Geocaching with the Pros (Scott AFB, IL)

We knew it was going to be another hot day, so we got up early to meet up with Dominic and Ellen, a couple from NY that we've gone Geocaching with before.  Dom and Ellen are very good and have gone to many states to find Geocaches.  Dom has found 1,169 and Ellen has found 849, so they're very experienced.

Dom, Dee, and Ellen.

We looked for some caches that were in the fairly easy category, but we only found two out of five.  At least it wasn't a total loss. Finds are categorized in levels of difficulty from 1 (easy) to 5 (hard).  We stuck to categories 1 and 2, but it's interesting that a 1 or 2 in one area of the country could be the same difficulty as a 2 or 3 in another.  This was one of our finds. I won't give it away on where exactly, but that's a cool hide.

Another part of Geocaches are benchmarks. This is new to us, but Dom and Ellen look for these too.

A benchmark is a geographic point whose position is known to a high degree of accuracy and is normally marked in some way. The marker is often a metal disk made for this purpose, and can be imbedded on a church spire, a radio tower, chiseled into stone, or a metal rod driven into the ground. Over two centuries or so, many other objects of greater or lesser permanence have been used. Benchmarks can be found at various locations all over the United States. They are used by land surveyors, builders and engineers, map makers, and other professionals who need an accurate answer to the question, "Where?" Many of these markers are part of the geodetic control network (technically known as the National Spatial Reference System, or NSRS) created and maintained by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS).

When we lived in O'Fallon we passed these all the time, but never noticed them.  Now I'll watch out for them and post on the Geocache site. Here's one on the side of a building in downtown O'Fallon.  It's about 3 or 4 inches in diameter.

We ate lunch at our our new favorite fast food restaurant, Culver's.  My sister took us to one in Wentzville, MO and we got the hamburger (Jim) and the tenderloin (me).  We were both impressed.  I think just traveling around the nation and finding good places to eat is something to look forward to.  We don't have a Culver's in NC.

Dom and Ellen both ride Harley's, that's how they got here from NY.  They each have their own Trike.  So after lunch we stopped by the local Harley-Davidson dealer just to look around.

Jim had his eye on this one.  Do we get a trailer and pull it with my car?  I think NOT.

I did find a hat that is interesting.  Just too hot to wear it this time of year.

We got home early afternoon and just crashed.  The temperature is mid 90's, but I seem to have trouble breathing with the high humidity.  We're using OUR shower since we'll get to dump our tanks this Thursday when we change sites.  We're not using the bathhouse as much this time.  We KNOW we can make it a week.

It was a great day and now we'll go Geocaching with the kids one day before we leave.  I'm glad we didn't take them today since we didn't find many and it was really sticky humid.