In the early days of
Geocaching fallenfaery & Special Ed started a tradition
to recognize those who pass a major milestone by placing milestone caches. After all these years the tradition still
carries on today and is just a small way to congratulate
local cachers on their
efforts.
In continuation of this tradition
EnPleinAire, Princess Margie, BAT & BDSmiley teamed up to
prepare a special adventure for a special Caching Team; TomEagle55
(AKA: Tom & Mary) honoring the accomplishment of their first
1,000 finds.
This cache honors and pays tribute to
TomEagle55 (Tom and
Mary), and celebrates
the large contribution they have made to the local geocaching
community in terms of efforts, motivation, friendship, enthusiasm
and good times. Through all seasons, and all types of weather,
during special days and holidays, good days, and bad days, Tom and
Mary have been a remarkable team and have found caches, attended
events, and have introduced new cachers to this fun sport. Their
next 1k should be just around the corner, and many cachers look
forward to caching with them, meeting them at events, hearing their
stories, and especially ... seeing more pictures of their
adventures. Mary and Tom, congratulations on your first 1,000 cache
finds! I am proud to be
considered on of your friends and frequent caching
partner. ...Linda (EnPleinAire)
WOW,
what an exciting accomplishment! All I can offer is that if
you think this 1,000 find went fast, just wait and see how fast the
next 1,000, 2,000, etc. go. Tom and Mary certainly are the
adventurous type and will go to any length to find a cache.
They will hike long distances, fabricate tools in the field, bike,
paddle, climb or whatever it takes to get the job done. They
will go to these extremes not only hunt a cache but also to hide
one as well. Certainly I would be remiss if I didn't mention
some of the time and effort they have put in to their own clever
hides. So as not to create "spoilers" I will simply leave it
at that and if you have not experienced some of TomEagle55's hides
then you really are missing out. It seems that TomEagle55 is
becoming better known as BAT's nemesis but really it is all in good
fun. Off the trail, Tom & Mary are probably one of the
nicest couples you will ever meet! Congrats to both of you,
we are proud to have been with you on a few of your first 1,000
adventures and we look forward to being with the two of you on many
more. In addition to this cache being placed honoring your
accomplishment, we have also created a little something else to
commemorate your milestone which you can find by
Clicking
The Link
Here, Happy
Hunting!!. ... Barry & Margie (BAT &
Princess)
Tom & Mary congratulations on finding 1,000
caches! It was less than one year ago when I first introduced
you to geocaching at our company picnic in Busse Woods. I had
no idea how much you loved the sport… but the next thing I
knew you had more caches than me! I’ve been striving to
try and keep up with you guys but it’s nearly
impossible. We have shared many caching adventures and I hope
to share many more while obtaining your next 1,000 caches.
...Brian
(BDSmiley)
OK,
that's enough of that... lets get to the cache! You are about
to embark on a "multi-cache" adventure (or Tricachelon if
you will), that has been created to take you on some similar hunts
as TomEagle55 experienced during their first 1,000 finds.
Based on the name, you will find your self taking on 3 different
sports similar to an actual triathlon. The only difference
here is that we replaced swimming and running with paddling and
spelunking! For the initial portion of this adventure you
will be taken on a leisurely hike to get you started, consider this
the warm up phase. From their you will head over to your
first sport, cycling.
Cycling:
You may
choose to to this segment on foot but I can assure you that biking
will be much quicker. This leg will provide you with a tour
of an area that we know TomEagle55 loves and will allow you to
experience it from a new perspective if you have never biked it
before.
The cycling leg consists of multiple
stages. At each of the stages you will find a micro container containing
coordinates for the next
stage in your adventure. Each stage is large than a bison tube but smaller
than a standard pre-form.
The final stage will direct you to your paddling
adventure.
Paddling:
The paddling leg will take you on a lovely
paddling adventure about two miles round trip. It is recommended
that you combine this leg with the spelunking leg for maximum
efficiency. On this tour you will have a chance to see abundant
wildlife. The following were spotted during cache placement: Deer,
herons, beavers, fish, huge snapping turtle, geese, and large
tadpoles.
The paddling leg consists of multiple
stages. At each of the progressive stages you will find a micro container
containing a clue of partial coordinates for the final stage of this leg. The final
paddling stage is a
micro container, larger than a film canister that can hold very
small trading items (such as a mini BAT), this final stage will direct you to your
spelunking advnture.
Spelunking:
You are about to embark on an urban
faux-spelunking adventure. This spelunking journey will take you to
three urban ‘caves’ where you will collect clues to
determine the coordinates to the final stage of the spelunking
leg.
You will use the clues to substitute
numbers for letters to
the following sequence:
N42 AB.CDE
W 088 FG.HIJ
Cave #1
Position yourself inside this cave, in a
central position. Look up and count the number of pink flowers
painted onto the ceiling of this cave. Use this number for F and
G.
Cave #2
Position yourself 30 feet north of the north cave opening
so that you are looking south. Look to your left – you will
see a tree just to the left (east) of the cave opening. Just beyond
the tree you should see a 3-digit number. Add 102 to that number to
get CDE.
Now paddle to a position just south of
this cave and look at the west side to notice several white signs.
How many signs do you see? This number will be B.
How many words are clearly visible on
these signs? This number will be A.
Cave #3
Position yourself in a central position inside this cave.
Looking up you will notice a number of very long rectangles. How
many of these rectangles do you see? Add 814 to this number to get
HIJ.
Upon
Conclusion of this final leg, you will be rewarded with the
coordinates of a location where a special Ammo Can has been
hidden. Have fun and enjoy your adventure! And most of
all, be sure to take plenty of pictures... you know Mary
would!
Special thanks to cacher '612' for
suggesting the route used for the paddling and spelunking
segments!
In consideration of all you efforts here, feel free to
log the 3 Tricachelon legs and the Final as individual finds
(giving you a total of 4 smiley's!), you certainly earned
it!
