Arkansas Meet Alabama Campout - GCT912

[NatureFish]

The Arkansas Meet Alabama Campout - GCT912, has been listed!

I am completely open to suggestions, so if there is anything you want added or modified let me know!

Anyone that would like to present or discuss a geocaching-related topic is welcome.

See y'all there!
Ed

[NatureFish]

Bumping it up as a reminder!

[canoegoddess]

Arkansas meet Alabama (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=gct912&Submit6=Find)
That's the link to make it easier :)

[grandkid44]

My suggestions may already be in your plans : name tags ; door prizes, ; cache demonstrations, i.e. containers , placement ideas , etc...;comments from the aga steering committee ; ask Jerry Turner to bring some of his creative caches ; since we are staying overnight can someone bring their guitar ; have a campfire Sat. pm , tell the tallest caching tales ; have an organized hike down to the falls ; ghost stories ; with a half a day to hang around we need something to keep everyones intrest .
Hopefully with these suggestions others will jump in with much better ideas . We plan to do some dutch oven cooking Friday pm and would be delighted for others to join ..if enough are intrested I'll create another thread with more details .

[idratherbehiking]

I am planning to hide three caches up there once they are approved by the park folks.

[NatureFish]

Good ideas all, go for it! I am open to anything.

The meeting room I have reserved all day Saturday holds 30, if we expect more than that they have an enclosed pavillion that holds 70.

Please, if you plan to come and have not already, log a Will Attend note to the event page so I will know if we need the larger room.

Ed

[arkansas_stickerdude]

I can not wait for this!!!!!!!!!!

What time will the poker run start/end? I know I won't be able to make it Friday night which means driving up Saturday and probably not getting there before 10:00 at the earliest.

[NatureFish]

I will be arriving Friday. I am driving. There are geocaches between me and you. That means it might take ALL DAY to get there! Huh. Lots of caches between us, in fact. Maybe I better leave Wednesday!

Since I started geocaching my travel times have been, uh, negatively impacted. What used to take an hour to drive might now take five!

That means the seven poker-run caches won't be hidden until Saturday morning around, say, 8 a.m. Anyone that wants to go to the park and locate seven interesting locations to hide an ammo can is welcome! That would save me a lot of time. Cachers should be able to find all seven and get back to the meeting in two hours or less, so they don't need to be too far or too hard. Cachers can make the poker run anytime between 8 a.m. Saturday until just before the meeting... I don't recall at the moment when we set the meeting, 3 p.m. I think... I will have to look at the event listing!

In fact if someone wants to work with me on this I will send money for seven ammo boxes, envelopes and cards and you can hide them! Just keep the coords secret!

I also like to play some games at meetings, so the seven ammo boxes will be stocked and given away after the poker run as prizes, meaning I will need the last person to make the run collect the caches. Perhaps someone will volunteer to be that last seeker and collect them for me just before the afternoon meeting.

Sharpen your GPS skills, as stocked caches will be given to those who can place a flag closest to a pre-selected spot. Teams may be formed to find geocaches - only you won't have a GPS - you'll have an FRS radio! The person with the GPS will stay behind and guide your team to the cache by voice commands! Teams of five will have four members bound together at the elbows, facing out, in a circle, blindfolded. The fifth will stand in the middle of the circle and use his/her GPS to navigate the cluster to a cache and back, first team back wins stocked caches.

Don't bother to form teams in advance - this is all about getting to know one another! If I see that there's someone there to whom you haven't yet spoken, you can bet I'll team that person with you!

Those games require hidden caches, usually in view (the location, not the cache!) of the meeting place so non-participants can have fun watching, pointing and giggling! Anyone that wants to help me with that will be greatly appreciated!

The geocacher of the year will be recognized, and I hope to start a new Arkansas tradition, since I haven't seen it mentioned in the forums - a golden ammo box will be awarded to all cachers with over 1K finds. After this meeting y'all might want to carry that on by making 1K ammo boxes for everyone that reaches that milestone. Presentations can be done with a few gathering for lunch or you may want to present them monthly at a meeting. You may already be doing this, I don't remember seeing it though.

Bottom line and in direct answer to your question, by 10 a.m. Saturday we should be all set up and ready to go, but 'happenings' will occur throughout the day!

Oh yeah - one last tidbit - I could care less what you do in your personal life... drink, smoke dope, it's none of my business... until you come to an event I am hosting! Provided the park and local laws allow I don't care if you want to have a drink, but my events are all about fun and are 100% kid-friendly! Anyone drinking to excess or misbehaving around the kids will be asked to leave.

Ed

[Geezer_Veazey]

Will these "Poker-Run" caches need park approval as other caches in the state park are required to have?

Geezer

[cachecrazies]

non-participants can have fun watching, pointing and giggling! Anyone that wants to help me with that will be greatly appreciated!


Ed

I can do that with no problem at all!

Pointing and giggling as we speak!

:lol:

edited to add p.s.

P.S. I know what your intent was - just couldn't bypass the opportunity to give you a hard time!

[cachecrazies]

Sounds like so much fun! I'm glad we'll now be able to be there! Posted to the cache page tonight. We'll be coming down Saturday. :lol:

[NatureFish]

Will these "Poker-Run" caches need park approval as other caches in the state park are required to have?

No, these are temporary caches placed only for a few hours.

These caches are not listed on gc.com - the coords are given out before the run and all caches are collected afterwards. These caches are not logged as finds... you just find them and take one card from each.

Ed

[Phantom_491]

To the Cache Master Guru from Alabama (ie: NatureFish), I've seen other orgs that use a seperate cache page to log"Event Caches" I was curious on your take on this since these are technically still caches that are being found. Some people like to log every single find (Even the temp event caches).

Note: This isn't a case for getting another cache to bump numbers but some people like having a log for each and every cache they do, if for nothing else than to remember.

[NatureFish]

It amounts to the same thing - you can log 'Attended' once for the event and, if you so choose, once more for each Pocket Cache (Event Cache) you find there, or the event owner can revitalize one of their old archived cache numbers for each pocket cache for logging purposes, which is what the others you are talking about do.

The end result is the same; one smilie for every event attended and one for every cache found, whether listed on gc.com or not, and I would rather not mess with the history of archived caches.

Ed

[Geezer_Veazey]

I will be happy to help with the Poker-run caches. I have a very reasonable source for the narrow ammo cans and I will pick up seven of them and five decks of playing cards. I am assuming you want the cards shuffled and randomly placed in the ammo cans. I'll seal them in security envelopes.

A couple of questions: Do you want the jokers left in? Do you want log books in the ammo cans? Do you want the cards and envelopes numbered with matching numbers in the log book? That might be a way to ensure no one takes extra cards and then uses the best ones, although I don't think anyone would do that. If so I'll number them after shuffleing so that the number sequence will not be a clue to the card inside.

If there is anything else I need to do or know, please post here or PM me. I'll try to get these hid Friday so they they will be ready to go the first thing Saturday morning.

Thanks, Naturefish, for putting this event on for us.

Guy Veazey aka geezer_veazey

[NatureFish]

Way cool! Thanks so much!

Yes, seven containers, any kind

No logbook, these won't be logged as finds and will be collected at the end of the run, then stocked with trinkets and given away as prizes.

Enough cards in each container so that every participant can take one.
I do not have a count of participants, we'll have to try to guess it from forum posts and event page logs just before the event...if a family says they're coming with Mom, Dad and three kids there will have to be 5 cards in each cache just for them, so it could take a lot of cards!

Yes, brown or heavily colored sealed envelopes so players can't see through them (regular postal security envelopes are opague and can be seen through).

Yes, each cache is numbered and each envelope inside it is numbered the same as that cache. At the end each player should have 7 cards in sealed envelopes numbered 1-7.

Jokers - Leave say four jokers in, not as wild cards but as Instant Winner cards for prizes. We can rig up something funny for Jokers gifts. The folks that get a Joker will still have 6 cards to make a 5-card hand.

A pair being the lowest hands, we'll come up with 'special' booby prizes for folks that can't even make that!

Thanks! I really appreciate this!
Ed

[NatureFish]

There will be lots of prizes and stocked caches given away, anyone that wants to bring containers or trinkets to put in them is welcome to do so!
Ed

[LadyEngineer]

Ed,

I don't know if we are going to get to spend Friday night so how early is all the fun starting? It takes us about an hour to get there and we are really interested in this poker game.

LE

[NatureFish]

Now that we have a volunteer who has so graciously offered to hide the caches in advance, we can start early!

I will open the meeting room around 8 a.m. or shortly thereafter. It will be open all day.

As folks arrive at the event they can go on the poker run whenever they want between 8 and say 1 p.m., at which time the caches will be collected and stocked as gifts for the 2 p.m. meeting.

I hope that works for you!
Ed

[mountainborn]

Nature_fish said:
Yes, brown or heavily colored sealed envelopes so players can't see through them (regular postal security envelopes are opague and can be seen through).
>
I have seen playing cards cut in half then stapled into a grocery store paper bag. But those are becoming scarce these days !

[NatureFish]

This morning the Today Show valued a diamond found by a visitor to an Arkansas park at between $15-60K.

Y'all got diamonds laying around on the ground and you're out chasing geocaches?? 8O

That's some dedicated geocachers! Can't wait to meet y'all!

Next event we're changing parks, though! :D

[Team_Pink]

In the numbers world, I'll take my chances on ammo cans! Ammo cans at the diamond park is even better!

[NatureFish]

Yeah, I think they said you would have to process something like 16 million tons of dirt to get that one diamond - that's a lot of DNFs!

[Team_Pink]

In the words of the infamous Frank Barone, "Holy Crap!"

[OldRiverRunner]

I just finished entering the reports for 9 new caches in Petit Jean State Park. I received the park permits today. I've asked Ed (Nature Fish) to release the new listings on Friday morning. Keep a watch out for them! Warning! They all involve a hike, some short, some long! Also, I have 3 more I need to place, which I hope to do Friday morning and get the permits approved, so they'll be up by Saturday morning! -- ORR

[Geezer_Veazey]

WOW! Double WOW WOW!!!Nine new caches and three more to come. You da Man! I'll be putting out the Poker Run caches tomorrow and Friday. This will give the event participants a good tour of the Park.

[NatureFish]

Good Morning!

I'm at a Flying J truck stop somewhere 30 miles or so from the park, should be there around 9 a.m.

Call me if you want to meet. 205-914-6814 You can't miss me, I am driving a bright red custom-built Suburban Dualie.

Also, in case cellular doesn't work at the park, I am monitoring 146.52 ham, Ch. 19 CB and Ch 7 FRS/GMRS radios.

Ed

[Team_Pink]

I'm curious how you are posting from "a Flying J truck stop somewhere 30 miles or so from the park"!

They have a hot spot at the Truck Stop?

[NatureFish]

Yes, almost all the large chain truck stops have wifi.

Petro, TA and Flying J have all been bought by the same company, so an account with one will connect at any. There is a cost at these locations, I pay $19.95/mo for unlimited access anywhere in North or Central America.

Krystal Hamburgers, Panera Bread stores and thousands of other businesses offer free WiFi access; Google the word 'wifi' and your zip code to get a list near you.

Ed

[arkansas_stickerdude]

Nature Fish I'm glad to see you made it back to AL. Did you have any more problems? Please Email me your address for the coin I promised you.

[NatureFish]

I'm glad to see you made it back to AL. Did you have any more problems?

Thanks for fixing my lights! Did I have any more problems?

Here's my log from the event:


Wow! What a great weekend! What a great group of geocachers!

I love events and travel to attend and host them all over the place, and can honestly say that this is one of the best I have ever attended!

A huge thank you to all my co-hosts and helpers who assisted with the planning, set-up and clean-up.

Special appreciation is extended to Geezer and Deezer; these guys made the poker run, start to finish, and did one fine job of it! Thank you!

Thanks to Old River Runner for a lot of new and interesting caches!

Thanks to CacheMates for being patient and waiting on me to climb Turtle Rocks on our cache expedition!

A huge thank you to all who brought ammo boxes and cache trinkets to go in them - I think we ended up giving away 22 ammo-box and 8 mini-size stocked caches! I hope to see them all listed soon!

What's a caching trip without a little adventure?

What with the weather putting a halt to geocaching Saturday night, and the forecast calling for more of the same Sunday, I decided to leave after the event.

Arkansas StickerDude and OzarkMtnGhost followed me out of the park on our way to dinner and called me by radio - "Hey NatureFish, you know that you have no tail-lights on that clunker?".

Well phooey - I had the headlight switch replaced the day before the trip, so I 'knew' it was okay... had to be a blown fuse.

We stopped at a gas station and they took turns laying on the wet pavement, contorting and twisting around under my dash, trying to find a blown fuse.

I had just about decided to get a local hotel and get them fixed the next day when Gunnar pursued his suspicion that the new headlight switch might be at fault - sure enough, as soon as he touched it, they came on - a loose connection!

Whew - thanks, guys! We went on to Conway and had a nice dinner.

I was approaching West Memphis early this morning and the radio starts turning itself off and on. That's interesting.

A few minutes later the tail-lights are gone again.

Now the headlights appear dim. Just out of curiosity I switch them off for a minute... and hear the defroster moter pick up speed! Huh. Turn the lights back on, the defroster quits.

Of all the places to have car trouble, all the interstate exits where one might have to get off, this was the one of choice, I-40 Exit 260, where an old friend of mine manages the repair shop for a TA truck-stop, and, he happened to be on duty!

He checked my old truck out, told me the headlight switch was defective, and had caused an overload on the electrical system that had killed the alternator. They don't work on cars, have no parts, and no one delivers parts for miles around.

So we charge the battery enough to run the engine and I made the 17-mile run back west to Forest City with all electronics shut down (gray dawn now, raining heavily, no defrost or wipers!)

Found an Advance Auto Parts store, but they don't open till 9 a.m., so I got in a good nap while waiting.

When they opened I talked to the manager, a super-nice fella name of Eugene Nalls, who pondered only a few seconds about how few and far away any service garage would be in that town on a Sunday morning, then rolled up his sleeves and went to work, replacing my alternator, headlight switch and power invertor right there in his parking lot!

It took him until after noon, he would accept no payment but for parts, and I was back on the road!

Well, you can say that Mr. Eugene Nalls at Advance Auto Parts in Forrest City Arkansas is my new friend! What a wonderful thing to do for a stranger passing through his town! You can bet his Regional Manager will be hearing from me!

Having just spent a couple of days at beautiful Pettit Jean Park, had the wonderful experience of meeting all of you Arkansas geocachers, then having an Arkansan go so far out of his way to get me back on the road, you can bet I came home with a real appreciation for Arkansas and its people.

Thank you to everyone who came... your giving up your time to come and meet me, to allow me to get to know you, was a blessing and gift I will long remember!

Ed

Maybe road trips in a 26-year-old truck aren't such a good idea! I am looking for a van to replace it, one of those Class A camper-vans if you happen to see a good deal!

Ed

[Team_Pink]

What a great time we had! With two little ones and a young pup we had to cut it a little short and had to leave after the 2:00 meeting. Sounds like it was a good time.

Who took the prize for the best accuracy and what kind of machine was it?

[arkansas_stickerdude]

Naturefish I'm SOOOOOOO sorry to hear about all your EXTRA problems. I'm glad you had some extra ARKANSAS help. In Conway I wish we would have thought about a bad switch and we would have kept you there and helped you change the switch. OMG and I had already decided that we were going to stay there no matter how long it took to fix it. If you EVER come back to arkansas and get stuck feel FREE to call me anytime and I'll be there. I can be anywhere in the state in less than 3 hours. LOL What kind of van are you looking for I bet Poppy or I can help.

[SpankytheWizard]

I can field that one. The most accurate GPSr that day belonged to my son Ryan (CrushMonkey) and is a Garmin eTrex Legend that I got him for his birthday last year. His marker was within four inches of the target spot. He was shy and speechless when it happened but talked "trash" to his ol' man on the way home that evening. LOL! STW

[flannelman]

And the second best was my Garmin eTrex Legend also. Way to go Garmin!! I got within about 2 feet with mine. I have had pretty good luck with my unit so far.