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MathSeeker
09-03-2012, 05:55 PM
The Membership Relations Committee is happy to showcase some ArkGeo Geocachers through the "Geocacher Profile". The committee thought Kent and Kim Uhrich aka KnKinCabot should be the next cachers to be in the spotlight.

What is your geocaching name?
KnKinCabot

How did you choose your handle?
It was really hard, the first time I was out caching, I realized I needed to sign the log with something other than Kent and Kim. My son was with me and he wanted me to sign it Dr. Strange because I do Gospel Magic and Dr. Strange is a magician in the Marvel comics. I thought about it for, oh, a few seconds and said, no it has to be something for Kim and I both. So he said “and something to do with Cabot since that is where we live”. At that time I jotted down KnKinCabot (Kent and Kim in Cabot).

How long have you been geocaching?
I found two caches in April of 2009 with my son. We quickly came home and told Kim what a blast we had looking for caches and asked her to go with us for our next adventure, we found four more caches in April. Then in August of 2009, Kim and I started caching regularly and haven’t stopped since.

How did you find your first Geocache, and which one was it?
Wow, I could tie up a lot of white space with this one. It was a HikerRon cache and it was a 3 1/2 star cache called ‘In Plain Sight’. My son and I looked and looked for this cache for about 30 minutes, then we gave up. I called Kim and asked her to look on this website (GC.COM) to see what I was supposed to be looking for. There is a funny story here about newbies and geo slang that I’ll skip. My son and I finally after another 30 minutes of look found the cache. It was at this point, I was hooked.

Who usually goes with you when you go caching?
We are a husband and wife team so we go together, however, there are times when we go solo. If I’m at and work, I might venture out on lunch or before or after work. If Kim is here and a new one posts close by home, she’ll sometimes venture out to get it. We do take some of our youth from church out every now and again and we have been known to hit the trails with our Sunday School Class. More recently, we have ventured out with Rhone some, and at work I will venture out with JackieInLR, Hoghunters and CodeyRex.

How long will you work on puzzle caches before you give up?
Hum, someone knows I like puzzles! Well, that is tough for as long as Kim isn’t reading this, I have been known to stay up until the wee hours of the morning solving puzzles. I guess I can’t say I have ever given up on a puzzle. I have walked away from a puzzle for a few days then come back to it, well LRFD 2 I walked away from it for a month! That is probably as close as I have come to saying I can’t solve it.

What town/areas have you most enjoyed caching in?
We love to support our local cachers here in Cabot! We have ventured out to Searcy and enjoyed caching there, we really enjoy hiking so the trails over in Little Rock come to mind too. You have Russellville and there are some cool caches there, but here of late, for some reason we have spent a lot of time in the Hot Springs area too. I can’t say that we have found a place we didn’t like to cache! Oh, and a recent trip to San Diego was great!

Do you do paperless caching?
For the most part, yes. Kim is very well organized and when we go on trips or long runs, she will plot us a route and have the caches listed in order so we can make the most of our time. In the true sense of paperless, yes.

What kind of geocaching rig do you use?
We mainly use a Garmin 62st and Colorado 400csx. We both have used our phones (Android for me, iPhone for Kim) in a pinch.

Why would you recommend anyone else to take up geocaching?
That is a very interesting question. The most common answer given to that question is, ‘to get off the couch’, ‘to go places I wouldn’t have gone without caching’ and there are a few others. We too would add those to our list but I think it goes beyond that. Being a history buff, we have visited more historical sites in the name of caching than we would have without. We have seen some of the most magnificent views from the heights of mountain tops to some of the most beautiful caves. In today’s social environment, we need to spend quality and quantity time with our spouse and kids (if still at home) and what better way to see the state, find something interesting for all to do, get educated also and get away from reality for a bit, than to pick up a GPSr or smartphone and head out! Going to the relatives, I bet there are caches along the route. Stop get out and stretch while finding a cache! God has given us a beautiful planet, we need to get out and explore it!

Where are you originally from?
We both were born and raised in Jacksonville but after marriage and the birth of our son, we moved to Cabot where we have lived happily since.

In what states have you geocached?
Oh gosh! Let’s see, California, Colorado, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi and Arkansas.

What was your first event ever attended?
I am not a person that likes big groups so attending events were not high on my geocaching list, however, I have a beautiful bride how loves meeting people and she finally convinced me to attend an event back in 2010 call ‘Down Home Meet ‘N’ Greet with Edieo’. It took me a bit, but since then we have attended close to 40 events.

How many caches have you found?
Not enough! According to ‘Lostboys2007’ too many for comfort so they took a road trip to stay ahead of us… Okay, seriously about 3900.

Which type of cache container do you prefer over the rest?
Homemade ones are the best! Puzzle types too, where you have to figure out how to get to the log. On the more common side, ammo boxes and decon containers are fun and usually quick. There are times when we are ready for that nano challenge though! (Not me, I hate nano challenges – K2)

What was the most famous cache that you have found?
I guess the Gorilla Stash (oldest in Arkansas I think) and Phil’s Memorial Cache (oldest in California I think). If you are going by best well known caches, St. Louis Arch Virtual Cache and the Jolly Green Giant cache, both have almost 200 favorite points and both well worth finding!

Do you use disposable batteries or rechargeable batteries?
Ah, the debate rages on! We have been burned twice in the woods with rechargeable batteries, so we have gone back to the disposable Lithium Energizer batteries.

Do you enjoy hiding or finding more as your part of the hobby?
We really enjoy getting out and hiking and finding caches. I do enjoy hiding caches, but hiking and finding is enjoyable.

Do you have a personal goal in mind when you make a hide?
We all have been there, we have found a ton of caches on signs or SLAPs and there is nothing wrong with that! However, after taking our Sunday School kids out we found that they really enjoy the ‘hunt’ for a cache and the possible ‘reward’ awaiting them. That is when I decided to make my hides more kid friendly and have a twist to the hide itself. That is what started the I.C. series and from what I can tell, adults love them too.

What is your favorite type of cache hide?
I like homemade and or unique hides. It is really cool to have to think about how to get into the container or how to extract the log. With that being said, I really don’t mind picking up a SLAP or sign post cache after solving a puzzle!

Out of all your hides, what are your personal favorites that you take pride in?
Right now, I.C. Choices. That was a difficult cache to put together and make all the pieces work together! Seeing we are all friends here, I think it will be replaced by I.C. Shortwave which should be coming out soon.

What do you think the proper hide to find ratio should be to keep the sport fresh?
I don’t know if there is such a ratio. I know cachers who absolutely love hiding caches and could care less about finding another one. I think that is great that they enjoy this side of our sport. Oh the other hand, I do like to see cachers return or reward the sport with their personal unique hides. If you need a percentage, let’s go with 20 percent. I better get busy huh!

How did you end up getting into this wacky hobby?
My boss (JackieInLR) at the time came by one day and said, you are a geeky kind of guy, have you heard of Geocaching. I had to admit, I had not. She told me about the sport and that afternoon when I got home, I pulled up GC.COM and saw that there were two caches less than .5 miles from the house. That weekend my son and I walked down to the park and found them. The rest is history…

What's your favorite geocache?
Wow, we have found a ton of unique caches! WW9 hide one call Nano in the Woods (I think) that was really unique and our nieces loved it and we did too! AR-Hick has a ton of unique containers that we really liked among them the Breaking the Bank Series. The Angel by Fab5WillisClan, the list could go on and on. This is like Lays Potato chips, you can’t mention just one!

If money was no object, where would you like to go geocaching?
I would like Greece, Sweden or the Netherlands, I hear they have lots of cool caches.

Do you like geocaching by yourself or in a group?
As previously mentioned, I am not a big group person so I enjoy going out with Kim. With that said, I do enjoy going out with the group at events.

How many First to Finds do you have?
485. No I’m not a FTF hound! Actually back in the day there were a lot of very competitive cachers in Cabot. Did I mention that I’m VERY competitive! The coveted FTF slot on the log was something to behold and if you were not out the door within a minute or two of the cache notification, you were going to get third or fourth or seventh! This is another appealing part of geocaching!

Are you a First to Find person who is always set on go and if so, how many miles out do you have your settings on to get notifications?
Man, this is really embarrassing! Okay, for a long time we had Jacksonville, Cabot, and most of Searcy cleared out. Our notification is set to, 50 miles. Now, with being said, yes I am on go so when the notification hits, I’m gone! Let’s not discuss how far I have driven at night, in bad weather, just to get a FTF. We’ll say, too far. (How about Greenville, MS – ok we were already caching in lower Southeast AR anyway, or so he told me, but we did go all the way to Greenville to get a FTF!)

Do you have any other hobbies besides geocaching?
I enjoy a lot of things, to call them hobbies might be misleading. I do read (Ted Dekker has some pretty cool books!) and I like to get out in the old workshop and make sawdust. We are committed followers of Christ and we work diligently in the church with our children’s area teaching Sunday School and Awana, and of course missions. Too bad we weren’t geocaching when we were making 2 trips a year to Africa for about 4 years!!!