Category Archives: USA 2011

Getting my kicks on Route 66 …..

This has been a big couple of days. It started yesterday morning at 4:30 am, getting on the road to make it to Barstow to meet up with Kay and Bob from Washington State. We were on a mission.

The mission: to complete the Route 66 Power Trail from Barstow to Needles over 2 days. What is this Power Trail I hear you say.

The Route 66 Power Trail is 800 geocaches hidden by Team Stevecat on the Route 66 Highway over a 126 kilometre section between Barstow and Needles, California.

The trip up to Barstow for me was uneventful but for the LA bound traffic it was a carpark due to a crash and fire on the inbound lanes of the I-15 near Cajon Junction. In another hour the sun started to come up.

My first stop was to Lenwood to pick up Kay. Her truck had suffered mechanical issues with a broken drive shaft so she was camped in her caravan at the Repair Shop. Repairs were going to take a couple of days so perfect timing to tackle the trail.

It was next into Barstow to the Days Inn to meet up with our driver, Bob. After a quick meet and greet, we were on the road to the first cache which was still 45 kilometres away past Newberry Springs.

It was time to start caching after some photos at Cache #1.

The weather was perfect for a run like this with the temperature around 20 degrees, overcast and a slight breeze. It would stay like this most of the day but on Day 2 the temperatures were slightly higher and less cloud.

It didn’t take long and we had a system running with Bob driving to as close as possible with Kay and I alternating going out to grab the cache while the other wrote on the log.

It was made easier by us finding duplicate cache containers in some of the early caches. The extras would have occurred when teams on a quick run through not finding a cache within a couple of minutes putting out a replacement. Some of the extras were within one metre of the original. At the end of the 2 days we ended up with 6 extras which have come back to Australia to form a mini Route 66 Power Trail.

The route paralleled the I-40 as well as the Union Pacific Railroad – both of which were very busy with “tractor trailers” and freight trains respectively.

By the end of yesterday we had passed through Ludlow, Bagdag and Amboy stopping at Amboy Crater on the way. The whole area around Amboy was volcanic in days gone by. These towns are near on ghost towns now as most of the traffic moves through on I-40.

Just after Amboy, we found cache #500 and since it was now dark decided to call it a day and head back on the I-40 to Barstow and crash for the night – we were exhausted. We had found 508 caches for the day and there were still 300 more caches to find with 150 kilometres to drive back to the hotel.

Today was Day 2 on the Trail and we were not as enthusiastic as yesterday. With 150 kilometres to drive to pick up the Trail, we stopped off at a few other geocaches along the way to break up the journey, finally arriving at Cache #501 around 11:30 am. Today was a little warmer and the sun was out but it was still pleasant caching weather.

There were a few side journeys to pick up other caches but most of the day was spent doing the 300 caches left to go. Again there were a couple of towns of years gone by to go through – Cadiz and Essex, traffic was light and once again it got dark before we had finished.

Cache #800 was found at 7:45 pm. We had not finished yet as there were a number of thankyou caches to do before getting back on the I-40.

There was also the drive of 180 kilometres to pick up my car at Barstow then drive another 160 kilometres back to Placentia. I slept most of the trip back to Barstow, farwelled Kay and Bob and returned to Placentia just after midnight.

Team Stevecat has put together a video of the Route 66 experience found here – Route 66 – 800 Caches

It had taken two days but what an adventure. I met up with a couple of Geocachers I have never met and spent 2 days traveliing and caching on Route 66. It was a blast with a couple of very enjoyable days with a couple of great people.

I have now ticked this one off my “Bucket List“. I havent got the T-shirt yet but have picked up a couple of Geocoins. Would I do it again – not sure but probably would ……

 

Hitting the slopes at Mt Rose …

What a difference from yesterday. The wind had gone, the sun was out, Mt Rose was open and the slopes looked great.

Met up with Chief Brown. He had already had an incident with a small child going headlong into a tree. I followed one of the ambulances up to the Resort.

After that was sorted, he organised a ticket for me and off I went to hit the slopes. His parting words were, “be careful out there – it is icy”.

It was only 10 minutes and I felt just how icy it was.

Coming off the first chair, I headed straight down to the second chair and as I headed over an edge, my right ski came off (still dont know how) and down I went, hard onto my right knee – Owwwww.

Scrambled up and continued, afterall, it was strapped up already so the strapping should hold it in place.

I continued skiing until 1:00 pm but then it hurt too much when on the chair lifts with bending the knee to 90 degrees and the extra weight of the boot and ski.

Oh well, it was great skiing while it lasted.

Went back to the hotel to return the skis, put the leg up for a bit before returning to the Resort for a beer with the Ski Patrol guys and give Mike a MFS cap and shirt.

As the sun set, it was time to pack up my room as I am heading out to LA tomorrow for a series of meetings with various Fire Departments.

Windy Day at Lake Tahoe …

I was looking forward to this day. A chance to ski the incredible snow that had fallen at Mt Rose and the Tahoe basin.

It was ominous though as the wind was howling as I drove up the mountain. It was soon realised when I arrived at Mt Rose to be told that the resort was closed with 80 mph winds at the Summit.

A phone call to Chief Brown and he suggested that Diamond Peak should be open as it is sheltered from most weather.

It seemed that everyone else had the same idea and was heading that way. The crowd was building quickly but I still managed a park close to the Lodge. Even still a ride on the tram from the car to the Lodge was in order – after all you have to experience everything.

Even though the Ski Resort was relatively sheltered there were still some strong winds at the Summit.

With all the people that had descended on the mountain, the best runs were the black diamond runs, and I played on these until……

With the winds, there was some weather heading across Lake Tahoe. From the chair lift you could see it coming. It hit the Resort at around 2:00 pm with wind and rain.

A good time to call it quits and explore Incline Village. I visted the Information Centre (there is a geocache there) and stopped in at the Fire Station, before heading back to Reno. Wasnt a bad day all round.

Stepping back in time at Virginia City …

First day off after 7 days and it was time for a road trip to get out and smell the roses but we didn’t find any but did find geocaches.

Peggy and her kids of 4McElfish fame offered to take me down to Virginia City to experience Nevada as it used to be.

Virginia City is one of those Wild West towns you see in the movies and of course, Bonanza. Its main claim to fame is the Gold and Silver mining in the 1800’s and that is the main draw card for tourists. The main street still has many of the old buildings of the time and some of the shop keepers dress up in period costume.

We walked around town taking in the sights including the cemetary which had a section for Firemen. Seemingly back when, people couldnt afford to be buried with a headstone and the like but the Unions and organisations of the time paid for the burials. Other sections included the Masons and Oddfellows.

The further we drove into the back blocks the more little groups of graves appeared on the hillsides. It would have been tough times back then but every second building seemed to be a saloon and there was a thriving red light district.

Further south and we had a run in with an old time prospector. In an area that looked more like a dump than anything else with old tin cans spread all over, we were hunting a geocache, when an old beat up jeep turned up with a prospector sporting a long scruffy beard telling us that here was active gold mining going on and we were on private land (you could have fooled us).

We left without the find as he wasn’t interested in what we were looking for as long as his gold wasn’t in jeopardy. He would have made more money from recycling the iron strewn around all over the place.

Next stop was Dayton where I was to experience the seedier part of life. Peggy said that no visit to Northern Nevada is complete without breathing the air in the Red Light District. Prostitution is legal in this area and even TV series have been made of the area.

Heading out of Dayton there was a Sherrif parked on the side of the road (obvious speed trap) – Peggy missed it. It wasn’t long before the Cruiser was behind with the lights flashing.

The Sherrif came up to my window and while Peggy looked for her paperwork, I started a conversation with him (out came the Aussie card). He had actually spent time in Melbourne (12 months actually) and had come through Adelaide to go to Alice Springs.

Next he asked what I was doing in town, telling him for a Firefighter Conference (bingo – the Aussie Firefighter card).

He took the paperwork back to the cruiser and returned, saying that it was on him and enjoy the rest of my stay. Peggy now wants an Aussie Firefighter in the car everytime she hits the road.

It was an uneventful trip back through Carson City to the hotel. We made 34 geocache finds for the day.

Welcome Back Firesafe Pizza night …

This being my second visit to Reno in 12 months, I have got to know a few of the local geocachers. When they heard I was heading back to town, Jeditrekr put on a traditional geocaching pizza event to mark the occasion.

Prior to the event I headed out with Jeditrekr to do some caching and one of the memorable ones was You Sunk my Battleship!!, where you had to play Battleship online first to find out the final coordinates then there was an imaginative cache container when you got there.

The event was “Welcome Back Firesafe” and held at Uncle Vinny’s Pizza in Sparks. I had visions of some hole in the wall pizza joint in Downtown Sparks but was surprised by a new modern pizza joint :).

It was a huge turnout with 50+ local geocachers and families. The pizza and company was great with the biggest surprise being the price of a pint of beer – $2.29 with tax :D.

I dropped off a few Travelbugs but came away with a lot more to bring back to Australia. I also made sure that everyone had one of my new Reno Pathtags. It was a good night out. Thanks Richard for putting on the event.

Awful Awful Burger …

After Day 2 of Conference classes, it was time to get out and visit downtown Reno with some locals. Richard, Peggy and Sean offered to be my guides for the night.

We walked around Downtown doing as many geocaches as we could find then it was off to sample some of Reno’s World Famous cuisine.

The choice for the night was the Awful Awful Burger at the Little Nugget Diner. You walk into the hole in the wall Diner through the smoke and pokies to find a kitchen out the back. There is plenty on the menu but this place is famous for the Awful Awful Burger.

Food Wars: Reno’s Awful Awful Burger

It wasnt a bad feed on a huge bed of fries – even I couldnt eat it all (that is saying something). Time to walk it off with some more geocaching and the obligatory photo under the Reno Arch.

32 Hours to Reno ….

The day started early at 6:30 am with some last minute packing. A see you later to Jenny and Bradley (Rachael was on a Scout Camp) then drive into Adelaide Fire Station to drop off the company car. Hopefully it gets repaired while I am away.

Taxi to the airport. Checked in and they charged me for 3kg overweight baggage (26kg + 11 kg). In for an early morning coffee at Hudsons and met up with someone from work whose daughter was on my plane to Sydney and the US as well as someone from Rally.

Even though we loaded on time, it was 1/2 an hour before we took off. This was a sign of things to come. All went well for the transfer from the Domestic terminal to the International terminal in Sydney (even saw my baggage going in the right direction). Again we loaded on time but it was 3/4 of an hour taking off late this time.

The flight across the Pacific was not too bad but any turbulance was felt hard in Premium Economy as it is in the upper tail. Only managed about 3 hours of broken sleep in the 13 hour flight.

We arrived on time in Los Angeles. Into the Immigration Hall and it was packed with 4 planes that had landed at the same time. It took 1 1/2 hours to clear Immigration, Customs and re-check my baggage for the Reno flight. I am told that it was a quick trip through.

It was now 11:30 am and my next flight was 18:30 so what to do for 7 hours??

I had a couple of IT things to sort out with reactivating my US phone and data card. A quick walk to Radio Shack in Westchester to achieve this. On the way I came across Ladder 11 and Engine 211 of Los Angeles Fire Department at the In-N-Out Burger for their lunch.

Stopped off at Starbucks for a caffiene fix and some free Wifi to check emails. Still had hours to use up so decided to do some geocaches through Westchester and Inglewood. It took 4 hours and I walked 17 kms to find 7 geocaches.

Walked past Randys Donuts, the I-405 and Manchester Square.

Got back to LAX around 16:30 with some blisters and some new muscles. A bit of line up at the Security and I didnt even get back scattered.

And to get the trifecta, another delayed flight. At this stage, I was getting very weary and was struggling to stay awake. The flight to Reno finally got off the ground at 19:15 (3/4 of an hour late).

There was a spectactular sunset above the clouds and after a bumpy finish, arrived at Reno around 21:00. Shuttle bus to the Grand Sierra Resort, checked in and up to the room.

Now the quandry – unpack or go to bed. After 32 hours from Adelaide to Reno – it is good night ………