Geocaching and the North Dakota Camping and Caching event, day 1.

Good morning everyone.  Did you know that only four provinces have a Webcam geocache?  Ontario, B.C., Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan.  39 out of 51 States (including District of Columbia) have a Webcam geocache.  The closest Webcam to Winnipeg is Ely Webcam (GCP6T7) in Ely, Minnesota.  Approximately a four and a half hour drive from here.

For those who have been following along for awhile now, have seen me mention the North Dakota Camping and Caching event a few times over the past months.  That weekend finally arrived.  Months of planning and prepping has come down to the final hours.  I opted to not camp this year, but do the cheap motel route.  That would be interesting in itself.  Before I get to my first cheap hotel in Williston, North Dakota, I have a seven plus hour drive and a number of caches to find.  I'm also working on my North Dakota county challenge, plus other challenges that I either have already stated or have come up with at the last minute.

Before I begin my journey, I want to recap what challenges I have planned to tackle, including the ones that are last minute additions.  1) Increase my finds in North Dakota to 200 (currently at 125).  2) Increase the North Dakota counties I've found a cache in to 18 (currently at 9).  3) Attend at least 3 events in North Dakota.  4) Reach 250 finds for the month of June.  5) Reach 600 mystery caches found.  6) Reach 5,500 total finds.  7) Find caches in the most counties in a single day (I believe that record was seven, I don't remember).  8) Add a new State to my map of caches found in.  As you can see, I love setting challenges/goals for myself.

Today I'm focusing on day one of my journey.  Since I was able to find a number of caches around home leading up to day one of my journey, that cut down on the number of stops I would have to make/fewer caches to find.  With that said, I didn't have to leave so early in the morning.  I can delay my departure and sleep a wee bit longer.  Instead of a 5am departure time, I was ready and driving away at 7:30am.  My fist stop was a short drive outside of Winnipeg on Hwy #2 (my choice route to get to the border).

As you can see in the picture, it was a clear blue sky and decently warm for temperature.  I was in a sleeveless shirt and shorts.  I couldn't ask for better driving conditions.

My next stop would be in Starbuck, Manitoba.  No, not the home of Starbuck's coffee.  Little did I know at the time that my nice, clean car (washed it the day before) wouldn't stay very clean for long.

Stop number three was in Holland, Manitoba.  Yes, it is possible to drive to Holland without crossing the ocean.  I have been here before, four years ago with Auntie Mo, finding a different cache that has since been archived.  They added a mini golf course and a washroom for a much needed rest stop.  

When I turned off highway #2 and onto Highway #10 to go South, I could see darker clouds in the distance.  That didn't look too good.  I have one DNF on this stretch of highway.  It's from that same trip I took four years ago with Auntie Mo.  Reading the logs, everyone else was finding it since.  Time to avenge that DNF.  It was starting to rain just a wee bit, making the tall grass wet.  My search was the same as four years ago.  Nothing.  I retreated to a sign, read previous logs, then made my way one last time for another sweep of the area.  Found it this time.  It has the 'Winter Friendly' attribute, but I found it on the ground, hidden among the tall grass, almost impossible to see.

Onward across the border and another DNF to avenge.  This is also from four years ago when I did a solo trip across the Northern part of North Dakota.  Armed with some intel this time, added to the fact it is now raining, gave me all the alone time I needed to avenge this DNF.  I always thought this was the coolest roadside attraction.  A giant turtle made of tire rims.  As you can see, the cache is magnetic, attached to one of the rims.  With so many rims, this one is the proverbial needle in the haystack.  

I carried on down the highway, finding caches and adding to my counties.  Everything was going great until I reached the town of Bowbells.  My first DNF.  What made this cache interesting is that it has only been found once, by a fellow Winnipeg cacher, JB.  Now I'm scrambling to find another cache in the county.  I didn't want to stray off the highway too much, trying to stay on course.  It was on my 3rd cache attempt that I was able to claim this county.  Back on the main highway, I'm zipping along, not paying too much attention to my speedometer.  Until I passed a County Mountie sitting on the side of the highway.  I was getting pulled over for doing 75mph in a 65 zone.  End result, a $10 speeding ticket.  I went totally Canadian on the County Mountie.  "Sorry officer.  I'm really sorry."

I arrive in the town of Crosby for another cache in another county.  I wasn't having any luck with this one, and ended up leaving without a find.  Looking at the picture now, I think I know where it is.  A return trip in the future maybe?  I failed to get a cache for this county (Divide county), so it's possible I could be back.  I was starting to run low on time as I needed to be in Williston for an event I was hosting at 6pm.  I did arrive with maybe seconds to spare.  I would be joined by GeoJangie and her family (finally got to meet the J of the Jangie team), and fairly new cachers from Sydney, Montana, kyleh8642 (a father/son team).  It was a good visit and good company as I had a chance to sit and eat.

Once the event was done, it was off to find a few caches before checking in to my cheap hotel.  I love a good library hide.  Either in an actual library or a little free library.  I had a few caches in Williston that I wanted to get.  This little free library cache was one of them.  Finding the logbook was easy for me as I recall the blog that GeoJangie did about creating this hide.  I knew what book to look for.  LOL.  

On to my hotel.  The hotel itself seemed a little out of the way and not really in Williston, but on the Northern edges of town.  It's more suited for truckers.  I was greeted by friendly staff and informed that the WiFi was spotty but I should be ok as the router was just outside of my room.  The walls in the room were scuffed and could use a minor paint job.  I could hear my neighbors, even though they weren't being rowdy, just loud.  I had to chuckle.  You get what you pay for.  Overall, it was a decent place that was affordable and had a free breakfast in the morning.  Would I stay there again?  Probably.  

To recap my first day of travel:  19 finds with 15 being in North Dakota.  Added four new counties and attended one event (that's part of the 15).  I also found caches in eight counties or provincial areas.  I had reached 600 mystery finds earlier in the month.  The event I hosted was my 5,500th geocache found.  My monthly total is 141 finds.  I still need 60 more North Dakota finds, 5 more counties, 2 more events, a new State, and 109 overall finds.  Tomorrow is another day and that will be next week.  Day 2 of my journey down to Dickinson, North Dakota.

Until then, be happy, be safe, enjoy life, hug those that you love the most and those that just need a hug, and most of all, have fun.  Peace out.