GoLI Member Spotlight - JellyBelly1224 (aka Santa Claus)
1. What does your cacher name mean?
JellyBelly1224 – It is a combination of my nickname that the reindeer gave me and the one day of the year that I cannot geocache.
2. When did you start caching and how did you find out about it?
I started caching in January of 2001. In September of 2000, I received a letter from a young man named Bryan asking for a GPS for Christmas. He said he wanted it to search for geocaches. I never needed a GPS to find any location, so I was intrigued to see what this was about.
3. Describe your first find.
My first find was Mingo (GC30) in Colby, Kansas. I need to cache incognito as best as I can, so I figured a geocache on a dirt road in NW Kansas would be a good place to start. I also liked the name of the cache since it sounded like the name of one of my reindeer.
4. How many finds do you have?
How many geocaches are there now? I have found all of them, even the ones hidden by Bigedyben. I am fortunate that I can cache every day of the year but one. The sled makes great time getting from cache to cache and Rudolph’s nose comes in very handy for night caching.
a. Find count by type – All of them
b. Favorite find type? – I love events. It’s always fun to come up with a backstory so I can blend in at the events like a normal geocacher.
c. Pick one favorite find? – Oobleck and the Sea of Ice (GC18G1Z). It is a beautiful location and in 13 years I am the only one to actually find it. There are 3 “Found It” logs, but I go back periodically and check the book and no one has signed it yet. Those 3 are now on the permanent naughty list.
5. How many caches have you hidden?
a. Hide count by type - 1
b. Favorite hide type? – Letterbox hybrid with a stamp of Rudolph
c. Pick one favorite cache that you’ve hidden? – This was the only cache that I hid. It was on the coast of Zimbabwe since I did not want to have the hide too close to the workshop. The local admin archived the cache shortly after I hid it though. He felt that my home location was too far away for me to do proper maintenance. I tried to explain that it would not be an issue, but he said he was following the admin “guidelines”.
6. Stats review -
a. How many state and country souvenirs? I have every state and country souvenir.
b. Jasmer challenge? Done
c. Fizzy challenge? Done, quite a few times over.
d. Calendar days? – 365 of 366. It is unlikely that I will ever finish this grid, but you never know.
e. Streak? 365 days each leap year.
f. Slump? 1 day. Same day every year.
g. FTFs? 0 – I don’t consider this a real stat, plus I have a bit of an unfair advantage in regards to speed. My sled is even faster than the Iggymobile, so I leave the FTF game to everyone else.
h. Best caching week? I like to spread the finds out, but I am pretty sure I got about 127,000 last week. Wanted to make sure the sled was running at peak condition before heading out this year.
i. Best caching Weekend? I believe our best weekend was back in February of 2017 when we got every cache in Wisconsin.
7. Do you trade SWAG? I don’t collect swag because Mrs. Claus doesn’t like clutter around the house.
a. Any signature SWAG items? I leave lumps of coal in certain hides. Usually that will be if the coordinates are really soft or if the container is a lurvig.
8. Like to move trackables? I used to move trackables, but then I would see logs from people saying that a trackable can’t move 9,000 miles in an hour.
a. How many do you own? Just one. I have a Christmas tree trackable on my keychain that I use to dip into all the caches I find so I can track my mileage. I think it is up to 46.3 million miles now?
9. Cache with GPS or Phone?
Neither. I have a state-of-the-art satellite link system in the sled that coordinates with my own satellite that is in a geocentric orbit around the earth. It is accurate to within the width of a human hair, although it can get a little wonky when I am on the South Fork of Long Island.
10. Do you have any geocaching goals?
Now that I’ve been outed with this GoLI Member Spotlight, I may actually create a geocaching.com account. But backlogging all of my 4 million plus finds will require the help of the Elves’ data entry department and they an important part of our toy making process, so I am not sure they have the time.
11. Do you cache with anyone?
I have 9 caching “buddies” as part of my caching team. The elves are all muggles. They think the whole thing is made up, which is kind of ironic if you ask me. Mrs. Claus tolerates my hobby, but she thinks the game is kind of silly and rarely tags along. However, when she does come with me, she always seems to be able to point out where the cache is without getting out of the sleigh…..smh
12. Tell a memorable caching story
We did the 2400+ caches on the ET Trail in about 3 hours. It only took us that long because Prancer needed to make a lot of pit stops. Too much Mountain Dew for her. We never let her forget it.
13. Bucket list cache?
Since I have found every geocache, my bucket list cache would have to be the first time that GoLI brings a Mega to Long Island.
14. Besides geocaching, what else should we know about you?
I am real. I know Google seems to think that I am a myth and that it is okay to ruin things for the children, but I am 100% real. Also, I am a HUGE Jersey Shore fan. Can’t get enough of it. I have seen every episode of every season, including the Jersey Shore Family Vacation seasons. After I get in my GTL and I am home relaxing with Mrs. C, it is T-shirt time!
15. What do you want GoLI to work on?
Just continue hiding quality caches on Long Island and make the area as densely hidden as possible. The more caches everyone hides, the less area there will be for Bigedyben to hide his. Loved GoLI’s Project Dragon’s Fire! We were stuck on PDF8 for a while, but Vixen had a breakthrough moment. She’s our puzzle expert. Also, GoLI should have more events when they’re allowed again. I secretly pop in at GoLI events now and then and it’s always a good time.