Happy Friday the 13th to all. I hope it is not an unlucky day or night for anyone.

From the looks of the milestones, alot of cachers have been hitting it hard the past couple weeks. Also, I have seen alot of new caches in the state. Great to see the numbers going up. I did Goldie Locks and the 3 Bears over the past weekend. If you are in the Des Moines area you have got to do this new cache.

Lots of events planned for the next few weeks, please take the time to visit one or eight of the events and meet and greet (or eat) with your fellow cachers. Also, to the event planners, send a note after your event to "newsletter at Iowageocachers.org" and let us know how it went. We will be more than happy to put your event wrap-up in the next issue.

Thanks to Summitt Dweller and RedheadBasset for submitting a cache highlight and cacher profile. Also to all who sent a profile or highlight, many thanks. Now for the request, anyone can do it, just write a couple paragraphs about one of your caches, or answer the eight or nine things under the cacher profile and send it to "newsletter at iowageocachers.org". Your highlight might just get someone to travel hundreds of miles to do caches in your area.

GC.Com Username: RedheadBasset

Number of Finds/Hides: 320 / 9

Occupation? Angie- Dental Office/Business Manager; Steve - Firefighter for the City of Ames; The Redhead - 3rd Grader

How you got your username? Not very original but our daughter is a flaming redhead & our dog is a Basset Hound so we combined the 2. We had already found a cache & were in a hurry to get it logged so we had to come up with something quickly.

How long have you been caching? 6 months but it seems like longer. There should be a question such as How much money have you spent on gas for caching!

How did you get started? Angie's parents (LOBRI) started just before us & took the Redhead to their first find. Our whole family went along for their first hide & it was named after the Redhead (BLB's Easter Cache). After that, we were hooked! We got online under their user name & looked up caches in the Ames area & saw that there were quite a few. By the name of one (Teagarden by Fishpounder) we knew it was really close to our house so we looked for it & found it without a GPSr. We went out the next week & bought a Garmin eTrex Legend & have used it almost daily since. As a family, we have vowed to be healthier & geocaching is a great way for us to get off the couch & out into the fresh air.

Favorite cache/why? We really liked Andrew's Playground Cache (GCJPWN) by eblue in Perry because of the AWESOME camo/hiding method. We also liked it because we were the 1st ones to find it in 3 months. You should check it out. We also like Fools Gold (GCXER8) by LOBRI in West Liberty because we have to list one of their's! No, really, it's a clever little multi that goes pretty quickly. Lastly, we like Busy as A Beaver (GCVZ4A) outside Madrid, another one by eblue. It took us 3 attempts to find it, it was really hard to find the correct road to take but Google Earth helped. Again, AWESOME camo/hiding mechanism. Eblue is a clever guy (at least we think he's a guy)!

Least Favorite/why? As a team: Alex's Half Dollar Cache (GCGAAD) in Ames only because we were stupid newbies & it took us more attempts than we would ever admit - no fault of the cache or its owner! Steve's least fave: FORE (GCKVCF) in Hampton because it was impossible to find a good parking place that wasn't on private property & then due to the time of year, it was CHOCK full of itch weed. Steve hated it because since we couldn't find parking, we dropped him off as close as we could get & then drove around until he called us to pick him up. He was CRABBY because of the itch weed up to his armpits. Angie's least fave: Come & Get Me Cache (GCQV0H) in Boone county because we took the hard way in & it was up & down the steepest ravines I've been on. I thought I was going to die on top of a hill out in the boonies & no one would be able to retrieve my body. Luckily, just beyond the cache was the highway so we took the much longer but much easier way back to our car. The Redhead's & the Basset's least fave: Fruitless (GCXECN) in Story County. They both dislike it for the same but different reason: The Basset caught a baby bunny & was SOOOO happy but the nature-loving Redhead was instantly traumatized & screamed her head off so Steve made the dog drop the bunny. Very sad dog & very sad daughter but funny story.

Current caching goals? BEAT LOBRI in our personal caching competition to find caches in each of the 99 counties in the state of Iowa. Although there are no caches in Adams & Taylor counties so it will be 97 counties unless someone hides something there soon, hint, hint, hint! To date we are ahead 63 to 61. We would also like to have 500 finds by the end of 2006 but that may be a little ambitious!

Tama-Toledo Area Caches
By Sumitt Dweller

Thought I would take a moment just to highlight a few caches that exist in the Tama-Toledo area. T-T (the "Twin Cities of Iowa") are located adjacent to each other surrounding the junction of US Hwy 30 (the "Lincoln Highway") and US Hwy 63 in east-central Iowa. Tama and Toledo are about mid-way between Ames and Cedar Rapids. In fact, this is a common meeting point for represntatives from all three state universities (ISU, Iowa and UNI) as all three are nearly equal distance from Tama-Toledo. So, if you ever find yourself traveling on US 30 or US 63 in this area and you need a short break...stop and hunt some caches!

As for short driving breaks, the area offers four caches that are close to the highways and generally pretty quick and easy to find. They are "Bottom of the 5th", "Fair or Foul?", " cache_kidz stash" and "Lincoln's Land" (a virtual cache).

For more of a challenge (and given a little more time) try these:

"The ODDiTies Reloaded" - A twisted little multi/puzzle cache located in the same park as "Fair or Foul?".
"The Lincoln Highway Bridge" - Takes you on a brief driving tour of Tama along the old Lincoln Highway route. Final is not far from parking and very easy to find, I think.
"In Your Face Summitt Dweller" - Not far from The Lincoln Highway Bridge final but it's definitely not out in the open!
"Three ??? Bridges Cache" - Apparently a favorite among the locals. About 13 miles west of Tama and just east of Marshalltown. Rock climbing is NOT required, but could come in handy here!

“CACHE SIZES & APPROPRIATENESS PART 1”

Everyone seems to have their own favorite cache size, and, of course, their least favorite cache size! The rules for geocaches in Iowa include a stipulation that regardless of size, a cache must contain at minimum a log for finders to record their find information. That would seem to set at least a minimum size for a geocache, though some would argue that point as hiders continue to seem to find smaller and smaller items to fit that paper log inside. But, more on that later. Starting with the biggest, cache sizes range from a 5-gallon plastic pail with lid down to the “evil” little nano-caches that I call “button” caches, mainly because I can’t think of a better name!

Not all cache listings specify the actual container used, but all must specify a general size like Large, Regular, Small, or Mini. Knowing some common types of each helps in the search. And, if like me, you also like to hide geocaches, these articles will give you some ideas and may be springboards for new thoughts of your own on cache containers. If, indeed, you do lots of hides, you are also a “recycler” in that you’ve got family, friends and maybe even co-workers saving containers for you to give new life to as geocaches. My daughter-in-law, Elizabeth, has two horses and gives them various nutritional supplements and medicines which conveniently come in fairly large size thick plastic bottles and pails. Some have screw-on lids, and others have snap-on lids. Although, she’s not a cacher herself (I keep hoping, though!), she does pass these on to me for use in my hides. Angie, a co-worker brings me pill bottles from her family, and another co-worker, Joe, who likes to munch on Altoids, gives me the tins when he’s done. Unfortunately, no one gives me ammo boxes!

Just a side note here: I always clean out any container with soap and water before preparing it as a cache. Besides being a nice thing to do, I think it’s a necessity due to many animals having a heightened sense of smell. My first caches were large plastic supplement bottles that had contained capsules with “green foods” in them. I was surprised to find many of these caches getting mangled and chewed on quite quickly – apparently, raccoons want to be healthy, too! Washing them seems to remove the attractive scent.

Have you ever seen a Large geocache? This is defined as a 5-gallon pail, you know, the type that holds that black stuff you spread over an asphalt driveway or the big orange ones ice fishermen sit on while fishing. Ask around at the next Event Cache that you attend to see how many geocaches of this type others cachers have seen. In Eastern Iowa where I live and mainly cache, I can’t even count five Large caches that I’ve seen.

With that thought in mind, I did a quick online search and found one that’s 20-25 gallons in Michigan! How would you like to report a “Did Not Find” on that one – it would be embarrassing wouldn’t it?! That hide is known as Cache Size:Extra Large (GCWGEN), of course.

So, in descending order, that brings us to the Regular size cache which is typically a metal ammo box or a large Tupperware container that looks variously like a shoe box, pasta holder or large leftover meal saver. Obviously, cost enters into the decision when you’re making a cache. While Tupperware can get quite expensive, I’ve had good luck at stores like Farm & Fleet for some caches, especially the “nested” ones that contain 3 or 4 sizes all together for one price. For ammo box sources, you’ve got your local army surplus store, which I started with, and the internet, which I now use because I can get boxes a lot cheaper. The websites I’ve used have a fixed shipping charge for an order, so I order enough boxes at one time to make them less expensive per box than what I could purchase locally.

Ammo box caches are the kind that most geocachers “cut their teeth” on in both finding and hiding. They allow for a reasonably sized log, usually a spiral notebook, and for a pencil and pen. Some kind cachers even leave a small pencil sharpener in the cache. Also, remember to place these in some type of ziplock plastic bag. We’ve all found one of those squishy, mildewed logs, that you don’t want to touch, let alone sign. Other fun items to include in these hides are various children’s toys like sidewalk chalk, small cars and trucks and puzzles of various types. This size also works best for holding Travel Bugs, the little toys with a dog tag attached with a unique number that’s used in tracking the bug as it moves around the world. I’ll address these and bug “missions” in a future column.

One other use for Large and Regular caches is the Travel Bug “Hotel.” As the name suggests, besides being a geocache to search for, it is also a place for TBs to rest on their journey around the state, country or world.. Since some Travel Bugs are “on a schedule,” it makes sense to place this type of hide where there is a lot of cacher traffic – along a major highway, for instance, not 3 miles into a woods in a park that only wild turkeys frequent. The 10th cache I found was Travel Bug Trader (GCH4Z0) by Space Cowboy & Patty Ann near I-280 in West Lake Park in Davenport. It was also my introduction to thorns in geocaching and why wearing long pants is a good idea. TB Hotels I’ve placed are Need a Ride? (GCRN6X) at an abandoned weigh station on I-80, Clarwood TB Hotel & Resort (GCRY7Q) on Highway 30, Brick House Travel Bug Lodge (GCVY2J) on Highway 6, and Grant Wood Rolling Hills TB Hotel (GCX6B2) at the intersection of Highways 64 and 38. We also recently dropped by a LOBRI TB Hotel cache on Highway 61 called Muscatine Island Travel Bug Lodge (GCXPQB).

Coming up: Small, Micro and Nano geocache sizes and what sizes are appropriate for what areas!