Wednesday Evening..............

and we're in for the night........unless a late night cache pops up someplace. Here's some pictures of Becky's FTF this morning. On the way to see Sue and Frank we stopped at another new cache. Met AZsvensk cachers there. They are from Sweden/Arizona. Will be returning to Sweden this summer. Nice Mom and Kid. We went to the Old Folks Day at the Casino, got our free money and I lost mine. Becky won some but won't tell me how much. Get this Gang......FRANK O SPRANG FOR LUNCH!!! Now I know some of you readers out there will find that had to believe; however, it is TRUE. Another one for Ripley, Eh! Anyway, nice lunch and then we went hunting for some caches. One was kinda interesting, it took all of us retrieve it. Frank hauled water from the canal, Becky stopped a hole with her finger, I supervised from the bridge and Sue took pictures. The cache was a waterproof matchbox placed in the tube. The tube had a hole in it so after Becky plugged the hole, Frank filled it with water and the matchbox was supposed to float to the top. Unfortunately it appeared someone had used a stick to try and retrieve it and had dropped the stick in the tube and it managed to wedge the matchbox in. I wiggled it loose and we got the log signed. Then off to the next ones. Fun day and we're going to do it again tomorrow. Later W&B

Made It To Wednesday...............

Got back from Bull Head City late Monday afternoon. Weather was improving as the rain finally hit BHC Sunday evening. Cleared up as we neared Quartzsite so we were able to stop and grab 6 more caches on the way through. In BHC on Sunday we were nearly "busted" by BHC's Finest. Second picture, I was poking around a transformer in back of a shopping center looking for a cache. A couple of cars drove by and and a few mintues later three cop cars converged on us. Said they had a report that someone was "poking the transformer"...........guess that was me. Explained Geocaching to them and finally the cop said "good luck". We decided it was better to leave so never found the cache. Before crossing over from CA to AZ near Parker there's a little post office at Earp, Ca. Seems that Wyatt Earp used to spend the winters in this area so the town's name was changed to Earp. We had to stop on the way back. Took some pics and continued on.

Last night three new caches were published and one was only a mile and a half away. It was too cold and windy to go after it at 2300. This morning it still hadn't been found so we went looking for it. Becky finally found it and was able to get her FTF Fix for the week. FTF Number 28.

Today is Old Folks Day at the Cocopah Casino so we're on out way out there. Will stop by Sue and Frank's and they'll go out with us to get their "gambling fix" and we'll all have a cheap lunch. Later. W&B

Saturday And We Attended.............

the Tri-State Event Cache in Bullhead City, AZ this evening. We were out and about late this morning and early afternoon trying to pad our "numbers" of caches found. Should have stuck closer to town and probably would have found more; but, we chose to go out into the desert to do our searching. Find a lots of trash in the desert, lottsa old car and even a couple of boats and we even found a little history. We also discovered "Signal The Frog" travel bug at the event. To log a "discovery" we had to have our picture taken with the Frog. During our caching excusions we keep running across the signature of a cacher "Dr. Webe" and have also found her caches. Well, she was at the Event tonight. I thought she was fictional; but, not so. Her picture is the last one in the collage.

It's late, lost our behinds at the casino when we came home so gonna call it a night. Heading back to Yuma on Monday. B&W

Friday.............

and it turned out to be an outstanding day. Had 99 cent breakfast of ham n eggs and then back to the room waiting for the new caches for the event to be published. They finally made it and we set out to fill our poker hands from seven caches that were placed specially for the poker run. We were following other cachers all day long and managed to arrive second or third but no FTFs. Posting a few pics of our day. We only found 5 of the 7 and couldn't figure out how to get back into the hills on the last two. There's gotta be some roads back into the hills but we never found them. We might try them again tomorrow. Last picture is of Becky applying for a job as "substitute" for the Valacenia Lady. (She didn't get the job!)

Had a seafood buffet for dinner.........no dungness crab but since I haven't had any crab for awhile the snow crab they served was pretty good. As always, I managed to eat too much.........gotta get my money's worth you know. Been doing a little hill climbing and walking today so am ready to hit a hot shower and call it a day.

More later. B & W

Made It To Laughlin Area..............

about 1600 this afternoon. Didn't stop in Quartzsite but "B" took some pics as we whizzed through............well, I guess I lied, checked the computer before we left and saw that a new cache had been placed near Quartzsite and hadn't been found yet. So we drove out West of QS to look for it. No luck. I see where the cache has apparently been published with incorrect coordinates. We might stop again on the way back to Yuma. We stopped and found three caches on the way to the Avi Casino where we are staying for 4 nights. Two of them were virtuals and the virtuals are always interesting because they generally direct you to some history or someplace with a nice view. There's a ghost town about 15 miles East which we might drive out to tomorrow if weather cooperates. We got checked into our room and WiFi is available with a good connection so Becky won't go into withdrawals. TV is another story.........only able to get a few local channels with a lot of news channels, plus pay movies. Guess the casino wants you spending money and not hanging around watching TV. Got some nice XXX movies though.....at least the titles look interesting. They cost $13.99 to view; but, guess that would be cheaper than gambling.

We had a nice buffet this evening and Thursday was "2 for 1" so we both got to eat for the price of one buffet. If we had left the slot machines alone the dinner would have been pretty cheap. Tomorrow is seafood night so guess we'll have to give it a try. Caching Event isn't until Saturday evening so we have plenty of time to get in some sight seeing (make that geocaching) before then. Weather kinda iffy though.

Here's a few pictures taken while whizzing though QS, the cache we never found and some caches we did find. Later W&B

Getting Underway For .........................

Bull Head City and Laughlin, NV area tomorrow. Weather report ses it's going to be a little cooler and possibility of some showers. Bummer. Oh well, we intended to get in some caching but maybe not as much as we wanted..........that is unless some caches have been placed inside the casinos. Maybe we'll just end up getting rich at the expense of those poor Laughlin casinos.

Should be back in Yuma late Monday and hope to be able to stop in Quartzsite for the festivities that go on in January. Been there before but always nice to stop and see what we can find in the local fleamarts. Becky will probably go looking for the "Naked Man" again for another picture session. I'll be looking for naked women but I never seem to have any success.

Should have internet in the hotel room so will be able to update if we make our fortune. Staying at the Avi casino. Been there before and they put on a nice buffet spread. Will probably gain 10 pounds over the weekend. Later. W&B

Sunday.......And Winter Has Finally Arrived In Yuma........

beautiful day today, sunny and warm.....I even had to turn the air conditioner on today as were motoring and trudging through the countryside. Don't believe me (?).....see the photos and eat your hearts out! We called Suz and Frank today and they thought it would be nicer getting out and about then watching some dumb football games. We drove East for about 40 miles to grab some caches and then slowly worked our way back to Yuma. Only had one cache that required a bit of a climb to reach and Frank scrambled up and had it in hand before the rest of got 3/4 of the way up the hill. Center photo shows the river bed of the Gila River. Doesn't look like it's had any water for a looonnng time. Found a petro glyph on the hillside.......the last time Becky and I was here it got too dark to see anything after we found the cache. Went to the little community of Roll where a cache was planted outside the little bar and grill. "B" and I had previously been the FTF on this cache and had a $10.00 gift certificate that we needed to use. Stopped and had lunch, no complaints from anyone except Becky, she had a Reuben sandwich and complained that they had cut the meat the wrong way........against the grain or with it, I can't remember which. We can't take her any where. Remember when she got us thrown off the Branson Belle in Branson?? She continues to whine and complain.........it's a wonder that anyone will take her anyplace!

Continued on and found a few more caches on the way home. I'm posting more pics of Frank and Sue so their family will know that they're still alive and kicking. Maybe Sue will get back to posting on her blog some day. I see where she did post a couple of "test photos" so hang in there family.......maybe more to come.

Later, W & B

Slow Saturday............

and got a late start this morning. I had a cache to check to see if it was still alive and well and it is. Becky ses, let's go downtown, the Lettuce Festival is going on this weekend. Made the 15 mile drive to Old Town, didn't see too many cars in the parking lots so turned onto Main Street. Lo and Behold...........no Lettuce Festival!! Checked the events books and sure enough, the festival was listed for this weekend. Don't know when it will be held now.....probably next weekend when we'll be in the Laughlin area for four days.

Stopped by Old Colonel Kentuck's for some hot wings and then drove out to see if Suzannah and Frank were home. They were and were about as ambitious as us. None-the-less we managed to spend a couple of hours passing the time and the trip was most productive for Becky. This summer Frank was introduced to wood carving and he brought along some Aspen from Colorado and has been busily engaged in whittling (that's probably the wrong term to use) walking sticks. He made one for Suzannah which is really a work of art! He uses the natural properties of the wood to carve little Bear Faces on the walking sticks. You already know that since you no doubt looked at these pictures before you decided to read this. Becky had made some subtle hints when she saw Suz's stick............you know like "I GOTTA HAVE ONE OF THOSE!" She originally wanted one for a "friend" but when Frank presented her with the stick she immediately made an about face and decided that she would find something else for her "bud". What an amazing piece of work! I'm sure Becky will cherish this forever. It's too beautiful to use; but, I'm sure she'll be hauling it to every Geocaching Event we'll ever attend. Check out the pictures..........(I'll be taking orders).

Later, W&B

Wednesday.......................

and the "Yuma Crud" has been whipping both of us. Becky got some anti-biotics and has been doing a little bit better.......then Sunday I started sinking fast and we haven't been venturing out much or for a very long time when we do. Saw my reumatology doc on Monday and he said "mega doses of vitamin C & D" and I'd feel better the next day. Well started mega doses on Monday, Tuesday not much difference but today actually doing a bit better. Didn't do laundry on our usual Friday so finally got that done today. Naturally new caches show up when we aren't feeling to good but we go after them anyway. Late Sunday night one was published downtown, too far and too cold to go after it then. We stopped on the way to the Doc's office on Monday morning, the Guru was already looking, Buzzcut showed up and none of us could find it. We all finally left and I got a phone call from another friend, he drove down, spent about 5 minutes and found it. Go figure. We got it later (after we were given a clue as to location). Monday night another one is published that's directly East of us a little over a mile away. We get there 25 minutes after it's published to find that we were the second ones to arrive! Last night another one is published about 2 miles away. It's not a drive-by, too far into the desert. We drove as far as we could, walked in and then we see a big truck bouncing our way from another direction. "JJ" was heading our way making his own road. Well we got there first but the Old Desert Rat found it before we did. This was early, about 1900 and then we saw headlights, flashlights and candles approaching. There were at least 14 people who showed up trying to be FTF. Had a nice visit and took a few pictures. "Mommyx4" showed up with her 4 kids and husband. As soon as the kids arrived they shot up the hill with GPSr and flashlights in hand. They made short work of this cache. I'd like to borrow them. Their 2 year hung back with Mom and Dad on this one but he gets in there hunting around when the cache is in a little easier territory. A couple of weeks ago they were looking for one of my caches that had a decoy. I got an email from Mom, they didn't find the cache but when checking out the 2 year old's hiding spots she found that he had taken my decoy. We all had a good chuckle out of that one. This morning about 0900 another one is published about 1 1/2 miles away. We zipped out the door and had the cache in hand at 0915. "JJ" had about 14 miles to drive and he showed up as we were signing the log! At least we got this one before he did so that made our day.

Thats about it, sure hope we're better in time to go to Laughlin. Later W&B

Just A Quick Update.............

We've been sticking pretty close to home the last two days. When we got back from last Thursday's adventure Becky finally decided to see the doctor about her cough and overall crummy feeling. Doctor suspects some sort of virus so gave her some antibotics and other goodies for cough and congestion. She's been sticking pretty close to the bed the last two days but this evening she is beginning to feel better, not good, just better so guess that's improvement. I managed to get a few things done around the M/H on Friday that I've been letting slide. Today I went to a meeting with the local S*W*A*G (South West Arizona Geocachers)group, they are the ones who put on the annual event here in February. Some of the locals and a couple of Snowbirds were invited to help put on the event this year. It's the largest event held in Arizona I found out today so it'll be kinda neat helping out. La84fishn and I will be placing some caches strictly for the event and I volunteered Becky (she wasn't at the meeting) to fill in as the photographer. She'll be taking pictures anyway.

After the meeting three of us hunted down a couple of caches that were placed late last night. Glad we didn't go after them then as a new bunch of crazies were out hunting them down last night. Good to see them getting out and joining in the race for that elusive FTF.

That's about it for now, we should be getting back to our old routine in a day or so. In the meantime we'll be going up to Bullhead City, AZ for a geocaching event on Jan 26. I found a good deal on the internet for a hotel room so we plan on spending 4 days in the Laughlin area, feeding our faces, gambling and geocaching.

Later, W&B

Thursday Was Kinda A Busy Day...............

Three new caches were published that were in the vicinity of Palo Verde, a little town we visited earlier but had no success with the FTF. Well since they hadn't been found for two days we decided to make the trip again. Filled up the gas tank and then we made the nearly 90 mile run. Becky got the FTF near a bridge and then we drove to Cibola, AZ......nothing more than a wide spot in the road. They had their own version of the Sign Post Forest that you'll find on the road to Alaska. Near the signpost was, what appeared to be an old mine. We made our second FTF near the Cibola Bridge and got our third FTF in the town of Palo Verde. Fortunately all the caches were placed by the same people and were all placed in similar locations. Made it easy for us.

We then started back to Yuma caching and taking pictures on the way. Ran across an old cemetary with a cache titled "Christmas With The Reeds". I thought it was kind of a ghouly cache. We drove up some canyons and washes looking for more. I had to do some climbing and the rocks were pretty slippery in areas; but, nice scenery where ever we went. One of these pictures shows me hoofing it up the side of the hill.....guess those knee injections I've been getting are doing me some good.

Last cache took us up a canyon......really neat area but these damn locals place caches in some hairy places. I'm somewhere in some of these pictures. Made Becky keep her feet on the ground....she'd have to haul me out of there if anything happened.

We finally get home late, late, sun had gone down and we thought we were in for the night. WRONG. I turned on the computer and another cache had been published that was about 25 miles east of us. We debated going for about two minutes and out the door we went. This one had a nice reward for FTF......a $10.00 gift certificate at the little restaurant near where the cache was placed. Now we gotta drive back another 50 miles roundtrip to use it. It'd be cheaper to just place it in a cache for someone else. The last canyon we were in was really interesting, lots of sand stone and many different rock formations. Another benefit of geocaching......we see places that we never knew existed. The last picture shows me at our FTF #26. We had 4 FTFs today. There are still two caches placed way up in the mountains near Yuma that haven't been found yet.....requires a 4x4 to get kinda close to them and then have no idea how much climbing will be involved. Gotta give some thought before, or if, we go after them.

Filled the gas tank up twice today and put about 300 miles on the little Suzuki. I think we'll take it easy tomorrow. Later, if anything interesting comes along. B&W

A New Cache Was..........

published last night, make that LATE last night. Kinda of a rough road getting to it so we passed on a night hunt and went out there about 0900 this morning. Called our friend, La84fishn, after we left the Doc's office and asked if he had been there yet. He said "no", slept in this morning. We said, what the heck, we'd drive out in the hopes that the local Guru hadn't been there yet. We took the long way in and Larry was near when we arrived, passed the spot, turned around and he followed us to the cache. Becky made the find, her 22nd FTF and had her weekly fix. I think Larry was just being a nice guy and let us arrive first. Becky took a picture of Larry and myself, Larry took a picture of "B" and I with a camera in the cache but didn't get a picture of Becky with her 22nd FTF! Cache was near the canal, apparently a good fishing spot with some palm trees providing a nice setting. We drove out to visit briefly with Suz and Frank, Frank still kinda feeling under the weather.......and the Ohio State football loss last night apparently didn't help him much either! Becky and Sue went shopping, had lunch, got a pedicure, manicure and any other "cures" they could find. Maybe they'll go for a "wrinkle cure" next time, that is, if there is such a thing. Received a care pack from Tami today that included this nice "blankie". Becky is trying it out. Will come in handy because the weather has really been giving us fits..........don't think the temp. got out of the 60s today! Real Bummer. Hope everyone stays warm. Wayne & Becky

Monday...............

finally got a little rain last night and a few sprinkles this morning. The real nasty weather never appeared. Down to the Doc's for another knee injection this morning and then we decided to try and grab some FTF caches that were published late last night. They were north and east of Glamis Sand Dunes and we put about 150 miles on the Suzuki today. Averaged about one cache per 16 or so miles driven....that's not too good. Did manage to make it to 1100 finds though. One of our caching friends, La84fishn, started out for these caches while it was still dark outside.......he said he couldn't sleep.......ha, some people will do anything for a first to find. We didn't make it to the first one until 1000, he had already been there so we just started hunting for some that we had missed on our previous trip to Glamis. A little cool and a few sprinkles but it finally warmed up by the time we started back to Yuma. Today was Old Folks day at the casino, had lunch about 1330, got our free money, played it and then cashed in $14.00.

Wow, football game just over...........how about LSU, I think they were 4 point underdogs!

Here's a few pictures of our day's adventure. Found an old volkswagen in the desert the other day and was hunting for a place to hide a cache. Finally gave up on it, the other cachers might keelhaul me if I place another one in an old wreck. Lots of place to hide a little magnetic one and they have problems with them. This morning GPSr said 200+ feet to the cache, I said crap, it's on top of that hill. Drove around to the other side of the hill and fortunately we didn't have to climb up the hill very far to find the cache. This monument marked a portion of the old Columbian Trail used by the local indians a million years or so ago. Some saddist placed a cache in the middle of an ocotillo, they are sharp and thorny. Fortunately I had my jacket on and gloves so I replaced it even deeper. Becky finds a cookie tin under a bush.

Drove a little further on and found another marker for the Columbian Trail. Last chance for a FTF was in this tree, no luck. Told Becky she looked like a grump so she brightened up somewhat and I had to take another picture. Found a DECON container on the way to my number 1100 find, which was the ammo can up a canyon. Soft, wet sand to drive on but we were able to drive very close to the cache. Good thing there weren't any flash floods today, I'd like to see one; but, not while we're in a canyon.

More later is anything interesting happens. W&B

This Might Have Been..............

our last day for some decent weather. Won't get as nasty as in California though. Lucky we're here in Yuma. It was probably our last day in the 70s for awhile. There was a Jubilee or something going on in Old Town on Main Street so we headed down that way about 1100 to check it out. Several blocks of craft booths and some food peddlers were the main attaction. I think Becky bought a $5.00 shirt with Geckos on it........nothing grabbed my attention. After we left there we headed across the bridge for the Casino. Someone told us about a "gift/craft" shop on the Quechan Reservation so we went hunting for it. Becky was looking for something unique in the cookie jar line and talked to some old injuns. They make their own pottery and one said she might come up with something.......we'll have to check back when we return in November!!

On to the casino, we made enough $$$s to pay for lunch and a little bit left over so we made our exit.

Here's some pictures of Frank and Suz looking for a cache at the Police Station. Some sergeant placed it with the big boss's OK. They have cameras viewing everything so this is were Becky made her #1100 find......her find was probably recorded but she forgot to have me take pictures. So it goes. The other picture is Old Town main street where the craft fair was going on.

Guess we'll batten down the hatches and probably stay close to home if the weather forcasters are correct. Later. B&W

Not Much Happening The...........................

last couple of days except taking it easy. Had a knee injection on Wednesday and then we drove down to Mexico to kick around. Bought a bottle of muscle relaxer, 100 tablets for $6.50 just to have on hand. Came back to Yuma, went grocery shopping and called it a day. Weather so-so, picked up a couple of caches to boost Becky to 1100 finds. I'm ten behind her; but, no big deal, I've placed 31 to her "0" placements. We snagged another FTF yesterday that was kinda interesting. Notification came out, the cache was about 2 miles away. We looked, looked some more and finally a man appeared with a container in his hand and asked if we were cachers. Told him YUP. He was placing his first cache and submitted it for publication before he had actually placed it. His wife went into the house and came back with the cache log so we could sign it. In the meantime another couple had arrived so we all had a good chuckle. Signed the log and we on our way after explaining that the geocachers around here were a little nutso.

Frank and Suz made it back to Yuma from the Slabs so after seeing the doc today for another knee injection we stopped by their place for a visit. Poor Suzannah was laboring at the laundry mat while Frank was playing on the computer. Lucky guy.....I have to help with the laundry. To give Suz a little break we headed downtown for lunch at the "Happy Greek Chef".....the joint we thought was Chinese. Becky still has to work her way through the menu, still lottsa good stuff on it to try and since they serve breakfast all day I had a breakfast so I could try out their gravy. I'd rate it about a 6, nothing to write home about but still good enough to return for more.

Looks like the weather is taking a down-turn for the weekend, colder and possibly showers tomorrow and Saturday. Bummer!

Oh well, at least it's "warm" rain! More later if anything interesting happens. W&B