Good morning everyone. Today is the final stop of our epic cross country road trip, finding the oldest and most favorite geocaches in each State, Province, District, and Territory. What a trip it has been. We started 64 weeks ago. Today we wrap things up in Alaska. The oldest geocache is 'Centurion Guards' GC68. Hidden in September, 2000, this traditional has been found 119 times, and has 50 favorite points. The most favorite is 'Camp Skagway No. 1' GCGJ2Q. This virtual was placed in July, 2003. It has 3,063 logged finds (a good chunk are probably from an Alaskan Cruises that goes that way), and has 423 favorite points.
I wasn't sure how I was going to tackle this blog about my 8th geocache birthday. I've talked about how I got started. I've talked about my first to find on the different types. I don't really want to rehash and recycle the same story. While I was out geocaching earlier today, I was walking along a trail in a park. It did give me some time to think. What would my life look like if I didn't find that geocache eight years ago? I honestly couldn't tell you.
Geocaching has become a way of life. If I'm not at work, then I'm either geocaching or doing something that's related to geocaching. I've been writing a weekly blog for three and a half years. Just recently I started to dabble in video making. I currently program all the blogs that appear on The Geocaching Guild. I watch podcasts, either live or playback. I plan geocache outings. I was big on stats and numbers. I've scaled that back somewhat, but I still look at my numbers and see what milestone is coming up. This could explain why I'm single. I haven't found anyone with the same zest for the hobby as I do.
Would I change any of this? Not really. What would I be doing instead of going out discovering new places and learning about the history of places? Staying home and watching TV? I watch far less TV now than I did before I started geocaching. I don't even have cable. I stream both sports channels. That's it. Aside from casting podcasts to my TV, that's all I watch.
I also think about all the people I have met. I have made so many friends through geocaching, both locally and a far. That's something special about geocaching. No matter where you are, if you meet up with someone else who is also a geocacher, you are instantly friends. It is such a thrill to meet someone who understands FTFS, DNFs, TOTTs, CITOs, micros, bison tubes, Mingo, and trackables. Non geocachers, or muggles as we call them, don't understand this secret society language that we have. I'm not even sure the people I work with know or remember that I'm a geocacher. I don't talk about my adventures. When you're the only person among a group of co-workers that can tell you basketball player stats and break down the latest UFC fight, I keep quiet about my secret life.
I am inching closer to retirement. I look forward to doing more traveling. Geocaching will take me to new places. It won't be about the numbers. I will want to see the local attractions. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend mega events. That is something I haven't done yet. Since I started eight years ago, I can only recall one mega event being held in Manitoba. I couldn't go to that one as I already had a trip planned with my boys to Alberta.
What will the next eight years look like? The first year or two will probably be the same as the previous eight. After that, I hope that I'll be traveling with the objective of attending Mega events and making more friends. Maybe meet some of you who read my stories or watch my videos. Another objective is to find the oldest, most favorite, and most found geocache in each State or Province. I don't know if I'll be doing large portions of power trails. Unless it's a group effort, I may stick to twenty or so on a trail. If I move to an entirely new city where I haven't geocached before, there's always the option of starting a second iron man streak. Who can say they've done two separate year long streaks with a minimum of a year between the two? The future holds many possibilities. It's up to me to make these dreams come true. Hopefully I'll have a companion by my side.
I will be trying to improve on some numbers. Mostly geocaches that are not traditional. That's not to say I won't find traditionals. 80% of my finds are traditionals. Fill in my date found calendar so every day has a minimum of eleven finds. Once that's done, I'll increase the number and continue to increase the number. Also my date found mystery calendar. I can't forget about challenge caches. Who doesn't like doing challenge caches?
For now, I'll continue to write. One thing I haven't been doing lately is taking pictures of the geocaches I've been finding. I've been making short videos instead. I'll continue scheduling the Geocaching Guild, even though I've been slacking in that the past couple of weeks. I'll continue to dabble with videos, trying to find my niche, that something that makes my videos unique, enjoyable to watch, but still be me. The best thing to do in that regard is just be yourself with the volume turned up to eleven or twelve when the max is ten.
Another thing I'll continue to do for the foreseeable future is the photo contest. The next draw is in two weeks. Get your entries in for a chance to win. You can send your entries to thegeocachingguild@gmail.com
That's it for this week. It's time to hit the publish button and then go have some breakfast. Until next time, be happy, stay safe, wash your hands and wear a mask, hug your pets, and most importantly, just have fun. Peace out. ✌
There's always just one more picture. Are you brave enough to pick this friendly spider up. Maybe it'll come sit beside you as you eat your curds in whey and scare you away.
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