Cache Maintenance on Hwy 507 and Picking Up Two New Ones

I've been really needing to check on my caches.  Every day that I got onto my computer I had an email or a message from someone asking if such and such geocache was there or the if the codes to my series where there because the codes were missing, etc.  Ben was on a 24 hour shift at the fire station so I thought it would be a good day to do it since it was also nice.  I asked mom if she wanted to go for a ride and she said sure.

I've had this series going since 2012 and I've had to fix a few of them off and on over the years.  A few I had to archive, find a new spot that wasn't compromised and publish the new ones.  Up until recently I just didn't have a whole lot of time to go out and take most of the day to fix them.  We were either dealing with jobs, money, transportation, roommates, moving, working on other projects, the weather and other unforeseen things we had to deal with.  Fixing geocaches were just low on the priority list.

I got up, ate some food and headed out to Rainier to go pick mom up.  I made sure I had all of my cache replacing gear with me.  The day before I had used Erika's label maker to make the codes for the 507 series containers so they will look a little nicer and would probably stay longer.  We will see.

I got to their house and asked her if she was ready.  She said she was getting her shoes on.  I made fun of her, you knew I was coming over and you had plenty of time...why aren't you ready?  I was busy!  Was her answer.  

I thought we should start in Spanaway and work our way west to Centralia.  She said whatever, this is your thing.  We drove into Yelm the back way and headed to Spanaway.  Along the way we talked about work, the possibility of not being able to go on our trip because of Covid running wild through the rest of the world and being disappointed and other random things that came up as we talked.  

We got to the park n ride in Spanaway, where 507 merges onto Pacific Hwy or Hwy 7.  Hwy 7 stretches all the way from I-5 to Morton near Hwy 12 and I've been up and down it many times.  Anyway, we pulled into the park n ride and found a spot to park that was somewhat close to where I hid the cache, The 507 Series:  Spanaway, Wash. (GC3V7QF).  I got out and walked over to the tree I hid it in.  I took me a few seconds to find it because people don't put caches back where they are suppose to go.  I grabbed it and brought it back to the Escape to do my maintenance on it.  I replaced the log, the baggie and added the new code to it.  I had mom write down on the small legal pad what I did to all of them.  I put it back in the tree but replaced it to be lower in the tree.  I had mom add that to my notes to make sure to change the hint when I update the cache page.

We got back onto 507 and drove back towards Roy.  When I originally placed Roy, I had a hard time finding a place to hide one because there weren't many places along the highway without getting too close to the one that was already here.  We had to honor the 528 feet between caches or it wouldn't get published.  I parked in the convenience store parking lot and went to go get the cache, The 507 Series:  Roy, Wash. (GC3AMVP) in front of the car dealership.  I had hidden it under a rock and the last cacher couldn't find it so they thought it was gone.  The cache was still there and it was pretty beat up since the last time I saw it but the container was still intact. I brought it back with me to the Escape and I replaced the log, the baggie and added a new code label to it.  I walked back to the rock and placed it back.  It was now ready to be found again.

We got back on the road and drove into McKenna.  Over the years my McKenna cache has had some issues.  It's been replaced several times by various cachers.  When I placed it back in 2012 it was a recycled pill bottle that I had spray painted with camo green.  One time I checked on it to make sure it was there it was a plastic Oreo container that looked like an Oreo and then after that, the containers disappeared at some point.  We got there and parked in the lot.  The spot I originally hid it was severely overgrown.  I had to find a new place to hide The 507 Series:  McKenna, Wash. (GC8MCGV) so I hid a pill bottle (with a fresh log, baggie and code) near the parking lot in one of the holes with a rock strategically placed to conceal it.  

I told mom what I did so she could write it on our pad.  I gave her the coordinates and the hint because we have to enable it as a new cache since it was archived.  

There were two new caches, one in Yelm and one in Rainier I wanted to do.  The first one was a multi cache in Yelm called Yelm Mural (GC8JXV8) and it was in the middle of town at the four way intersection on the side of the old theater building.  I had to get information off the mural and information off the plaque near the extension school across the street.  I wrote it all down and walked back to the Escape.  

I worked on the coords with mom and came up with a final set.  I knew it was going to be on the other side of town near Walmart.  We backtracked and found a place to park near the large evergreen trees on Walmart Avenue.  I thought it would be a quick find but it wasn't.  I couldn't get a pinpoint on the cache and it could have been anywhere at this point.  I texted Bev and she told me approximately where it was.  I checked the trees.  Every branch.  I hate these ones.  After looking for more than fifteen minutes I finally found the stupid thing.  It was a purple bison tube with black electrical tape around it hung underneath the evergreen limb.  Bahhhhh!

We drove back through Yelm and followed 507 towards Rainier.  At the time there wasn't a good spot to hide the Yelm one in town so I ended up hiding it along the trail.  We parked in the neighborhood just off the trail, I got out with my maintenance bag and checked out The 507 Series:  Yelm, Wash. (GC3AMVW) and it indeed was cracked and letting in water so I replaced the container, the log and code.  I dropped in one of the trackables I had with me for the next cacher.  I put it back in its hidey hole, put rocks in front of it and walked back to the Escape.

Since the final cache of the series, The 507 Series Final (GC3AMWB) was next along the trail, I decided I should probably check that one out as well.  I parked just off the trail in the pullout off of Manke Road.  I grabbed my bag just in case I needed to fix anything.  I take the small, almost hidden, trail off of the main trail and up and over the slight berm.  Of course, I haven't been here in quite some time so it looks a little different than the last time with all the brush growing and whatnot.  I found the large boulder I hid it next to and it hadn't been disturbed since September.  I didn't have to do anything to it so I put it back and walked back to the Escape.

We drove into Rainier and found the newest cache in Wilkowski Park called Wilkowski Cache (GC8KVDD).  We parked in the gravel lot and I walked in to grab it.  I almost walked by the stump it was hidden in.  I signed the log and put it back.  Bev got a FTF on this one a few days ago when it published.

I drove down the road and parked in the gravel lot behind Rainier Market.  The 507 Series:  Rainier, Wash. (GC3AMVX) was near a tree right off the trail.  I saw the container was broken so I replaced it into a fake rock.  I changed out the log, the baggie and added the code to it. I found some rocks for it to blend in with to kinda divert passersby.  As I walked back, I decided to add a new cache to where Gopher BBQ used to be.  I called it Rainier Trail Cache.  I got a container, a log and a baggie ready and found a good place to hide it.

We got back onto Hwy 507 and drove west towards Tenino.  I parked off one of the side roads near the mile sign.  It has grown up a lot and the brush needs to be trimmed.  I walked up to it not expecting to find a fake rock because I didn't leave that type of container here.  I was glad there was a container here.  I took it to the Escape, wiped out the moisture, added a new log, baggie and a code.  I took The 507 Series:  Tenino (GC3AMVY) back and placed it under the sign to where it looked like it blended in.

We took the back road past the park and took Crowder Road out to Bucoda to check on The 507 Series:  Bucoda (GC3AMW0).  This one hasn't been found in almost a year.  I parked at the pull out and ran across the highway.  I was not expecting to find a container here.  I haven't been here since I placed it back in 2012.  Sure enough, no sign of a container anywhere.  The original place I had it was compromised so I stuck a new container, log, baggie and code in the crotch of the tree.  It should stay safe there. 

We headed down to the end of Hwy 507.  The 507 Series:  Centralia (GC8M6XJ) I've had trouble with over the years.  I originally had it in the parking lot of a hotel and it went missing a lot.  I got tired of fixing it so I put off replacing it for a while.  I found a new spot near a church off of Alder Road.  There was a corner with plenty of parking near some large rocks.  I took coordinates, got the container, the log, baggie and code ready and hid it to where it wouldn't be too hard to find.

We drove back towards Rainier and I dropped mom off at home.  I thanked her for going with me and helping take notes.  I went home, added trackables to my TB hotel in my yard and spent the rest of the afternoon updating cache pages, creating the new ones and hoping they would publish as soon as possible because I knew people were waiting to finish the series.

Next Adventure:  We Almost Made it to Peru 

Leap Day 2020 at Woodland Creek Park and Some FTF's

I noticed this event, Leap to It Olympia - 2020 (GC8GYAJ), a few weeks back and made sure I put it on my calendar so we didn't schedule anything else and feel hurried or double book ourselves.  I did schedule a time with Dad to go get rid of our garbage today.  I told him we were going to go to an event in the morning and then be available in the afternoon.  He said just to let him know when we were done.

The travel bug dog tags that Heather gave us a few weeks ago I turned two of them into active trackables that I bought Matchbox cars for.  I got a version of a Chevelle, not the exact car my grandmother had, but it was to remember her by anyway.  I got Ben a fire truck.  We activated them, gave 'em a description and decided to release them at this event.

We got up, ate some cereal and dressed warmly because it was going to be a cold morning outside.  I mean it is winter time after all.  Harvey's Pack decided to host the event at Woodland Creek Park, a place we were very familiar with.  I've been here several times over the years for caches and events.  This is where Ben and I met for the first time seven years ago for a date.

I wanted to leave early so we could be there, log trackables, the logbook and to get mom the Leap Day Event frog geocoin.  I made sure I had $12 to get her one because she liked it.  Ben and I left the house about a half hour before we were suppose to be there and it took us maybe less than 10 minutes to get there and park the Escape.  Harvey's Pack were there with their two dogs getting everything ready in the outdoor covered area.  They had doughnuts, coffee and orange juice.  I helped myself to a doughnut and some orange juice and Ben also did but he had coffee instead.  We chatted with them for a bit, signed the log, got my coin and then more people started to arrive.

Some of the attendees I've met, some I haven't seen in a while and others were new and I had no idea who they were.  I spent time talking to Bob and Bev, Seth, Dave, Dan and Joy and some other cachers from Tacoma who we didn't know.

I knew there were going to be caches that publish today somewhere but I didn't know when they were going to publish so we loitered around waiting for them to publish.  The crowd started to dwindle and Bob and Bev even decided to head home because they were getting cold.  I don't blame them.  I was getting cold as well but I wanted some FTF's.  

After everyone left the caches finally published.  Harvey's Pack, Joy and Dave went on the hunt for the two.  We went after the one nearest the parking lot first.  I put up A Bonus Cache For a Bonus Day (GC8HF19) on my phone and the six of us walked to the cache area near the pond.  The wind was blowing pretty hard and I was cold.  We investigated the bench and Ben pulled it out from its hiding spot.  We all spent a few minutes passing around and signing it before putting it back for others to find, which I'm sure they were on their way.

We then walked out towards the disc golf area and made a left turn down the trail that follows the creek.  We were on our way to grab the other new one in the park called Leap to It - 2020 (GC8HEVF).  In the cache description they explained during the time of the year this area may be flooded or puddles hiding in the tall grass.  We made sure not to step in the watery areas.  We approached a wooden log over a low spot that would keep our feet dry.  

We tip toed down the small path to a large tree where the cache was hidden.  Ben and I got there first and so we signed it, took the FTF coin and then passed it off to Dave and Joy so they could sign the log.  We placed it back and we all walked back to the parking lot near the covered area we held the event at.

We thanked them for hosting the event and then Harvey's Pack and Joy drove out to Tumwater together to do one of hers that I did many years ago.  Ben and I got back into the Escape and headed home.  I let Dad know we were on our way home.  We got home roughly around noon and Dad was there waiting with the truck.  I grabbed my checkbook, wallet and keys and Ben and I helped Dad load our cans into the back of the truck.  I jumped in the truck and Dad and I headed into Rainier.  We got rid of the garbage and the recycle and Dad took me back into Lacey and dropped off me and and my cans.  I thanked him for helping me.  He had some other stuff he needed to take care of.  

Ben and I did a few things in the house and then Josh and Heather invited us over for hamburgers at their house.  We brought chips and drinks with us.  We headed over around 5 to their complex in Tumwater and the food was pretty much done when we got there.  We dug in and ended up sitting at the dining room table talking about stuff for a few hours while a movie Lily was watching played in the background.  We eventually got sucked in.  Ben and I headed home afterwards and thanked them for the food and the invite.  

We went home and relaxed for a bit.  Ben got on his game for a bit while I watched some TV shows, logging the caches and worked on my blog.  We earned our Leap Day 2020 souvenir.

 This was probably going to be the last normal weekend for who knows how long because of the Covid virus that's spreading like wildfire.  I really hope it doesn't impact my trip here in a few weeks because I was getting super nervous that I was going to have to eat a lot of money I paid for this trip.

Next Adventure:  Cache Maintenance on Hwy 507 and Picking Up Two New Ones

Ben's Birthday Weekend

Ben's birthday was in the middle of the week this year so on his birthday Erika and I had a mini birthday party for him in the dining room.  We had cupcakes, decorations and a present for him to open.  Oh yeah, we can't forget the birthday hat!

We made plans with Ben's mom to come over for the weekend and spend time with her.  She said she set aside this weekend to hang out with us and we talked further about what we were going to do when we were there.  She said bowling might be fun so we planned to do that and we haven't been to the Japanese steak house for a few years so we thought that would be a good place to get reservations for again.  Trish agreed and made the calls.

On Friday we both went to work and came home and got our things together for a night.  We asked Erika to feed Calvin while we were gone and give him some pets.  We took Ben's car and headed out.  It was a Friday and everyone was getting off work so traffic sucked.  We took the back way through Spanaway and Puyallup to get to Bonney Lake.  I wanted to stop and get a cache so I looked on my phone as Ben drove.  I saw one up ahead called Bygone Days - Camp Montgomery (GC7X97V) so we pulled over in the small pull out and I ran out and grabbed the cache next to the rock structure.  I brought it in the car and we signed it, got a photo and then I ran out and put it back.

We drove on and made it to Trish's house just before 7 p.m.  She had picked up some pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner.  A meat Chicago style and a thin crust chicken Mediterranean pizza.  The Chicago style one went in the oven first.  We were all set.  Ed wasn't coming over that night because we would see him tomorrow at bowling.  We sat at the table, ate pizza and visited for a while.

Trish got out the cheesecake, he opened his gifts which was a giant coffee cup and a gift card.  Trish told him that she would pay for his meal the next night at the steakhouse.  I gave Ben his gift the other night when we had a mini birthday party.  I got him a Sounders zippy jacket and another Sounders scarf.  

We played a few games including dice and some rounds of rummy before heading to bed for the evening.

We got up the next morning and had French toast for breakfast.  Ed came over just as we finished breakfast.  He got there just a little after nine.  We all got ready to go and we all jumped into Trish's Tucson while Ed drove separately.  We drove into Puyallup to play a couple frames at the Daffodil Bowling alley.  We parked and went inside and discovered there were no open lanes because they were doing league.  The wait time was going to be another hour or so.  I asked Trish if she made reservations and she said that she thought she did.  I told her, you had one job.  They called Paradise Lanes in Lakewood to see if they had any room and they said they did.  

We all hopped in the cars and drove into Lakewood, just down the street from PLU off of Pacific Highway.  We parked and went inside.  We got a lane, our rental shoes and I spent some time looking for a perfect ball.  I had the first strike of the first game.  

I think everyone had a strike except for Ed.  Of course we made fun of him.  We played for about two hours and got through three games.

We had an issue with buying beer because Ben's license was expired and they couldn't sell him any.  Oh well.  I told him he should have been more prepared and get it done before his birthday so we didn't run into issues like this.

We had some time to kill before our reservations at the Iron Chef Japanese Steakhouse so Ed suggested that we go to his apartment for some games.  His apartment was messy so he went on ahead of us to go clean it up really fast while we grabbed a cache at the nearby Walmart called Wally World Has Won (GC7YQYM).  We found the correct lamp skirt in the parking lot and saw there was a car sitting right in front of it with a girl passed out in the front seat.  It made for an awkward retrieval and putting it back.  I got out and grabbed it as quickly as I could.  We signed our names inside of the car, got back out, put it back and decided where to go from there next.

I suggested that we go to Bradley Park since it was just up the street behind the Walmart.  Everyone thought that was a good idea and so Trish took us there.  We parked, got out and started walking to the path around the lake.  

I saw there was a cache here but didn't read that it was possibly missing but we looked for it anyway and struck out.  Instead, we took some pictures with the lake in the background.

We thought we should probably go to Ed's apartment at this point so we made the short drive down the hill, parked and Trish led the way to his apartment.  His apartment is what I thought it would be.  A slightly messy bachelor with random stuff everywhere.  We spent probably about an hour here playing a couple games of dice.  

We drove up to the steak house on south hill and had a heck of a time finding parking.  It was chilly and glad that I had my vest and hat with me.  We met up with Walt and Wendy and chatted with them while we waited to be seated.  I hadn't seen them for a while so there was a lot to catch up on.  When we were seated, we were seated with some strangers who kept to themselves mostly.  They did say a few things to us but that was the extent of it.  Our hostess took our drink orders and asked us which meals we wanted.  I got the steak and chicken again with white rice.  I wasn't a big fan of the fried rice.

Our chef came out and he did the standard tricks with the knives, the egg juggling and popping it into his hat, the onion volcano and this one kept asking if we wanted yum yum.  I had no idea he was referring to the yum yum sauce.  I ended up with white and fried rice by the time everything was said and done.  I didn't mind.  Of course we ate way too much but it was sooo good.  They found out it was Ben's birthday so they brought him out his after dinner ice cream with a candle and an umbrella in it while they sang to him with a drum.  It was fun.

We thanked Walt and Wendy for coming out to dinner with us and then we drove back to Trish's house to gather up our things and head home.  Ben had a training the next day at the fire station at 9 a.m.  We thanked Trish for hanging out with us, gave out hugs and headed back to Lacey.  We picked up a cache on the way home off of Reservation Road (since it is easier at night, less traffic) called Nisqually Trains (GC8BMHB).  It was a guardrail cache and there actually was a train that passed by while we were finding it.  

We got home, got cleaned up, Ben got ready for bed and I stayed up a bit longer working on some stuff.  It was a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

Next Adventure:  Leap Day 2020 at Woodland Creek Park and Some FTF's