Some weekend highlights

I had a great time with the Collins' and Harris' this weekend. Friday we went to Fort Macon State Park and played on the beach, flew stunt kites and played hard all day. Caleb even went "swimming with the Jellies" and got stung pretty good on his ankles. Melissa suggested that Jordan pee on his ankles but after consulting with the lifeguard, they had a spray bottle with vinegar & water to spray on area to help with the pain. Needless to say, both boys were relieved. We also got to eat a local place called Roma's and enjoyed several varieties of pizza, subs and salads. Great times with friends!

Greg, Erin and I enjoyed continuing our 100 days of caching with a cache down in the area as well. Caleb, Jordan and Avonlea waited for us in the van. Greg was the first to find it as Erin and I worked our way toward the cache.
Saturday afternoon, Greg and I went out to continue the challenge and found a very memorable cache. Pictures are coming soon.
Sunday evening the family headed out to find our daily cache. However, we came up empty handed on the first attempt but came up with a smiley on the second attempt. Whew! Eli found this one. It's fun to have the whole family participating. This is their kind of caching too, one cache a day so they don't get tired of caching for too long.

Another PR on the bike!

I had a GREAT ride in to work again today. I'm really beginning to enjoy these bike rides, except for the dogs. Today I tried pouring dog food out as they approached but they took NO interest in it at all. I ended with a new PR for the ride in of 1:23:50. Today, I felt like I could have gone for a short run after the bike. That's really exciting for me. I hope to start working in some 3 mile runs after the bike in in preparation for an international distance Tri this summer/fall. I'm hoping for a run tomorrow.

My interesting sight of the day on the bike made me wish I had my BlackBerry out and ready to take a picture this morning or the fancy camera mount above. As I was cruising along, two men in an OLD, BEAT UP pickup truck passed me towing 3 small trailers all attached to each other. It was quite the sight!

I also stopped along the way for a quick break to grab a cache continuing our 100 days challenge. This cache would have made day 3 but I didn't find the cache. I had set a 5 minute search time limit knowing I hate to DNF (Did Not Find) a cache but I also had to get in to work. I searched for the cache for 7 and then for my speedometer for another 3 so my total stopped time was 10 minutes. UGH! Good news though, I managed to grab another cache during lunch while out meeting Melissa at the bank to set up our NC bank account.

On the job front, I'm enjoying my new job, getting to know the new church body and trying ot remember all their names, etc. I'm learning to use iMovie to create the video announcements at the church. I've shot and edited a couple simple one scene videos last week for the announcements and they turned out OK. Today I started my first multi scene video and I'm looking forward to finishing it up tomorrow. I may just post it here when done... we'll see.

Final ride results: 26.5 miles, 18.9 mph avg, 1:23:50
Bike miles this week: 63.1
Bike miles this month: 93.9
Run miles this week: 0
Run miles this month: 0

Until the next ride, run, swim or cache...

Dogs & Geocaches

Had a great ride into work this morning. I have three dogs that come to "greet" me and chase me as I ride past them. The two bigger dogs just bark and generally stay along the edge of the yard but the small one gnarls, growls, barks and bites at me. Pastor Damon suggested I bring doggie treats but the pepper spray really sounds better to me. Today they were waiting on the road, spread out across both lanes running AT me. UGH! the two larger dogs on the outside and the little one in the middle. As I approached, the two larger moved off to their yard and the small one turns and chases after me. I'm telling, I think this dog wouldn't hesitate to BITE me if it could catch me. Luckily the adrenaline kicks in as the hair on my legs and arms stands straight up and I don't have an issue out "running" it. Perhaps tomorrow I will remember doggie treats and I'll see how that goes.
I also picked up a Geocache along the way this morning. Yesterday we went out as a family and picked up our 500th find. This also marks the beginning of a challenge that I'm undertaking... 100 consecutive days of caching, 100 caches in 100 days. Today made #2 of the 100 goal. I'll also be keeping you up to date on this as it progresses.
Final ride results: 26.6 miles, 17.8 mph avg, 1:29:35
Bike miles this week: 36.6
Bike miles this month: 67.4
Run miles this week: 0
Run miles this month: 0

Geocache or Bust

I am proud to say that I am a Geocache enthusiast. Wikipedia describes Geocaching as an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container (usually a tupperware or ammo box) containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value.
Currently over 823,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.[1]

This is a hobby which I personally enjoy and have also been able to enjoy with my family. The following is a short tribute of the first ever "cache" provided by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon.[3] The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav[4] as 45°17.460′N 122°24.800′W / 45.291°N 122.413333°W / 45.291; -122.413333. By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once (by Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington). According to Dave Ulmer's message, the original stash was a black plastic bucket buried most of the way in the ground and contained software, videos, books, food, money, and a slingshot. The site is now now identified with a historical marker.