And we're back

Months have gone by with a serious hiatus from the sport. We could have probably pushed ourselves out the door to continue hunting but always decided in favour of other obligations or pleasures. We have picked up a few park & grabs that I haven't blogged about, although they have been logged in their prospective cache logs and web logs.

This past weekend, Mrs. HH (myself) had the obligation of taking two little haunthunters up to Indiana. With a crunch in time, we managed to find Florida in Texas in Georgia (GCY2TN) in Valdosta, Georgia. To be honest, I don't get how the name is a clue. This was our first out-of-state cache! Unfortunately, our stay the following night in Lebanon, Indiana provided for no geocaching thanks to the missing power source for the "free high speed" modem in our room. The details of this trip are on Mrs. HH's personal blog.

Christmas had some free moments, so the HH daughter and Mrs. HH headed out to grab the new Publix theme cache by 3birdfamily that was just down the road at the new supermarket, watch out for the public # 7 (GC182C7). HH daughter was instrumental in finding this one and is quite proud of herself for it.

We've still not managed to reset Good Boy! (GC147JP) and have temporarily disabled Ohio State Buckeye Avenue (GC144X8). Mr. HH was in the neighbourhood the following Saturday after we received notice that it was probably most likely muggled, but he failed to remember to stop and replace. We're hoping there's another opportunity to replace on January 5.

One thing I still have to do is begin checking for existing waymarks, logging visits, and applying for new waymarks, which are all abundant, from this trip. Bardstown, Kentucky was bursting with Historical Markers, not to mention all the other gems that I'm sure have a category to fit.

- Mrs. HH

New Waymarking Group

We received an offer to be an officer for a new waymarking category for Plantations. I'd been entertaining the idea of helping manage a category for some time now but felt uncomfortable climbing on board this one.

I'm a yankee and I do love history and Old Florida but, again, I'm a yankee. I see plantations as different things than maybe a native Southerner would. To me, they represent slavery and prosperity on the domination of others. To me, they represent empty pride and braggart natures. While I think we need to preserve that history in a way to remind us that we are always capable of control, cruelty, inhumanity and racism (and, furthermore, what forms of these things are we still acting out today), I don't think that's really the somber and disturbing tone that the Leader is looking for.

The Old Florida that I love is oak hammocks shading white-washed two-room shotgun shacks, banjo picking, gators in the canal, spanish moss drifting from oak branches in a gentle breeze, grassy roads, unincumbered wildlife, etc etc etc. The Old Florida I adore is lower class, if anything, and as carefree and easy-going as can be. Snook Haven is a good example.

I politely declined and I hated to do it because it was a group, but honestly, I think I'd rather help manage Fairy Doors than something that glorifies the so-called magnificence of the upper class Old South.

- Mrs. HH

An Evening Hunt

Since a little HauntHunter had to be picked up from the GC145EY location at 6pm, we reserved our strength for the evening. Actually, Mr. HH rested up, I planned waymarks since there's still a gabillion left to make in this area, and we tended to the necessary errands.

After we were done in south Punta Gorda, we found:

• Oh Boy! Jets with Killer Power (GCN55N) - Once we found the right road behind the airport, since the map was really not helpful with that, we got this one in no time at all. In fact, I just walked up to it. I spent more time inspecting a large plastic bag thrown in the area to make sure there was nothing inappropriate in it.
  
• East Coast A-10 Starrs Rock! (GC11MFK) - Off-roading in a minivan! This was fun to drive up to. We grabbed a US Geocoin out of it and left a toy. While the coin is very pretty and shiney, I still don't understand why people want to keep these things. They have no value once they're taken out of play.


• Watch out for the Public 2 (GC10M10) - Mr. HH picked this up on a whim while the little HauntHunter and I were getting milk. 3birdfamily has really done up a cute series of park & grabs.


• Tour de Smiles #1 - The Depot (GCMRPW) - I've known where this one has been for over a year and just never had the chance to stop and get it. Plus, I'm a big chicken when it comes to stealth-required searches all by myself. With Mr. HH with me, we got this one done, no GPS required. The log was soaked! It seems to be the protocol here that you write a regular "TFTC" type log and then email the cache owners with any problems. So, I did this in this way this time.

It was nice not to have any disappointments (i.e. DNF) this time. We found every one we went after, even the ones on a whim. They were all listed as Difficulty 2 and below, but I'm still very happy.

None of the murals have been waymarked in downtown Punta Gorda, not even the mural that a cache is hid under. There's several spots besides those that also should be waymarked. Only one statue has been waymarked so far. It's a shame but I'm happy to do it so it's done. It'll just take a day. It's a 2-mile walk, if you walk, to tour all the murals that are left after Hurricane Charley. Learn more about the Punta Gorda murals [here].

Bob_and_Kath got the FTF on our History Park hide this morning and found a few more of our hides. It's a good feeling when people find your hides. We have to head out to protect one cache with a baggy. I forgot about that today!

- Mrs. HH

First Post

Hello!

This is our first post on the HauntHunters Geocaching Blog. This blog is meant to document the delights, frustratings and boredoms of our Geocaching adventures. In addition to Geocaching, we also Waymark and Letterbox. There is a link section on this blog that can give more information on these other activities. We're also interested in TerraCaching but are concentrating on Geocaching.com's caches for right now.

Previous to now, I had been documenting our team's progress amidst other personal life blogging on my [Mrs. HH] personal blog. Enough is enough of that.

In 2006 and again in 2007, Mr. HH had full hip replacements. Now that he's no longer overwhelmed with the pain and agony of his hip joints deteriorating, he's been quite keen on getting out and getting back active. It's been a welcome change back to the way things once were and we hardly find ourselves at home, anymore.

Well, today I slept in and it had been forever since I'd been able to sleep past 9am, so we didn't get an early start like Mr. HH had wanted. We had other errands to occupy ourselves so we didn't start Geocaching until the afternoon.

We found:

• Hurricane Jeanne, The Mean Machine (GCPZKZ) - This was quite surprising on how unhidden this hide was. We're concerned for its safety but since it hadn't been messed up by anyone before now, it must be okay to be the way it is. Mr. HH had to do some balancing to reach it.
• Marms On The Bay (GCQ2JH) - I love Old Florida, so I adore Historic Punta Gorda. While, Mr. HH noted the well-known mural and found the cache, I took pictures of the street and the Purple House. What I find most interesting about the mural this cache is named after is that there was no controversy over the sexist term "School Marms". Instead the only controversy was over the women featured in the mural being "ugly". It makes me want to quote Ron White when he says, "The next time you have a thought, just let it go." You can learn more about the Punta Gorda murals [here].

We DNF'd (did not find):

• Bisset Shelter (GCV8WX) - This DNF was somewhat troubling since what we did find was a syringe and spoon. Disposed of properly, we continued to look for the cache and thought we'd found it, just as a fellow approached the park with his three children. He sat right in proximity of the suspected cache and drank a soda while his children played on the playground nearby. Mr. HH informed him of what we'd found so he could keep his children safe and we left. We have to return to this one to find out if we're right or not.
• Auntcack's Enamor (GCQ1CA) - This cache is a four difficulty micro dedicated to one cacher's dislike for a piece of City artwork that used to be on the cache site and is now positioned across the street, and is also a waymark. I searched up into the sign and suspect that I didn't get far enough up in there. We should bring a mirror. I don't want to ask the hiders for additional hints when the one they gave in the hint section is pretty straight-forward.
• Nesbit (GC13CMP) - Another JJmac micro gets the better of us and night falls in. After having found three JJmac micro hides in the boondocks of undeveloped/under-developed North Port plus the Gilchrist Park (GCNKMQ) micro, I thought Mr. HH was getting the knack for the JJmac hides. I guess there's still more to get.

On the funny side, the littlest HauntHunter now incorporates poking into bushes and looking around as part of his play... because, you know, that's what people do at parks. At least the people he hangs out with do that.

We also took the time to hide one micro. I will take the time to submit that cache later on tonight.

- Mrs. HH