retreevers 4

Hello from the Retreevers. We escaped the valley last weekend and headed to one of our favorite spots in the Sierra for kayak camping. While we were there we checked on two caches that me had actually placed the year before but had lost the information on by the time we got home. It was good to find that both caches were in place and in great shape. The one on our favorite island had been visited by several non-geocachers.naUTICAl Cache (Retreevers Landing) The one on the shore line was more carefully hidden because of being placed in a more populated area. I Love Utica The shoreline cache is easy to reach with a bit of a rock scramble and if you enjoy a paddle go for the one on the island. It can be a day trip or an overnight one. If you enjoy fishing you may want to come for that too. We saw an otter on the lake and 2 minks with small trout in their mouths. I laughed when I saw that the closest cache was Burning Bush by none other then Bill of Green Achers. Fall in the Sierra is beautiful espeacially after Labor Day weekend.

Just in case anyone wants to go looking for the cvc tag cache - don't look fot it at Don't Play on the Tracks. We picked it up today around 5 p.m. and will have it placed by sometime tomorrow. We just moved to a newer used home. It has a pool which the kids are glad to have in their backyard but everything is topsy- turvy. We just got back on line and dug through boxes to find the GPSr unit. We will be spending the rest of the summer getting organized.

Off to Boston Robyn and I are heading to Boston on Saturday. We are going to be with a tour group (7th and 8th Graders) doing all the historical things. We are hoping to find a cache on one of the days so if you have a travel bug you want to send with us (Oscar?) let me know. Sherrie

Hey Jaimee - We were able to make quick work of Special Ops thanks to you. We arrived on the scene with carpet in tow expecting to need all four of us to break in and get back out. We took a quick look around only to find that the dogs were not anywhere to be found, much to the relief of Harold and Chris (man-eating dogs, remember?). We immediately realized the importance of the lack of barking - the dogs had gone down the drain! We scrapped plan A in favor of searching for the drain opening. After a quick search beneath the freeway (the car noise masked any noise we were making) we discovered the opening. Having brought our headlamps and having a little spelunking experience, it was no big deal to scurry through massive 3' pipes into the cache location. Using the power of four, we quickly located the cache only to discover we had no pen to sign the log. (Sherrie had to shed the geocaching fanny pack in order to fit through a tight place in the drain pipe.) Since our hands were a bit dirty after the scramble through the pipe, we each managed to leave a faint thumb print on the log sheet. Back out the way we came in, we had only to log the cache online to claim our find. Imagine our disappointment when we discovered it is a members-only cache, and we are not members! Oh well. Thanks for the fun cache and the memories anyway, Ron. Retreevers 4

Hi, The kids and I looked for a long time but no luck. Our readings put us zeroing out beyond the trailer 16 feet from the "stack". Maybe Bill, could have the whole crew out to restack the pile neatly as you go through it. Use caution we found some wintering Yellow Jackets and a Black Widow Spider. Bringing some gloves would be a good idea. Down near the trailer is a type of mint plant that stings a bit like nettles but it doesn't last as long. Sounds like fun -huh? Yep it must be a good hide! Sherrie of the Retreevers 4

Hi,

The goose cache has been replaced. There were lots of geese this morning so don't forget your binoculars.

This summer (June 23) while traveling in Wisconsin we dropped off the travel bug "Willy the Orca" at Waterfront Trail by IBcrashen. We hoped it would make it home to the west coast. It was picked up by a cacher named Dazz. We have tried e-mailing him several times but no answer. If anyone thinks they know who he is and could make contact we would like to find out what happened to the travel bug. Thanks Sherrie of Retreevers 4

The goose has flown the coop but we will replace it this weekend. For anyone interested- Sunday, Dec. 29th is the Caswell-Wesley Audobon Christmas bird count which is in that area. Sherrie

Now that the weather is cooling off a cache that has been overlooked is Skyride out near La Grange. I think that was one of the toughest caches we have done. Last weekend we went kayak camping and hid two caches up at Lake Utica. The computer went down (bad crash) so we didn't get them posted until now. One is easy to get to the other will make a wonderful paddle on a pretty Sierra lake with lots of cool granite. Sherrie

Now that the weather is cooling off a cache that has been overlooked is Skyride out near La Grange. I think that was one of the toughest caches we have done. Last weekend we went kayak camping and hid two caches up at Lake Utica. The computer went down (bad crash) so we didn't get them posted until now. One is easy to get to the other will make a wonderful paddle on a pretty Sierra lake with lots of cool granite. Sherrie

I am back to work too! Though life at Downey is more interesting when you teach science! In fact we had the coroner on campus today to pick up a body. We had a human skeleton that has been at TDHS probably for 50 years and it was falling apart. You touch it and the fingers came off, the chest cavity was broken, teeth were falling out of the head. Definitely something you could not leave in a dumpster so the coroner came out and took it away in a body bag. It was interesting the looks she got as she went down the hallway as she headed to the wagon parked out front. Sherrie

I am back to work too! Though life at Downey is more interesting when you teach science! In fact we had the coroner on campus today to pick up a body. We had a human skeleton that has been at TDHS probably for 50 years and it was falling apart. You touch it and the fingers came off, the chest cavity was broken, teeth were falling out of the head. Definitely something you could not leave in a dumpster so the coroner came out and took it away in a body bag. It was interesting the looks she got as she went down the hallway as she headed to the wagon parked out front. Sherrie

Glad to see they were approved. Let me know what you think of the rating if it needs to go up or down. Thanks, Sherrie

Glad to see they were approved. Let me know what you think of the rating if it needs to go up or down. Thanks, Sherrie

To make life easier on George (and help Jamie along too) we have placed 2 new caches (yet to be approved) in a park near Oakdale. Hope they will be up soon. Sherrie

To make life easier on George (and help Jamie along too) we have placed 2 new caches (yet to be approved) in a park near Oakdale. Hope they will be up soon. Sherrie

I have spent quite a bit of time birding in both parks mentioned above. My experience is that the McHenry Recreation Area (the park with the new caches) is definitely not in the same category as the Tuolumne River park near the airport. McHenry Rec Area is mostly used by fishermen, campers, families, and some teens. When I have been there it has seemed safe, and I was probably the only quiet, sneaky man lurking around in the shadows along the trails. Not necessarily so at the park by the airport. Mr. Vic's question might be put this way, did he have binoculars around his neck? There is always a chance of an unsavory character, but I don't think that is the norm at McHenry Rec Area. I have had a cache ready to place at this location for a while, but the call of home improvement projects has kept me from it. I hope you don't mind, Ron and George, but I will likely add another cache to this park soon. I'm not trying to be a copy cat, but it is one of the 'String of Pearls' parks. I have always thought of it as a great spot, and I hope that its character does not change. Harold

I have spent quite a bit of time birding in both parks mentioned above. My experience is that the McHenry Recreation Area (the park with the new caches) is definitely not in the same category as the Tuolumne River park near the airport. McHenry Rec Area is mostly used by fishermen, campers, families, and some teens. When I have been there it has seemed safe, and I was probably the only quiet, sneaky man lurking around in the shadows along the trails. Not necessarily so at the park by the airport. Mr. Vic's question might be put this way, did he have binoculars around his neck? There is always a chance of an unsavory character, but I don't think that is the norm at McHenry Rec Area. I have had a cache ready to place at this location for a while, but the call of home improvement projects has kept me from it. I hope you don't mind, Ron and George, but I will likely add another cache to this park soon. I'm not trying to be a copy cat, but it is one of the 'String of Pearls' parks. I have always thought of it as a great spot, and I hope that its character does not change. Harold

If anyone is hunting for caches in the Monterey area and would like to visit the aquarium we have 2 transferable guest passes that we can pass out for other to use. Monterey is a fun way to beat valley heat. Sherrie

If anyone is hunting for caches in the Monterey area and would like to visit the aquarium we have 2 transferable guest passes that we can pass out for other to use. Monterey is a fun way to beat valley heat. Sherrie

Hi, I placed a travel bug named Squeaky in a cache called Happy Medium while we were visiting Wisconsin. If someone is traveling this weekend (or sometime soon) on Hwy 141 just north of the town of Beaver, will you please move it on? Thanks!! Robyn of Retreevers 4

Will someone please get my travel bug Busy Bee out of FROG TOWN CACHE??? She has been in there for quite awhile!!! Thanks Robyn

Will someone please get my travel bug Busy Bee out of FROG TOWN CACHE??? She has been in there for quite awhile!!! Thanks Robyn

Hello from the Retreevers 4. We just got back from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. We went geo hunting in each of the states and found several caches. I was at first amazed that so many of the caches spelled out exactly where a cache could be found until we did the first cache and found out how bad tree coverage can be! It was fun to be in so many new places. We had many many mosquitoes and deer flies and ticks (yuck) but we also had a great time seeing the different relatives and visiting the Great Lake area. We turned loose two of our own travel bugs and we'll see when/if they make it home. To answer an inquiry about a river float one that is not too bad is from the Old La Grange Bridge down to the Baso Bridge. We have done that one with the kayaks with our kids (they started kayaking when they were 8 and 10) Only problem with it is the water level is sometimes too low for the kayaks. There is a web site that we check for water levels before we go but I am too brain foggy from traveling to remember it right now. We will be checking out all these new caches after getting cleaned up from our travels. It's good to be home.