Hello my friends, well this has been an interesting trip to say the least.
We returned our cars to the rental shop, caught the shuttle to the airport about 0800 hours for our 11:11 flight on ALLEGIANT AIR, and it was just after 1700 hours before we got on the plane. We were told by a customer service agent that this is very common and that it is to do with pilots having to rest between trips and they are short staffed. We did save a few dollars with this trip but never again will I fly this airline.
It was a long, hard and rewarding trip. The days were long, sometimes up by 3am, off to breakfast and then drive for as long as 4.5 hours or an hour or so to get to GZ for the day. After 6 or 7 hours we would stop for a quick lunch on the side of the trail/road then carry on. Three of the nights we had events, so getting back to the hotels were sometimes later than we wanted. Hiking in the desert is certainly different that hiking in the hills on Vancouver Island.
Met a lot of interesting cachers along the route from all over the place, cachers travel far and wide to end up in Vegas to do the ET HWY. We stayed one night in Racheal so that those that were not with us last year could experience the ET hype down there.
Our events were well attended and the spots I had picked turned out to be great with some awsome food and great service. A couple from Ontario that attended last years CIA event, were back this year. We brought a few prizes along and it seemed like this is not the norm in this part of the states.
In total we managed to find 3242 caches in 8 days and our biggest day was 1044 caches.
Would I do this again, I certainly would but a few changes would certainly be in order. These type of trips take a lot of planning and lack of sleep is the norm.
It is a good time of year to go to this area, hot and sunny but still a little chilly in the mornings and no snakes or small critters or none that we saw. We did encounter a bit of flash flooding, it can be kind of scary and dangerous at the same time.
I think the most interesting place had to be Belmont near the end of the ET HWY. This is a Ghost town with a very old cemetery from the early 1800. There are about 10 people that live here and the bar is out of this world. We were so lucky as it was open and we got to meet the owners.
I took a week off to get some much needed sleep and spend time with Princess! I got out last weekend with the Sunday Caching Group and did two new caches in Nanaimo this week and looking forward to getting out this weekend on the off road motorcycles with Cougar Kid on the logging roads if the rains hold off. Then on Sunday, out with the Sunday Caching Group in Port Alberni. On the trails again.
My next big adventure is a trip this August to New Brunswick to celebrate my OAP year with my parents and do some caching in my home town area. My sister, Indynb, has placed over 80 caches in the area.
I will be holding an event in late August in Ladysmith called "Paulboy's OAP Event". It will be my 65th birthday and hopefully it will attract a lot of cachers, a mega would be nice, LOL. Look for the listing sometime in late May.
I would like to thank the team, 8-IC, JuRuu, crkayaker, Cougar Kid, Sheesh695, Losthiker123 & Bornwild62, for being part of the team. Classictwo had to bow out at the last moment and her husband was serious ill and she was missed big time by all of us. I am happy to say, Doug is now home and doing great. and will be on the trails soon.
Hope to see you all on the trails, happy caching and be careful. Cachers are some of the greatest people in the world!
Paulboy
Friday 21 March 2014
Sunday 2 March 2014
Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Hello everyone, we started off our day about 0400 hours and when I opened the hotel door, it was pissing rain, what a surprise!! then after breakfast we started the desert roads doing the trains, planes and automobiles series and it was starting to settle down. There were rain clouds in the distance and a little wind. We were informed that it was the first rain since early November. As we progressed towards 1100 hours the winds were up to 50 + hours and it was raining like a monsoon and a little hail for pleasure. We tried to hide under a tree for protection, like that is going to happen in the dessert..Did we ever get wet..
The roads were flooded in many area and a few area were flash flooded. As it got worst we finished our series and headed back to the hotel to clean up for our event. The restaurant that we choose a few months e for the event was a just the best ever, great food. The event was a hit and a good number of cachers showed up for such a small town. It ended up being a bit of a late night chatting and talking about geocaching..
I think we are at about 2800 caches, a little less than expected but some of the desert roads needed a 4 x 4 to access.
Saturday morning was our last day and after a 0730 start we headed towards Vegas doing a few mini power trails and a few small towns along the way. We decided to head to a car wash and clean up the vans before heading to our hotel in Vegas. That took about 75 minutes and then to the hotel to drop off our suit cases.
Then we decided to grab a few caches in Vegas mostly along the strip. We picked up 12 caches, 6 being virtual and 6 regular caches. It took longer than we thought and it was 1930 hours before we got to have supper. I wonder sometimes about us cachers.
It was a very long 8 days on the road with most days lasting over 13+ hours.
Sunday morning we left the hotel at 0730 hours to return the cars and head to the airport for our 1111 hour flight. Who would have guessed, it is delayed to 1600 hours?? They say it is weather related but a staff made a mistake and it turns out it is because of staff problems..and now it also a little weather problem on top of that. It is almost 1500 hours and no sign of our plane yet..May not get home tonight. This is not good!!
So tired from the long week of caching and it would be nice to get home soon.
For all that have been following our trip and your comments, I thank you and see you on the trails.
Now the fun starts and we have to log in all the caches we found..
Paulboy
The roads were flooded in many area and a few area were flash flooded. As it got worst we finished our series and headed back to the hotel to clean up for our event. The restaurant that we choose a few months e for the event was a just the best ever, great food. The event was a hit and a good number of cachers showed up for such a small town. It ended up being a bit of a late night chatting and talking about geocaching..
I think we are at about 2800 caches, a little less than expected but some of the desert roads needed a 4 x 4 to access.
Saturday morning was our last day and after a 0730 start we headed towards Vegas doing a few mini power trails and a few small towns along the way. We decided to head to a car wash and clean up the vans before heading to our hotel in Vegas. That took about 75 minutes and then to the hotel to drop off our suit cases.
Then we decided to grab a few caches in Vegas mostly along the strip. We picked up 12 caches, 6 being virtual and 6 regular caches. It took longer than we thought and it was 1930 hours before we got to have supper. I wonder sometimes about us cachers.
It was a very long 8 days on the road with most days lasting over 13+ hours.
Sunday morning we left the hotel at 0730 hours to return the cars and head to the airport for our 1111 hour flight. Who would have guessed, it is delayed to 1600 hours?? They say it is weather related but a staff made a mistake and it turns out it is because of staff problems..and now it also a little weather problem on top of that. It is almost 1500 hours and no sign of our plane yet..May not get home tonight. This is not good!!
So tired from the long week of caching and it would be nice to get home soon.
For all that have been following our trip and your comments, I thank you and see you on the trails.
Now the fun starts and we have to log in all the caches we found..
Paulboy
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