Day 1.2

Day 1.2

So with the car finally real quiet, Silly and I were awake but that was it. We just kept keeping on all the way into Florida, Only a few feet into Florida but that is all we needed to find a cache and get a new state. GC3MA76 Welcome to Florida. WAKE UP, WAKE UP, EVERYBODY WE ARE IN FLORIDA. OK really it was only Gobaltreckers that was still asleep when we got there but he still had to wake up. Atmore is a really cool old town. Looks to be from the plantation days but it was still dark and we didn’t stop to check on local history.

Gas is the Prius lasted longer than I had originaly planned so I was just using gas buddy on the fly to get some of the best prices in the country. $3.13 a gallon at one point. But that meant I also was stretching it a bit at times.

We drove 10 miles past the point were the car said we had no miles left so we could get cheaper gas. But have no fear Globaltreckers said you could one or two miles on battery alone if we ran out. Good to know. So it was finally light out when we got gas and we were hungry.  So in Prattville Alabama we stopped to let the guys have Cracker Barrel for the first time.  And I knew there would be a cache there.  Found a famous signature on 181 Cracker GCTR03   AirRaidFan!

So finally 6:24  am Pacific time 26.5 hours from the start of our journey we finally found a 1^st state cache GC126 Trussville Civitan - Alabama's First Cache. Not much to write home about on this one but it was great to see a cache maintained for so long. On the way out Grizz said there was one on the bridge so we looked and looked then thought maybe the water took it? Nope it was a mystery cache and that is where the icon was :) HA Grizz thanks for the mosquito bites.

On the way to Atlanta we passed by the Talladega speedway and man di we want to stop and see how fast we could get a rental car on the high banked oval. But not time for the Insane we pressed on looking for our next cache and next state.

Just east of Atlanta is Georgia’s first cache GC1D Beaver Cache. I had posted in the forums our plans and while we were headed this way I got an email from a local saying he would be waiting for us at the cache. AWESOME! We love to meet locals and this is a first for us.  Kunarion was there when we pulled up and it was nice to get to walk out with him talking and taking some pics along the way. This was a big cache of the five gallon size.  Quick find and back to the cars we went. I felt kinda strange when we got back to the car because it was like thanks great to meet you now we are off. I like to take my time to get to know people a bit better but sorry didn’t add that into the route.  Georgia is done and now two of the first caches. Day still is far from over. It is only 11am our time so we better keep on keepin on.

So as always here is a random pic from our trip

Closest to a sleeping silly we got

 

IT2 Day 1.1

Day 1.1

Still day one

Have you ever been disappointed about something but decide to do it anyway? Well that is what not having a Jack in the Box to stop at for lunch was for me when planning this trip. Well guess what, Globaltreckers trip may have started off with a big bump but mine was going great, from the freeway I could see Jack in the Box calling us home for lunch. Simple stuff, that’s all I need to keep me happy. So we tanked up and off we went for our first cache in Louisiana.

The Train Gang in Louisiana

It was raining hard as we pulled into the first rest stop in Louisiana. Off to the bathroom we went before we got GC21RCV Bienvenue en Louisiane because all the iced tea had done it’s job and now wanted to leave. Globaltreckers stayed by the car while we went and then found the cache. While he was walking over to us a very friendly Deputy Sheriff stopped him to ask what we were doing and that someone last week was doing the same thing and told her the same answer. She never got out of her car to see, and when she saw the GoPro she hide her face. Funny she was talking on her phone and playing solitaire on her work computer but we did not care since no ticket was issued.

 

You boys are doing What? That's Insane!

What you should think about when planning a trip but we were totally clueless about is are you wanted where you are going? We stopped in Louisiana for gas and food and ran into some racism. Not real bad no rocks or things like that just nasty looks and you could feel the dislike for us because of our skin. Not everyone there was like that but enough that even I noticed and I am normally clueless to stuff like that. Since we were close to the interstate highway it was not that much of a problem. So just think about it a bit next time you plan a geocaching trip, just because there is a blip on your map does not mean it is as safe as you think. The friendly people more than made up for the others all the places we stopped at on the trip. New places new experiences, that is what we wanted and that is what we got.

Major DNF and time suck at the oldest cache in Mississippi, GC90 Bonita Lakes cache. We tried to bushwhack from the mall but it was wet, we were in sandals, it was real late at night, two of us were in shorts and the real trail head was closed for the night. So we had to call it because the rest of the trip was more important than just one cache. 

Our first priority was states, then 1st caches so after three DNF’s in the same town off we went down the road with only a few caches we could get before going into Alabama. So now with the windshield continually fogging up from all the moisture from rummaging around in the woods we finally found a cache in a cool small town on a rail car so all worked out for us and finally no contact with law enforcement. Quitman Train Depot GC3ET6B was our find in Mississippi, it was fitting cache for the Insane Train and easy to boot!

Here is a random pic from our trip. My side after I drove for a bit. Now time to pick it up a bit so the other side can get trashed. Don't worry it's a rental :)

 

What a "day 1"

What a “day 1”

First 86 miles

This day has had it’s ups and downs so far. Silly Me started the day off with forgetting his phone in the car and trying to convince me we had enough time to ride the shuttle back to the car and get it and still make the flight. Not a chance we had 30 minutes till lift off as much as I wanted to for him there was not enough time to make it back. So through security we went,  got to the gate and only waited 5 minutes before we started to board. After we safely made the plane the jokes about not having a phone have not stopped.  

You guys don't look so crazy to me

The flights for globaltreckers went super smooth with no big events.  While our flight was filled with phone jokes and just plain silliness. We also had the joy of sitting behind a family with a super cute baby that started playing with Grizz and then me.  I loved getting to play with that cute little guy since my wife and kids are gone and wont be back for another eighteen days.  We also got to talk to his mom about caching. Sure makes a guy miss his family.

 

It's no F350 but it will do

Once we all gathered at Budget in Dallas we had to wait a few minutes while they found the Prius. They tried to offer us up a few other cars but none would come close to the MPG so we would wait.  While some of the cars were way cooler all we wanted was MPG. When you are driving 3000 miles in three “days” you don’t care what it is or what it looks like all that matters is MPG. 

Combat driving skills are a must when driving in the south for sure. We have never seen this combat driving taken to this high of a level before. We all have driven Seattle, Portland, California and mountain roads with slow moving campers but this takes the cake. If you leave even half a car length they are slicing in with no blinker so be aware.  Speed limit signs are a joke to everyone except the small town cops who sit on the freeway and generate revenue. Globaltreckers had the cruise set for 80 in a 75 zone and we were getting passed like we were standing still. Officer James Burnette ID# 107 of the Lindale Police department   903-882-6150 claims he saw us going 86 in a 75 zone and has it on radar.   




While I don’t know what he was doing or looking at on the internet while he was sitting on the side of the highway he could not observed our car going that fast because we were behind a semi truck and slowly passing him. While Officer Burnette was writing us the ticket I pulled up my gps tracklog to verify the speed we were traveling and make sure the car was not incorrect. When Globaltreckers  got out and told Officer Burnette we had this information and it was not us he clocked he stated that he checked the radar twice and Globaltreckers would have to come back to Texas to fight it in court. WHAT THE HELL? 

So basically what we learned is that a small town in Texas if they want to increase revenue all they have to do is surf the web, wait until your radar beeps,  pick the first car you see, pull them over and hope they are from a good distance away and then write them a ticket. It is totally wrong but it would cost Globaltreckers more to fly back to Texas and fight it than just pay the ticket. And that is what they are hoping he does and there is nothing he can do.  We have had a our fair share of experiences with local law enforcement on our caching trips. All but this one has been pleasant.  But on the bright side we had something to make fun of Globaltreckers  about. 

This was only the first 11 hours of “day 1” and 86 miles of driving and no caches yet.

Random cache pic of the day  

GC2JNTY A Mountain View  Virginia

Where are all the posts?

Where are all the posts? 

Sorry for not getting some updates done everyday like I would want to. In my defense when I am not driving it is like trying to write a term paper at the Super Bowl! There is so much laughing and messing around that I would never be able to concentrate on writing SQUIRREL!

So that only leaves me to writing it at night when we finally get into the hotel room...

Well this is really starting to get difficult to get done. We are having nonstop fun and laughing till our sides hurt. I only hope I can capture it all and get it written down.

So now my screen is starting to get fuzzy again so I must turn it off to recharge my battery.  But let me leave you with one of the images from our trip so you can see one of the many awesome things we got to see this trip (that's still not done).

Click for larger Image

 GC2H5GY Scenic Overlook near Cotter Arkansas

Denver we are here

Hello Denver, goodbye.

All Aboard

ALL ABOARD

We are off, 4am Pacific time and the Train is rolling out of the station. Some on the trip were surprised to see quads was up and ready to go at 3:45am which never happens. Here is the map you can follow us on. 

Wanna Ride

Wanna Ride 

So you wanna ride the Insane Train but got snubbed on the invite, or there is now way your body could do this without killing someone, or you live to far away to bribe us to let you go or you just cant afford a trip like this. Well we understand that is why we would like to invite you to ride virtually. We have four ways for you to join us on the trip. 

ONE

Follow us on Neongeo. There is a free thirty day full demo from the Google Play Store or it is a very affordable $4.26. Once you download this app you must go into the settings and turn on “Follow Me” You can set how accurate you show up on the map and how often it updates. You will be looking for Globaltreckers, Grizz Rider, Silly Me or quadsinthemudd.

 TWO

With Google Latitude I will have a live map on my blog that anyone can view from the web. It will be active only while we are on the trip. 

THREE 

One of the riders in our group is a twit so you can follow us on Twitter if you would like (hint globaltrecker). https://twitter.com/InsaneeTrain

Yip is has two e's at the end of Insanee, since Insane was taken John gave me some love by doubling up on the last letter. Maybe we should just change all of the spellings to Insanee

FOUR

Right here. At the end of the “day” (when we stop not 24 hours) I will do a blog post short or long, depends upon the “day”, what happened that “day”.

So hope to see some comments from you guys while we are out there and if you see us coming to your area come see us at the cache site but don’t be sad if we don’t stay long. Trains has to stay on schedule.

The final not set in stone route! But here it is.

The final not set in stone route! But here it is.

So we have a finalish route. Two cachers on the Insane train want to make GC70 Octopus Garden a milestone so they hounded me on how many and which caches we were going to find before we got GC70, so I planned day 1 down to gas and pee breaks so they would shut up Steve and Brian! I have not planned every single gas and food stop on day two and three of the driving days because we are going to be real tired and just play it by ear. GasBuddy and the car are going to tell us where we need to stop at in between the planned caches for each state. And if it gets to much we can cut a ton of time off our route by taking off the oldest cache in Arkansas and even dropping the  Virginia and West Virginia. But don't count on that happening because we are insane I mean really insane I just didn't want to take all the time to plan every detail for the days we would be driving in the daylight. Plus we will have all day 1 and night and day 1 still to look at the route to add any little caches we want. 

So here is a turn by turn PDF of our route. From Dallas to Gastonia we are going too try and stay on schedule but after that it is anybody's guess. And the Hotels are not set in stone either.

Thanks Mrs. Quads for South Dakota

Thanks Mrs. Quads for South Dakota

We have now found a cache in 46% of the states in the United States. It was a tag team effort on this cache but we made the find together even though we are 839.7 miles apart.  Here is my log for the cache GCYP6Y  Eastbound Rest Stop @MM218 Oh and thanks for the mile marker number in the cache name really helped a ton.

This cache was a tag team effort by the quads. Mr Quads was back at home looking at the map while Mrs. Quads was driving to Indiana from SE Washington. We didn't have South Dakota so I made the route through SD so the Mrs. could get it. I noticed this morning she had not gotten a cache near the hotel in Rapid City where she stayed last night, knew she wasn't real good with the smart phone apps and really didn't care all that much she just wants to get to her parents house as soon as she could. Yes I know she probably thought about how much I really wanted us to get SD but she just my play the I forgot card because it was going to waste way to much time. Not a chance I was going to let that happen. I used Google Latitude to see how far across SD she had made it and then panned across the map to the east to see if I could find a rest stop cache and yours is the lucky guy. I knew it was going to be a bit tough to get her to use the Geocaching apps on the phone so I zoomed in on the satellite imagery to see if I could just direct her from halfway across the country. BINGO and easy to direct hide! So I called her and she was only 8 miles away. I was able to direct her to the fifth parking stall and tell her exactly what to look under and she had it in hand in no time. Log was very wet and needs some love but that is OK for us because we have SOUTH DAKOTA NOW!!!!! Plus just a few more days till I leave on the Insane Train and get 13 more states! Check us out mrquads.blogspot.com Thanks for the rest stop cache so my kids and wife could pee and I could get SD....I mean WE could get SD Love you Hunny;)

So as we site at 46% of the states all I can think of is the 13 states we are going to get next weekend to bring my percentage up to 72% in one weekend!