Dani aboard the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad

By Dani

I had the privilege of attending GeoWoodstock IX with MissJenn in Warren, Pennsylvania.
This was my second Geowoodstock in as many years and I am so happy that I got to be in attendance again!

Our adventure started with a four hour delay in Chicago due to inclement weather. MissJenn and I finally arrived at our hotel in Warren, Pennsylvania around two in the morning.  Then it was up at ‘em and by 8AM to get to our first event, the “Geowoodstock Express.” This pre-Geowoodstock event had more than 500 geocachers in attendance to mingle and ride the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad through the Oil Creek Valley.

MissJenn (far left) and Dani (far right)

MissJenn and I, never ones to shy away from the dramatic, make our grand entrance by running for the train as it is about to take off.  We had gotten a bit turned around by the area, the road construction and misleading train tracks.  We finally found our way and climbed aboard to much laughter at the Lackeys who were unable to navigate. We laughed at ourselves as well and were welcomed with open arms. The train took off from Titusville at Perry Street Station and ended at Petroleum Centre Station in Oil Creek State Park. When we arrived at Petroleum Centre Station, we were greeted with a great buffet spread, warm smiles and helpful park staff who loved having so many geocachers in town!

Nearly 2000 geocachers logged "attended" for GeoWoodstock IX

The train ride back was full of chatter as we made new friends and reconnected with old ones. People were also busy sending postcards from the train back to family and friends. That’s right… FROM the train!  The Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad operates the only working Railway Post Office in the United States. I could not think of a better way to get to know the history and neighborhood we were visiting.

After the train ride event, I received a message from Jessie. a.k.a. Foxfire, from Groundspeak HQ in Seattle. The message I received was that gooseygal, a lovely cacher I had met hours earlier, was in a pickle! Her car had broken down on the way back to her campsite from the event. If that wasn’t bad enough, her poor dog was stuck in her camper! She was worried that her dog would overheat and not be able to go outside for another several hours. Uncomfortable at best and at worse, well, I’d call every number I had too! She made a call to a number she knew, in Seattle, hoping the message would reach me in Pennsylvania. More than two thousand miles and back, the message was received!

Grandstand at GeoWoodstock IX

I was with the infamous Keystone at the time who bolted back to the campsite to check on gooseygal’s dog. Luckily, gooseygal and her friend were not far behind Keystone, but the help was much appreciated. This is just one example of thousands of how the geocaching community is truly amazing!

The main event, Geowoodstock IX, followed the next day. After catching up on some sleep, MissJenn and I arrived at the main event bright and early. We were immediately greeted by old and new friends. It was wonderful meeting so many people the day before. It made all of the new friends met at Geowoodstock a little less overwhelming.
There were so many things to see and do!

The “Meet the Reviewer” panel was a great opportunity for many players to put a face to the name that is always next to their “Published by” logs on their caches as well as to ask some of those burning questions they’ve wanted to ask. On-going activities such as GPS accuracy tests, Trackable logging and trading, merchandise purchasing and the Geo-Bingo Icebreaker game kept all busy throughout the day. If that wasn’t enough, live music, various classes, kids’ activities and a Geo-Poker tournament ensured that there was a little something for everyone.

Signing the log at GeoWoodstock IX

It’s always a bit surreal to attend a Mega even as a Lackey. There’s this recognition and appreciation from geocachers who are just so happy to meet you. Perhaps the surreal part on their end is how equally happy I am to meet them! I love meeting the community that makes geocaching their life and passion. It’s not about the finds. It’s truly about the people you meet.

Happy caching!

You can also find a Lackey at one of these upcoming Mega-Events:

HQ in Washington State, USA – Groundspeak Block Party

Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany – Geocoinfest Europa

Catalunya, Spain – Mega Event Catalunya

South Carolina, USA – Geocoinfest

Ons Oma with her gifts from Groundspeak and friends

By: Kelly Ranck

Have you ever felt that you are  not athletic, outdoorsy, or tech-savvy enough to go geocaching? Perhaps you think that you are too old to hit the trail? We kindly request that you go ahead and let those excuses go. Here’s why.

According to the geocacher Ons Oma, “Geocaching is a sport for people of all ages. Young and old.” If anyone deserves the right to make this claim, it is Ons Oma (Dutch for “Our Grandmother”).

Recently, a group of Ons Oma’s closest family and friends came together to surprise her for her 90^th birthday. This was a celebration of her 90 years of life and for the adventure that’s been Ons Oma’s life since 2008. That’s when she started geocaching.

Ons Oma signing a logbook

According to her grandson Paul, “She was very surprised” by the party. “She knew that something would happen, because home-care was early that day. In the morning people were invited to her [Ons Oma's] house, in the afternoon, we picked her up to have a BBQ at her daughter’s house.”

Ons Oma is a perfect example of that fact that anyone can geocache. The geocaching community is diverse, ever-expanding, and a place for people of all shapes, sizes, and ages.

Although Ons Oma is a tad bit older than the average geocacher, her age does little to keep her from regularly going geocaching. She has been caching since she was 87 and has now logged more than 30 finds.

Ons Oma with friends and family during the party

According to those who know her, before heading out on the hunt, she runs a Pocket Query to find caches that are wheelchair accessible. Ons Oma then picks her favorite of these caches. She tends to favor Multi-Caches that have a puzzle element. She prints out the cache descriptions in a larger font and hits the trail with family and friends.

Ons Oma’s geocaching group may have to assist her with her GPS device, but she is the first one to log her finds on Geocaching.com.

Not only has geocaching enabled Ons Oma to become more computer literate, it has also been a hobby that challenges her to remain active, spend time outdoors and solve puzzles. Her love and appreciation for geocaching is evident in the guests and gifts that were present at her 90^th birthday party – Ons Oma even received a gift from Groundspeak.

As articulated by Ons Oma, “It’s unbelievable that there are people in the world, who do things (hide geocaches) to make other people, who they don’t know, happy and expect nothing in return for that.”

Ons Oma's 90th birthday cakes

Ons Oma is not the only geocacher who is grateful for the sport and the way in which it brings families and communities together.

Check out this video to view other families who have bridged age gaps by geocaching.

If you want to see Ons Oma in action, click here and watch her geocaching music video debut.

Kiet and Jill Callies with daughter McKenzie. Geocaching username "keitc"

When we started our streak on September 22, 2007, it was a reboot of a previous 41-day streak, broken by work commitments, which just whetted our whistles for the big one. No other commitments would interrupt our next streak until June 18, 2010 – a thousand and one days later. In that time, if stringing our finds together like a necklace of pearls, we traveled nearly 60,000 miles and made finds in 15 states.

The original streak probably began as a pacesetter for reaching a milestone by the year’s end. The big streak was to prove we could go all the way. We started setting the goal of 100 days, then a year and, if a year, why not a thousand days. Then, again, why not be literary, like A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, A Thousand and One Geocaching Days.

I almost carried the whole load alone. However, this was never meant to be a loner’s endeavor. My wife and daughter stepped in my place a couple of times. Once, during one of life’s frustrating moments of defeatism when I decided to give up on everything and pick a fight with the world, my wife, unable to witness the regret I would face in the after-moment, took my daughter and made a find to keep the streak alive.

The next generation of geocacher, McKenzie Callies.

Now, to maintain such a streak, the quality of some caches suffers. Though we have seen and discovered some amazing things in the course of our adventures, both obvious and hidden, we often had to settle for some mundane finds – a film canister tucked under a lamp post cover or inside a guard rail, which can be demotivating when these are the majority of your finds. Then I stumbled upon the Danboard and Stormtroopers 365 photo projects and was inspired.

One of the things we enjoy about geocaching is the context of location. There is a reason why someone chose a particular location and decided to share it with others. Now you can argue whether the location is worth sharing, but you cannot deny that it now has context, a story. I decided to lay another narrative on top, and my medium was Legos and Star Wars.

Legos are small and portable, perfect for travel, and like in Star Wars, we as geocachers use technology to get us close to the truth, the cache, and then use the mystical, or our geo-senses, to actually find it. Over-thinking it? Probably. I grew up under the strong influence of the original trilogy, and besides that, Star Wars is just so cool. On Day 779, I introduced the Star Wars Lego storyline and have managed a few chuckles here and there.

Click the picture to view Kiet Callies Flickr page

Now that the streak is over, and I have had time to digest it all, I will tell you that I did experience withdrawal and guilt the next day, June 19th. What’s next? In celebration of geocaching’s 10-year anniversary, to find a cache placed in each month of geocaching’s existence. Isn’t setting goals fun?

Lackeys Nate the Great (second from left) and Powpea (far right) attending a geocaching event near Chicago

Groundspeak’s Lost and Found tour is in full swing, with Groundspeak Lackeys attending geocaching events spread throughout the world.  Earlier this month Lackey Powpea and I had the opportunity to visit the Second City for the first annual Chicagoland Cache-apalooza. The local geocaching organization, GONIL, hosted a fantastic event including 74 new geocaches placed and published over the weekend.

Before the festivities began, however, we attended a CITO event at the Lucas Berg Nature Preserve in Worth, IL. Here is a little speck of green space in the heart of a metro area whose stated purpose is as a repository for toxic soil dredged from a nearby canal. In short: it’s a dump.

Rather, it was a dump, until some geocachers caught wind of it. Thirty years of indifference and careless wind surfboard disposal (yes, really) provided geocachers the opportunity to put some of their hard-won bush-beating skills to good use. What it lacks in geocaches, it more than makes up for in potential.

No discarded BMX tire or mangled can of Fanta dared escape the eagle-eyed crew. I know at least one local resident would agree the place is much more inviting as a result.

Signal watching the CITO

However, it’s easy to see that altruism of the sort witnessed by this Lackey is not wholly selfless. Sure, getting filthy and comparing sticker-bush abrasions are their own rewards, but by demonstrating responsible stewardship of the land essential to our pastime we act as emissaries for the game. Geocachers sent a clear message to the land manager and community that geocaching is something to be welcomed and encouraged.

Worth Our Support!

What can you do in your community to spread this message?

The future of Lucas Berg Nature Preserve is still uncertain, but geocachers in the Chicago area are making an investment they hope will pay dividends down the road. At the very least, it’s a labor of love not lost on the critters in the little marshy plot of land just off SW HWY 7 and W 111th in Worth, IL.

Lackey Nate the Great

TFTH[ospitality Chicago!]

In: New life to a neglected park and potential geocaching playground
Out: Tires, busted glass, soda cans, 3/4 of a wind surfboard (no sign of the surfer!)