A Quite Cold Day

Today was pretty quite around our house. We built a fire in the fireplace and settled in for quite evening at home.

I signed up to be a beta tester for GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) tonight. Looks like a lot of new stuff being worked on. I found one problem tonight and the other problem turned out to be my not understanding how Street Atlas 2005 Plus worked in a Draw Layer with Links.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2436 Steps Today - 1.15 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
98 Calories Burned.

No Snow

Today it was suppose to snow. I don't recall even seeing 1 flake all day long. The temperature dropped slowly all day. Chris went home sick about 10:30 this morning. I received a .dmt Street Atlas file from Brian Yonke with the route for our trip to Omaha this coming weekend. Brian and Carlin have been nice enough to invite us to ride along with them and do some caching on the way. Robby is going to let me borrow a Sprint PCS Data card for the trip.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
3764 Steps Today - 1.78 miles.
1141 Aerobic Steps.
161 Calories Burned.

Sprint PCS Data Card

The biggest event in our lives today is traveling home from Arkansas. Mary and I hitched a ride with Robby and Alison. I rode in the back seat with Robby. Rob was coming down with a cold. I sat there online with a Sprint PCS Data Card that Robby loaned me. It sure did make the time pass fast. It was slow in comparison to our cable modem at home, but it sure was nice to keep up with email and the geocaching forum. I planned a trip to Omaha with Brian Yonke while riding in the back seat. He sent me a Street Atlas route with all the geocache sights along the way and I plugged them in and was able to see the same thing as Brian. Mobile computing sure is nice.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2095 Steps Today - .99 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
73 Calories Burned.

Low Carb Lasagna

I kind of got tricked into fixing Low Carb Lasagna for dinner tonight. It used cabbage instead of the normal broad noodle strips. It turned out to be quite good.

Scott and Laura came over to Lee and Angela's house tonight for dinner. We spent the night here tonight.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
750 Steps Today - .35 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
8 Calories Burned.

Smoked Turkey

Today we smoked another turkey. We sure have enjoyed some good food during our visit with the family in Arkansas.

I spent a lot of time today finishing up my
"How to Fillet & Smoke a Turkey" tutorial.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1348 Steps Today - .63 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
42 Calories Burned.

Thanksgiving 2004

Today has been a very slow day. I am thankful to be with the family and everybody is healthy and enjoying life.

While Scott filleted the turkey I took lots of pictures. I spent a lot of time working on a tutorial on "How to Fillet and Smoke a Turkey". This is a work still in progress. This has been a family favorite for many years now.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1531 Steps Today - .72 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
37 Calories Burned. Calories eaten, 1000's.

Lots of Beautiful Snow

Today we awoke to a beautiful snow. Last I heard we had 7-8 inches of wet snow. The snow just clung to every thing it touched. I wish we had taken more pictures.

By noon the snow had quit and we headed to Arkansas to be with family for Thanksgiving. Robby loaned me a Sprint PCS Data Card for the trip. Mary drove and I computed all the way. I was connected to the internet for the whole trip. How nice. If it didn't cost so much I'd get one of these cards. That are about 80 dollars per month.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2702 Steps Today - 1.27 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
97 Calories Burned.

New Brakes on the Van - 1999 Dodge

Today we had to take the van to the shop for brakes. It cost us $350 to fix brakes that we had replaced last year with lifetime warranty brakes.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2771 Steps Today - 1.31 miles. This is not good.
0 Aerobic Steps.
102 Calories Burned.

Oozy Rat in a Sanitary Zoo

Today Mary and I put together the "Oozy Rat in a Sanitary Zoo" Cache. We're really wondering how this will go. It was a lot of fun to put together.

Today's Stats:
1 Geocaches.
4726 Steps Today - 2.23 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
204 Calories Burned.

Lunch with Fellow Geocachers

We didn't get very many geocaches this weekend, but we had a good time. Today we had lunch with Glenn and Richard, who are fellow geocachers in St. Louis. I finally completed the "Intersection" cache that I failed at nearly 3 years ago. Inspite of this being our lowest number of caches for a weekend, it was a very fun weekend. St. Charles was a very fun area. The historic Main Street in St. Charles was a highlight for the trip. I wish I had some pictures of the area.

Today's Stats:
6 Geocaches.
7067 Steps Today - 3.34 miles.
1082 Aerobic Steps.
325 Calories Burned.

Geocaching in St. Charles, Missouri

We spent most of our day in St. Charles. It seemed like we didn't do too good today caching. We kept getting hung up enjoying some spot along the way.

Today's Stats:
19 Geocaches.
10382 Steps Today - 4.91 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
476 Calories Burned.

Geocaching in St. Louis

This afternoon we drove over to St. Louis to do some geocaching. Tonight we stayed in the Motel 6 in St. Peter's. ($45) We had a great meal at O'Charley's.

Today's Stats:
13 Geocaches.
6079 Steps Today - 2.87 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
264 Calories Burned.

Tonight We Just Recuperated

Tonight I worked on balancing the money with the paper work from the Landahl Orienteering event last Saturday. It took me 2 and a half hours to balance it, but balance it I did.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2328 Steps Today - 1.10 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
87 Calories Burned.

Caching in Topeka, Kansas

We decided to go over to Topeka this evening to get the newest caches. After we finished the caches in Topeka we headed south to Burlington, Kansas and then over east to Mapleton, Kansas. We drove 344 miles this evening and got home about midnight.

Today's Stats:
8 Geocaches.
7380 Steps Today - 3.49 miles.
1368 Aerobic Steps.
329 Calories Burned.

Dufer Caches

This evening we drove up to Cameron, Missouri to finish up some of the Dufer caches we missed on our last trip up there. We went ahead and drove over to Hamilton City to get one we missed there last time. We went back to Cameron and got a bite to eat and headed home. We were home before 9:00 p.m. Enjoyable evening.

Today's Stats:
4 Geocaches.
6805 Steps Today - 3.22 miles.
3028 Aerobic Steps.
309 Calories Burned.

Ruby Tuesday's with Rob and Alison

Tonight we met Robby and Alison at Ruby Tuesday's in Olathe for dinner. The food was great and we enjoyed our time together.

Today's Stats:
4790 Steps Today - 2.26 miles.
3037 Aerobic Steps.
206 Calories Burned.

A Quite Day At Home

Not much happening today. We just spent the day at home.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
2845 Steps Today - 1.34 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
98 Calories Burned.

Orienteering Double Header

This morning we packed up to head to Landahl Park for the orienteering meet. We served as registrar for the event today. It's a very nice park and we had a nice day for orienteering. Tonight we again served as registrar for the Burr Oak Woods Night Orienteering event. I also ran the night-o course and was embarrassed to come in last place. I'm going to have to spent more time orienteering. I got very disoriented tonight and only found 3 controls.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
9516 Steps Today - 4.50 miles.
3092 Aerobic Steps.
444 Calories Burned.

The last Cache in Kansas City

This afternoon we found the only cache in Kansas City that we have not found. It was Katelynn's Contribution southeast of Liberty in Ruth Stockdale park. It was a very nice walk on a beautiful afternoon.

Today's Stats:
1 Geocaches.
5203 Steps Today - 2.46 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
236 Calories Burned.

Coyote Grill

We've been setting on a $25.00 gift certificate for the Coyote Grill since last January. We decided that tonight was the night to use it. What a treat! We really enjoyed the dinner hour at the Coyote Grill. They offer premium-quality Southwestern entrées. It's a cut above the average.

Today's Stats:
5977 Geocaches.
6288 Steps Today - 2.83 miles.
2128 Aerobic Steps.
265 Calories Burned.

Mary Home from Arkansas

It's good to have Mary back home. She stayed in Arkansas this past weekend for Mike Decker's funeral on Monday. It took her about 6 and a half hours driving Scott and Laura's Toyota Camry to make the journey home.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
6288 Steps Today - 2.97 miles.
2524 Aerobic Steps.
283 Calories Burned.

CMA Awards

Seems like the most excitement I could stirr up tonight was the CMA awards.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4622 Steps Today - 2.18 miles.
2999 Aerobic Steps.
207 Calories Burned.

Geocaching with Andy Scott

I've been after the folks at work to go geocaching with me. I told them there was a cache where they could claim a very nice newbie prize as a non-geocacher. Tonight Andy called me and was ready to. We met about 7:00 p.m. or so and headed to Lake Cooley east of Liberty, Missouri. After walking for about a mile on a clear night with no moonlight, we began our search for the first stage of a 2 part multi-cache. After nearly giving up we found it. This gave us the new coordinate we needed to find the cache. We found it in short order. As we searched the BIG cache box our hearts sank. The newbie prize had been claimed earlier in the eveing. We learned it was a new Garmin eTrex GPS. This makes twice I've failed to claim the prize when it was a GPS. We had fun non-the-less. It was a great night for geocaching. We walked over 2 miles on a very dark night along the shore of Lake Cooley.

Today's Stats:
1 Geocaches.
9055 Steps Today - 4.28 miles.
6113 Aerobic Steps.
396 Calories Burned.

Geocaching in Clarksville, Arkansas

We started the morning with breakfast at Lee and Angela's and a great breakfast it was.

We decided that Mary needs to stay in Little Rock for the funeral. I have to travel back to Kansas City along.

I stopped in Clarksville to find a few caches. It was a great break from driving. I found 8 here. I really enjoyed my time here.

I stopped again in Bentonville to find 2 more caches. From here I drove to Nevada, Missouri where I stopped for gas and a cup of coffee. From here it was a dead run for home in Kansas City.

Today's Stats:
10 Geocaches.
2639 Steps Today - 1.24 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
81 Calories Burned.

Geocaching in Little Rock, Arkansas

We got up this morning and went geocaching with the grandkids. (Bradley, Preston, and Drew). It was warm today and we all really had a good time. Today I found my 1500th cache.

This afternoon we went to Mike Deckers' home to visit with his wife Sharon. They were all gone.

We went downtown to help Angela's mom with a stalled car. Her battery went out and we had to give her a jump. It was then off to Wal-Mart for a new battery.

Tonight we went to Casa Villa for Mexican food. We all had the Deluxe Platter. Wow, was it good. The best part was the Sofapies with honey. They were hot and very good.

Today's Stats:
12 Geocaches with one DNF.
5951 Steps Today - 2.81 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
239 Calories Burned.

Mike Decker Funeral

Mike Decker, my neice's husband in Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away at the age of 36 on Wednesday of this week. We traveled to Little Rock this afternoon to be with the family. Tonight we are at Scott and Laura's house. We went to Grampa's Catfish House for dinner tonight. I had the SOS plate. (Shrimp, Oysters, and Scallopes).

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1472 Steps Today - 0.69 miles.
0 Aerobic Steps.
44 Calories Burned.

Mobile Internet Connection

Tonight we added a T-Mobile GPRS internet connection card to our laptop as another tool in our arsenal for geocaching. With this new card we can have internet access while in the field. This is the cheapest we've found mobile internet access. It's $29.95 per month. We'll now be able to keep up with email, surf the web, etc. while traveling.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
4975 Steps Today - 2.35 miles.
2941 Aerobic Steps.
222 Calories Burned.

MR Tool Time Geocache

Tonight we once again find ourselves out in the woods in the rain caching with Guitar Nutz and Jamz. You know you are becoming a Nutz when you hang around with one caching in the rain at night without your supper. This had to be the wildest ride I've ever been on for one cache. Later we met up with Larry202br and his wife. We had a lot of fun, but as my stats show, it was a lot of work. We spent from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m on this cache. Six hours is a lot for one cache.

Today's Stats:
1 Geocaches.
16,952 Steps Today - 8.02 miles. Kind of makes up for yesterday.
8,022 Aerobic Steps.
793 Calories Burned.

The Big Vote

Today is election day. We picked up Robby and went to the poll to vote at noon today. After voting we met Alison at the Longbranch and enjoyed a burger together. It's kind of cold and windy today. I ate toooooo much and was miserable all afternoon. We skipped supper tonight. I didn't get much walking in today.

Today's Stats:
0 Geocaches.
1770 Steps Today - 0.83 miles. Oh, this is not good.
2032 Aerobic Steps.
62 Calories Burned.

Geocaching with Guitar Nutz

This evening we went after the newest cache in town, "Dusty Cache #5 - The Cliffs of Insanity". It was a three part multi-cache. We had just started searching when Guitar Nutz drove up. We teamed up with him to complete the cache. We had a lot of fun caching with Guitar Nutz. After this we went to Olathe and did the "Surewood #1" cache in the dark. It was also a lot of fun.


After caching we met with Robby and Alison for dinner at Houlihans's. Alison was showing off her new bug. She was thrilled with it.

Today's Stats:
2 Geocaches.
7137 Steps Today - 3.37 miles.
2032 Aerobic Steps.
331 Calories Burned.