A Geocaching Journey

Today's cache was a dead end!

Five months ago, I departed on a journey.

On March 7, I officially left my keys in my apartment in Edgerton, Wis. and made the 5.5 hour drive to my new home in Chaska, Minn. After 28 years in my beloved Wisconsin, I was moving into Gopher territory.

I had a great job opportunity, a decent apartment, and best of all...undiscovered geocache territory. The only geocaches I had unearthed were the five I logged during the initial job interview.
What better time to attempt the 365 day geocaching challenge?

There were some bumps in the road. I made it a week and a half and then, having a late meeting that had me working 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., missed a day. The clock started over.

Look ma, a triple bagged pill bottle!

There were a couple of other times when I logged my cache of the day between 11:50 and 11:59 p.m. Talk about nail-biting. Seriously, those late night meetings make things challenging. However, when I found one around 11:58 at night, I figured, “there are a couple others in the area. I might as well take advantage.” Sure enough, I found another cache around 12:30 a.m. and was at least satisfied to scratch off that day’s find.

Today, I am celebrating five months with a cache a day. That is right, I have not missed since March 27, despite those close calls. Some caches have been tricky, even more so by flashlight app at 10 p.m.

The cache hound Artemis and I!

I have found pretty much all of the caches in Jordan, where I work, with the exception of a couple that recent logs indicate are probably missing. I have even found most of the caches within a couple mile radius of the city. I have found many in Chaska, where I live. When my work required a trip to Shakopee or Savage, I took advantage and found a quick cash there. I have found caches in nearby Belle Plaine, Chanhassen and Eden Prairie.

There are still many more to find, and I am confident that I will be able to keep my streak going for another 7 months.

It will not be easy, but I will continue to share my journey here.

Feel free to follow along if you will, and remember, “Keep on Cachin’ in the Free World!”