The Online Geocacher
Your Free User-Created Ezine for All Things Geocaching

Sat, Jun 7, 2008

By: Amanda Taylor – Baby DirtClod
As Told By Rita Taylor – MommaDirtClod-MDC

GPS…check, phone…check, pen/pencil…check, plane ticket…check - going to GeoWoodstock VI…oh yeah!!!

I left Wednesday night to catch my 6 AM flight on Thursday morning. I stayed in a motel in Knoxville, Tennessee; I would not let myself miss this flight. This flight was free for me after the airline messed up an earlier vacation. This time, however, both flights left /arrived early and my luggage was the first off the plane in Sacramento. They knew not to mess up this time and saved me some time so I could start caching! I arrived in California on Thursday at 12:15 and was picked up by my great friends Two Truckers.

The caching started immediately. After driving only a few miles, we received a call from Pink Dolphin and NCBiscuit who needed to be picked up. On our second trip away from the airport, we found seven caches! We all checked into our rooms and ate a fast dinner (KFC) so we could get back out and cache. There was an event at 6 PM and we found 10 more caches before we got there.

From 6 until 9 PM, 150 geocachers crammed into a restaurant that comfortably seats about 60. The event was Early Bird Special Meet and Greet by BillWolf1’s at Bill’s Place in Wheatland. After staying for the door prizes, we left around 9 PM, filled with good food but still having a craving for caching. BillWolf1 put on a great event for my first night in California.

After the event, Two Truckers and I left and found 11 more caches. The next place I found was my comfortable bed in my hotel room in Rocklin, California resting up for my next day.

On Friday, I woke up early and ate breakfast at the hotel. I had all day to cache before the night event. I found 55 caches during the day. That night was the Friday Night Meet and Greet , was hosted by RCGDS and NUTS at Royer Park in Roseville California. We arrived there around 6:30 PM and picked up our registration packets, which included t-shirts, coins, dinner ticket, and other good stuff useful for caching. It was a mega event with over 600 people attending. Before we left, Two Truckers and I met two new geocachers all the way from Switzerland, TABATA2 and Pfusi. We all stayed at the same hotel. At the end of the day, I had 65 caches ready to be logged.

Saturday was the day all geocachers had been waiting for. To get myself primed, I found 15 caches before Geowoodstock VI in Wheatland, California. This event was hosted by River City Geocaching & Dining Society (RCGDS) and the North State Unusual Treasure Seekers (NUTS). Nearly 1,500 geocachers joined for fun and games on a huge beautiful pumpkin farm.

Many people found MDC, and signed my travel bug shirt to prove it. Some of the activities during the festivities were; geocaching stores, raffles, Geocoin poker, Geo Bingo, Geo Card Run, Name That Cacher, ammo can painting, panning for gold, and you could see Signal the Frog. For novice geocachers there were classes about mapping and compass navigation, Advanced GSAK, and GPS Basics.

After that fun and amazing event, I attended the GeoCoin Swap Meet. It was hosted by multiple GeoCoin manufacturers from 8 to 11 PM in the Hilton Garden Inn conference room in Roseville, California. Keeping the night exciting, we had to relocate before the fire marshal deemed all 350 geocachers a hazard! The event was bigger than expected!

Sunday was another fun filled day of geocaching with my new friends. I got up early to attend the Breakfast of Champions, hosted by H_Mtreasurecache and G-U.N.I.T. The food at the Waffle Barn was good country cookin’ and lasted from 6:30 AM to 9 AM.

After breakfast, Pink Dolphin, Tabata, Pfusi, and I found the ABC caches to meet requirements for the Puzzle City and Alphabet Soup caches. Logging our finds as team SwissCheese, we found the caches from A to Z. Our team was composed of TwoTruckers from Wisconsin along with Tabata2, Pfusi from Switzerland; PinkDolphin and I assumed the role of the holes in the cheese!

The final cache of the day was the EarthCache Confluence of the Feather and Yuba Rivers. Having worked up an appetite, we ate dinner at Olive Garden and then went back to the motel.

Monday was my final day in California. Of course, not wasting a moment of precious caching time, I attended one last event, Thanks For the Memories by E.G.G. - Elk Grove Geocachers. The homemade breakfast food would surely hold me over on my flight back to Tennessee.

I had a wonderful time at GeoWoodstock VI. 5,300 travel bugs and jeeps passed through and I brought my count up to 6,403 finds! I thoroughly enjoyed the different caches, crazy containers, and challenging hides. If you missed this year’s festivity, have no worries….there is always next year at Bell Buckle, TN for Woodstock VII.