Leapin' into an Adventure Awaits Win
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- Written by Terri Nealon
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Java1369 (Nikki) leaped, or as you'll find out-maybe rolled, into action this February and was rewarded by becoming our next Adventure Awaits winner. Logging all of her qualifying caches on Leap Day itself means she just snuck into the running for the drawing. Nikki was halfway through her caching day when she remembered that there was a monthly challenge, and looked over the caches she'd done and realized that she qualified. "It was a good time, and next time I will come at it with more planning." Her challenge geocaches (four different sizes with one event) are:
GC8AQPZ (Regular) Regular Ol' Cache
GC842DF (Large) Swamp's Edge
GCA465M (Small) Dial P for Penguin
GCAJ10E (Other- Event) Leap Day Lunch
To date, Nikki has found 775 caches. She started geocaching in September 2008, just before her second son was born, because she wanted a fun activity to do with her oldest. Being the young muggle that he was, however, he was "utterly uninterested in treasure hunting and to this day prefers chucking rocks into lakes" instead. So caching has become a solo activity for Nikki and besides giving her time in nature, away from the house, it has also brought her to places she would not have otherwise gone. Although she had almost a 3 year slump at one point, this Leap year Nikki is trying to get as many caches as she can. She said, "originally I wanted one a day, but after a couple of 'off' days, now I'm aiming for 1000 by the end of the year."
Besides her geocaching hobby, Nikki keeps plenty busy as a school bus driver, a wife and mother. But if that's not enough, her extensive list of arts and crafts keep her occupied, as well as her really awesome hobby of roller derby. Yes! You read that right. Nikki skates for the Confluence Crush roller derby on the B Team. Her derby name is Java Sparkles, because it was her kids' favorite choice from a provided list. And her derby number is 1369, which she claims is because she is a particulary unlucky person. So now you know why her geoname is Java1369. But Nikki...with this February Adventure Awaits win, I think your luck has changed.
LEAP DAY ‘24 Across SLAGAland
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- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 1982
Although we see Leap Day once every four years,
Cachers still got excited as the day drew near.
It was an unofficial geocaching day in 2024,
At least in SLAGAland cause there were events galore.
There were CITOs, lunches and happy hours too,
Besides other smileys that folks decided to do.
So February 29th was quite a big day,
As cachers in SLAGAland got out to play!
Many thanks to the hosts of all six Leap Day Events: paulgracie, stevendede, bluedaisy, rocksusan, nan-d1955, and RebelPenguin. You helped make the day fantastic with the CITO opportunities for community clean-ups, and the event gatherings to enjoy company of geofreinds old and new. Many cachers had personal goals to fulfill, so the stories of the day's caching were exciting to hear from event to event. Leap day was a lot of fun this year, but it makes you wonder what 2028 will bring!?
Adventure Awaits - Wintry Winner
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- Written by Terri Nealon
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Congratulations to 3nina, Millie Nagel, on her January 2024 SLAGA Adventure Awaits Monthly Challenge win and $10 Gift Card prize! During the frigid month of January, Millie braved the elements and found her five geocaches, each from a different CO (Cache Owner) with one being an event. Millie participates in the Adventure Awaits challenges because they are fun and force her to choose exciting geocaches for her submittals. Being from Red Bud, IL, it's a bit of a drive for her to get to some of the events, but she enjoys meeting, chatting and putting faces to geonames of other cachers once there. The event for her January adventure was one of her favorite events – SLAGA Winter Potluck. She said, "There are so many people to talk to and it seems like there is not enough time. I like volunteering at this and other events when possible." Millie's entries for January are:
GC5HX50 CO: St Louis Game Jam, Wherigo, Meet Me in 1904
GCA49MT CO: Crazy_Kid13, Traditional, There's a hole in the bucket!
GCA9AJC CO: Java1369, Traditional, Guess What?
GCAFEV4 CO: ABagbyGSSI, Traditional, Girl Scout Silver
GCAG053 CO: L Frank and Denmother, Event, SLAGA Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever - 2024
Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever - 2024
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- Written by Terri Nealon
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On Saturday, January 27th, more than 75 SLAGA members attended the Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever- 2024 Event (GCAG153) at the historic Jefferson Barracks Park along the Mississippi River in St. Louis County. The event was held in the main gymnasium and front room inside the large and comfortable Pavilion at Lemay facility, which was cost-free for SLAGA thanks to the generosity of the St. Louis County Parks. Event hosts, LFrank and Denmother, did a fantastic job, but they couldn't do it alone. They received a lot of volunteer assistance from start to finish.
To kick it off, the set-up crew consisting of spiritwolf922, vorlon40, and SWAseeker with the help of Cootieman, organized the event space nicely. Since this fun event was a potluck, there was plently of great food available which was provided by each attendee's family. The food line was set up by volunteers MrsSpongy, jray131, and StormRider22, and included tasty entries such as chillis, BBQ and other meat dishes, various 'sliders,' fruit and veggie trays, a wide variety of salads and yummy deserts. The lunch spread as always was a feast for the eyes and tummies.
Besides all the eating, attendees played Geo Bingo, which was run smoothly by your registrars 3nina and 6dancer, and many also entered the 50/50 drawing, because who could resist Ibew ret's selling prowess. Over $150 was collected this year. As always, there was a raffle table with some great items, which was successfully run by Uga_Mom, and a trackable exchange table too attended well by Kevinusmarshall.
2023 SLAGA Travel Bug Race Results
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- Written by Robert Klemme
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Here are the final standings of the SLAGA Travel Bug Race! Congrats to Hobit Taz, bluedaisy, & MrsSpongy! Thank you to all who participated!
HO HO HOoray to the December 2023 Winner!
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- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 1912
Santa Cachemas got a Christmas gift too! SLAGA's very own VP, Geokid12 (Robert Klemme), is the winner of the December 2023 Adventure Awaits challenge! The officers had to laugh, during their monthly meeting, when the random number generator happened to draw Robert's number. Obviously the task of qualifying was easy enough for him given his 12 Days of Cachemas duties, since nine of the caches were hidden by elves, so he was able to find them along with other geocachers this past month.
As a SLAGA officer, Robert feels that it's good to set an example by participating in the monthly challenge, and as one of the brains behind Adventure Awaits, he also believes it's a great way to drive community engagement within SLAGA. Besides Cachemas caches, Robert chose the SLAGA Christmas party event as an entry because he felt it thematically tied into the December qualifications. His entries were:
GCADHZ6 Day 6 - 2023 Cachemas in STL
GCAE56C Day 7 - 2023 Cachemas in STL
GCAEBQV Day 8 - 2023 Cachemas in STL
*GCAFWP9 SLAGA-land Christmas Bash. Event*
If you've ever wondered how a geocacher chooses their caching name, here's Geokid12's back story. In 2007, when Robert was just 12 years old, he was introduced to geocaching on a Boy Scout troop outing at Whitecliff Park. He was enthralled by entering coordinates into a Garmen eTrex Legend, then being able to hunt and find a cache container at ground zero. So he bought his own eTrex, decided he'd register with GC.com and chose the username Geokid12, since he was a 12 year old kid who was now a 'Geo'cacher too.
Young Robert didn't start off as an avid cacher though, due to his schooling, scouting, non-driving lifestyle, followed by intense college studies. But once he graduated all that changed. His 575-day caching hiatus (Aug 2014 - Feb 2016) and only 400 total finds would soon be a thing of the past.
Starting in 2017, as a driving, employed young man, Robert got back into geocaching and became involved socially in SLAGA, which was a huge geocaching motivator. Since then he hasn't stopped. To date, he has over 10,800 finds and is working on conquering that 575 no-find streak of his with an even greater find streak. Adventure definitely awaits Robert on his geocaching quest!
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