Before we got out of the tent, we changed our clothes, I told Ben to dress for warm weather and he got started on breakfast. We brought eggs, milk, sausage and cereal. We were going to mix the eggs and sausage together. We needed the protein for the long day we were about to have. I've done this quite a few times so I knew the drill.
While he was making breakfast, I took all of the stuff out of the Escape, put the seats back up and put some of the stuff we wouldn't need into the tent. I helped him with the last bit of the breakfast and went and got some water for the clean up afterwards.
We ate our eggs, sausage and cereal when Brenda and Ray walked up to us. They left Spokane earlier this morning (they recently moved back to Spokane) and got here about an hour before the event started. We talked to Ray about who was driving, what car was driving etc. He asked if we could drive the Escape and I said sure, Ben needed a job anyway. They went and wandered around the event area while we finished up at our campsite. We got the final clean-up done and all the stuff we would need into the Escape including our cooler. Ben and I wandered over to the event, Tri-Cities 2018 Geocoin Challenge (GC7FTKR) .
This year we signed a picnic table...which was the logbook. To date, besides the Block Parties in Seattle, this was the biggest logbook I've ever signed. We guessed how much swag was in one of the containers and tried throwing micro caches into an ammo can. I was a few inches off or I would have won.
Just before 9 a.m. Jen got on to the microphone and set forth the rules and expectations. Of course there was some heckling from the peanut gallery...Mike. Then we all walked over towards the boat launch/teepees for a group photo with the drone. That took us about 15 minutes and then we received our maps and passports and they came with a spork.
Ray got the caches downloaded onto his Nuvi and his GPS and I took the Escape and parked it next to their car in the parking lot. I helped Brenda put their stuff they needed into the back. We all got oriented and our jobs were set. Ben was our driver, Ray was the GPS coordinator, I was the navigator/note taker and Brenda was our comic relief/conversationalist. We all were going to get out and grab caches.
Since we were in Pasco, and it made sense, to grab the furthest away caches and work our way back towards Pasco. We would hit up Richland and West Richland since they were intertwined, then Kennewick and finally Pasco on our way back to Sacajawea. The map was handy because we could set a course and try our hardest not to back track.
We started our adventure around 9:50 that morning.
Our first cache of the day was TC 2018 - R03 Gouda Macaroni & Cheese (GC7JTFQ). It was at a small park. We parked along the side of the road and all of us got out to grab it. It was a peanut butter jar zip tied to a tree. I was glad we got to find one without a horde of geocachers standing next to it waiting around to grab the code word and log the cache. I knew we would be running into that very soon. We got the code word, which all of them were prices this year, instead of the normal word or phrase. Ray provided the stamp with the letters G&G which are for Geek&Gopher but we were using it today as Guys&Gals.
Epic Fail #1 was Ben. On our way to our second cache, Nuvi lied about where we were going and Ben drove up on a curb. We all instantly made fun of him and then we all laughed and carried on. When we got to the second cache, TC 2018 - R05 Garlic Parmesan Fries (GC7KGYC) was located at the Richland City Hall. Ben parked the Escape and we all got out to get a bird house hidden in the corner. We signed the logbook and was on our way to the next few in Richland and West Richland.
We stopped at TC 2018 - R07 Tomato Basil Soup (GC7N7Z1) was the first cache after a few we encountered our first horde of geocachers. You sorta knew where it was when you got out of the Escape and saw the group of people circled around the container. At least this one was cool. I featured my dinosaur in with the cache.
We drove into Richland, near the WSU-TriCities campus, and made our way to TC 2018 - R02 Lemongrass Salad with Clover Spouts (GC7JQZN) and didn't realize we were in the wrong parking lot (Epic Fail #2) so we had to turn around and find the correct driveway to go get one of the raddest caches we've found so far today. A full sized BBQ with plastic meat on it. It was amazing!
At TC 2018 - W01 Strawberry Shortcake (GC7KX4F) we stopped and got the cache and used the restroom while we were here. It was a Altoid tin crammed behind the water gutter along the wall of the outside of the restroom. There was a muggle nearby who knew what we were doing and offered help to those who couldn't find it. As far as I know he left it alone.
We plugged in the coordinates for TC 2018 - W04 Cherries Jubilee (GC7KX4R) we followed Nuvi's directions and ended up at the wrong side of the fence. That took us to epic fail #3 because we were on the wrong side of the fence and we had to ask the kid to hand us the log to sign. I know...we're lame.
We continued on our route and our next stop was TC 2018 - W07 Hot Fudge Sundae (GC7KX4C) which was one of my favorites of the day. We parked the Escape and walked the short distance to some sage brush. I saw the microwave, pushed the button and found the cache container. It was a pizza!! So creative!
We wrapped up Richland and West Richland with a stop at TC 2018 - R06 Strawberry Lemonade (GC7KGYE) and low and behold we found a geocaching cookbook! Brenda was all sorts of excited for this one so we let her find it and stamp it.
As we were driving out of Richland and heading into our next section, we found a Albertson's to get ice, cold drinks and some extra stuff for lunch. Afterwards, we found the nearest park, which was at a place called Sunset Elementary/Sunset Park and found a picnic table. Ben and I brought PBJ, bread, chips and fruit while Brenda and Ray brought salad and some fruit to eat. We chatted about random things as we ate our lunch. We were glad that this set of picnic tables were under some trees. The shade felt nice.
We plugged in the next set of coordinates and that took us near some of the restaurants off one of the main roads in Kennewick. This cache, TC 2018 - K04 Yakisoba (GC7MT09) was an ammo can hidden inside of a shrub near a Sushiya restaurant. I let Ray find this one while I stood nearby with all of the passports just in case it was a hole punch cache. We went to the next one.
The next one took us to the athletic complex up the road. I think every year they put a cache here. TC 2018 - K05 Hot Dogs and Cracker Jack (GC7M2QQ) was on the north side of the fields near the parking lot. Every year there is a softball tournament but this year there wasn't. Lots for parking sports were available. Ray and I got out and walked the short distance to another ammo can. We signed it and I got a quick picture of it before walking back to the Escape.
We actually left town for the next two caches TC 2018 - K01 BBQ (GC7NV71) and TC 2018 - K08 Rabbit Stew (GC7MT17). These were out by Bofer Road near the many power trails that have been archived and added over the years. I need to come back again and grab a trail or two. Since we were getting to the end of the caching day there were lots of people at each cache.
We went back into Kennewick and headed to the river for our next one, TC 2018 - K03 Wine Pairings (GC7M2QH). We had to find a place to park because we had to walk to this one along the trail. We passed several geocachers on the way there. It was hidden in a box that was mounted on the fence. I posed my dinosaur with the river and the bridge in the background.
We were almost done with Kennewick so we could move onto our last city, Pasco. We were down next to the river just outside of the park. We found a place to park the Escape and we all got out to grab TC 2018 - K02 Fish and Chips (GC7NV92) which was a plastic tube hidden in a metal tube. Ben was the signer and the keeper of the code.
We found one more in Kennewick before we drove over the bridge to Pasco. Once we got across the river we stopped at TC 2018 - P03 Caprese Salad Bites (GC7NT4P) which was on the road right under the freeway. It took us a while to get there because there was no direct route to this road. We actually thought we were going the wrong way at one point. We finally made it.
Our last cache, TC 2018 - P07 Spinach Dip (GC7NT5A), was out in the port/airport area of Pasco. The event staff received permission to place a cache here but it soon turned into a problem. When we got there someone from the port came out and asked us what we were doing. I wasn't really part of the conversation so I heard second hand. I guess some of the staff had no idea why hundreds of people kept walking out to the specific spot and was just curious. We stamped our names, grabbed our last price code word and got our finale picture of this years coin challenge.
We were officially done around 4:11 which was the fastest we've ever completed the challenge. Every year we try to perfect our routines and mapping out our caches. I thought this year we did pretty well. Everyone knew their role, where we were going and having a plan for the next place we were headed.
Ben drove us back to Sacajawea State Park for our coins. We parked in the main lot and hustled to the tables with our passports. We were all correct and received our coin. This year was a tray base, a plate, a fork, a spoon and a knife with a steam punk-ish theme to it. The design was pretty cool. We thanked the volunteers and made plans to go to Cousin's for dinner. We've been doing this for four years now. I texted Bev and she said that they were not going because Bob, Ken and Gabe doesn't know when to quit. She was basically done and ready for dinner. They ate somewhere else while Brenda, Ray, Ben and I had Cousin's.
We visited while we ate our food. Ben ordered the steak and I got a burger and fries. It hit the spot after running around in the sun all day. We went back to the park after we paid for our food.
Brenda and Ray decided to stay a night at the park this year. Ray went and got their hamster car and drove it over and parked it next to our campsite. They got their stuff out and put their tent up. Ben and I moved some of the stuff out of our tent back into the Escape so we had room in the tent to sleep later on. I got cleaned up (it felt so good to be clean) and we then played a few rounds of Zombie Dice until it was time for bed.
Next Adventure: Heading Home: Geocaching, Miner's and some Nerf Wars
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