GoLI Member Spotlight – November 2019
dph1
1. What does your cacher name mean? Well, it is not very creative, it is just my initials and my email address.
2. When did you start caching and how did you find out about it? I started in July 2014. I found out about geocaching from my bestie Jax Berrios, aka Wushu Sugar. On Mother’s Day 2014 I called Jax to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day and I asked her what she was doing. She said that she was geocaching with the family. I said, you have to tell me about that. Not to long after I was at her house and she was helping me create an account. When asked for an account name I froze and could only think of my email address, so dph1 was entered.
3. Describe your first find. My first find was on Staten Island, GC4EDDK, Arthur Kill Cache which was just archived on 10/27/2019. I was with my muggle buddy, Harry, and heading home from the shooting range when I said that a geocache was on the road that we were on. He said ok and we stopped. I was not sure what I was looking for but between the previous logs and picture, I found it. I was hooked.
4. How many finds do you have? Total finds - 1837
a. Find count by type? Traditional = 1550, Event Cache = 99, Unknown Cache = 74, Lab Cache = 57, Letterbox Hybrid = 22, Multi-Cache = 14, Virtual Cache = 8, Earthcache = 6, Mega-Event Cache = 3, Wherigo Cache = 3, CITO Event = 1
b. Favorite find type? Any type of cache makes my day!
5. Pick one favorite find? GC33NAZ - Evolution of the Rest Stop! in West Virginia by WVTim. My first WVTim gadget cache and I was hooked.
6. How many caches have you hidden? 2 Hides…I know, I know but you have to have the time to maintain them.
a. Hide count by type? Traditional = 2
b. Favorite hide type? Traditional and there are so many types of containers to use.
c. Pick one favorite cache that you’ve hidden? My first hide, King Arthur’s Halloween in honor of the 2 previous caches at that location.
7. Stats review -
a. How many state and country souvenirs? 6 States, 0 Countries unless you count the USA.
b. Jasmer challenge? 181 hidden months out of 235
c. Fizzy challenge? 40 Diff/Terr combinations found out of 81
d. Calendar days? Completed the 366
e. Streak? 11 consecutive days
f. Slump? 22 consecutive days
g. FTFs? 9 FTFs – 3 Solo, 6 Shared
h. Best caching week? Weekend? Weekend = 40 finds on 2018-07-07 & 2018-07-08, Week = 83 finds from 2018-07-02 to 2018-07-08.
8. Do you trade SWAG? Any signature SWAG items? Yes, I use to leave Fleur-di-Lis charms, then I went to smiley face beads. Now is its little gnomes, fairies and American flag magnets. Not sure what it will be next.
9. Like to move trackables? How many do you own? I love to move trackables. I get excited when I find one. If I cannot move it along quickly I will drop at an event or give to someone that will be travelling soon. 16 of my trackables are out in the wild but at least 10 are missing.
10. Cache with GPS or Phone? Phone but just got a GPS. I haven’t used the Garmin yet.
11. Do you have any geocaching goals? To get to HQ and do the first cache. Also, to cache in every state and in another country.
12. Do you cache with anyone? I have been caching solo recently but I always go caching with Wushu Sugar, my geo partner in crime.
13. Tell a memorable caching story. Oh, this has to be the story where I cried at the South Shore Nature Preserve with Wushu Sugar and SassySarah7 on 1/31/2016. There was snow on the ground and it was chilly. We were heading for the Crow’s Nest (GC5MFN2) and enjoying the other caches along the way. All was good until the trail had a big fallen tree in front of us. My buddies said let’s go straight, I said no let’s get around the tree and go that way. Well, we went straight and straight into the frozen marsh and on frozen channels. We kept going south and when we finally turned east to head for the cache we were in the reeds and on a frozen channel. Then, I fell through, 1 leg up to my thigh. Jax is pulling me to the left and Sarah is pulling me to the right and I am crying. They pull me out and then Sarah falls in and starts to laugh. Now, I want a helicopter to air lift me out…I know…I know…very dramatic. We see the end of the boardwalk where we should be and Jax heads over and Sarah and I follow and climb over the railing. Now, I could care less about the cache and I just want to leave. They keep looking for it and guess who finds it….Yes….me! Cache found, logged signed and we start heading out. We make it out of the Preserve and I am covered in mud. Jax asks if I want to check for ticks and I say NOPE…I just want to go home. We did miss 1 cache in the Preserve and have not gone back to get it yet.
14. Bucket list cache? GC1764C - A Real Challenge (Muther's Challenge)
15. Besides geocaching, what else should we know about you? I love the color purple and my favorite holiday is Halloween. I love to watch anything about aliens and paranormal ghost stuff and I am a competitive shooter.
16. What do you want GoLI to work on? So far you are doing it especially now with the monthly events. Maybe there can be some sort of agenda or topics to discuss.