I did it. I found a cache Wednesday to complete my 366 grid. I have officially found a geocache on every day of the year, from January 1 to December 31, including February 29.
I found GC50JZO I Wanna Walk Like You Challenge. I had completed the challenge some time ago, but just found the actual geocache on Wednesday morning between appointments. It is located at the Plex, a soccer and cross country complex owned by Purdue University Fort Wayne. In fact, some guys were running the cross country course while I was looking for the cache. I don’t know if they were college athletes or not. There is a big high school meet scheduled for Saturday at the Plex. Enough digression
I’m not sure what my 366 grid looked like at the beginning of the year. I completed December last year. I was shy three days, I believe, including Christmas Eve and, I think, New Year’s Eve, this despite the fact that Geocaching HQ has started offering a souvenir for finding a cache or attending an event on New Year’s Eve and another for finding a cache or attending an event on New Year’s Day.
In 2017, I attempted a streak from the beginning of November to the end of the year. I stood there Christmas Eve 2017 in a snowstorm knee deep in snow somewhere past 11 p.m. looking for an elusive cache. I thought it would be a quick park and grab. It’s not. I’ve never found that cache. I’ve looked two or three other times. Anyhoo, my streak ended that day. I did little caching through the end of the year. My excuse? Too much snow.
After that streak, I decided I really don’t want to attempt another streak. Geocaching started taking over my life. I still find myself obsessing over it from time to time, but I really try to do other activities to keep me grounded.
So, I’ve completed the 366 grid. Now what? There is my Fizzy grid (the 81 D/T combo grid) and the Jasmer (find a cache that was hidden in each month since May 2000). I have also been working on an Indiana county challenge. Indiana has 92 counties, and I have found caches in 52 of them. I live in the northeast corner of the state. It might be easier if I lived in, say, Indianapolis, which in in the center of the state. But I’m not letting my geography stop me. It just means I have to work harder at it.
Another challenge that I’m working on is the Tri-State challenge. Up near where Indiana, Ohio and Michigan come together are three challenge caches. For one, you need to find 100 caches each in Indiana and Ohio (I’ve met that challenge), find 100 caches each in Indiana and Michigan (I’ve found just 57 caches in Michigan) and find 100 each in Ohio and Michigan. After I find another 43 caches in Michigan, I’ll qualify for all three challenge caches.
Back in July when I was on a county run to northwest Indiana, I signed a log for a 366-day challenge cache in White County. Wednesday I was able to log the find. I also found three other challenge caches in White County — find 1,000 or more traditional caches, finding a cache in three states in one day and one for have 15 geocaching souvenirs. There is a 366-day challenge cache here in Fort Wayne that I still need to go find and sign.
What about you, dear reader? Any challenges you’re working on? Memfis Mafia of the Geocache Talk podcast has written a book on geocache challenges. I don’t own, but I hope to some day. Have you read the book? If so, what did you think of it?
Geocaching with Capt. TailWagger 