Weather and MO

My first Missouri (MO) geocache -- GCRDJ8 Travel Bug Terminal was easy and entertaining. Mr. GAIN and I had just picked up his business partner, Mr. NU from the Kansas City International Airport (KCI). (By the way, how did KCI turn into airport designation MCI?) Mr. NU had no idea what was going on. That just made me laugh. And I was so happy to actually cache in nice weather (sunny, no breeze, and 60's) that I got my brand new KangaROO shoes muddy.

I chose a travel bug with hopes of getting it out of my hands in 24 hours, as we were on our way to St. Louis, Gateway to the West, and new caching territory for me. After I was settled in the hotel that night, clicking away at the free internet, I couldn't find a cache big enough to fit Mumbo Jumbo! So rule number one note to self: for future caches, research before you go. I would not have chosen Mumbo if I knew I couldn't get him to a new home right away. I feel bad for the owner. Rule number two: the weather never works in my favor. Argh! The next day was terribly windy -- 40 mph southerly winds. Cloudy and sprinkling, cold, I didn't even go out seeking. There is no word to describe my disappointment. I'll have to visit downtown St. Louis another time. From what I saw through driving, it looks like a great place to be an American history student.

When I got back home to WDM that night, I heard that the day had been gorgeous. I thought I would surely would be able to place Mumbo Jumbo in the DSM area. Then rule number two kicked in: winds, from the north this time, 40 mph, sometimes with snow, temps dropping to the single digits as time passed. Hmm. I might have Mumbo Jumbo for a while. He wanted to see a circus, so maybe the weather that follows me everywhere would qualify for a circus. Or the kids of GAIN Academy might be a circus. Now to find the peanuts....

Prairie Cache Update

Wow! I am impressed and happy to say that someone has gotten back to me already (one workday) about a potential earthcache at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa. The gal is on staff, and get this -- she has her own gps unit! She has even found geocaches, and hopefully she will continue to make finds. Check out the picture "I" took of Little Bluestem seed.

Prairie

We visited Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) today for a short program in the Prairie Learning Center. You can see "N" of GAIN and I cleaning little bluestem seeds in the photo that "I" took.

I have wanted to see a geocache placed there for years, but I knew that policy was against it. When I asked the programmer about it, she said that the staff had wanted to have one for a long time, but couldn't think one up or find the time for someone to do so. Most of us geocachers have the same problems. Since I think the place is such a neat site to visit, I volunteered my time (and gps), if they would choose the locations for a multi (determined after talking more). We'll see how it goes. Urbandale Park and Rec has yet to get back to me about geocaching their city after almost four months. Ah, government.

The programmer mentioned the virtual geocache at Upper Mississippi NWR, which I checked out once I got home. I see a couple problems with using it as a model. For starters, I don't find it listed at geocaching.com. This means that I would not be able to have it add to my tally. The numbers are important, whether I like to admit it or not. Additionally, how would geocachers find out about it if it is not listed on the site? I had to search more than I wanted to in order to find information on it. It is not on the sidebar of the home page. I suppose someone might mention this cache at the forums, or on a blog, but in general, a google search does not further the cause of this virtual at all. It appears to be nicely done, and you can even get a prize when you go to sign the log book. Like I said, we'll see how things go.

One of the cooler things of our visit today was the trip home. We have a lot of wind and light fluffy dry snow right now. And single digit temperatures. Driving west toward downtown, we saw a city in snow; it almost looked like fog. If you kept looking beyond the buildings of downtown, you could see a sun dog that went almost all the way around the sun. Unfortunately, our camera's battery was out of charge. "N" of GAIN quickly switched it out for us, then "G" climbed into the front seat and started taking pictures. The picture you see here is west of downtown, so it is small compared to our first sighting. At this time, we could see a large spot on the left and right of the sun, but we were too close to get both of them in the viewfinder. So "G" got a shot of the sun and the left sun dog. And it was cold, so he stayed in the van. They were very bright and colorful in real life. I am not sure that you can see the rainbow colors here. "A" of GAIN may be able to use picture this in her weather unit for science class.

Winter walk

The entire family went out to Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines today. I wore the Skippy Peanut Butter backpack. You can see the Skippy water bottle in the pocket. I think the water bottle is hard to use because I need to use two hands to drink from it. It definitely was designed for the backpack, or the backpack was designed for it. It's a perfect fit.

We attempted to reach the island, former home of a geocache called Raccoon River Island, and current home of GC15HNN, Here on NVG's Isle! My kids differ with the NVG on the name, but when they claimed the island for themselves years ago, they never let him know. In fact, I didn't even know who the NVG was back then. So Scott, we will not fight with you over the name. The island does not care what anyone calls it anyway. I think it wants everyone to create a personal name for and relationship with it.

Getting to the island would have involved six of us passing open water and slush. And five of us weigh over 100 pounds. So Mr. GAIN and I were nervous about getting there, even though I knew from past trips that the water must be shallow. "N" of GAIN was very disappointed to leave, but he was a very good sport about it. I was too lazy for months to get the FTF, STF, etc. with the boat. I figure out how to get there, though. If I used the inflatable boat, I could have launched, beached, and disembarked without a lot of difficulty.

Without the underbrush, our walk around Blue Heron Lake was awesome. Getting to the different fingers of land was a piece of cake. Walking to the bird blind was a cinch (and cool). Seeing the wind sailors and kite sailors through the trees and grass was a snap (and fun to watch). We had never made it all the way around the lake's 3.2 mile trail until today, and we were quite proud to say that we did it.

We attempted another cache, GC157YN, Down, Out, and Broke, but the gps-r said we had another 250' to go, into the river.

We also found what one of the kids called a beaver buffet line. You can see it here. We also saw a tree that the beavers had chosen to abandon, even though they gnawed it close to falling. Maybe the sap was sweeter on the other side.

On the way out of the park, I felt joy when I spotted GC13ZPR, Man in Black #4 from a distance. I cannot believe I never found this during the warm months. I must have looked at it a dozen times but didn't recognize it for what it was with all the foliage.