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cantuland: I had a blast.

GC257JH ▼

A cache by Wichita Geocaching Society Message this owner

Hidden : Sunday, May 2, 2010

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

THE WORLDWIDE
GEOCACHING.COM
10^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
AT WICHITA, KANSAS!

WATSON PARK

Join us Sunday, May 2, 2010, at Watson Park to celebrate 10 YEARS of geocaching with Geocaching.com starting at 10:00 a.m. The posted coordinates will take you to a covered patio at the south end of Watson Park. We have that covered patio reserved especially for geocachers from 10 to 2.

Bring your GPS receivers and a good photogenic smile because we'll be taking a festive group picture and/or a video that will be submitted to Geocaching.com as part of the anniversary celebration. The photo will also include coordinates of the event and the name of this event...written on balloons!

The Travel Bug Exchange will take place during lunch. Bring your travelers and be on the lookout for others going your way.

At 11:30 we'll gather for a group photo and/or video. We'll have stuff written on balloons that will be in the photo. The first balloon launch will be right after the photo, being a release of the balloons that make up the photo message. The second balloon launch will be a bunch of messengers with notes attached to strings explaining where the balloons came from, why we released them, and how to contact us when a balloon is found so we can find out where the balloons went and how far they traveled. After the release of the messenger balloons we'll feast on lunch.

For all you geocachers out there still needing to log a find with Over the Rainbow (GCQCJT), this will be your lucky day. I'll bring something that makes retrieval and replacement soooooo easy.

10 YEARS! GEOCACHING ICON

For those who log the event as "attended", the geocaching icon will change from a standard event icon to a special 10 Years! icon so you'll get to have something unique.

" Standard Geocaching Event " will change to " 10 Years! ".

CELEBRATE SOME AWESOME HISTORY

May 1, 2000: The government announced that selective availability would be removed by Year 2006.

May 2, 2000: The government removed selective availability.

May 3, 2000: Dave Ulmer created the Great American GPS Stash Hunt and placed a black bucket in the woods near Beaver Creek, Oregon, near Portland, loaded with a log book, pencil, some books, videos, software and a slingshot. He posted coordinates of N 45° 17.460’ W122° 24.800’ on the Internet at sci.geo.satellite-nav.

September 2, 2000: Jeremy Irish announced the establishment of Geocaching.com, opening with 75 geocaches worldwide.

How many geocaches are there?
September 2, 2000: 75 geocaches worldwide
January 2007: 300,000 geocaches worldwide
March 2007: 365,000 geocaches worldwide
September 2007: 450,000 geocaches worldwide
January 2008: 500,000 geocaches worldwide
March 2008: 538,000 geocaches worldwide
March 2009: 700,000 geocaches worldwide
March 2010: 1 MILLION! (See the on-line article at PR Newswire)

BALLOON RELEASES

The following enviro-faqs were taken from BalloonRelease.com.

What are balloons made of?

There are basically two types of balloons, foil balloons and latex balloons. The foil balloons (often referred to as Mylar), are a bladder made of nylon that is covered with a layer of aluminum that is 0.0015 of an inch thick. Mylar is a synthetic, metallized plastic/nylon material which is recyclable, but not biodegradable. Consequently, Mylar balloons are never used in a release.

Latex balloons are made from the sap of rubber trees - a completely natural substance. Latex is not a plastic. It's organic, collected through an absolutely harmless tapping process very similar to that used for collecting the maple sap used for making syrup.
Are latex balloons biodegradable?

Yes! Latex balloons are totally biodegradable. Latex is the product of rubber tree sap, it breaks down when exposed to the elements of nature.
How long does it take for a balloon to biodegrade?

Oxidation is the first step in the breakdown of a latex balloon and it begins within approximately one hour of inflation. Oxidation is visible in some types of balloons as a cloudy appearance. This is most evident when the balloon is exposed to direct sunlight, heat or normal outdoor conditions.

Research was carried out in July 1989 with a variety of balloons under various conditions to accurately gauge the time needed for the latex to degrade. Results from this study indicate that the decomposition time for balloons is about the same rate as an oak leaf (6 months).