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2022 Fall Picnic

2022 SLAGA Christmas Party

Bellefontaine CITO November 2022

Cachemas 2022 Bonus Day

SLAGA at GeoWoodstock 2023

2024 SLAGA Spring Picnic

2025 New Year's Day Hike, Fort Bellefontaine

Cachetur 101 Class - March 2025

2025 Winter Potluck

2025 Spring Picnic

2025 Spring Picnic

2025 GigaStock in Morgantown WV

2025 GeoWoodstock, Morgantown, WV

SLAGA at Ted Drewes 2025

2025 Christmas Event

2026 NYD Hike

Crazy Beards!

2026 Winter Potluck

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The 2025 TB Race is underway! It's very early on but here are the current standings on how things shake up.

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M-O-T-H-E-R, MAY I Win the Adventure Awaits Monthly Challenge? 

Yes, DrPengper, you may!

Adv Aw DrPengper May 25
SLAGA extends congratulations to Sara Christy on her May win and gift card award.  She spelled 'Mother' with the allowance of a wildcard entry with these qualifying caches:  

 M: GCAQ3PA “Make Art Not War” 5/4/25

 O: GC5EBJ4 “On the Way Out” 5/4/25

 T: GC4T2YK “Trolling Around St. Vincent” 5/4/25

 H: GC3YZM5 “Heckel” 5/5/25

 E: GCB6EGF E-vent!! "FTF XXII: Catch 22" (wildcard letter) 5/30/25

 R: GC4OJ2D “Ronald’s Cache” 5/7/2025 

Sara commented that, "This month's challenge was not difficult, as we were able to get out and about quite a bit this month, with the help of some nice weather and some vacation time, that my husband, Ricky, (geoname Her Assistant) had.  This was my first Adventure Awaits challenge.  I participated because Michael yelled at us, haha, just kidding.  I am always up for a challenge."   
 
The three caches on May 4th were for the specific reason to spell MOTHER, and then "Trolling..." was a redemption find for Sara. The 'H' and 'R' caches were found at her husband's hometown.  Ironically, "Ronald's Cache" was located at a local McDonalds where her mother-in-law worked post-retirement for many years. 
 Adv Aw DrPengper and Her Assistant May 26

Sara found out about this fun hobby on International Geocaching Day, August 20, 2022, and started caching shortly thereafter. She said, "I was intrigued, so I looked into it, and geocaching sounded like so much fun...I love looking for treasures!"  She shared, however, that her caching journey had been on a slower track, as she was caring for her ill mother for many years.  Sadly her mother passed away a few days after Mother's Day this year. Our condolences Sara. But as she puts it, "I do believe I won this month for a reason."
 
As with so many cachers, spending time outdoors for this recreational activity has therapeutic value and brings joy.  And sure enough, Sara is now more actively pursuing her geocaching adventures and attending more events.  Currently she has cached in four US states, and recieved her 500th find recognition and coin at the SLAGA spring picnic in April.
 
When asked, Sara related her worst geocaching experience so far. "When I sat down in the woods to sign a cache in the summer (not recommended), I was bitten by what must have been a million chiggers!  I am now quite diligent about bug spray and not sitting in any vegetation."  
 
A fun fact about Sara is that she likes to bowl, but says she is not great at it.  Also, she not only enjoys finding geocaching treasures, but searches out interesting rocks, artifacts, plants and animals.  Being an animal lover, Sara often brings along her four-legged muggles, Feona (white) and Aine (brown), to assist with her geocaching fun.  Sara mentioned also that she, "loves transportion-related things, like trains, planes and automobiles.  I especially enjoy caching near airports. That being said, I don't drive and I've only flown twice."  
Adv Aw DrPengper dogs May 25
It's wonderful to get to know DrPengper a little bit better. SLAGA is thrilled and congratulates her again on her May 2025 Adventure Awaits Win!  Everyone remember that June is all about F-A-T-H-E-R, and everyday is a good day to get outdoors and smile(y).   

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The month of March unfurled record-breaking winds and tornadoes, as all of us in SLAGA-land are well aware. But it also brought us an awesome new Adventure Awaits Winner.  SWAseeker (Bill Schwend) qualified and won the month's challenge, and quite easily when one looks at his geo-record. 
 
 
To date, Bill has found 43,307 geocaches...WOW!  He started caching in 2003, and since that time has completed the Jasmer challenge, the Fizzy D/T grid challenge nearly 13 times, and has cached in 8 different countries. In the USA, he's not only found caches in every state, but has found a cache in 2367 of 3144 counties. That's 75% of the USA counties, which includes finding all the counties in 21 of the states plus DC!  Bill is also currently ranked 4th in the state of Missouri for the most finds. 
 
When asked about his favorite cache, it was hard for Bill to pick a 'favorite,' with so many finds and accolades.  But one geocache adventure stood out as a truly memorable and enjoyable adventure. This was GC1169 Mission 9: Tunnel of Light, when he traversed the dark, damp, 2-1/4 mile long Snoqualmie Tunnel to access the A.P.E. cache in July 2018.
 
 
As for the March challenge, which wasn't much of one for this prolific cacher, here are his four qualifying caches, published in the same year but in different months. and one event:
 

GCAT0V7 - Port Cargo - Hidden : 06/15/2024 Logged: 03-2025

GCAVHX0 - Big Creek Cache - Hidden : 07/22/2024 Logged: 03-2025

GCAXDEB - The Musical Fruit - Hidden : 09/01/2024 Logged: 03-2025

GCAZ4AQ - Booger Hook - Hidden : 10/12/2024 Logged: 03-2025

GCB2R89 - Pie on Pi Day? Sure Thing! - Event Date: 03/14/2025

 

Aside from geocaching, Bill discovered a new hobby back in 2022.  Apiculture or backyard beekeeping had always fascinated him, but he thought a large plot of farm or country land was necessary.  But when he discovered beekeeping could be down in town, in any backyard, he was hooked.  Thirteen beehives later, Bill happily manages his colonies year round, then strains, bottles, and sells the honey. In the photo below, Bill is grafting queens, which involves transferring young, developing worker larvae from their normal cells into special queen cell cups to encourage them to be raised as queens.  

 
Adv Aw March 25 Bill 
 
 
Bill oftens brings some honey to SLAGA events to sell to honey-loving geofriends, or will answer a GC message for anyone interested in purchasing some to arrange pick up/delivery.  This journalist will contest to it's sweet, sticky deliciousness and needs more, hint, hint.

Adv Aw March honey
 
"Winter's grip begins to fade, as March unfurls its gentle trade...
The world awakes, a hopeful sight, with promise of the coming light.
The bees, though still in slumber deep, begin a stirring, secrets keep.
Then a gentle breeze and warming sun, awakens what has been undone.
Bee hives begin to stir and hum wth buzzing sounds, a joyful drum.
And March's magic, soft and bright, inspires the bees to take flight."
 
(excerpts from poem, 'March's Awakening')
 
 

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The Adventure Awaits challenge for tax month was to find four geocaches whose titles began with the letters C-A-S -H plus one event cache. This was not a very taxing challenge for Alexis and Rich Wilson, better known in SLAGA-land as 2roadtrippers, who were the lucky qualifying and gift card winners for April 2025.

SPRING 25 picnic milestone 5000 2RoadT

When asked why they chose to participate in the monthly challenge and what caches they chose, they commented:

"We chose to participate in the monthly adventure awaits after listening to SLAGA President Mike talk about it at the spring picnic, and knew we didn’t have much time to enter. This is our first time entering the monthly challenge, so we looked through our cache history.  We chose: 

C - Cliff Cave expansion (GC8VGHY) because this was the last one left to get in this park.

A  - A Special Memory (GCQ596) which was a really great find on our first time to Las  Vegas. It was at a drive-through wedding chapel and another slaga member had signed the log (stevendede)!   It was also highly favorited  with 1900+ points.  

S - Sign of Las Vegas (GC3178Z) was chosen because everyone has to get their picture at the iconic sign with the added bonus that there was a cache there, so of course we had to find it 🤩.   
 
H - High pointer (/GC3AJGT) was a cache in Missouri. We found it while taking a weekend roadtrip, haha . There is a high pointer club and a highest point in each state (not sure if there are caches at each one) but we’ve found two (other one In Indiana)!  One man in 1936 successfully climbed each highest point in each state! That is quite the feat.
 
The Event - Oops it’s April Already Happy Hour (GCB4HV9) was chosen actually for another challenge, the April Treasure collections, so we could get the treasure icon."
Adv Awaits 4 25 Rich 2roadtrippers  Adv Awaits 4 25 Vegas chapel  
 
The 2roadtrippers started caching in February 2020 as an outdoor diversion during Covid, since they would not be around many people.  But Rich actually discovered it while listening to a podcast that referenced 'geocaching'. Of course, Google was then his friend, and he told Alexis, who agreed it sounded fun.  That's where their addiction began. To date they have nearly 6200 finds and over 50 hides. Their longest caching streak is 368 consecutive days!  They've already cached in 22 states and four countries, and need only five more D/Ts to complete a Fizzy grid.  Now that's some active caching for the first five years! 
 
While out road tripping and geocaching, Alexis and Rich also use the "Roadside America" app to visit interesting and cool things in each state, such as art work, murals, statues, memorials, monuments, and other roadside oddities.  This caching couple truly enjoy discovering new things and new places.  "Geocaching does that for us, so we combine them both when we’re on our road trips," said Rich.
 
CONGRATULATIONS 2ROADTRIPPERS!
 

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 TB RACE 25 start photo


The starting line is in sight for the 2025 SLAGA Travel Bug Race, held between late May 2025 and Jan. 10, 2026!  Now is the time to get those travel bug/trackables ready to drop off at the upcoming SLAGA Spring Picnic this April.

A travel bug or trackable is a geocaching game piece, owned by a geocacher, that has a unique digital tracking code etched into it. This code allows geocachers to track its movement on GC.com as it is retrieved from one cache and moved and placed in another by cachers who choose to participate in this add-on to the game of geocaching. 

There are various types of trackables, the most common being the dog tag type 'travel bug' (TB) usually accompanied by a small personal token.  But there are also geocoins and other customized ones as well.  

  TB RACE 25 Pooh Bear TB_RACE_25_red_coin.jpg TB RACE 25 bead bracelet  TB RACE 25 turtle

To enter a travel bug in this year's SLAGA TB Race, you will need to purchase your unactivated travel bug/trackable, personalize it with a token if you choose (highly suggested), activate your trackable, and create an informative TB page with a name, its purpose of RACING, a goal to visit certain places, and a photo so others can  clearly identify it. Your racing TB may not visit any geocache nor accumulate any mileage prior to bringing it to the SLAGA Spring Picnic where it is handed off to a board member or fellow geocacher/volunteer race monitor, Mark Derr.  (Tags will be available to purchase at the Spring Picnic event, but you will need to bring along your token to attach.) 

SLAGA will then take all the racing travel bugs to GeoWoodstock XXI (GCANXX1) in West Virginia on 5/24/2025.  This will be the official starting line as they will all be 'dropped' together into the event.

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Race Monitor Mark has summarized some helpful rules and suggestions for your TB and page that may increase its race chances. He suggests including:

  1. “2025 SLAGA RACING TRAVELBUG” (or at least the word RACE) in your TB Name,
  2. A picture of your travel bug on the page,
  3. Race information including the end date of the race (Jan 10th, 2026),
  4. An item or token attached to the travel bug dog tags, as tags alone tend to be ignored. (GeoCoins are not recommended as they tend to disappear more easily, but it's your choice of trackable.),
  5. Some goals/mission added to your travel bug page for use during and after the race (example, visit Castles, cemetery caches, travel to all 50 states, etc.).

 For this year's race, the following categories will determine the three winners (different from last year).

  1. Number of Total Logs of any type (not including owner or Slaga Officers) 
  2. Number of Different Geocachers logging the TB (not including owner or Slaga Officers)  
  3. Number of Photos Added to the gallery (not including ones added by the owner)

As a tie breaker, for any category, the total miles shown on the TBs' home pages (minus any starting corrections) will be used to determine the winner. 

Please note that each travel bug owner can only have ONE travel bug in the race.  Also each owner may win only one category.  If an owner wins in multiple categories, the 2nd place TB in the additional category becomes that winner.

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So it's time to get those travel bugs/trackables ready to enter the SLAGA TB RACE this year.  Monitor Mark posts race  updates often so you can keep track of your TB's progress and ranking in the various categories compared to your fellow SLAGA members trackables. 

On your mark ... get set ...    

TB RACE 25 finishline

 

  1. February’s Repeat Adventure Awaits Winner
  2. Check out the SLAGA Apparel Store!
  3. Cache Odyssey Coming Soon to a State Near You
  4. A Recipe for SLAGA Success