May 2020 GoLI Member Spotlight -
tman109ner
1. What does your cacher name mean?
Tman is my son Tommy’s nickname. He added the rest. I never changed it.
2. When did you start caching and how did you find out about it?
I started in September of 2009 but didn’t find my first cache until October11, 2009.
My son learned about it in Boy Scouts and convinced me to try it.
3. Describe your first find.
I didn’t know what we were getting into but my son was very persuasive. So I zoomed into a cache on the map then we rode to it on our bikes. We never found it. Turns out it was missing. A few weeks later we tried again when we were camping on a hike we knew there was one near our favorite waterfall. The hint was fallen. This time we found it. We were hooked. Spent the next 2 months caching this way since we had no GPS or smartphone until my son received one for Christmas that year. Ok it was only 17 caches but it wasn’t easy caching this way,
4. How many finds do you have? 4128
a. Find count by type
Traditional Cache 3114
Unknown Cache 392
Lab Cache 186
Event Cache 124
Letterbox Hybrid 112
Multi-cache 89
Virtual Cache 36
Wherigo Cache 27
Earthcache 24
Cache In Trash Out Event 11
Mega-Event Cache 8
Webcam Cache 2
Community Celebration Event 1
Geocaching HQ Block Party 1
Groundspeak HQ 1
Letterbox Hybrid 112
Multi-cache 89
Virtual Cache 36
Wherigo Cache 27
Earthcache 24
Cache In Trash Out Event 11
Mega-Event Cache 8
Webcam Cache 2
Community Celebration Event 1
Geocaching HQ Block Party 1
Groundspeak HQ 1
b. Favorite find type? Gadget caches or any cache that takes me to some place I have never been to before.
c. Pick one favorite find?
It’s hard to pick just one but I loved the HQ Geotour which brought me to my some of my favorite caches like GC32A0H and GC20Y24
5. How many caches have you hidden? Only 18 but I hope to change that
a. Hide count by type All traditionals
b. Favorite hide type?
c. Pick one favorite cache that you’ve hidden? Any one my son at age 11 did the research for
6. Stats review -
a. How many state and country souvenirs? 27 states, 3 Countries
b. Jasmer challenge? Getting there 15 holes
c. Fizzy challenge? Still 9 to fill here
d. Calendar days? 366 days
e. Streak? 65
f. Slump? 83
g. FTFs? I don’t really know. I never kept track. I went for them at the beginning because my son liked to go for them. Now I only go if the mood strikes me.
h. Best caching week? Weekend? 205 caches September 28-29, 2019 with Angeq123
7. Do you trade SWAG? Any signature SWAG items? Not really only if something is really cool.
8. Like to move trackables? How many do you own? Don’t move many. I like to rescue ones stuck in caches. I own a lot. I have only sent 18 into the wild. They have all gone missing.
9. Cache with GPS or Phone? Mostly phone these days since my GPS refuses to communicate with my computer anymore.
10. Do you have any geocaching goals? Finish my Jasmar and Fizzy grids. Cache in more Countries.
11. Do you cache with anyone? My sisters Angeq123 and Ultra 648 and lately Fatboysuede, Punchappy, Hunt4fish
12. Tell a memorable caching story
Do I tell you about the time Picklemule pushed Ultra648 in the stream (not really, it only looked that way) or the time when my 80yo Mom (Zarbe9) got stuck in a tree and some teens had to help her out (I wasn’t there for that one). No, I think I will tell you a generalized story about geocaching. I told you my son started me and I in turn I started my siblings (Angeq123, Ultra648, Mninblu and 4evered) Angeq123 then turned my mom onto it and since then we have had a lot of adventures. Who would have thought that this hobby would bring us closer together and take us places we would not have gone to without it, like on a 2 mile walk through a dark tunnel to get to an old cache or to find a very large troll under a bridge. I’ve meet great friends through this too. I would have to say my memorable caching story is being introduced to geocaching.
13. Bucket list cache? Mingo and The Stash (I was 30 miles from this once but someone (Zarbe9) wouldn’t let us continue on. We don’t speak of this.)
14. Besides geocaching, what else should we know about you? I’m a Nurse, I love camping, hiking and anything that keeps me outdoors. Oh and yes I play Pokémon. There I said it.
15. What do you want GoLI to work on? I’ll have to get back to you on that one. You are doing such a great job already. I love the group, the challenges and the events. The zoom meeting was also fun in absence of events right now. Keep up the good work.