It's just about that time again this year, where a bunch of Iowan's will head to Mo. for a mega event known as Moga. This year I'm not competing in any of the comp's. Just going to get out and explore the area, and find some caches.
Last year was my first trip to the Mark Twain Lakes area, and what a neat place to visit. I'm not sure again what's all in store, but last year it was like ammo can heaven. Got's to love that. These year it's just me going again. I think next year I'll take PJ out of school and take him down. These are just what he loves to find.
I've got the tick spray now and I think just some packing and I'm all set to go. I was able to find a terracache there as well last year. It was a virtual cache and it really highlighted a neat monument.
The view from the top of the dam is really cool as well as from below. This year they say there's over a hundred new one's coming out, plus I still have a few from last year, and a lot from the year before that.
Regardless, if you love to hike, this event you will enjoy.
I'm getting excited now about the trip. I'm hoping to shoot some video while I'm down there as well as post the photo's. Last year I never got the time to post the photo's. It sound's like we have a great group of IGO'ers going again. Some of the older cachers (I mean that have been around longer than I not age) are not going this year. :( If you enjoy event's check it out. It's quite a lot of fun.
MOGA, MOGA, MOGA!!!!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Music as a Weapon 4
This is where we are headed tomorrow. To see Disturbed yet again. I think this will be the sixth time I've seen them live. I didn't realize this was an all day "freak fest". But gate's open at 2 and an outdoor show start's at 2:30 with the four main headlining band's starting on the indoor stage at 7.
There's going to be tattoo artist's traveling with them as they have done before for the music as a weapon tour's. I've been to 2, and 3 and will be at the 4th tomorrow.
They are planning on a motocross show as well. My only other experience with a festival like this was the Family Value's tour two year's ago with Korn Headlining.
Tomorrow's line up will be:
Head liner's:
Disturbed
Killswitch Engage
Lacuna Coil
Chimaira
Second stage:
Suicide Silence
SpineShank
Bury your Dead
Crooked X
Born of Osiris
After the Burial
Plus this TNT Freestyle Motocross show.
As well as all sort's of vender's will be there as well.
I'm looking forward to seeing Disturbed again. They are from the Chigago area and have really toured a lot in Iowa and have stayed true to their midwest root's. I've also brought some ear plug's so the wife can put those in her ear's. lol
Disturbed always has the most insane mosh pit's I've ever seen or played in. Plus the way Damon get's the crowd involved is always neat to see. I didn't know it till just a little bit ago but this is the kickoff for Music as a Weapon 4.
Here's Disturbed's video for Inside the fire. Not for the kiddy's. It's a bit graphic but the lyric's are clean.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
PJ and the Scooter
Over the weekend it was so nice out. PJ had gotten a scooter for x-mas and hadn't been able to try it out yet. So we got it out, got out the elbow and knee pad's and the helmet. I had called the sister-in-law to ask if she was paying any medical bill's that may occur from using the scooter. That was a big NO!! She said we just supply the fun toy's. So we headed down to a nearby parking lot figuring this would get us plenty of open room for a crash if one was to happen. The weather was so nice out that we got board in the parking lot and headed on down some sidewalk's and off to another parking lot where we found some boy's out riding their bike's and jumping all around. PJ has been asking about trick's already and if mom would teach him any. I said don't you first have to learn to ride it? I didn't do any editing of this video. Just was out enjoying the day and playing around with the Video Camera, and teaching him how to ride a scooter. I did ride the scooter down to the parking lot while he ran along side of me and he out ran the scooter. It was a fun little outing for us. And hearing his idea's about the scooter was pretty funny. Only to be that young again where the possibilities are endless and you heal fast. Yes, by the end of the day he had the balance all figured out and was starting to get a bit too brave on it, so we finally called it a day. Hopefully we can get the bikes out soon and head down some bike trails and look for some caches. He's really wanting to get out and do some "hiking" (Those are his word's not mine). Now I'm wondering about how long it's going to be before he thinks we need to build a ramp... I think next winter I need to look into getting us some snowboards. I think he will carry on my saying, just give me something I can go fast on, who care's what it is or how safe it is. If it goes fast it's fun. I just hope this weather is hear to stay.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
How did that get there??
As cacher's at some point in time we have all come across something and wondered just how did that get there. The other day I was doing some caching in the Wapsi River Educational Center just a few mile north of Dixon, Ia. This was a great place to wonder around and get lost in.
I stopped and looked at this for a bit and wondered how someone got this down here and why. I'm assuming it was junk and someone had just dumped it, but again I was about a quarter mile from the road and that would be one long haul for this cooler.
This was the first time I was in this area and I sure was in for a treat. After I was able to find that cache, I made my way towards some other hides. I got back on the trails and made my way deeper into the park. I figured out the trail I was on wasn't going to take me to the area I wanted to go to and found a spot to jump a creek and another trail. I followed along that trail till I ran into a small pond. To me it didn't look like the trail was going to twist and turn up to where I wanted to go. Right there was a big mistake. I should have stuck to the trail, but really what's the fun in just that.
So I spotted a little deer trail that I had to bend over to follow. I looked at the GPSr and it said I was about 350 feet away. Now that's pretty close except I ran into some really thick bushes. Bobbing and weaving threw the vegetation, I was realizing fast this was a bad idea. I had to climb the hill, all 300 feet of it crouched over just to find out when I hit a clearing it was a trail. After looking I think but not sure that it was the same trail I was on but it had wrapped up and around the park. I finally made it to the hide and was able to find that without too much trouble.
Then it was off to the next one, which was a two stage offset, and I found the first part just after I found a tree with some big thorn's on it. The tree got the best of me, but hey a little blood spilt is ok. I didn't have the right tool's with me to solve the puzzle so I grabbed a copy since the owner was nice enough to make copy's for people to take. I got back on the trail and head off to the next cache. Once again the trail started winding in the wrong direction. But I found a easy trail to follow that got me really close to the hide. Then as I was closing in, I saw where the river had risen and was coming to the cache fast. I was beginning to wonder if the water would pose a threat to getting to the cache. Lucky for me, I had about 8 inches between the water and the bottom of a small bluff. I was able to walk along that, just to find I had to climb back up some at the hide was about in the middle of that bluff.
That was a nice little climb but not a smart move. Once I got up I saw if I had come from the other direction the climb up would have been a safer approach. After finding that, it was time to clear out of there and head back to the car. I found a nice mowed and wide trail that lead back to the center, which I think is where I should have parked in the first place. So then I had to walk along the road for a bit to get back to the car.
All in all it was a fun trip. A bit chilly out. I can say I slept pretty well last night. I did do four other caches on the way home, but I passed up two more in the general area, but that gives me a good reason to head back out again.
Now after thinking back on my little adventure I have to just ponder the though of how that Coke machine got there.
Well, I didn't really get lost but I didn't know the trail system out there at all. I parked at the start of a major multi cache and found a trail head and headed into the forest from there. Much to my surprise the trails where very nice and not super wet and muddy. I know I didn't quite take the intended route, but had load's of fun with the way I took. I first stopped at the major multi to get the info to bring home and figure out where the next stage is from there. I didn't have all the tool's required to do the whole thing, and I don't think I could in one shot anyways.
But as I made my way down the trail, I was getting closer, and closer then started getting further away. SO I knew I had to make a break for it into the tick brush somewhere. I stayed on the trail as it wrapped around and I was hoping this would lead me closer to the hide. Nope. I found a good spot to enter the wood's though. As I made my way down to where the cache was hid. I came across something that made me wonder how the heck did that get there. It was an old Coke cooler.
I stopped and looked at this for a bit and wondered how someone got this down here and why. I'm assuming it was junk and someone had just dumped it, but again I was about a quarter mile from the road and that would be one long haul for this cooler.
This was the first time I was in this area and I sure was in for a treat. After I was able to find that cache, I made my way towards some other hides. I got back on the trails and made my way deeper into the park. I figured out the trail I was on wasn't going to take me to the area I wanted to go to and found a spot to jump a creek and another trail. I followed along that trail till I ran into a small pond. To me it didn't look like the trail was going to twist and turn up to where I wanted to go. Right there was a big mistake. I should have stuck to the trail, but really what's the fun in just that.
So I spotted a little deer trail that I had to bend over to follow. I looked at the GPSr and it said I was about 350 feet away. Now that's pretty close except I ran into some really thick bushes. Bobbing and weaving threw the vegetation, I was realizing fast this was a bad idea. I had to climb the hill, all 300 feet of it crouched over just to find out when I hit a clearing it was a trail. After looking I think but not sure that it was the same trail I was on but it had wrapped up and around the park. I finally made it to the hide and was able to find that without too much trouble.
Then it was off to the next one, which was a two stage offset, and I found the first part just after I found a tree with some big thorn's on it. The tree got the best of me, but hey a little blood spilt is ok. I didn't have the right tool's with me to solve the puzzle so I grabbed a copy since the owner was nice enough to make copy's for people to take. I got back on the trail and head off to the next cache. Once again the trail started winding in the wrong direction. But I found a easy trail to follow that got me really close to the hide. Then as I was closing in, I saw where the river had risen and was coming to the cache fast. I was beginning to wonder if the water would pose a threat to getting to the cache. Lucky for me, I had about 8 inches between the water and the bottom of a small bluff. I was able to walk along that, just to find I had to climb back up some at the hide was about in the middle of that bluff.
That was a nice little climb but not a smart move. Once I got up I saw if I had come from the other direction the climb up would have been a safer approach. After finding that, it was time to clear out of there and head back to the car. I found a nice mowed and wide trail that lead back to the center, which I think is where I should have parked in the first place. So then I had to walk along the road for a bit to get back to the car.
All in all it was a fun trip. A bit chilly out. I can say I slept pretty well last night. I did do four other caches on the way home, but I passed up two more in the general area, but that gives me a good reason to head back out again.
Now after thinking back on my little adventure I have to just ponder the though of how that Coke machine got there.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Burn
I finally got all the piece's rounded up for my idea on changing this terracache I placed. I got it all put together tonight and though with this warm weather I'd head out and install in all.
I found the trails are a muddy mess and very slick at the moment. There's still some snow in some of the heavier tree covered area's and just a few day's ago one could walk on that snow without even leaving a foot print. No so anymore.
I was hoping this would go pretty quickly, but still ran out of daylight and it was quite a trick making it back to the car, while slipping and sliding trying to head up hill on deer trails.
I'm pretty excited about this hide now. I'm not going to say what it is or how it's placed, but I think it should be a enjoyable cache for who ever comes looking for it. A little problem to solve while out in the field. I'm glad this little idea popped in my head and I was able to make the part's for it and install it all. All of this was made with left over hard ware I had laying around.
I got the listing page updated and unarchived it tonight, so it's all set to go.
I found the trails are a muddy mess and very slick at the moment. There's still some snow in some of the heavier tree covered area's and just a few day's ago one could walk on that snow without even leaving a foot print. No so anymore.
I was hoping this would go pretty quickly, but still ran out of daylight and it was quite a trick making it back to the car, while slipping and sliding trying to head up hill on deer trails.
I'm pretty excited about this hide now. I'm not going to say what it is or how it's placed, but I think it should be a enjoyable cache for who ever comes looking for it. A little problem to solve while out in the field. I'm glad this little idea popped in my head and I was able to make the part's for it and install it all. All of this was made with left over hard ware I had laying around.
I got the listing page updated and unarchived it tonight, so it's all set to go.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
One of those 3am idea's
I hid a terracaching over the weekend. I guess getting stir crazy, and needed to get out and stretch the leg's a bit. I really didn't feel like going looking for a cache (that's a first). I had an empty ammo can collecting dust and I though, you know I'll bet I can find a spot for that.
So I loaded up the can full of little kiddy toy's, and grabbed some "special tool's" and headed off. I had put in a moving terra last year and have had a lot of fun watching where it's all moved too. I so wish I would have map out all the location's it's been, which I guess I still can do. But that area has sat empty for quite a long time. I didn't want to hide this one in the same spot as I did for "The Wretched", so I figured I would hike around some and see if anything looked like a good spot.
Under the tree cover there was still a good three inches of snow packed down to pretty much ice, which made for some tricky climbing. This area doesn't really have much for normal trails just animal trails. I took a good long time exploring and finally settle on a spot. This one would have been about the normal kind of hide, but I had a little something, something up my sleeve. Not going to give away what I did, but I left giggling the whole way home.
I had named this one "Burn". I was pretty excited about it and wrote it up really quickly and even botched the cord's. That got missed by me, and my sponsor's. The parking cords I gave for it where right, just messed up one number and thankfully another cacher caught it and shot me an e-mail right away so I could change it. I went to bed that night thinking, I liked what I did but just how could I add some "zing" to it.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up and got me a glass of milk and was still thinking about it. That's when the wheel's started grinding. At work I was doing some connection's for most of the day, and had been thinking about just what I could use to make the twist possible. I got a list of item's needed to pull this off, and as soon as I got home I archive the terra. Since the "archiving" system is a bit different on TC.com. This allows me to disable the cache and pull it from search list's, but I have the ability to pull it out of archive for two month's I believe.
I have rounded up everything needed to make the changes to the cache. This will be changing it from a traditional over to a two stage off-set. But it will be something a little different, I hope. I've got one more thing I need and then will set out to change it up. I'm pretty excited about these changes I'm making and look forward to some feedback. I think it will be some good feedback, but I will just have to wait and see. I'm pretty excited about it.
I'm also hoping this will get a few more TCer's to the area to hunt what I already have in place. I know I kind of live and have these hide in an out of the normal route area's, but I'm hoping these will help highlight the park. It's a neat park and I've yet to scratch the surface of it. I've hiked many miles on the trails there but there are still so many area's I haven't made it to yet.
So I'm looking forward to this 3 am idea coming to light and can't wait till someone sees it.
So I loaded up the can full of little kiddy toy's, and grabbed some "special tool's" and headed off. I had put in a moving terra last year and have had a lot of fun watching where it's all moved too. I so wish I would have map out all the location's it's been, which I guess I still can do. But that area has sat empty for quite a long time. I didn't want to hide this one in the same spot as I did for "The Wretched", so I figured I would hike around some and see if anything looked like a good spot.
Under the tree cover there was still a good three inches of snow packed down to pretty much ice, which made for some tricky climbing. This area doesn't really have much for normal trails just animal trails. I took a good long time exploring and finally settle on a spot. This one would have been about the normal kind of hide, but I had a little something, something up my sleeve. Not going to give away what I did, but I left giggling the whole way home.
I had named this one "Burn". I was pretty excited about it and wrote it up really quickly and even botched the cord's. That got missed by me, and my sponsor's. The parking cords I gave for it where right, just messed up one number and thankfully another cacher caught it and shot me an e-mail right away so I could change it. I went to bed that night thinking, I liked what I did but just how could I add some "zing" to it.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up and got me a glass of milk and was still thinking about it. That's when the wheel's started grinding. At work I was doing some connection's for most of the day, and had been thinking about just what I could use to make the twist possible. I got a list of item's needed to pull this off, and as soon as I got home I archive the terra. Since the "archiving" system is a bit different on TC.com. This allows me to disable the cache and pull it from search list's, but I have the ability to pull it out of archive for two month's I believe.
I have rounded up everything needed to make the changes to the cache. This will be changing it from a traditional over to a two stage off-set. But it will be something a little different, I hope. I've got one more thing I need and then will set out to change it up. I'm pretty excited about these changes I'm making and look forward to some feedback. I think it will be some good feedback, but I will just have to wait and see. I'm pretty excited about it.
I'm also hoping this will get a few more TCer's to the area to hunt what I already have in place. I know I kind of live and have these hide in an out of the normal route area's, but I'm hoping these will help highlight the park. It's a neat park and I've yet to scratch the surface of it. I've hiked many miles on the trails there but there are still so many area's I haven't made it to yet.
So I'm looking forward to this 3 am idea coming to light and can't wait till someone sees it.
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