IGO NEWSLETTER 2009
ISSUE #06
In This Issue...
After a two month summer hiatus the IGO Newsletter is back!
We are currently out of Cacher Profiles
, so PLEASE send in your cacher profile. We would greatly appreciate it! :) We have the past two Cache of the Month winners, a couple photos to share, and more!
Upcoming Events
| Marr Park Picnic | 07/26/2009 | Ainsworth, IA |
| GeoCaching 301, 201, 101 at Wickiup | 09/05/2009 | Wickiup Hill Outdoor Leaning Center (10260 Morris Hills Rd, Toddville, IA 52341) |
| Duck, Duck, Geocaching Event, Duck...Goose! | 09/19/2009 | The Lagoon Pavilion at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids, IA |
| IGO Hike-N-Seek 2009 | 09/26/2009 | Headquartered at Plymouth County's Hillview Recreation Area just west of Hinton, IA |
| Breakfast in the Boonies, Part Two (DSM Area) | 10/03/2009 | Grandview Park enclosed shelter house, Des Moines |
| 2nd Annual Southeast Iowa October Cache Fest | 10/17/2009 | Lake Wapello |
Upcoming Mega-Events
| Midwest Geobash 2009 | 07/23/2009 | Fulton County Fairgrounds - Wauseon, Ohio |
| West Bend $1000 Cache Ba$h | 08/15/2009 | West Bend, Wisconsin |
Cacher Milestones
|
Hike-n-Seek 2009
The Iowa Geocachers Organization's flagship event HIKE-N-SEEK is approaching and bumanfam is heading up the event this year! A big thank you to bumanfam as this is a big feat! And special thank you goes to EVERYONE who is helping with Hike-n-Seek 2009 as well! The Iowa Geocachers Organization would like to invite everybody to attend. It's going to be another GREAT year for Hike-n-Seek!!
More details to come...
IGO Board of Directors Election Results
The Iowa Geocachers Organization recently had five openings on the nine member IGO Board of Directors and the election ended on June 23rd, 2009. Your newly elected (and in a couple cases re-elected) BOD members are:
- bumanfam
- busterbabes
- Hill Folk
- Welch
- AB-n-AP
Congratulations! And a special thanks to all members of IGO who nominated, seconded, and voted! Thanks also to everyone who ran for the IGO BOD.
The new Executive Committee voted by the IGO BOD is:
- President ~ AB-n-AP
- Vice-President ~ Parabola
- Secretary ~ bumanfam
- Treasurer ~ RedHeadBassett
IGO "Extra Effort" Geocoin
SuperGoober presented the IGO "Extra Effort" Geocoin to AB-n-AP at the "Tucker Park Picnic" Event on June 27th, 2009. You may view the IGO "Extra Effort" Geocoin page
which also shows some guidelines that is used to determine who will be invited to log the coin.
*On a personal note, AP and I wish to say THANK YOU for the great honor of being awarded the IGO "Extra Effort" Geocoin!!
Cache of the Month
Written, Organized, and Directed by Parabola
May 2009 Cache of the Month
It's gotten very nice out and in between shower's I've been seeing a lot of cacher's take advantage of the nice weather and getting out caching. I haven't been able to cause I've got to much on the "honey do" list, but hoping that will change soon. I'm starting to have withdrawal's. This month we had some really neat caches that took you to some cool places, and some really great hides as well. Here's May 2009 IGO's Cache of the Month:
Not new but improved
By 67yardbird. They were nice enough to give us a little info about their hide and how it came to be.
Ok here is how Not New But Improved came to be. A couple of years ago my youngest son and myself found a cache on the Oskaloosa bike trail. it was called father times revenge by Twiggie & the Bear. without talking to much about it, I will just say that cache was the inspiration for not new but improved, even though they are nothing alike. I wanted to place a cache that fit into it's environment so well, that it would be virtually invisible. I tried a number of different things that worked pretty well, but the problem was that the effects of repeated exposure to the elements had me constantly fixing and replacing those cache containers. this cache container is maintenance free and will be just as hard to get your eyes on a year or 2 down the road as it is today. This cache was placed on a portion of the Eddyville sand prairie, because it offered the perfect hiding spot for the container and it has a nice private spot to bring your family for a picnic. I had loads of fun making this cache and i hope everyone will enjoy finding it. 67YaRdBiRd
As always the nomination's are open for June's Cache of the Month in the IGO Forum's. Bookmark's are set up under my GC.com profile, and there's some quick link's to them in the forum thread's. Thanks everyone who took the time to nominate a cache and those that voted. Also if you have the chance try and make it down to the GPS Maze Adventure's Exhibit at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Ia. I'm told from here the Maze is going oversea's for a while. It will be on display till September 8th and plus you get a cool icon for visiting it.
See ya on the trail's or at an event,
Parabola
June 2009 Cache of the Month
It was a very close race this month, and we had the most overall votes as ever. I had kind of forgotten about this cache until it was nominated and then just the name alone brought back the memories of it. It was a fun cache to do and you may have to use a skill you haven't used in year's to find it, or learn a new skill. It was a neat change of pace and just was something different. So I give you Morse Code.
by DazedandConfused.
Hello Geocachers! Thank you for recognizing Morse Code as a "cache of the month".
The idea for this cache came to me shortly after retirement. I was searching for a micro-controller project. I realized it would be easy to use one to generate Morse code characters, and the cache was born. It has been broadcasting the coordinates ever since, 24/7, over 900,000 times. The sending speed is painfully slow for people who know Morse code, but I wanted anyone to be able to decode the numbers. I've had several inquiries about how the transmitter works, so I wrote an explanation. If you want that kind of excruciating detail, send me an email. By the way, the transmitter, located in the house, does comply to FCC "part 15" regulations and consumes very little electricity.
The cache container got washed away in the flood of 2008, but I was amazed to find it on top of a pile of debris some fifty feet away from the original location.
We've enjoyed the posts, and hope that Morse Code has given geocachers a fun experience.
dazedandconfused
Keep those nomination's rolling in. :)
Happy and safe caching,
Parabola
Cacher Profile
Unfortunately we have run out of cacher profiles. Please feel free to send in a cacher profile at anytime as we think this is one of the favorite parts of the IGO Newsletter. Some example questions are below, but feel free to come up with your own if you want too! :)
What is your Geocaching name?
How did you get your username?
How long have you been caching?
How did you first learn about geocaching and why have you continued to geocache?
What is (are) your favorite geocache(s)?
What are your favorite types of geocaches?
What is your least favorite geocache?
What is your least favorite type of geocache??
Why do you like or dislike geocoins and how many do you have in your personal collection?
Which do you prefer more: finding geocaches or hiding geocaches?
If money and time were no object, what & where are the cache(s) you would love to find?
How do you prepare for a full day of geocaching?
What is the furthest distance you've traveled for a specific single geocache?
Where & how far away is the farthest geocache you've ever found from your home coordinates?
Video of the Month
Part I
Here's some great video posted by Team Gamsci from the Amazing-race-cache-course during the Kick Back and Cache Grill and Chill event. Thanks to bucknuts for bringing this to the attention of the IGO Newsletter.
Check out part two and part three of the Amazing-race-cache-course too!
Part II
Part III
*If anybody has any great video they'd like to share, please send it to the IGO Newsletter!
Mini-podcast
Unfortunately no one submitted an audio file for the mini-podcast this newsletter, but we would like keep it published so everyone knows it's still available and can submit a short podcast (0:10 - 2:00) to
and can talk about pretty much anything. This portion is totally reliant on reader submissions so please feel free to record yourselves talking and send it to us! :)
IGO Member Submitted Photos
Blue Grass Tom submitted some fun photos of he and Hawkeyelaw finding the Beagle Box cache near Manchester, IA!
Photo submitted by Blue Grass Tom
Photo submitted by Blue Grass Tom
Photo submitted by Blue Grass Tom
Please submit your stories, ideas, photos, and more!
We would love to receive any personal caching stories you would like to share. If you hid or found a geocache that you would like to highlight, please share your experience. If anybody would like to submit an article(s) for the IGO Newsletter please feel free! The next time you go on a trip, vacation, event, etc keep a journal or take notes and then feel free to send your geocaching experience to the IGO Newsletter to share with others.
If you have a great idea you'd like to see added to the IGO Newsletter please do not hesitate to contact us at
or through our profile on geocaching.com. If you have something "off the wall" that you're unsure if it may or may not be suitable for the IGO Newsletter please feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to discuss.
If you have photos to share with IGO members please send them to
All user/member submissions will be subject to approval before being published in the IGO Newsletter.
Thanks for reading. Looking forward to the next IGO Newsletter!
