GoLI Member Spotlight
September 2020 - TedTheExplorer
1. What does your cacher name mean? TedTheExplorer is based on our son Theodore’s (Teddy) name. We picked his name and what he would be doing when he went out geocaching. Now we cache as a family of Matt, Maria, Teddy & Victoria (Tory).
2. When did you start caching and how did you find out about it? We started Christmas day 2013 (Teddy was 5). Maria found out about geocaching and we got a basic GPS device as an X-Mas gift for Teddy. We picked something that would keep him interested in the outdoors.
3. Describe your first find. Teddy & I went out on X-mas day to check out his new device and found the closest cache to us “Flags” (GC19JBE) a simple MKH that took us about ½ hour to find.
4. How many finds do you have?
a. Find count by type
4,524 Total Found
3,690 Traditional Geocache
112 Multi-cache
57 Virtual Cache
41 Letterbox Hybrid
42 All Event Cache Types
35 Event Cache
5 Cache In Trash Out Event
2 Mega-Event Cache
452 Mystery Cache
5 Webcam Cache
28 EarthCache
20 Wherigo Cache
77 Lab Cache
b. Favorite find type? Unknown
c. Pick one favorite find? One find is tough. Top 3 are Bridges & Arches of Central Park (GC17MX1) by Addisonbr, Sight Unseen (GC15NP2) by Wsack & Culper Junior (GC240F0) by Childofatom
5. How many caches have you hidden? 52
a. Hide count by type
25 Traditional Geocache
14 Multi-cache
13 Mystery Cache
b. Favorite hide type? Unknown
c. Pick one favorite cache that you’ve hidden? “Dr. Brody’s Note” (GC6Y0GX) cool combination of theme and field puzzle.
6. Stats review -
a. How many state and country souvenirs? 2 countries. 22 states
b. Jasmer challenge? Completed
c. Fizzy challenge? Completed
d. Calendar days? Completed 3x
e. Streak? Currently in progress 80+ days and working to continue
f. Slump? 27 days
g. FTFs? That’s not a real stat :0 - 76
h. Best caching week? Weekend? Week 84, Weekend 43 We had a tradition of getting caches on January 1st and trying to beat the prior year’s amount which is why we have 125 finds on 1/1.
7. Do you trade SWAG? Any signature SWAG items? Have you seen our bears? LOL we leave a different color counting bear in each cache that can fit it. There are 6 colors in total.
8. Like to move trackables? How many do you own? We like to log trackables but not move them. Most of the ones we own that were released in the wild have gone missing. The ones we have and have kept are milestone or commemorative coins like 4000 finds, Bridges & Arches etc.
9. Cache with GPS or Phone? Both but prefer GPS for the accuracy.
10. Do you have any geocaching goals? Our current goal is to get a cache in Maine to complete the east coast. But there are too many to mention.
11. Do you cache with anyone? We like to cache as a family.
12. Tell a memorable caching story – We don’t have a particular story but some of the best times we’ve spent together as a family on road trips is caching. We’ve done trips to West Virigina/DC getting virtuals and tons of cool gadget caches by WVTim. A trip to Georgia and surrounding states getting year 2000 caches and multiple states in a few days. The Lost Cities? (GC2FKAQ) by Lati.dude was such a great day in the swamp with Teddy (he was 9 at the time). Oh there was this one time Teddy & I saw this couple who were geocaching newbs in Shu Swamp and we tried to help them out to find a Mushnikas cache. Somehow those newbs have more finds then we do now.
13. Bucket list cache? Mingo, HQ, Ape cache.
14. Besides geocaching, what else should we know about you? Both Teddy & Tory are scouts and we have a new dog named Scout. We like to travel and explore new states and areas.
15. What do you want GoLI to work on? Any contests that gets more hides published, especially non traditionals are great. Contests that don’t require huge numbers of finds so that established locals can compete (i.e. the Rebus hidden tickets). Get Ben a publicist or fire his current one. He’s not that bad ;P