Geocaching and the Week that was pt. 2

 Good morning everyone.  We're in the smallest State today, Rhode Island.  Probably the easiest to do the county challenge.  The very first geocache placed and still active is 'Breton Point' GCEC.  Hidddn in December, 2000, this cache has been found 3,134 times and has 630 favorite points.  It is also the most favorite cache in Rhode Island.

Picking up from where I left off last week, this is a chronicle of my geocaching week over the past seven days.  

Saturday, May 8th.  My goal for today is to find four geocaches.  I'm also going to cap a bunch of Munzees as well.  I have my sights set on the East side of the Red River.  First up is GC94869.  It's located at the corner of Henderson Hwy and one of the many residential streets that connect to Henderson.  I know where I'm headed, so I don't need my phone to guide me in.  I park on the residential street, pull up the cache page, read the hint, looked out the front window of my car and spotted the prize.  A quick find.  I'm signed in and I'm off to my next adventure.  I go for a newer, recently published cache, GC9AP19.  It's in a park that I'm familiar with so again, I don't need directions from my phone.  When I arrive, I find three people having a picnic too close to ground zero for my liking.  Looks like I'll pass on this one for now.  

Off to cap some Munzees.  Forty three out of forty four I got.  I also walked the entire route.  This is the equivalent to a geocaching power trail.  Back to geocaching.  Off to another park that I'm familiar with.  It's from playing Pokémon Go and stopping at these places that I know where I'm going.  This park has a playground and it is a very nice Saturday afternoon.  Good chance there will be kids playing in the park, and it isn't a very big park.  GC95AR0.  Once I was close enough, I could see a couple of families in the park.  I didn't even stop the car.  I headed to the next one on my list.  GC8CYKM.  An easy park and grab.  Now I'm back on track.  Around the corner is GC9493X.  Another quick find.  I need one more.  

I stop at GC8VTPH.  It's supposed to be a decent size container with swag in it.  I searched and searched and couldn't see this one.  As I mentioned last week, I am reluctant to log DNFs unless I know for sure it is actually missing.  I still need one more and there isn't anything close by that I haven't found yet.  After debating over a few and which direction do I want to go, I opted for GC8DA7F.  This was a very creative hide that blended in very well.  There's my four for the day.  Four traditionals found.

(Signing a new replacement log sheet)

Sunday, May 9th.  I opted to go with an Adventure Lab that didn't have a bonus cache.  This particular one begins on the Southern edge of the James Richardson International Airport (the Winnipeg airport).  This section is home to Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg, 17 Wing.  There are about 10 or so aircraft that are mounted for display in the Air Force Heritage Museum and Air Park.  This AL is all about the planes.  Three stops are here, and the remaining two are not too far away.  

With that AL completed, I return to a mystery final that I wasn't very comfortable in searching for on Friday.  GC6HB37.  The owner provided me with some information on this one after I was there Friday.  The coast was clear today and I was able to make the find.  One Adventure Lab and one Mystery cache found.

Monday, May 10th.  Today is an Adventure Lab with a bonus cache.  This one takes you to places that are distinctly Winnipeg or got their start right here in this city.  Old Dutch Chips, Jeannie's Bakery, Salisbury House, KUB bakery, and Rae & Jerry's Steakhouse.  The coordinates for the bonus cache wasn't clicking for me.  After being near KUB bakery and smelling that fresh Rye bread being baked, I am hungry and I want to go home and eat.  I do have the correct coordinates now and will return on a day I need a mystery find.  One Adventure Lab completed.

Tuesday, May 11th.  I have the afternoon off from work to get my Covid vaccination.  There are several locations to choose from in the city and I picked the closest one to work.  That took an hour from the time I arrived to the time leaving.  Not bad.  As I was leaving, I spotted this van a few stalls over from my car.  I have no idea who's van this belongs to.  I wish I knew.

It's off to find some geocaches.  I don't have a set number for today.  Just one or two will be good.  I start with the two parks that I was at on Saturday.  Someone was having a picnic too close to ground zero again, and there are children playing at the other.  I begin with GC943DJ.  A quick find in a bushy area that I found my 647th geocache and day #101 of my caching streak.  Also the day I originally planned to stop my daily streak.  That was October 6, 2014.  From there it was another of the Down in the Dumps series.  GC940TW.  Another quick find.  I swing around to the other side of the park for another of the Merry Christmas series.  GC94YZ1.  After a brief search, I spot a piece of paper on the ground that grabbed my attention.  It's the log sheet, or what's left of it.  The containers in this series have all been Christians ornaments in a pine tree.  I messaged the CO with my findings and she allowed me to log it as found and then archived the cache.

I attempted two more after this.  Another in the Merry Christmas series.  After messaging the owner and basically pinpointing where this one should be, it was determined it was missing.  I logged this one a DNF and she archived it.  Last one for the day had a couple of DNFs.  Going by what previous finders were saying, this should be an easy find.  Nope.  Nothing here.  I logged this one a DNF and put a needs maintenance on it.  Three traditionals found and two DNFs.

Wednesday, May 12th.  After grabbing a few items from Walmart after work, I load my car and plan to head for a couple of traditional geocaches.  The Geocaching Powers that be had other plans for me.  I got notification of a new Adventure Lab and a bonus cache.  I've never been the first one to complete an Adventure Lab.  I'm already in my car and the first stop is at Jeannie's Bakery... again.  Three of the stages are downtown and it's the evening rush hour.  Parking should be fun... not.  Off I go and basically doing this spur of the moment as I get to the downtown stages.  I was fortunate to spot parking very close to the three stages.  As I get close to the last stage, the owner, tuppergurl (same owner for the Merry Christmas series), messages me, saying she notices I'm working on the AL.  She will be meeting me at the bonus cache as she forgot to leave the log book in it.  We both laughed at that.  Adventure Lab completed.  Off to the bonus cache.

I arrived before tuppergurl did and found this awesome final.  I have forty four FTFs prior to this.  This is the first time I received a prize of any kind for being first.  Add one mystery cache to my day's total.

Thursday May 13th and Friday May 14th.  Nothing.  I didn't go geocaching.  Didn't feel like like.  I also didn't need any finds for these two days as both days already have at least eleven finds on my day found calendar.  My totals for this week are seven traditionals, two mystery caches, and three Adventure Labs.  In the past twelve days, I have 17 traditionals, 3 mystery, 1 multi, 1 letterbox, and four adventure labs.  I need a break from all that geocaching.  On a side note, project-gc only recognized my last two days and not the twelve because day ten was only an Adventure Lab.  Those don't count towards your daily streak according to project-gc.  Neither does an FTF on an Adventure Lab.

That's all for this week.  A reminder about the photo contest.  The May theme about finding geocaches by something that blooms.  A flower, a tree, a weed.  Send your entries to thegeocachingguild@gmail.com or on Twitter to @thegeocaching1.

The leaves are popping out.  Until next week, be happy, stay safe, wash your hands and wear a mask, get vaccinated, hug your furry critters, and most importantly, have fun.  Peace out.