On the Road Again (MWGB Day 4)

Yesterday found me on the road again, headed for home after a great time at the geobash. I was on the road by 10 a.m. after sleeping a little later than the previous few days; eating breakfast; and loading up the car. I had planned out a route which included a lot of "on the way" Ohio caches and some in Michigan as well. Most of today's caches ended up being in cemeteries - and I found other cachers at most of them (in Ohio anyway) as well. I ended up leaving Ohio about 2:45 p.m. after making a pit stop in Pioneer, just before the state line. Discovered that they don't have Sunday restaurant sales there - not even Noble Roman's pizza at the gas station!

I chose to go up Michigan 99 to Adrian - found a few nice caches along the way. Then I-94 to I-69 to Charlotte, then M-50 to M-66, M-66 to I-96 and I-96 to the Lowell exit and home.

I found 32 caches; and a grand total of 125 for the four day geobash. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work figuring out coords and routing as well as the online logging. I really need to try and figure out how to get the cache info onto my nuvi. I had to look up every cache on GSAK on my netbook, works for a car trip but I don't think I can carry the netbook with me on a hike in the woods.

Got home, unloaded the car, and returned my mom's call. Their plans have changed and they will be with us tomorrow night (Tuesday.) Of course, I hadn't done anything yet to get the house ready, figuring I had all week. So tonight I am headed home from work and get to spend my time doing just that. I don't work until 12:30 tomorrow so have a little time then if I need it.

It will be good to have a longer visit!

Eat. Sleep. Cache. (MWGB Day 3)

I was up pretty late last night logging caches, so slept until about 8 a.m. or so. A thunderstorm woke me up about 4ish, made me really glad that I decided to get a hotel room rather than camp in a tent. The skies were still pretty threatening by the time I got up and going, but made sure I could reach my rain gear and off I went.

First stop was to the bash to exchange a couple of travel bugs. After that, took off north and east and did ten caches, mostly Spirit Quest caches in cemeteries. NW Ohio sure has a lot of little old cemeteries, very interesting to walk among the stones and think about the lives represented there. The stories behind those lives are, for the most part, lost forever. It's too bad.

Made it back to the bash by 1:30 so I could check out the silent auction items. Nothing there that I couldn't live without, especially since I'm coming home with two t-shirts and coins/pins already. Hung around for a while, got to talk to caching friends from home as well as meet some new people. The closing ceremonies started at 3 p.m. - first was a ginormous group picture, then prizes awarded. Of course I didn't win anything, my streak is still secure.

After those festivities, off I went for more caching. 21 more caches, working my way west and south this time. A lot of cemeteries again, but some other caches, too. My last two caches were in a little roadside park near Napoleon, Ohio, on the banks of the Maumee River. Beautiful way to end my caching day.

Back to Wauseon and the hotel, where it's time to log the caches again. As fun as this has been, it sure has been a lot of computer time keeping up with the logging. As of tonight, I have found 93 caches in these past three days, and moved 22 trackables.

Now I need to figure out which route to take home and what caches are along the way. I'm looking forward to the trip, but also ready to get on home.

MWGB, Day 2

Wow. A super day of fun. Woke up, had the typical motel continental breakfast. Difference being that there were no tables. Take the food back to your room. That's ok. Then went up to the bash and went to the coffee (none for me thank you) and donuts social. Met up with Unlimited Tazmania and KBB1BB there. Ned & Sue gave me the replacement key for the cache box key I've been holding onto for a couple of months now. The key is a travel bug and you have to have it to open the cache. They had to replace the cache so... Anyway, I'm guaranteed a FTF on this one as I'm the only cacher that can open it. After I find it I have to drop off the key in another local cache so it can be found and used by someone else.

Poker Run cards were handed out, and I was invited to go with Unlimited Tazmania and KBB1BB. We had to go to seven different area businesses and get a barcode sticker at each. The computer read the stickers and figured our poker hands from there. Technology... It was fun though I didn't win anything. We also did some caching along the way since we had from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to get the seven stickers. It's fun to cache in a group, though I still do enjoy my solo caching.

Came back to turn in our cards and wait for the results. I also turned in my travelers so that I could pick up the same number of different travelers. Got some neat ones! After I knew I hadn't won anything in the poker run, I decided to go do some solo caching. Made it to (and past) my #1800 milestone, for which I counted the event itself. Ended up with 37 caches today and a two-day total of 62. Stopped at WalMart on the way back to the motel to pick up a salad for dinner, then have sat in front of the computer logging since then. Takes a while to log 37 caches and 16 travelers.

The weather was gorgeous today. Tomorrow is forecast to not be so good. 80% chance of thunderstorms. We'll just play it by ear. I do have a rain poncho.

One more full day of bash, then tomorrow night I have to decide what route to take back home, caching along the way of course.

MWGB, Day 1

Well, here I am. Sitting in my motel room - no camping in the rain! I can decide what I want to do, when I want to eat, for the next three days as well as today. I've discovered I like taking vacations alone. No disrespect for family and friends intended.

Started off this morning intending to leave about 7 a.m. Steve was checking my car's fluid levels before I left, though, and accidentally dropped the lid to the brake fluid reservoir down inside the car. He ended up having to take the wheel off in order to find it. So I was on the road about 7:45 or so. Picked up a few caches along the way to the Lansing area including one called "Bear Bait" that is in Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge. One of my bears has the last name of Fitzgerald. So have had this one on my someday list for a while.

Ran into rain between Lansing and Howell on I-96. It was still raining by the time I hit the first rest stop cache in Livingston County, which was one of the three counties I planned to add to my found list today. So wore a rain poncho and stayed relatively dry. Then did some caching in Brighton and went down 23 towards Ann Arbor but made a brief dash into Wayne County to pick up a cache there. Then down towards Ann Arbor again, picked up some Washtenaw County caches. Down US 12 to MI-52 which turned into Ohio 109, then US 20 to Ohio 108 and Wauseon. 25 caches in about 10 hours of driving time.

The motel isn't the greatest Super 8 I've ever stayed in. It'll be ok, though, and it seems to be safe. Went to Taco Bell's drive through and spent the evening in the room logging caches and downloading Wauseon caches to my GPS.

Almost paperless caching went ok today. I plugged the computer into a converter so I wasn't losing battery power, had GSAK running so I could look up the next cache before I left the previous one. The downloads into my GPS are just the waypoints, not the names as I'm used to. So tomorrow will be different in that regard. There are some geocaching activities also taking place so tomorrow will probably not be totally caching itself, but other fun related to caching. Plus I will be exchanging my 16 travelers for new travelers, that's always fun. There's a separate area with hundreds of travelers sorted by where they want to go or what they want to do.

It's been a very long day and time to get to bed. More tomorrow from Wauseon...

Paperless caching - first time

On the day after tomorrow, I leave for four days of geocaching bliss - the Midwest Geobash. This is the fifth annual bash, and it will be my third time attending. It will be the first time, though, that I'll be able to stay for the entire bash. In 2006, had to leave for the weekend to go to my nephew's wedding. Didn't get to go in 2007. In 2008, had a weekend campout with Da Bears, so only got to go to bash the first day. But the calendar is clear and off I go bright and early Thursday morning.

I've (sorta) taken the plunge into paperless caching. There is a great program out there called GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) that downloads cache information into your computer. I have all the information on the computer now for 500 caches within a 25 mile radius of Wauseon, Ohio (where the geobash will be held.) The only problem is that the maps only show up when you're online. So I'm "sorta" paperless. I still printed out a bunch of location maps and will hopefully be able to find caches without too much trouble.

I had been given a link by my caching friend Macho Homemaker to download this same kind of info into my Nuvi (the car GPS) which would have been perfect. Trouble is, I've gone through all the steps twice now, and all goes well until the end where the POIloader (points of interest) can't find the file generated by GSAK. I'm hoping that I can find someone at the bash who can help me out on this. Otherwise it's a bit cumbersome having my computer with me and running just for cache information.

I plan to be leaving Thursday morning shortly after 7 a.m., heading over toward the east side of the state, picking up some caches along the way. I have three counties along the route that I don't have any cache finds yet: Livingston, Wayne, and Washtenaw. My route will take me through all three. Then south to the Wauseon area and to the nearby state park where there will be a welcome party Thursday afternoon. There are events taking place on Friday and Saturday as well, plus of course there will be lots of caching opportunities - about 100 caches within a 10 mile radius. I will easily make my 1800 milestone on this trip, and perhaps my 1900 as well! That would easily put me in range for the big 2000 on or before my trip up north for Mackinac Rendezvous in September.

Steve and Eric will hold down the fort at home. Steve was planning to go to another rally, but (read some previous posts) that isn't gonna happen now.

Tales from the back of the bike, last day

I think that this picture tells the story. 703 miles. 10 1/2 hours of moving time. 1 1/2 hours stopped. (That actually should be more like 2 - 2 1/2 hours as I turned it off while eating.) All in the same day.

We woke up at the motel in Kingsport, Tennessee, and got on the road about 9 a.m. We went up into Virginia for all of five minutes so that I could pick up one cache and add Virginia to my states found list. I didn't even take my helmet off while signing the log. Then we were on our way. A fairly nice day though a little cool. We were making good time and stopped for lunch in southern Kentucky around noon or so, at a Cracker Barrel. This is where Steve first said that we might as well try going all the way in one day. I thought (and hoped) he was kidding. But, in reality, it's out of my hands. I'm just along for the ride...

As we headed north, the weather seemed to be getting cooler. Somebody took Christmas in July to a whole new level, I think. Anyway, I put my turtleneck on after lunch, and at the next gas stop, I went in and bought hot chocolate. I drank it through a tall straw, that helped. I had also found a hand warmer in the tail trunk, and that helped as well. We hit Cincinnati at about 2:30 or 3:00, I realized by now that he was serious and that barring complications we would be going all the way home. The weather was cooler and cloudy, not the most favorable ride conditions. Tried a few different reasons with Steve..."Is there anything you want to see while we're passing through Cincinnati (his home town)..." "Why don't we stop for the night in Dayton and go to the Air Force Museum tomorrow?" Nope, let's get on home. We ran into a little bit of rain in the Dayton area, and the skies looked threatening much of the rest of the way. After a gas stop in Van Wert, Ohio, we lasted until Charlotte, Michigan. We were both cold by then, stopped at a gas station, drank more hot chocolate, and Steve put on his windbreaker over his riding jacket which helped stop the wind from going through his jacket and on me. We made it through those last 50 or so miles, and made it home around 10 p.m.

No caching, obviously. If I had thought about it (and known Steve's plans) I would have asked to stop at every rest area cache along the way to slow him down. Even an hour or two earlier in the day would have probably made him stop for the night instead of going straight through. He doesn't like to ride in the dark because of deer, etc. I know there was one rest area we passed by in Tennessee that had four caches in it!

Overall a good trip. But Steve's thoughts are that this would probably be our last long touring trip on the bike. Partially because he doesn't really like the beemer as much now (and last night actually said he was going to try to sell it) and partially because he doesn't feel his body can take it so much anymore. Not much I can do about it - I can't ride the bike by myself.

The "butt buffers" seemed to help. Not sure if they helped enough to justify the cost. Let's just say I was glad this morning that our chairs in church are amply padded!

Tales from the back of the bike, day 3

First wake up this morning was around 4 a.m. -- to a thundershower. Not good. But the bike was covered so things didn't get too wet. About 8 a.m., I went across the street to the Dollar General for some supplies while Steve took his shower. Tried to find the nearby cache while across the street, no luck yet but I'll give it another try tomorrow morning before we leave. Then we continued getting ready for our day, went to the lobby for the continental breakfast.

By the time we were ready to hit the road, it was almost 10 a.m. The seminar we wanted to go to started at 10:30. So the Virginia caching will have to wait until tomorrow. We made it down to the fairgrounds only a few minutes later than we planned. Steve dropped me off, then went over to the BMW Motorrad area and signed up for the demo ride he wanted to take. Guess what, he signed me up too! As his passenger of course. I had thought I'd have an hour to hang out in the internet area.

The seminar was on traveling by motorcycle in Europe. Interesting info, hope to be able to use it someday, especially while Scott is still in Germany. After the seminar, we wandered around some of the other vendors while waiting for our turn for the demo ride.

Finally, at 1 p.m. (just after another passing shower) it was our turn, along with a few dozen others, split into three riding groups. We rode a R1200RT, same as we already have. Steve wanted to see if what he was hearing was common to all those bikes or just his. Bottom line, just his, most likely. Someone tonight suggested he do his own valve job, and the right valve job may just take care of the trouble. Hope so. The ride itself was curvy and twisty. Not so bad you think. But this RT did not have a tail trunk and therefore no backrest. I had to deal with those twisties by just holding on to the passenger side handles and praying I wouldn't be bounced or slidden off. I was finally able to relax my grip just a bit by the second half of the ride, whcih was about 45 minutes long.

After the ride, and our returning our riding gear to our bike (instead of carrying it around) we did a bit more vendor shopping. Decided to invest in some "Butt Buffers" which are a gel-based seat pad. Similar to what is used to prevent bedsores in patients. The selling points were two: the guy slid keys under the pad while I was sitting on it, and I didn't even feel them, OR the metal parts that were already underneath before I sat down. The other was that they were satisfaction guaranteed. If we ride home and don't like them, we can get our money back. Or even later if we change our mind. That sold me. Definitely worth a try. And now I can throw away this really ugly piece of foam that I rode down here on.

We also (well, Steve didn't know he was going caching until we were at ground zero) did a cache that was located in a bison tube on top of a fence. We (I needed my tall hubby to check some places I couldn't reach) couldn't find it at first, then I finally spotted it. It was tough to retrieve, Steve finally pushed it out and, you guessed it, it landed on the other side of the fence. Nearby gate closed and locked, of course. Finally had to ask a passer-by to retrieve it and bring it to me. Steve said that one of the "shuttles", a glorified hay wagon, passed by and people were sure giving me strange looks!

After this adventure we went off to see a display of vintage BMW's. Steve has a particular interest because he restored a 1962 R60/2 back in the 80s when we were first married. Lots of neat old bikes. Probably one of our favorite parts of the rally. After this we decided it was time to get some "real" food as opposed to fair food and fast food so headed down into Johnson City and ended up at Bob Evans. We were surprised when we left that it had rained again while we were inside.

Sooo...found out our new "Butt Buffers" were also great cooling pads when wet. No, we hadn't put on the cover as it didn't look like it would rain more when we went inside. Also - our helmets are great cool-downs when the lining is wet because they were hanging on their hooks on the back of the bike. See previous note about not putting the cover on.

Back to the rally where we were to meet the rest of the riders here from our "club" at the beer tent at 7 p.m. There were about a dozen or so of us that sat together and visited for about an hour and a half before some of us left. Some may still be there for all I know. We wanted to get back to the hotel before dark. (They did sell other beverages - and Steve and I both had tokens for a free beverage because it was our first rally. )

Back to the hotel, we know the way now! Toilet got stopped up and we had to call maintenance. That's always fun. not. But it seems to be working now. Then our nightly routine of getting the bike closed up for the night, and me using the wireless. It sure is nice to have my computer with me on a bike trip!

Tomorrow morning's plans include packing up the bike, then heading for that Virginia cache then towards home.

Went back to

Tales from the back of the bike, day 2

Day 2 finds us waking up at Georgetown. Went out for the free continental breakfast in the lobby. A deciding factor for us now, figure it into the cost of the room. If it's the same price as a room without breakfast, or even just slightly higher, that will push the decision in that direction. Plus free wi-fi now as the netbook fits in the tail trunk. Anyway.... ate breakfast, took Steve back some breakfast. Got on the road about 9:30 a.m. Stopped just 2 miles down the road, as there was a cache at the rest area and I collected on Steve's promise to let me get at least one cache in Kentucky and Tennessee. This was the Kentucky cache, called Bluegrass Welcome. Quick and easy rest area cache. Dropped a duck travel bug, and dipped the rest of my bugs.

Now truly on the road, off we went down I-75. Skies looked a bit threatening most of the day, but you know, it didn't rain again! The Lord must be smiling down upon us as rain would have not been a good thing on a motorcycle. We stopped for gas somewhere in southern Kentucky, I don't remember quite where, and also made a quick stop at a weird place, just over the border into Tennessee. There is an exit to nowhere there. Looks like they might have been planning to put a road in but didn't get around to it. The exit even has a highway overpass and you can actually go the other direction if you need to. Expensive turnaround!

Hit Knoxville then headed east on I-40. Time for another break. Stopped at a rest area not too far east of Knoxville to do a cache named East Bound and Down. In one of those weird geocaching coincidences, the last to sign the log were Team Peterson of Grand Rapids. Yep, I know them. Also, they left a purple bear that had been brought back from Tennessee (Geo-Woodstock) by Band of Bradys, another West Michigan cache team, and dropped in Team Peterson's home cache. So this bear travel bug (which I think should be named boomerang now) went from Tennessee to West Michigan, from West Michigan to Tennessee, and now back to West Michigan. I will probably take it down to geobash next week, though, to break the cycle.

On from there. Got to Johnson City and the rally (more properly to Gray where the fairgrounds are located.) We had to go through registration at a nearby school building, where we had to wait quite a while for walk-ins. Guess we weren't the only ones that didn't want to commit to paying the pre-registration fee. In our case we weren't entirely sure Steve would get the time off with the transition to the new company, and didn't want to go through the hassle of getting a refund.

Once we were finally registered, we went on to the fairgrounds, finally found a place to park, and walked around some of the vendors for a while. It was hot and humid, really not a lot of fun once you get all heated up. We also went to the "country store" and bought event t-shirts, and were given patches, a little backpack, a pin, a sticker, and a plastic mug. The bike is really full now.

We had a spot of trouble getting to the hotel. We couldn't get reservations in Johnson City, so ended up in Kingsport, about a 10-15 minute ride north. I misread the directions, though, so we ended up in the wrong direction twice. Finally found the hotel. By this time we were both tired, hot, and sweaty. And to find out that Steve has some concerns regarding some vibrations on the bike which shouldn't be there. Nothing that will cause the bike to fall apart on the trip, but it shouldn't be there. Guess he's tried to have them (our local BMW dealer where we bought the bike) find it without luck. So he's pretty frustrated about that, and about motorcycling in general (at least tonight anyway. Maybe tomorrow will be a new day and he'll be in a better mood. Hope so.

We walked up to the KFC and had dinner, then Dairy Queen for dessert. Walked back to the hotel, and while Steve covered up the bike, I went to church. The church across the street that is, where there was a cache. 375 feet from our hotel room. Sweet. There are two others in different directions less than a tenth of a mile away as well. Picked up two more travel bugs in the cache tonight, will take them to geobash with me next week.

I was so hot and sticky that I took a quick swim in the pool (outdoor) and came back feeling refreshed. On to the high speed where I logged my caches and also realized we were just 3 miles from Virginia so Steve (probably reluctantly) agreed that we could go to the nearest Virginia cache tomorrow so I can add another state to my list.

We're also planning (as of the last time we talked about it tonight anyway) to go to a seminar tomorrow about planning your own bike trip to Europe. Probably will never happen but you never know. Steve also wants to test drive a similar bike to his so he can see if the vibration thing is just his bike or common to the model. He was talking to some other riders of the same kind of bike here at the motel tonight and they don't have the problem Steve has. Not a good sign.

Here's hoping day 3 goes better than day 2 ended.

Tales from the back of the bike, day 1

6:00 a.m. Bzzzzzz. Steve forgot to turn off his alarm. So of course I woke up. We went to bed last night facing the possibility of rain for the start of our trip. I went out to check the radar - it looked like we could get a jump on the weather so went back to tell Steve that. After watching we decided to go for it. But by the time we were cleaned up and ready to roll, the window was closing and we decided to wait for the front to go through. Steve went back to bed.

I got some things done, and by the time Steve woke up again, we were headed down the road at 11:00 a.m. First discovery - the BMW is not as comfortable as the Wing. And Steve agrees tonight. 2nd discovery - something wasn't right with the sound system. So no communication or music. There was a horrible squelch and other noises which weren't supposed to be there.

1st stop (besides the Lowell Meijer for gas) was a rest area in Northern Indiana. After the usual reason for "resting," I made a quick walk to try to find the cache. No luck. Ended the search and headed back to the restroom building, just in time to meet up with Steve coming out. He didn't even know I'd been looking for a cache until tonight when I told him.

2nd stop - Waponetka, Ohio. Gas stop. Ended up right next door to the Neil Armstrong Museum (his birthplace city.) We didn't have time to stop but did drive through the parking lot and see a few planes and space ships.

I definitely have less space on the Beemer (and no, it's not because of me, it's the bike!) so wiggle room is at a premium. I can shift just a bit to change position of my posterior; extend my legs one at a time to stretch them; and not much else.

Next stop - Troy, Ohio - Sierra Electronics, where we bought the sound system. Steve wanted to have them test the CB antenna, and also had them look at the problems he'd discovered that morning. The latter was easily solved - you have to pull out a certain knob to adjust things! The CB also apparently solved - guess having a passenger doesn't help but it still works. I had hoped to do a cache or two in Troy (there were six within a mile on the same road as Sierra) but they were a bit too far down the road to walk. It was about 5 p.m. by now. I would have been happy to stop at any time, but told Steve to go ahead as long as he felt like it, or until rain.

Rain looked very possible a few times today - but we lucked out and never felt a drop.

After leaving Troy, we headed towards Dayton and Cincinnati. At some point during our trip through Dayton, I realized that the tail trunk (which my back rests against) had some wiggle in it which it didn't have before. Really no place to stop in Dayton, rush hour traffic plus construction. So when it was safer, let Steve know and we stopped to check it out. There is definitely a little wiggle but he thinks it's still ok.

On to Cincinnati. I'd have been ok with stopping here, too. Steve was like an Energizer bunny (kept right on going....) Haven't been to Cincinnati for a few years, since we moved his Dad up to Michigan. Ok, once since then. But probably quite a bit longer since I've been through downtown. We passed by Princeton High School, Steve's alma mater. (Steve is from Cincinnati if someone doesn't know that.) Then over the river and into Kentucky. By now my body is thinking, "I've had enough!" but I'd told Steve it would be his call. Dumb move on my part.

So we kept going. Finally I noticed a cache at a rest stop near Georgetown, Kentucky. My plan was to have him stop there if not sooner. Low and behold, though, he stopped at the exit before the rest area! We checked into a Days Inn, then walked to the nearby Waffle House for dinner.

Now back in the room watching TV (Steve) and surfing the net (me.) Nobody on Skype tonight when I have good access to high speed - oh well.

Hope to make it the rest of the way to Johnson City, Tennessee tomorrow.

Baby Boy Cooper turns 22

22 years ago ... at Bartholomew County Hospital, I'd given birth to my second son, Eric, at 4:44 a.m. He was 4 days overdue, but was more than ready to come out because labor was only 1 hr. and 14 minutes. The day before, I'd taken Steve to the dr. for strep throat, he still wasn't feeling the greatest but stepped right up when it became quickly obvious that it was "time." They gave him a mask for the birthing suite and probably wouldn't have let him stay if things had been happening any slower. 9 pounds, 4 oz., and 22 inches long. He was a big baby! (And still big, he's 6' 4" now.)

Memories of that first day include introducing Scott to his new baby brother, "Ick." He couldn't say Eric, that's what came out instead. He was also more interested in my surroundings than his brother. Thankfully that's changed over the years!

Fast forward 22 years. Eric is a young man to be proud of, he is attending Grand Valley State University, planning to get into the school of nursing as soon as he finishes up his prerequisite courses. Still living at home, mainly for financial reasons. He has a full circle of friends, something that hasn't always been easy for him. After struggling for an appropriate idea, we are set for a birthday celebration tonight. Dinner out whereever he chooses, and gift-giving and birthday cake. Quiet but nice. He hasn't always had the opportunity for big celebrations, given his mid-summer birthday. Lots of years of being away at camp or on vacation.

There's something special about the baby, even when he is grown up.

The weekend report

My friend Golfdiva and I had a great time caching on Friday. When we go out together (not often enough) she usually drives and I'm the navigator. Usually works well except when I forget that she is not a mind reader and couldn't tell that I wanted her to make a turn when I forgot to tell her out loud!

I picked up 30 caches, she picked up 35. (The difference being that a few of the last ones we did were ones I'd picked up on the way back from Newaygo a few weeks ago.) A nice variety of small and larger caches, single stages and multi's. A very satisfying day. Probably the most interesting cache of the day was one hidden in an old civil war-era cemetery. We both enjoyed wandering around a while and looking at the old stones. We ended our day with an ice cream stop. Something neither one of us needed but oh well. They had spaghetti ice cream listed on the menu. After I placed my order, I asked what in the world spaghetti ice cream was. Turns out they put vanilla ice cream through an extruder to make it look like spaghetti, then top it with strawberry sauce and put chocolate malted milk balls on top (for meatballs.) I may try to recreate that at home, it'd be fun.

Yesterday I attended a funeral visitation for a dear friend from the past. Grandma Marion was the first person I met at the daycare where I worked for 11 years. She and her husband, Johnny, were married for 68 years. Wow. If we make it that long, Steve will be 98 and I'll be 91. Probably isn't gonna happen. It was good to see old friends from the past while I was there. Wish it had been for other reasons. It shouldn't take a funeral to bring people together, should it?

After the visitation, I had to go to Lowell to the Riverwalk Festival as Gilda's Club had a float in the parade. I got to ride on the back, holding one of my sweet little boys. Also got to wear a lovely foam "Gilda's hair" hat. If someone got pictures I'll post one. It pulled back my regular hair so now I have a strip of sunburn there where my hair usually covers.

Went home after enjoying a bit of the festival after the parade, and got some laundry and dishes done. I have to get a move on soon with summer housecleaning - my mom and stepdad are coming for a visit at the end of the month. Yes, Mom, it isn't all that bad but I am going to be gone for the better part of the next two weeks.

I'm working on Monday and Tuesday then Steve & I leave for a BMW rally in Tennessee on Wednesday. (Eric is holding down the fort and checking in on Grandpa Cooper.) Then we're back on Sunday, and on Wednesday (I think) Steve leaves for another rally. I'm planning to take off on Thursday for the Midwest Geobash, where over a thousand crazy people just like me will get together and have fun caching and doing caching-related things. Again, Eric will hold down the fort. I offered to bring him along to geobash but he said he'd only go if I bought him a new Mac. No.

It is his (Eric's) birthday on Tuesday and he's really not sure what he would like. He says there's nothing he can think of that he really needs or wants. We'll come up with some nice way to commemorate the day though.

07-08-09

Yesterday was one of those number days - 7/8/9. There was a geocaching event to commemorate that - at 4:05:06 a.m.! Opted out of it, especially after Steve didn't think it was a good idea to be out driving around by myself at that hour.

Not scheduled to work yesterday, so made an appointment for my annual "mamm-o-cram" bright and early at 8 a.m. Don't anticipate any problems there, just something us wimmen gotta do. In and out rather quickly so my plans were to hit a few geocaches before going out to Lowell to tour the place where we will be opening up a satellite office this fall.

Decided to start out with a new Two Happy Hikers 10-stage multi cache that had just been published the night before, with time restrictions so nobody could find it last night. Went through the first three stages just fine, then got hung up on the 4th stage when a street cleaning truck was parked right where I needed to look. Waited for a while, then went back and got a book and read until they finally left. Found what I was looking for, but the next stage was only 15 feet away according to the GPS... looked and looked anyway, then the owner, Mr. THH, pulled up. He realized there was an error in those coords and pointed me in the right direction so I could complete the cache. I was first to find at 9:30 a.m. Received a $5 certificate to the restaurant where the cache was located.

Went on to do a few more single stage caches, then a 3-stage multi cache at the Calvin College Cross Country course. A really nice walk and a nice cache. Then on to the main Calvin campus so I could (finally) do a webcam cache - had to call Eric on my cellphone (he was home, still in bed) so that he could go online, go to the link I'd sent him the night before for the webcam, and capture my picture in front of the webcam. We got it done, though I'm so tiny in the picture you can't really tell it's me. Fun to finally get a new icon on my found list. Did one more cache after that, then stopped at Arby's for lunch on the way to Lowell.

Toured the facility, then came on home. Discovered through e-mail the sad news that Grandma Marion had passed away. Grandma Marion was a dear lady with whom I worked at Aldersgate, the day care center I was a teacher at for 3 years then director for 8. She retired a few years before I left, and was much beloved by all who came into contact with her.

Spent the evening home alone as Steve had to work late. He is now officially working for Ventra whose parent company, Flex-N-Gate, bought out Meridian. Same job & benefits. Steve and I are much relieved, Steve especially of course.

While home, I researched caches for a little caching expedition that Golfdiva (one of my caching friends) and I plan to take on Friday. We're going to go to Sparta, Kent City, Cedar Springs, and Rockford, provided the weather holds out. After that, I need to get ready for Eric's birthday next Tuesday and our trip to Tennessee coming up after that. I've promised not to ask to do too many caches, the trip is to go to a BMW rally. But we do have to make rest stops from time to time...

Happy Birthday America

It was nice to have a four day weekend to celebrate our country's birthday and just relax!

On Thursday, I went caching around Lowell with my friend Carolyn. She is still figuring caching out but is learning more and more each time. All of the caches that we found were ones that I'd found when I was first caching, so it was nice to revisit them. I even found the third stage (that I'd never found originally) of a four stage cache that I had found four years ago. I ended the day by attending a troop committee meeting.

Friday was a day to relax and catch up on the coupons & grocery shop. Went to Meijer after my coupons were sorted and saved $89 between store specials and coupons. (We really needed stocking up...) Then after I got it all home and stowed away, went back into town where I had the privilege of sitting on an Eagle Scout board of review where we approved our troop's newest Eagle Scout. Congrats, Chili!

Got home from the Board and Steve had the bike loaded so we could go to downtown Ada and watch the fireworks. They were in a new location in Ada which was much more convenient for us, we were right across the street and had a great view! When we got to the area and unloaded the bike, I asked Steve, "Are you sure these are chairs?" (referring to the chairs he'd loaded on the back.) Sure enough, they were the side tables instead. I thought they looked awfully small! So we used them as backrests and sat on the (very nice) grass in front of Amway.

Saturday morning, we slept in then went to beautiful downtown Ada to see the antique car show and stroll around the craft booths and inflatables. Well, sprinkles were threatening so that cut the number of cars, the craft booths didn't have anything we needed, and the inflatables were for the kiddies. So that was that. Then onward to the 4th of July flea market at the Lions park between Ada and Cascade. Shopped the flea market, bought a boy scout belt with a Timber Trails Council buckle, and by the time we were done the Lions themselves were selling bags for a buck. Filled one with odds and ends, and another with books. By this time we were getting tired so decided not to stop by the Cascade festivities. Ended up with a quick trip to WalMart for water balloons for the church picnic, then home for a quiet evening. I had games to get ready for the church picnic though, and filled a bunch of water balloons as well.

Sunday was our church picnic, celebrating the 4th of July a day late. After church and Sunday School, we headed out to Fallasburg Park where we had the pavilion, a pig roast, and potluck fixins. Good time of fellowship. Games afterwards, I was in charge of the kids games where we had an egg toss, water balloon toss, and a few other games.

After the picnic, my friend Carolyn wanted to try my Family of Eagles cache located in the same park. She found the first two stages without too much trouble. On the way to the third, I parked one lot down from where I should have so we ended up with a little extra walking. Also discovered a new "no trespassing" sign right on the way to the cache. So had to move it. Found a new spot on the other side of the road that shouldn't be any problem. Of course, then I had to go back to the second stage and fix the coordinates to reflect the new location. Pretty tired and hot by this time so headed for home.

When I got home, Steve was rarin' to go on a motorcycle ride. I was dead tired but since he'd put up with the flea market the day before, I couldn't turn him down so we ended up riding to Greenville where we ate dinner and headed for home.

Hope everyone else celebrated the holiday just as they wanted to!

Not a typical Wednesday

Started with a fancy breakfast and ended with my first-ever karaoke performance!

Woke up at the hotel and met everyone downstairs for breakfast at one of the hotel's restaurants. I had scrambled eggs, ham hash, and toast with cherry butter. Then retrieved my car from the parking garage and went back to the clubhouse, where several of us who had brought our own cars overnight then carpooled to Zeeland.

In Zeeland, we ended up at an office building where a corporate chef was waiting. We were paired up and given recipes, ingredients, and instructions in cooking a gourmet meal. My partner and I were given a recipe for scallops with bacon and spinach. He (my partner) asked me if I watched the Food Network (I don't.) He does, and turned out to be a much better cook than I so I let him take the lead. Did learn a neat trick about chopping onions fast that might come in handy someday.

Other dishes (there were 10 in all) were: gazpacho (wasn't as bad as I thought it might be); avocado-grapefruit salad (didn't try); chicken breast with cumin, salsa, and guacamole; linguini with pesto; quattro fromaggi (a gourmet mac & cheese); eggplant bake (this wasn't bad. surprisingly); pork tenderloin with couscous and red onion confit; blackened shrimp with wild rice; and pound cake with fresh fruit. We were stuffed by the time we were finished!

Team building not done. We then traveled to Holland, where we visited the future site of our Lakeshore clubhouse. Beautiful land surrounded by wooded wetlands so we won't have to worry about development crowding us in. We celebrated a July 4th birthday while there by lighting sparklers.

But that's not all... then we traveled to the shores of Lake Macatawa where we boarded the Holland Princess for a boat tour of Lake Macatawa. This double decker boat came complete with pickle pins as we passed the Heinz factory and a karaoke machine on the top deck. It was pretty chilly up there (this was the coldest July 1 on record in the area) but several brave souls showed us their stuff. The second to the last song was "You're the One That I Want" from Grease and I was persuaded to make the trio a quartet and ended up in my first (and probably last!) karaoke performance. I wasn't holding a mike so nobody could hear how bad I was, song-wise, but I'm told my moves were good!

After the ride was over, a group picture then back to Grand Rapids and then home. It was nice to finally experience the daytime part of an inservice as I'm usually with the kids instead of with the grownups. That is my job, of course, but I'm glad it worked out this way this time around.