Oklahoma Geocaching

Saturday March 13th 8:30 AM Hello fellow geocachers, Everyone is welcome to come and help place the hides and do a little trail maintanence on our newly adopted trail. We should have all the supples, but the more cachers the merrier. Plus, there will be more chances for someone to fall in a mud puddle or something equally as funny. If you want to bring something, we can’t have too many chainsaws or loppers, or you can email me to see if there is anything we’re still looking for. I’ll also be more than happy to give directions or meet anyone at the park enterance. The TAG group is pretty excited to get this project kicked off and it should be a lot of fun. Robbie Mathes M 5

The Tulsa Area Geocachers have agreed to adopt the North Woods Loop trail at Oxley Nature Center in Mohawk Park.  While helping the Nature Center with trail maintenance and improvements, this will also give TAG an opportunity to create a “Geo Skills Trail.”  This project is now underway.  The first reconnaissance tour of the trail system was made on Saturday, February 27th.  A work day will be scheduled in March to begin of trail maintenance and start placing caches.  Anyone is welcome to help in this effort.  Read the details here under the Oxley Trail Sponsorship page.  Everyone who wishes to participate must fill out the volunteer forms.  As a background check is required, don’t waste any time!  This is a great way to give back to the Tulsa Parks who have been so receptive to Geocachers.

The Third Saturday of the month means it is time for another exciting TAG Meeting!  This month’s listing is GC2075Y

Location: Golden Corral @71st and Mingo in Tulsa
Date: 11/21/09
Time: 10:45

Everyone with an appetite for Geocaching is invited; novice, beginner or seasoned veteran. Come to the buffet of questions, stories, advice and insight. You don’t have to have a GPSr to attend. Meet the names behind the hides and the logs!

At this month’s meeting we will be discussing several topics ranging from a review of last month’s Fall Fest and future events including Spring Fling, the annual Christmas Party, and possible locations for future events.

Fall Vest VIII was a great success, with a record 189 cachers participating.   the wet weather moved out just in time to set up Registration and the Cold weather did not put a chill on the excitement at Robber’s Cave.  So many great stories and happenings.   Read all the logs at GC1TFE1

A final big thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Fall Fest and to everyone who helped from the first reconisance trip in March through the entire event.  One last note of thanks to our sponsors and Prize Donors:

 Robbers Cave State Park

Wal-Mart( Broken Arrow)

Oklahoma Army Surplus (41^st & Memorial)

Great Harvest Bread (51^st & Sheridan at the Farm)

Waddell & Reed

Academy Sports

Savastano’s Pizzeria

On-line Suppliers;

thecachingplace.com

coinsandpins.com

debbiedoesdecals.com

cache-advance.com

pathtags.com

worldcaching.com

thecacheshack.com.

 Be sure to visit their on-line stores and thank them for their support.

Also thanks to individuals who donated; M5, The 4 Jedis, Tribe of Two, Extreme Mom, OkiePaladin, CCATBQFM, Ramp and Frog, Gredgeman and Hobbitix. I apologize if I have missed anyone.

Again, please check out all timmifer’s event pictures at:

http://web.me.com/timmifer/Fall_Fest_VIII_Raiders_of_Robbers_Cave/Welcome.html

The Fall Fest Schedule and Event details are available here in a brochure, suitable for printing (2-sided).

If you were thinking about ordering the Boy Scout Meal package to save yourself time and trouble at Fall Fest, The Early Bird Discount deadline has been extended to September 25th.
Here is the Menu:
Sat nite dinner;
Pasta with meat , mushroom, and meatless sauces, salad, garlic bread, iced tea and dessert
Sunday breakfast;
Sausage, potatoes, eggs, biscuits, juice, milk, coffee and more,
Sunday lunch;
Baked beans, potato salad, sirloin burgers, chips, dessert and iced tea.

This is a great deal.  Link to the registration and release forms at the top of this page.
And please, so we can get an accurate count, even if you are not ordering the meals fax or email me (Keith) your Release Forms.  there are a lot of people who have posted “Will Attend” who have yet sent in their paperwork.  Now is the time!  Sponsors are lining up.  Excitement is building.  Hide & seek caches are being designed in secret workshops all over the region.  Moldy tents are being pulled out of attics.  BBQ recepies are being perfected.  People are planning their “can’t come to work today” excuses.

Don’t miss out on the Early Bird Deadline of Sept. 15 to register for Fall Fest at the discounted meal prices.  This is also a great help to the Boy Scout Troop as they plan the meal preparation.  Registration and Release Forms are available at the Fall Fest VII page on this site – check the top or side banners. 

Also available now – order your T-Shirts and Bandanas HERE.  100% Cotton, tan color with a full logo on the back and “Raiders” emblem on the front.  Order now!

Contact Robbers Cave State Park directly for camping reservations.

If you have any prizes you would like to donate, or would like to contact a local business to solicite prizes for Fall Fest, please coordinate with Herkenham of the OxFoxes.

This month’s TAG meeting will be held August 15th @ 11:00am in Sand Springs at N 36° 06.310 W 096° 07.210 .  Come enjoy good Pizza and company, hear the latest Fall Fest planning updates, get all caught up, or meet some new fellow cachers.  Then at 1pm the real insanity begins as Extreme Mom launches her Geo-Digital Scavenger Hunt event.  Join in teams of 2 to 4 people and prepare for a time of fun that will last into the evening.  For all the details check out the cache page GC1VP7B.

(Posted for Extreme Mom)

Hello everyone!
I am in charge of scheduling volunteers for the geocaching booth at the Oklahoma
Wildlife Expo in Guthrie Sept 25-27. I am BEGGING & PLEADING with each and
every one of you to sign up to work two hour or more shifts (PLEASE, PLEASE,
PLEASE) handing out brochures, walking people around with GPSrs looking for
hidden caches, and/or counting the number of people who we talk to. As you can
see we need LOTS of volunteers of various abilities!

Friday 12:00-6:00
Sat & Sun 8:00-6:00

To sweeten the deal we are offering some great prizes! For each hour you or
yours volunteers you will get a ticket for the prize drawing! Prizes are an
unactivated ‘07 TAG Fall Fest geocoin, $25 gift card to Olive garden, Okla.
Wildlife Expo t-shirts, and some other cool things I come up with between now
and then!
Oklahoma Wildlife Expo 2009

Below is a description of the Expo I cut & pasted off a website about events in
Guthrie. As you’ll see it”s an event your family won’t want to miss! (There’s
an idea- you volunteer while the other half wanders with the kiddies, then you
switch!) So plan to volunteer a few hours and wander a few hours.

PLEASE, I am PLEADING with you to email me at extrememom@cox.net to
volunteer to help explain our wonderful obsession to wandering Muggles!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Ann (AKA: Extreme Mom)

P.S. I will be camping out nearby if you want to join me.

Oklahoma Wildlife Expo 2009
Come discover new and exciting ways to enjoy your outdoor Oklahoma at the
state’s largest indoor and outdoor recreation event. It’s an outdoor experience
where visitors fish, shoot, kayak, rock climb, mountain bike, see and touch
wildlife, learn about recreation in the great outdoors. And it’s FREE!

From camping and outdoor skills to shooting sports and fishing, from bird
watching to kayaking, Expo visitors have an opportunity to try their hands at
two full days of fun in the outdoors. Presented by the Oklahoma Department of
Wildlife Conservation and a coalition of conservation organizations, agencies
and sponsors, Expo celebrates our great state’s natural diversity and
opportunities for the sporting enthusiast.

- Outdoor Arts and Crafts
- Wild Skills and Thrills
- Kid’s Corner
- On Target
- Fish and Wildlife Management
- The Wild Backyard
- Learn more, see more, do more with the help of participating partners -
Special “Hands-On” Booths
- Hunter Education Course
- Special Attractions and Giveaways
- You could win a Lifetime Combination License by pre-registering for the Expo.

We all cache for different reasons. And, we all have different goals. About 3/4s of the way into our first year of caching I realized that with a little effort we could hit 500 caches by our GC anniversary date. Thanks to MommyFried and her Skirtlifter series we did it.

Minus a few spontaneous goals, such as OkiePaladin’s skill challenge (we came in last but we completed the challenge) at FallFest last year, and The Spider, (a 5/5 cache) we have continued our 500 a year goal. But, we had not done a 50 cache day. When Val, of The Sooners, said she was going on a Texas trip, I knew this would be a wonderful opportunity. Val pulled the query and planned the route. She also decided we should shoot for a higher number. 100! With that in mind we decide to go Friday and get an early start on Saturday.

Surprisingly, Hermanita is very happy in the mornings. We were up, dressed, fed, and in the car by 6:30. Of course this was only possible because I had left my make up sitting on the night stand at home. On the drive to the beginning of our route I did the math. In order to hit 100 by dusk we needed 6.6 caches per hour. Keeping in mind we would need reasonable rest stops and a quick sit down lunch that put the number at 8.3 per hour.

I have learned a few things from this trip. The ‘drop the pen’ or ‘tie the shoe’ trick so you can peek under boxes near the doors of Valeros convenience stores is a great form of exercise when performed 85 times. However, wearing a tank top and hot pink shorts in little Mexico you WILL get the attention of every muggle within a 5 mile radius. It was suggested, by Val, that I wear a baglady outfit next time.

Detours from road work are only a mild set back compared to having 2 or 3 waypoints that did’t download correctly causing a GPSr to send you on a journey of endless circles.

Pointing at the tallest yucca stalk I’ve ever seen can, and will, cause the driver to miss her turn.
Hermanita is very much aware of the fact that skunk smells bad, “SSSSHHHHEEEEEYYYYYYYUUUUUUUU” that the Horses A@# caches are cool, and that she is quite capable of riding along for 14 hours as long as she has snacks and a little walk-about every hour.

I learned a lot about teamwork. Within the first couple of hours Val & I had gotten our rhythm going. She knew as soon I spotted the likely location I would fling open the door and run. I knew that as soon as I got back to the car I would get the “please-wait-till-the-car-stops’ lecture. I also knew by noon, with a count of 46, that we could make our goal. We actually passed it by 3.

I also learned just how good it feels to do the happy dance at the end of a very long day. So, no matter what your personal goal is, go for it. If we can do it, you can too. And, we’ll be right here rooting you on.

– Los Traviesos

– a.k.a. LaRubia

– a.k.a. Señora Chavez

How would you like to wake up in the outdoors on a relatively cool summer morning, to the sounds of a pack of coyotes yip-yip-yipping a few hundred yards away? How would you like to fall asleep at night to the peaceful sounds of a million tree frogs making their presence known in the world? How would you like to eat a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs and fried potatoes, and then go out to cache in one of nature’s pleasant spots? How would you like to take a ride in a real tank, with real treads, and everything that goes with it? How would you like to socialize and fellowship with some of the friendliest and most interesting people in the world? How about spending the evening hearing stories told by people who have been caching almost since the beginning of this great activity? These are just a few of the things that we got to do at the World Geo-gathering event in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. If you weren’t there, you missed out! True, you also missed out on a chance for some ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, and poison ivy. You missed out on a chance to take a shower in water that had lots of sulfur in it. You missed out on lots of sweat, brambles, and hilly terrain. But these are small things compared to the fantastic experiences that are yours when you attend an event like this.

Here are some of the things that cachers had to say and pictures of what they were doing at the World Geo-gathering event in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. This speaks for itself.

What a wonderful event this was and next year will be even better. I am so excited about it I can hardly wait!! Best time I’ve had while sweating and hurting and climbing up and down hills!! Great cardio workout! We’ll definitly be here next year. Thank you IdahoGI for have the vision to start this event. I believe it will grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and….well, you get the idea! Thanks to the owner of the land and all the sponsors and all the help. Everyone was absolutely great!! — oksusie
	I got to meet some really nice people. The area was beautiful. It has GREAT possibilities offering all kinds of terrains and hiding spaces. There were some ingenius caches. The mouse trap cache! Too cool. I heard wonderful comments about the speaker who cached in the beginning years. The folks from Carthage Missouri, TomKat and his bunch, they found all the caches and were absolutely thrilled. With local help this event can be a BIG success. I will be proud to help next year. — Los Traviesos
Had an awesome time meeting new friends. This is the first event for wife okiesusie and me. Looking forward to next year and being a charter member surely will give me some perks!! Thanks for my walking stick for winning the poker run. I told the wife I didn’t want to win BUT changed my mind when I knew the prize was so special. Thanks Trailblazer and to you IdahoGI for your dream. I got excited when I heard that there was going to be a real Wyandotte chief present the walking stick so I decided to stay for the presentation and am very glad I did. Thanks again. — 3caw
	This event was a ton of fun! Even though there were no vendors, and no t-shirts or coins waiting for us-it did not matter (It will be a reminder of how much fun we had when they come in). There were some awesome speakers and everyone was SO EXTREMELY NICE! As newbie cachers we could not have asked for more-will definitely be back next year (wearing pants)! – TwoDogNights
I really enjoyed the World Geo Gathering at D-Day park. This was an awesome Geocaching Event! Will definitely be there Next Year. — rosemark
	Attended this event with Hot Fried Okra. This is a fantastic venue. Thanks to all of the folks that worked hard to put this one on. I can’t wait to see this event grow. We’ll be back next year. — FRIED OKRA
Can’t wait for next years event. GREAT starting point for world wide event. THANK’S to all the staff, for the fun time we had. The Tanks and army stuff won over my youngest grandson, he is ready to go again. Again thank you to the staff of the event, and the people who own the land where it was held!! — seahill
	FUN FUN FUN! Had a blast today with Mike&LauraJackson. We got 17/100 placed and wished we could’ve stayed longer but the ticks got the best of us. Next time, we’ll remember the Off!! This is a wonderful event and I’m already looking forward to next year. Thanks so much to all the people who worked so hard to put all of this on. –CardsFans08
Me and my sister alexis*cacher had the best time of our lives. We got to meet and geocache with alot of new friends. I will be back next year for sure. — bella*cacher
	I really enjoyed the camaraderie of the attendees. I got to know quite a few of the cachers and shared in many of their experiences. Everybody was excited about being at the event, the weather was perfect and the pace of the event was perfect allowing for lots of outside caching. Now keep in mind that this was the first time I have attended an event like this so it was just perfect for me. I worked on registration so got to meet lots of the folks as they arrived. I found that everybody was just delighted to be there and all were very helpful to a newbie’s questions about the gpsr to making and camoing caches. I feel much more a part of this fun hobby now. And actually proud of being considered one of the “gang”. I almost wished I was one of the campers as I had to leave at the end of each day and drive to a motel. I am really looking forward to next year’s event as I know it is going to be bigger and better! — TulsaGal2Go
This was the best event I have been to. Thank you Troy and PoPo and Dewayne for having this event for us. We will be back again next year. — alexis*cacher

The regular monthly Tulsa Area Geocachers meeting will not take place in July.  If you are looking for some Geocaching fellowship on the third weekend of the month, then head out to Wyadotte to the World Geo-gathering.  The link is on the left side of this page.

COG – Central Oklahoma Geocachers will hold their meeting on July 11th.  Visit GC1V0VF for more information.

In August, Extreme Mom is hosting a Geo-scavenger hunt at the TAG meeting.  So get ready for some extreme craziness!

Fall Fest VIII planning is underway.  Many exciting events are being organized.  For updates on the schedule and planned events, click on the Fall Fest page here or go to the cache page GC1TFE1.   We can still use any and all volunteer help to organize events, help at registration and to solicite prizes for the drawings.  If you have a contact/business who could sponsor the event or donate prizes, SWAG, etc., please coordinate with The OxFoxes.

WE STILL NEED A VOLUNTEER TO ORGANIZE MERCHANDISE (T-SHIRTS)

To volunteer in any capacity either contact CCATBQFM or OkiePaladin.

Registration pages are available through links from the Cache page and the page on this site.

Immediately before the “TAG on Tour” Event (GC1REBC) on June 20th there will be a Fall Fest Planning Meeting for any one interested in helping in any way.  We will meet at the Bristow event coordinates at 1pm and wrap up the planning meeting by 1:45 to prepare for the TAG event at 2pm.

Fall Fest VIII will be held at Robbers Cave State Park on October 10th and 11th.  We need a lot of help to make the event a success.  Volunteers can help solicit prizes, take T-Shirt orders, help plan and coordinate with any of the scheduled events, spend an hour or two at Registration, etc.  If you can not make this meeting please do not let that keep you from getting involved. Email CCATBQFM or OkiePaladin through their  Geocaching.com profiles to let us know how you can help.  The event page should be up 3 months prior to the date, or about July 10th.

Promo Video