"Adventures in Geocaching" seminar at CALS in LR

[Mickey McGillicutty]

Set out after the Wookwalker 10K event as Team PEC (Perm74, EJ1231 & CF55) for a day of caching. While we were searching for GC2RW83 - "Read It Again" at the CALS (Central AR Library System) on the corner of Hinson & Napa Valley drive, a lady who worked for the library, Robin Brown, stopped by & asked if we were cachers. She said she knew the cache was somewhere around GZ, but didn't know exactly. With an extra hint, we found it pretty quick & showed her the hide.

She went on to say the library is having a seminar called "Adventures in Geocaching" on Wed June 22nd at 12pm. I looked it up on the CALS website (www.cals.lib.ar.us (http://www.cals.lib.ar.us)) & it says "Basics of finding hidden geocache treasures with Dr. Edwin Barron. Bring a brown bag lunch. Drinks and dessert provided."

I just might go. I'll be working in LR next week. Thought if anyone else wanted to go. She made it sound like she had a hard time getting a guest speaker for this seminar & wouldn't mind if anyone else was interested in helping out. Sounds like a good community relations opportunity. I don't recognize the guest speaker though, was wondering if anyone else did.

[SJClimber]

Ed Barron AKA "GranKid38" has been off the caching radar for ages. He once had a bunch of caches in Burns Park and elsewhere. Wonder if he is getting back into the "game"????

[topkitty98]

WOW GK! I was just wondering what he was up to! It's probably GrandKid72 or so now!

He is truly one who helped get the actual ArkGeo organized. He held the first event I ever attended - took markrocks916 - and we talked WW9 into going to his first event also!

He also had a really good Mission Possible multi in Burns Park about 2005 or so.

[OldRiverRunner]

WOW GK! I was just wondering what he was up to! It's probably GrandKid72 or so now!

I like that! Good one! :D

On a more serious note, looking at Grandkid 38's profile, he hasn't been on Geocaching.com for over 3 years, and I am a little worried by someone giving a seminar on a topic in which they have not been active for so long.:???: Although I have met him on a few occasions (always at events), I don't really know him, but maybe he will do a great job even though he has been out of the game. Like riding a bicycle! :) And his caches always seemed to be focused on making it fun for the kids.

[Mickey McGillicutty]

I attended the seminar today. It wasn't too bad. Some of ORR's concerns were valid though. There was allot of focus on survival skills necessary for getting lost in the woods & aspects of GC'ing that would be useful to hardcore cachers. The audience though were mainly new cachers & moms with kids. People who either just started or wanted to know what GC'ing is & how to try it out. I imagined the kids sitting there asking themselves, so what is iodine? Or how does knowing the difference between true north & magnetic north help me find cool ammo cans.

I'll just say, it's very important to "know your audience". I volunteered myself to host more seminars at the library & come at it from a beginners level. Focusing on events, GC-etiquette, how the website works, how to start caching, etc. Robin told me there's interest out there to learn about our fun hobby. Hopefully some of those attending return & the library can grow the classes. Robin's going to email me dates/times for when she wants to try another one. She had July 27th as her tentative next seminar. They also may hide "official CALS caches" at the different branches. Anyone willing to help out, let me know.

[topkitty98]

I can come help some.