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Centralia/Chehalis Cache Machine


travisl

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(Note: circumstances may change after this initial posting. Look for my posts (with the icon13.gif icon) in this thread for all the important details and changes.) (Link to dinner event cache.)

 

Centralia: The Hub City. Chehalis: a town in search of a tagline. Let's get caching! Then let's eat.

 

90 caches in 10 hours? Good luck with that. Fill up the tank, toss down some breakfast at way-too-early o'clock, and meet a mob of fellow cachers at sunrise on Saturday, January 2, at 7:15 a.m.

 

Follow all traffic laws, and drive safely. This is not a race; there are no winners. The only loser will be someone who gets hurt.

 

If you're still out on the road at dinner time (5:00 p.m.), skip the rest of the route and come on in. Socializing at dinner is one of the best parts of machine events (and that's coming from me -- someone who usually hates socializing). There will be travel bugs to discover, a buffet to gorge yourself at, and more geocachers to commiserate with than you can shake a walking stick at. The most important rule:

 

As with all cache machines, if you find the cache, you'll be the one who has to re-hide it. Hide it as well as you found it.

 

For any micro cache with a tiny logbook that we find on the event, one "CCCM" log entry should suffice for the group. We tend to fill up log books too quickly, and our stickers tend to make micro log books hard to re-stash. For normal-sized caches, or even large micros (like key holders), everyone should sign in.

 

Bring FRS radios if you’ve got them. We’ll use Channel 2 to communicate among caching vehicles and to say 'Howdy' to listening locals. Suggestions and ''Count me ins'' are welcome on the event page.

 

If you’ve already found a couple of these caches, that’s fine - give us a chance to find the cache, and then we may turn to you for a hint.

 

----

 

The Centralia/Chehalis Cache Machine FAQ:

 

When is it?

7:15 a.m., Saturday, January 2, 2010. Latecomers can track us down en route.

 

Will it be one large group, will we be split into teams, or what?

We start the day as one giant group, which means we'll hopefully find each cache quickly. Then it's on to the next one. The group tends to fragment after the first few caches, though. The longer we can keep the big group together, the more fun it is!

 

Is anything going on before, during, or after?

- Friday, January 1, 7:00 PM, I’ll be at an informal pre-event dinner at McMennamin’s Olympic Club Pub (kids welcome), 112 North Tower Ave, Centralia (N 46.7170, W 122.9537). Last minute route changes will be announced here. If that’s full, overflow will be at Azteca next door.

- Saturday, January 2, at 5:00 p.m., dinner will be at Royal Buffet, 575 North Market, Chehalis (N 46.6660, W 122.9713). I've created an event page for this dinner event.

- Sunday, you're on your own. Go get the ones you missed.

 

A cache on your map shows the wrong place to park.

Let me know, and I'll incorporate it into the route.

 

It sounds fun, but I've already found some of them.

Then come laugh at us, or guess when we'll be at the caches you haven't hit yet. Monitor FRS channel 2.

 

You don't have X cache on the route. Why aren't we getting that one?

I'm skipping a lot. I'll be avoiding most multicaches, puzzle caches, caches that appear to be overly time consuming, and caches that the owner has asked us to avoid.

 

You have X cache on the route, but it's disabled/archived.

Let me know, and I'll remove it from the route (if archived) or will check with the owner (if disabled).

 

X cache is in an environmentally sensitive area.

By all means, let me know. I'll work with the cache owner to minimize our impact, or skip the cache altogether.

 

I disagree with the whole idea of cache machines. I don't want you finding my cache.

Sorry to hear that. It's too bad you've got a neat place to show us that we won't be able to see. Let me know, and I'll remove it from the route.

 

What's this gonna cost me?

Nothing for the caching. Or, at least, nothing more than it would cost than if you did the trip solo (e.g., paying for your own gas, hotel, and dinner). I'm not collecting any money for this.

 

Lunch? Breaks? Bathrooms?

Lunch: You should probably bring a sack lunch to eat on the road.

Breaks and Bathrooms: There's no breaks in cache machines! Just hold it. :-P Or find something on the way.

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Route looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.

 

I'm happy to see the Jackson House on the list. That is one of our favorite history spots. It was a stop-over place for travelers between Fort Vancouver and Fort Nisqually. It goes waaaay back.

 

The Cowlitz Mission is a very nice spot too and I am looking forward to getting out on the ground at Mother Teresa.

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90 caches in 10 hours? Good luck with that.
I'm only seeing 69 (including the dinner) on the route, am I missing something?

Oh, yeah. Um. An earlier unreleased draft had the route going into Vader and over to Mayfield lake. That made the route way too long, so I lopped off about 21 caches. Oops.

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Thanks for including Earthcaches! Very cool!

Just keep in mind that not everything you read on an Earthcache listing will actually be correct. :laughing: And sometimes the cache owner doesn't care enough to try to be accurate. :laughing:

I looked at the two EC's and they did sound quite interesting vs some of his others I have done but I'm not sure I want to be standing in a creek digging for agets & turtle turds in January.

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Thanks for including Earthcaches! Very cool!

Just keep in mind that not everything you read on an Earthcache listing will actually be correct. :laughing: And sometimes the cache owner doesn't care enough to try to be accurate. :laughing:

I looked at the two EC's and they did sound quite interesting vs some of his others I have done but I'm not sure I want to be standing in a creek digging for agets & turtle turds in January.

Actually you are correct, these do seem to be very interesting especially compaired to those we did last year.

 

I wonder what the river level will be at? The problem I have is the term dinosaurs should not be on that listing. I actually sent him a very nice e-mail saying that I did like the listing but that one word was missleading and incorrect and gave a set of reasons why it wasn't correct. He does state that since he isn't a geologist he gets his info from various sources and may not be always correct, which I respect. However when a mistake is pointed out it probibly should be corrected, which he hasn't changed.

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Thanks for including Earthcaches! Very cool!

Just keep in mind that not everything you read on an Earthcache listing will actually be correct. :laughing: And sometimes the cache owner doesn't care enough to try to be accurate. :laughing:

I looked at the two EC's and they did sound quite interesting vs some of his others I have done but I'm not sure I want to be standing in a creek digging for agets & turtle turds in January.

Actually you are correct, these do seem to be very interesting especially compaired to those we did last year.

 

I wonder what the river level will be at? The problem I have is the term dinosaurs should not be on that listing. I actually sent him a very nice e-mail saying that I did like the listing but that one word was missleading and incorrect and gave a set of reasons why it wasn't correct. He does state that since he isn't a geologist he gets his info from various sources and may not be always correct, which I respect. However when a mistake is pointed out it probibly should be corrected, which he hasn't changed.

Especially when a real geologist did the correcting. :lol:

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OK so I have lost track thru the thread How many will you be doing exactly on January 2nd 90???? 70???.....please advise

 

ScubaSonic

Right now the list contains 69 caches (including the Dinner), but that will change as caches are added and subtracted from the list. Even the "final" list (generally published a week before the CM) will/may be changed at the beginning of the run as things change.

 

How may each person will do? Depends on many things - desire, energy level, if some are already found (I have a few on the current list) - so it's hard to say, some may even add a few more just to have fun, which is the whole point of this event. Heck, I went to one dinner without finding a single cache on the list that day (of course, it was in my home area and I had other plans for the day...).

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Well said, Jester.

 

For what it's worth, I stopped in at the dinner location on the way home from Portland today. It's a smaller restaurant that sounds like they're really excited to have 40+ people stopping in. Eyeballing the interior, I think they can handle 75 people max. I think it's safe to say that if you show up late (or, if there's 50+ people who show up early) you're not getting a seat. I'm already counting 33 confirmed, so it could be a tight fit for dinner.

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OK so I have lost track thru the thread How many will you be doing exactly on January 2nd 90???? 70???.....please advise

 

ScubaSonic

 

 

To help out with the count, I have just submitted 7 more to the Chehalis area. If they all get appproved, then you should see them this week.

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Thanks for including Earthcaches! Very cool!

Just keep in mind that not everything you read on an Earthcache listing will actually be correct. :unsure: And sometimes the cache owner doesn't care enough to try to be accurate. :unsure:

I looked at the two EC's and they did sound quite interesting vs some of his others I have done but I'm not sure I want to be standing in a creek digging for agets & turtle turds in January.

Actually you are correct, these do seem to be very interesting especially compaired to those we did last year.

 

I wonder what the river level will be at? The problem I have is the term dinosaurs should not be on that listing. I actually sent him a very nice e-mail saying that I did like the listing but that one word was missleading and incorrect and gave a set of reasons why it wasn't correct. He does state that since he isn't a geologist he gets his info from various sources and may not be always correct, which I respect. However when a mistake is pointed out it probibly should be corrected, which he hasn't changed.

 

You wont actually have to enter the water to get them, you can search the shore areas. The better finds will be in the water, but that is more of a summertime task.

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Well said, Jester.

 

For what it's worth, I stopped in at the dinner location on the way home from Portland today. It's a smaller restaurant that sounds like they're really excited to have 40+ people stopping in. Eyeballing the interior, I think they can handle 75 people max. I think it's safe to say that if you show up late (or, if there's 50+ people who show up early) you're not getting a seat. I'm already counting 33 confirmed, so it could be a tight fit for dinner.

 

If this location becomes too full, there is a Chinese place across the street (Ocean Sky) which has really good food. Could probably handle about as many people...maybe a bit less.

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Quadsinthemudd, ISplash & Ogeo have shirts and pathtags we've designed for the cache machine. The shirts are ready to be made. If you would like one, let Ogeo know what size shirt and how many to ensure we have your size. The pathtags will not be shipped before Jan 2 so we will mail them to you. We had some time challenges with an apprentice designer and we started the process too late for arrival ahead of time.

 

The shirts will be forest green with army tan to accent the logo. We are looking at $17.00 for s-m-l-xl and 18.50 for xxl or xxxl. Pathtags $3.00 plus .50 shipping for 1-3 qty.

 

Here is a link for Quad City Geocachers facebook photos where you can view the pictures of the shirt front, back and pahtag:

 

quad city geocachers facebook photos

 

I haven't tried to add a link before so hopes this works.

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Quadsinthemudd, ISplash & Ogeo have shirts and pathtags we've designed for the cache machine. The shirts are ready to be made. If you would like one, let Ogeo know what size shirt and how many to ensure we have your size. The pathtags will not be shipped before Jan 2 so we will mail them to you. We had some time challenges with an apprentice designer and we started the process too late for arrival ahead of time.

 

The shirts will be forest green with army tan to accent the logo. We are looking at $17.00 for s-m-l-xl and 18.50 for xxl or xxxl. Pathtags $3.00 plus .50 shipping for 1-3 qty.

 

Here is a link for Quad City Geocachers facebook photos where you can view the pictures of the shirt front, back and pahtag:

 

quad city geocachers facebook photos

 

I haven't tried to add a link before so hopes this works.

 

I love that cache, really cool. Any chance of getting shirts with a breast pocket? Need some place to stash the specs.

 

Jim

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BOOKMARK UPDATED

TravisL sent me some changes:

 

REMOVED :laughing: :

Over the bridge cache

Don’t Fence me in

Toledo Town Park

Tree house revisited

 

ADDED :laughing: :

3 fold path- GC21K8Y

Clan MacLeod -GC21CKZ

Cousin’s Cat- GC1DFXD

Hobo Trail- GC1HFB0

I-5 Hotel-GC1X0D4

Maneki Neko-GC21K6M

A Many Muggle Historical Marker Cache- GC13QTN

Salmon Creek Trail- GC1HFC7

Stan Hedwall - GC21K7B

Tennis Anyone- GC21K84

The Gnome Home- GC1HEKW

 

There may be one more update on or about 28 December, 29 Dec at the latest. Just run a PQ of the Bookmark list. If you have trouble, let me know and I'll email you the PQ. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

 

-Mike

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BOOKMARK UPDATED

TravisL sent me some changes:

 

REMOVED :laughing: :

Over the bridge cache

Don’t Fence me in

Toledo Town Park

Tree house revisited

 

ADDED :laughing: :

3 fold path- GC21K8Y

Clan MacLeod -GC21CKZ

Cousin’s Cat- GC1DFXD

Hobo Trail- GC1HFB0

I-5 Hotel-GC1X0D4

Maneki Neko-GC21K6M

A Many Muggle Historical Marker Cache- GC13QTN

Salmon Creek Trail- GC1HFC7

Stan Hedwall - GC21K7B

Tennis Anyone- GC21K84

The Gnome Home- GC1HEKW

 

There may be one more update on or about 28 December, 29 Dec at the latest. Just run a PQ of the Bookmark list. If you have trouble, let me know and I'll email you the PQ. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

 

-Mike

 

All those changes are incorporated in my bookmark list I published a couple posts before this one. When updates come out the 28th I'll update the bookmark list.

 

Jim

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For what it's worth, I stopped in at the dinner location on the way home from Portland today. It's a smaller restaurant that sounds like they're really excited to have 40+ people stopping in. Eyeballing the interior, I think they can handle 75 people max. I think it's safe to say that if you show up late (or, if there's 50+ people who show up early) you're not getting a seat. I'm already counting 33 confirmed, so it could be a tight fit for dinner.
If this location becomes too full, there is a Chinese place across the street (Ocean Sky) which has really good food. Could probably handle about as many people...maybe a bit less.

 

As of this morning, we've got 56 "will attends", which probably represents about 70 people. Get to dinner early if you want a seat. Overflow, if needed, will be at Ocean Sky (Chinese food, but NOT a buffet), across the street to the north, but they won't know we're coming, 'cause I can't ensure them that anyone will be there.

Edited by travisl
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I would like a pathtag.

 

Quadsinthemudd, ISplash & Ogeo have shirts and pathtags we've designed for the cache machine. The shirts are ready to be made. If you would like one, let Ogeo know what size shirt and how many to ensure we have your size. The pathtags will not be shipped before Jan 2 so we will mail them to you. We had some time challenges with an apprentice designer and we started the process too late for arrival ahead of time.

 

The shirts will be forest green with army tan to accent the logo. We are looking at $17.00 for s-m-l-xl and 18.50 for xxl or xxxl. Pathtags $3.00 plus .50 shipping for 1-3 qty.

 

Here is a link for Quad City Geocachers facebook photos where you can view the pictures of the shirt front, back and pahtag:

 

quad city geocachers facebook photos

 

I haven't tried to add a link before so hopes this works.

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Hi. This is my home away from home. Bham being the first, this being were my son and grandkids live. Right now, I own 1 cache in the area, my son (badass) owns several. I am coming down tomorrow and will be adding to the fun for the 2nd (if you so desire and if they get published in time). I have the area pretty much cleaned out so won't be coming down. I do hope you all have fun.

Edited by BrewerMD
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I'd love to join you all

 

I will be coming down alone, so would love to ride with others to find the caches. My car is a 2 seater van with no power steering, so it's not a great caching vehicle.

 

Wouldn't be any fun following behind everyone by myself.

 

Anyone have room for one more in their car for caching? I can get myself there ok.

 

thanks!!

 

(please e-mail me rather than replying on these forums, thanks!)

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I am coming down tomorrow and will be adding to the fun for the 2nd (if you so desire and if they get published in time).
Excellent. If they get published by Monday morning, they'll make it onto the route (if they're 3.5/3.5 or less, traditional, and don't have hikes of more than 0.25 miles involved). If they get published after then, let me know and I'll announce them at dinner on Friday.
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