We made sure we had enough propane, cookware, milk and oil. When we cleaned up we had enough water, soap and towels. We did everything and still had enough time to chill for a few minutes before the event started.
Around 8:45 we walked over to where the announcements were being shared at the event, Tri-Cities 2019 Geocoin Challenge (GC7XZDH). This is the 10th anniversary of this geocoin challenge and I have been to 8 of them. We signed the logbook, played one of the guessing games, which we always lose and got our raffle ticket for tonight's raffle.
We found Brenda, Ray, Bob, Bev, Gabe and Ken and I asked Bev, even though I knew the answer, if they were going to do the challenge with us, they said they were riding with Gabe and Ken. I also asked if we wanted to meet up for dinner like we have in the past and she said it depends on the guys and when we get done but don't count on it. Bev was basically at the mercy of the guys. I told her good luck with that. We got a group photo with Signal before everyone dispersed.
At 9:15 Jen had all the cachers shift to where the marina was in the background and we all squeezed together so the drone could get us all in the frame. He took several photos and they would post the best ones on the TriCities Geocoin Facebook page. Once the photo was taken we walked over to the volunteers to grab our passport.
This year's theme was (STEAM) Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. All the geocaches will have that theme either in the cache names or cache containers. This should be a good time.
Ray ran over to load the caches at the GPX table while Ben, Brenda and I got the Escape ready to go. We put the coolers in, our bags of food, water and other extra stuff just in case we needed it. Now we just needed Ray. I looked at our map and since we were in Richland this year we decided we would do Pasco first. Ben was our driver, Ray was the navigator and Brenda and I sat in the back taking notes and letting them know which one to go to next according to the map. We were very careful not to do a lot of backtracking if we could help it.
Ray joined us and we headed out towards Pasco. We started our adventure around 10:30 after everything was said and done. We grabbed the first three furthest away from Richland Pasco caches. We saw no one until our sixth cache. TC 2019 - P07 Got Your Ears On? (GC87HWF) was pretty unique. The cache container was modeled after a HAM radio. It was an easy find but we had to make sure we brought our passport with us because it was a rub. We took a pencil and rubbed the symbol from the cache onto our passport. It made it harder for cachers to cheat.
We moved onto the next bunch of caches. TC 2019 - P02 Fire Science (GC87HWA) was near a fire station and was a homemade fire hydrant, which were both appropriate for this cache. We made it here the same time as Ben and Jayme. While we were here we visited for a few minutes. It was nice to see them again because it's been a while.
We grabbed the last few Pasco caches finishing with TC 2019 - P04 Pinball Anyone? (GC87HWC) which took us to the Sacajawea Heritage Trail along the Columbia River. We parked, all got out to walk to the cache. It was a piece of white PVC pipe attached to a pole. You pulled the spring at the bottom and the cache came out of the opening. We had way too much fun with this one. We finished all the Pasco caches just before noon. We wanted to finish Kennewick before we stopped for lunch.
We crossed over the bridge into Kennewick. We found the first three without any problems, back tracking or traffic which was nice. TC 2019 - K06 Fore! (GC82HPY) was near a mini golf park next to a golf sporting goods store. It was a quick grab.
We weaved in and out of the roads through Kennewick grabbing the ones on our list. The next memorable one was at TC 2019 - K03 Gravitational Wave (GC82F0J). We parked and walked to the cache we saw it was a rain gage box. We were definitely impressed with this year's cache containers. A lot of them were very unique and well made. Some of them were even interactive! We grabbed the rest of the Kennewick caches which meant we had two cities down and two more to go. We finished Kennewick right around 1:30 that afternoon.
Since we were still in Kennewick we decided to eat lunch along the shores of the Columbia Park Trail. We looked for a spot that had an available picnic table in the shade and found one quickly. We didn't think we would because it was such a nice day, it was a Saturday and there were a lot of people wandering around the park. We parked the Escape, got the stuff out of the back and walked over to our picnic table. Ben and I made sandwiches, like we do every year, because it is easy to travel with and some chips, fruit and cookies. Brenda and Ray were more hardcore and made salads and some veggies. They are both working really hard to lose weight and they are doing a fantastic job keeping to their goals. We ate, visited and enjoyed our half hour in the park.
We cleaned our stuff up, packed it back in the Escape and made our way to Richland and West Richland. We decided to combine the two cities because if we didn't we'd be doing a lot of back tracking. Collectively, we thought if we made a large circle starting in south Richland, worked our way over to West Richland, up to north of Richland and made our way back towards Columbia Point Park we should do pretty well.
Ben was doing a great job of driving, Ray was an excellent navigator (inputting the caches into his Nuvi so we knew where we were going) and Brenda and I in the back deciding which one we go to next. We were a well-oiled machine and we all had many years of experience figuring out what tactics worked on a challenge like this. From the first time I did this challenge to today the efficiency has gotten a thousand times better. It helps to do the challenge with people that you get along with and share the same sense of humor.
As we leap frogged from city to city we crossed paths with other cachers along the way. It was fun to see how far along everyone else was compared to us. We came across one set of cachers who were only on their first city and here, we were technically on our "third" city. Oh, I don't miss being a newbie, not at all. There has not been one geocoin challenge here in the TriCities that we have not finished in a day. There was that one year when it was 111 degrees where Bob and Bev's car overheated and I didn't think we would finish but we got lucky and finished anyway. TC 2019 - W07 Bombing Range Sports Complex (GC86KMG) was outside of town at the sports complex. We have been here a few times over the years. This creative cache was turned into a temperature gage.
TC 2019 - W04 Community Gardens (GC86JMC) was one of our next stops. It had a nice paved parking lot and we were able to park really close to the cache so we didn't have to walk too far. It was a pretty large fenced off garden for the community to enjoy. We found the gate and headed in. We found the green lidded valve box and pulled the cache from it. This cache was another rubbing for our passport.
We finished up all the caches in West Richland and then headed northeast to finish up the rest of the caches in Richland. TC 2019 - R07 Ornithology (GC85GXV) was found along a short dirt pathway. It was a bird house attached to a grouping of trees. Ray, Brenda and Ben took the lead on this one. We had about four more to grab at the end of the day. It was almost 4:00 when we grabbed our last two caches. TC 2019 - R04 Chicago Pile-1 (GC84T3B) was found near the place we had dinner the previous night. The cache was a Geiger counter and the cache page talks about the Manhattan Project and the plutonium production. I actually learned something from this cache.
The last cache of the day, TC 2019 - R03 Barometrically Challenged (GC84T3A) was a cache container that was transformed into a barometer hidden inside of a cement round. We had to wait until a group of cachers were done with it before we grabbed it and put our names on it. We asked the mom if she could take a group picture of us at the cache. She said sure and took a few. We thanked her and she and her brood trundled back to their car. For years we've been doing a group picture at the last cache and this year was no exception. We walked back to the Escape and headed back towards the park to receive this year's coin for completing the challenge.
We get back to the park around 4:30 and take our passports to the table where the volunteers where checking the answers. We went to Julie's line and after a few moments of checking she handed us our very unique coins. They hung from the base and each ring of the atom was one of the four cities we just found caches in. Whomever designed this coin did a fantastic job.
We walked around for a bit talking to people we knew and we got a picture with this year's sign that someone had made.
We walked back to the tent area and Brenda and Ray started taking their stuff down and putting it in their hamster car. Since they live in Spokane, which is only a few hours away, they decided to head home that evening. After they were done the asked if we wanted to go have dinner before they left town. We said sure, where at? We decided on Applebee's which was right down the street from here. They said they were going to leave directly from the restaurant and head home.
We got to Applebee's and it was somewhat busy but not too busy. We were seated right away. We got our drinks and our food shortly after. I love their chicken strips and fries...especially their honey mustard dipping sauce. While we ate our food we talked about some of the memorable places we've been to over the past year and where we were going to go in the future. I told them about my recent Ecuador trip, stuff about our jobs and we asked them how they were settling into their new place since it's been about a year now. We paid for our food and told Brenda and Ray safe travels and that we will try to figure out a good time go come over and visit.
We headed back towards the park but we picked up a few caches along the way. We grabbed GeoHoHoHo-12/12/12 Blitzen (GC42MC0) which was a quick park and grab at a lamp skirt in a parking lot and Columbia Point Tower (GC6KCX7) which was a very clever cache. Ben almost overlooked this one. I've found several like this before. It was a PVC pipe that was camouflaged to look just like the area it was hidden in. It was a good find.
We drove back to the park to relax a bit. We waited for it to die down a bit before we grabbed some stuff and headed down to the edge of the Columbia River to "take a shower". I hated that this place had no showers or at least no access to showers. This is why I loved doing the event over in Sacajawea State Park, it had showers for campers who needed a shower after a long, dusty, sweaty day. We waded in and was met instantly by the cold water. It took a while for me to get used to it. We washed our hair, washed armpits and our nether regions and rinsed off quickly. We changed into clean dry clothes on the shore which was quite the feat. Yay for large towels! I felt a lot better now that I was somewhat clean.
We took our stuff back to the tent and chilled for a bit. We did the three bonus caches and participated in the Dinner and Prizes (GC88542) which included the GIFF movie.
We played some cards and decided we wanted some snacks so we drove to the nearby Winco for popcorn and drinks and drove back. We played more cards, tuned into the geocaching GIFF movie and a little while later all the lights went off for a few minutes...some sort of malfunction. After the movie was finished everyone cleaned up their chairs and garbage and headed to their hotel, trailer or tent. They turned the lights off and Ben and I got snuggled into our tent and chatted for a bit.
After midnight I got up to pee in the closest porta potty and could feel that the weather had changed. I could barely feel the faint raindrops almost like mist. The wind picked up a lot as well. I got back to the tent and told Ben we better put our chairs and table away or they will fly away. We took them apart and put them into the Escape. We went back into the tent and fell asleep. Every once and a while you could hear the rain and the gusts of wind hitting the side of the tent. I knew I would not get a full night's rest and be very tired the next day.
Next Adventure: CITO, Packing Up Camp, Geocaching, Miner's and Heading Home
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