first to find on the newest cache in our 100 mile cirle near Manhattan, Kansas called the Shamrock Cafe Cache. It was 95.6 miles from home.

Today's Stats:
3 Geocaches.
2992 Steps Today - 1.70 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
143 Calories Burned.

Placed My First White Jeep Travel Bug

This evening I placed the first of eight White Jeep Travel Bugs in the Oozy Rat cache. I walked about 2 miles to put out the bug.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
9330 Steps Today - 5.30 miles.
6442 Aerobic Steps.
599 Calories Burned.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

This afternoon Jim Shilt brought me 8 new jeep travel bugs. I've got them all logged and ready to place in caches somewhere. Now I'm having trouble figuring out where to put them.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2476 Steps Today - 1.40 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
132 Calories Burned.

Set Up A Photo Album On Yahoo Photos

After seeing Brian's photos this morning on Yahoo Photos, I decided to give it a try. The terms said I could load an unlimited number of pictures. It took me over an hour and a half to upload 85 pictures. It was very easy. I just started it and went on about my business. My first album is Our Caching Weekend.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4127 Steps Today - 2.34 miles.
2879 Aerobic Steps.
251 Calories Burned.

Lost Cell Phone

We went off and left one of our cell phones at Peggy's Restaurant in Collins, Missouri this weekend. After Mary dropped me off at work about 6:30 a.m. she drove to Peggy's, enjoyed a nice breakfast, and picked up the cell phone. She made it back to Kansas City in time to take me to lunch.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
5263 Steps Today - 2.99 miles.
2759 Aerobic Steps.
311 Calories Burned.

Nine First To Finds & First Water Cache

Today Mary and I found 2 more First to Find caches. That gives us a total of 9 FTF's for the week-end. That's a record for us. We saw this little bambi crossing the road with it's mother as were leaving the Lake Crawford State Park where we found WebbyCat's CCC cache.


This afternoon we met Brian and Carlin and about a dozen Kansas City cachers at Clinton Lake near Lawrence, Kansas. Brian took me out in the middle of the lake to two caches. The first was my first ever cache in the middle of a body of water. The High 'n Dry cache was chained up in a big dead tree in the middle of the lake. The other cache was located on a small island. The water was almost covering the island and we had to walk in about a foot of water to retrieve the cache. It's always a lot of fun to have an informal gathering of cachers.

Today's Stats:
8 Geocaches.
3299 Steps Today - 1.87 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
171 Calories Burned.

A New Record - Seven First To Find Caches

I've always heard that the early bird gets the worm. We got up at 6:00 a.m. and headed out this morning. We were lucky to be the first to find on all three of the new Terrapin caches. It was raining and the trails were slick.

After grabbing a couple more caches north of the river we headed south. We had five caches that were fairly new in the southeast part of our 100 mile circle. Lucky for us, we were First to Find on 4 more caches. I think this breaks a record for us. The most First to Finds in one day.

After failing to find WebbyCat's new CCC camp cache we decided to spend the night in Ft. Scott, Kansas. Lucky for us several things we needed were still in the van from vacation.

Today's Stats:
12 Geocaches.
10277 Steps Today - 5.83 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
584 Calories Burned.

Lots of Rain

Today it rained. It just kept raining. We ended up watching TV all evening. We didn't even go out to eat. Mary fixed a nice meal at home and we just enjoyed a quite evening at home.

Mary's doing good with her therapy. She said it didn't hurt as bad today.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1425 Steps Today - .80 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
58 Calories Burned.

Two New Caches In Town

This evening Mary and I went after two of the newest caches in town. One of the caches used a technique I've wanted to use for several years. I think now I have the courage to go ahead and put together a new cache using this technique.

Today's Stats:
2 Geocaches.
6112 Steps Today - 3.47 miles.
2939 Aerobic Steps.
364 Calories Burned.

What! No Geocaching

Today is the first day in over two weeks that we did not find a single cache. I suggested one over on Longview Lake, but Mary had just come from some hard therapy with her new knee and wanted to just go home. So we had a quite evening at home for a change.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4304 Steps Today – 2.44 miles.
2893 Aerobic Steps.
241 Calories Burned.