Yogi at Shangri La Campground, Milton, PA
GPS: 40.943822, -076.845712
Late October and winter is coming for sure. The rain and wind of the past few days has turned the beautiful fall foliage into a blanket of wet soggy leaves on the ground. Campground workers are getting serious about the chores to batten this place down for the winter. Snowbird WorKampers have been leaving and this morning Lee and Grace Kegresse hit the road for Florida followed shortly by Herb and Pat Myers: also headed to Florida but by way of Toledo,OH. Now there are only four left. In the next few days we all will be gone. Our last work day was last Friday.
One last hurrah before we leave. This afternoon, Adam, Amy, and the boys arrived for a couple days. They are going to Annapolis for Adam's 15 year class reunion. They flew from Denver to BWI and drove here (about 163 miles). The boys exploded out of the car overflowing with bottled up energy from hours stuck in airplane and car seats. It only took a few seconds to find the playground and begin to unwind. After a bit we took them to the office to meet Becky and Bob and then to their cabin which Ted and Penny had carefully decorated with some Halloween surprises.
The boys helped Gramps build a campfire and for supper we roasted hot dogs and then made smores. The weather was clear and cool all day and with nightfall it got downright cold. Grandma was prepared though. She had bought a Yogi hoodie for each of the boys. So they were comfortable as we sat around the campfire for a short while before bedtime.
It was a "goodbye to some, hello to others" kind of day.
At our stix and brix house in Ohio, I had a 20 ft flag pole, mounted in concrete near the street end of our lot. It was a substantial pole; strong enough to stand up to a stiff wind and tall enough to let Old Glory catch the breeze. I was proud of that pole. It gave me a good feeling to see our flag flying when it came into view as I rounded the curve approaching our house.
Since we have been RVing, I have come to miss that pole and the flag, and have been looking for an alternative. I have my collection of flags with me; I only need the pole. The popular flag setups for RVs don't work for me. Since we are a fifth wheel, usually in a back-in situation, the ladder attachment scheme puts the flag pole in the woods instead of out front. The 'under the wheel' setup doesn't work because my wheels are under the slide–out.
Patience won out and I eventually found what I was looking for. Poles and Holders sells a free standing 20 foot flag pole (Model PNH-22) that collapses to less than four feet and weighs only four pounds. Separately they sell a ground mount (Model GM-22) to hold the pole. I was skeptical of the ground mount because their descriptive literature and pictures are inadequate and I did not get a good feeling about its strength to hold the pole in a strong wind or its ability to withstand repeated hammering into the ground. However, I bit the bullet and bought the pole and ground mount; relying on being able to return the product if it proved unsatisfactory. The entire package – pole, ground mount, and shipping was $98. So far I am satisfied, although I am still waiting for a strong wind to test it.
Changing subjects from flag poles to flying flags. Recently, while out and about, I was surprised to see flags at half–staff. I didn't know why and that got me to thinking about how to get an advanced warning on when to fly the flag at half–staff. When in doubt 'google it'. I did and got the official dates for when the flag should be flown at half–staff. I loaded those dates in my calendar with an email warning the day before.
I also came across this liitle widget. Click on the picture and get the code to put in your blog or website. It will show you every day if the day is a full–staff day or a half–staff day. It's kind of cool. The only problem is that it only tells you about today, not tomorrow. So it does not provide any advanced warning.
Lewisburg Area Recreation Park
Lewisburg, PA
GPS: 40.964347, -076.899345
Our first event is in the books. I consider it a success although my universe for comparison is very small. Everyone who responded showed up and we had some interesting discussions. They represent a total of 15,143 caches found and the two hosts are way behind the other folks.
Dig Teamsters (Gale) -- 9,280
2catsnj (Nancy and Jay) -- 4,614
trscorbin -- 413
the brawlers -- 188
C-Squared Pirates (Clare, Chris, and Callie) -- 439
pacardshark (Burt) -- 134
MnsfldDad (Bill) -- 8
flyfishercacher (Bob and Michelle) -- 67
All attendees were Geocachers. trscorbin arrived first, so she gets the FTF honors. No Letterboxers showed up. Shame. Our letterbox "followthecougar" is still waiting for its first stamp.
I put out my first Munzee right at the event coordinates. No one came prepared to find it, in fact no one even knew what MUNZEE was all about.
2catsnj brought TB 5Z2X7 "Eva's Wave Rider Racer" to our event. Here is the description for this TB
I'm in a race with 4 other travel bug cars! We started in York, Pa. and we are racing to the Pacific Ocean and back. Please help me on my journey and help me finish first! I must touch the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and then make it back to a geocache somewhere in York County, Pa. I get extra points for every photograph that gets uploaded of me with a different geocacher, so please document your part of my journey and share it. Thanks for your help!
This TB was launched in York, PA, just 87 miles south of here, on 10 Nov 2013. It has made zero progress west. MnsfldDad will take it to Texas in a couple weeks. That should help.
trscorbin picked up my TB61D99 "Wounded Warrior 2", but my three remaining Healing Waters TBs are still in the nest.
Michelle's and my name tags got discovered, as did car window decals belonging to me, MansfldDad, and the brawlers.
I was very surprised to learn that none of these local geocachers had met each other. They all knew each other's handle and had found each other's caches but never met in person. It took two out-of-towners like me and MnsfldDad to make that happen. Someone local needs to step up and sponsor more events.
I learned a lot about putting on an event:
Pick a public location with parking and restrooms and not requiring a permit
Get the listing up early
Make up signs to assure that your site is easily found
Make a checklist so that you don't forget anything
Check the site the day before to verify condition and availability
Here are pictures of some of the folks who attended
trscorbinthe brawlersC-Squared Pirates (Clare, Chris, and Callie)Dig Teamsters (Gale) with 2catsnj (Nancy and Jay)
We published two pictures in the geocache listing to lead people to the event.
Park EntranceEvent Location
Maybe we'll do another one in Florida.
