Tuesday, September 29, 2009
My baby is back where he belongs (for now)
While in Iraq, there were mortar attacks (not allowed to talk about them while there) and some came very close. He was in his shop, though, which is a fortified concrete bunker. Still chills me to think of it though.
I am very thankful that he is out of the war zone. Hope he doesn't have to go back.
Meandering to Mackinac, now going home (day 5)
Woke up, went to breakfast, then had to go to our color group to make sure they got to chapel on time. After chapel there was a group picture (not an easy task when you're talking about 1500 people; the photographer was in a cherry picker truck.) Then the fun began. We had to inspect each campsite after the unit told us they were ready to go. After they passed our inspection, we issued parking passes that would allow the unit to go get their vehicles and load them up. Most units were great at making sure their area was policed and everything was taken care of.
My last unit, however, was really slow. I finally went over to their site to find out what was going on. About 2/3 of the scouts were just sitting around. Worse yet, all of the leaders were also sitting around, under the dining fly which hadn't yet been taken down. There were about six or so tents still up, too. Turns out they were the leaders tents and the leaders were expecting the scouts to take them down for them! I got them going and they finally did get everything done.
Then we were free to leave. I left just before noon from the campgrounds. Went to I-75 southbound to the first rest area, where there were three caches. At the third one, I met up with a troop from the Rendezvous that was having their lunch break. I ended up showing them a bit about caching.
Then on to other caches in other counties. My route took me east of I-75 then south, then west back over to US 127 in Clare. My last cache was in the Clare rest area just before 7 p.m., then I drove home from there without anything more than one bathroom break. Got home just after nine.
A great five day trip combining two of my favorite activities, geocaching and scouting!
Meandering to Mackinac, day 4 - On the Island
Meandering to Mackinac, Day 3
Meandering to Mackinac, Day 2
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Meandering to Mackinac, part 1
I left at 8:30 this morning (Wednesday.) Straight shot it's about a four hour trip. Would RedhedMary do a straight shot trip? Naaaah. Of course not. I planned out a trip that involved going through 14 Michigan counties that I had never found a cache in (as well as other counties of course.)
Tonight I am in Traverse City - if you think of Michigan as a left-hand mitten, its about where your little finger would be. I've found 29 caches today and can cross six counties off my list.
The day started out drizzly. Never did have a hard rain, but those first few caches were kinda dampish. Started off with a stop at the Denny's off Plainfield in GR, there was a new one just placed and I don't get up that way so often. So made the quick stop. Next a park and ride near Sand Lake, just off 131. A bit disconcerting there, someone had decided they needed the ammo can more than the cache did so took it. They left the swag and log in the ziplock and rehid that. But not before writing an obscene message in the log book. Too bad.
Then 131 to Reed City, then west on 10 to 37 in Baldwin. North on 37 to 115. West on 115 to Frankfort. North on 22 at Frankfort to 72. East on 72 to Traverse City. Memorable caches include one that was in a relocated outhouse in a cemetery (I could tell it had been relocated because the cache was in one of the holes and there was hard ground underneath, not what would have been there if it was once a working outhouse.) Another one, called "America's Finest" was suspended by a rope from a tree. One was hidden opposite from the largest Black Willow tree, at least in Michigan and I think in the US. There was also one near the Betsie Point Lighthouse. By this afternoon it was a lot sunnier than when I left.
I hit Traverse City with about 2 hours of daylight left, cached most of that time, then checked into the Knights Inn. A nice room but it doesn't have a table and chairs! Most do these days, I'm a bit surprised. But the price was good, it has high speed and breakfast in the morning, so we'll call it good.
Tomorrow I plan to head east to Kalkaska, then northwest to Charlevoix and then northeast to Petoskey and on to Mackinaw City. If I have time I will brave the bridge and do some caching in St. Ignace. We'll see.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Tales from the back of the bike
Our destination was Clare, Michigan, home of Jay's Sporting Goods. Our four bikes left the church parking lot about 8:45 a.m., with the air temps hovering around 50 degrees. It was brisk! Four guys plus me on the back of Steve's bike. Had I known there would not be any other ladies coming this time, I might have opted out so that Steve could get to know the guys more. But there I was, so enjoy the ride!
What does one do on the back of the bike? It is somewhat passive, of course. You don't have to do anything to make the bike go except lean in the right direction from time to time. So lots of time for looking and thinking and praying.
Looking at the scenery passing by, lots of thoughts come to mind:
- That's an interesting car (bicycle, motorcycle, truck, etc.)
- Nice house! Wouldn't that look good at home?
- Wow, that house has seen better days.
- The morning light would make that a great picture. Just not while we're moving though.
- Look at those (horses, cows, etc.)
- Here we are in (insert name of small town - we were taking the back roads.) Never heard of this place before. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
- Wow, I can see my reflection in the back of Steve's helmet.
- and, of course, the proverbial "that would be a great place to hide a cache" and "wonder if there's a cache hidden there already?"
Caching is usually not an option on group rides. Steve is reluctant enough to stop occasionally when we're on the bike by ourselves. When we're with a group, the stop decision is usually not in our hands. And you never know for sure just where we're going to stop, except for the final destination. Luck would have it that there were no caches within walking distance of Jay's. So I was out of luck. I still bring the GPSr anyway. I can entertain myself by knowing how far we've gone, how close we are to our destination, how fast we're going, how long we've been going, what road we're on, and other such valuable information. I think I can also play a game or two on it, just never have, other than the great game of geocaching.
I did take some time to count just how many waypoints I have entered into the GPSr. 384 to be exact. I needed to know because I need to load waypoints for my upcoming Mackinac trip and I only have room in the GPSr for 500. What's in there now are mostly local caches. By local I mean about 30 miles out in every direction.
Yesterday, I was able to load in the caches for the first day of my trip. Home to Traverse City. I have a room reserved for Wednesday night at the Knights Inn there, and will go the rest of the way to Mackinaw City on Thursday. Friday is check in for the scouts, that's those of us on physical arrangements staff are working. Saturday we don't have much to do so are free to roam the island at our leisure. Read geocaching into this. Sunday we work again, checking out the scouts, then head for home. If all goes well, I will add 14 counties to the "found" list and only have 7 lower peninsula counties left, and about the same in the UP.
I'm really looking forward to this last blast for the year!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A ride for veterans
Arrived a little late because of traffic tie ups due to the Reeds Lake Triathlon. But still enjoyed time with other GW riders, then set off for Muskegon where we were meeting with riders from other clubs. That was a nice ride through the countryside.
Got to Muskegon, and after a short wait we took off for Custer, Michigan and the VFW there. The ride was called the "Freedom Ride." We had to pay a fee to ride, but the fees were all donated to the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. Well worth it. The ride was great, very scenic and roads we'd never been on. There were so many bikes that we split into three groups. I would say there were 40-50 bikes all together. Stopped midway at an Artesian Well for a break. The water had an iron taste but was clean and cold.
Arrived at the VFW, where we were treated to snacks and we both won door prizes. Ok, it was apple sauce and apple juice (Indian Summer was a major prize donator) but it was nice to get something useful. They also had T-shirts for sale, we didn't bring enough money so Steve got back on the bike and found an ATM so we could both get shirts (again profits to the Vets.)
Rode home with three other bikes from our Grand Rapids group, took more major roads so it wasn't as long of a ride, but still two hours or so. I was actually getting sleepy and came as close to dozing off on the bike as I ever have. The armrests would have kept me in I guess. Got home around dinner time. A nice days ride.
Friday, September 11, 2009
September 11, 2001 & 2009
I was working as a day care director. We usually didn't have radio or TV on, of course, and it was progressing as a normal day. Took a call from my husband, he told me that a plane flew into the World Trade Center. Not quite sure what he was talking about, turned on a radio and started to get reports. The more we heard, the worse it got, of course. I remember allowing the teachers to bring a radio out to the playground and listen while watching the kids play. Never before, probably never again. But that day, yes. We tried to keep things low key for the kids sake. (Hard to believe but those kids are teenagers now.) I do remember one little girl, a few days later, telling me she saw a movie on TV about an airplane flying into a building.
Eight years later. Since I don't work on Fridays, I was able to participate in our Boy Scout 9/11 Salute. We raise the flag at the Gerald Ford Museum at sunrise, and stand at salute (in 5 minute shifts) until sunset. I took four shifts. My arm definitely got tired, but it was nothing compared to what people went through that day, even what my son goes through right now in Iraq.
God Bless America.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A trip to Sunny's Grand Isle
Thursday, September 3, 2009
2K and counting
A night cache, for those who might not know, involves taking a flashlight and trying to find tiny little reflectors attached to trees, following the path, and eventually finding the cache. And yes, it's DARK. I've done very few of these, mostly due to my promise not to cache at night by myself. But two of us together, different story.
Golfdiva picked me up at dusk, and we headed to the cache, 13 miles away. Glad she was driving! Got to the parking lot, set off down the trail. She checked one side, I checked the other. Quickly determined we needed to follow the trail to the RIGHT. So off we went. After a short time, heard a rustling. Golfdiva said she surprised some critter right on the boardwalk. Glad she was in the lead, not me. We continued and soon found the red reflector and the reflective X on the cache itself. Not as long of a hike as we'd hoped, but still fun. And my #2000 was finally here. Took the obligatory pictures, signed the log, then headed back. On the way home, we stopped at her new cache, and I found it in the dark. Not too far from the trailhead so it wasn't bad.
This gave me free rein to grab caches on Wednesday, without having to worry about a "special" cache for #2000. For the first time, I cached paperless now that my nuvi has the cache info. Found six caches, then went to the eye dr. for my yearly check. Then home for the evening.