Our CV Geo Social Life

Hubby and I have really enjoyed the Tuesday morning meetings and gatherings of the CV geocaching group this winter season. The group of retired folks interested in geocaching has been growing each year and this year, it numbers between 40 and 50 people. Some folks are far more active than others. Some folks are just getting their feet wet. And thankfully, others are taking a mentoring role sharing their excitement and knowledge of the sport.

The first group event happened on a Tuesday morning late last month. We gathered at a city park to 'play' some geocaching games, have lunch, and seek out some newly placed cache hides.

The first game was placing our numbered golf tee in the spot of a given set of coordinates.  We were all given the same coords. No two tees were in the exact same spot.

 Some of us had GPSers and some were using their Smart phones. You can see the wide variety of where our units told us the coords were supposed to be.

My tee, #22. I was not near the actual spot. Nor was Hubby. Glad our units are accurate enough when we are looking for a hide.

The group had lunch and then went looking for the six new caches placed by the two CV organizers of the little event. We split into small groups and headed into the desert for the hunt. We were at #5 searching in the bushes, because that is where Ground Zero was on the 3 GPS units we had in the group.

Hubby was wearing gloves as he searched the 2 small bushes. All of a sudden he jumped back and said, "I just touched a rattlesnake!" Nancy and I got our phones out to document the snake, AFTER we moved back from the bushes. Luckily, the temps were in the 60s. The snake was so cold, he hardly moved. He did relocate in the next bush, rattling his tail as he slowly slithered to rehide. We made a quick phone call to learn the cache was NOT in those bushes, but a nearby 'tree' so we gladly left the rattler alone and very carefully completed the other two hides before joining the group.

(That experience has curtailed our desert geocaching. We are mostly hunting in town. We carry a stick if we are in brush and sand, and we look at the ground when we walk.)

A GeoBingo followed the collecting of new caches. I won a prize for completing my Geocard and I won a raffle ticket prize. (photos at the end)

Then it was time for the group photo. Neal set the timer...

and got a great group photo.  Some people had left before the photo. Some cachers did not join us that day. This is a 'about half' representation of the CV group of active geocachers.

I won a 'bag' of prizes, including a bird's nest with eggs, one of which is a geocache. The other trinkets are called swag and are items placed in a larger cache container, especially for kids to take or trade.

The bottle of wine was my GeoBingo prize. It was created by one of our clever & creative CV cachers. (Thanks, Marlene!) I am going to use her idea for a door prize at my SD caching events.

The CV cachers are an important part of our AZ geocaching family. We support and learn from each other. The weekly meetings have kept us in touch with a sport we truly enjoy. Thanks for your leadership, Doug.