2015-06-14: Another Weekend Road Trip to South Carolina

This weekend was another road trip up to South Carolina to pickup Candy's grandson at "South of the Border", to spend the summer with us. But we also had a couple of other activities yesterday to attend to before leaving which made for a busy weekend.

Heading out early yesterday morning over to Melbourne Beach, FL, Candy had an appointment there. While she was at her appointment, I decided to go Geocaching (of course) down this trail a few blocks south. Maritime Hammock was about a three mile loop trail and I managed to find two caches there.

After the hike, it was back to pickup Candy and quickly drive back to Orlando. There was the Geocaching event at the Greek Flame Taverna of which I was the host to attend to. However with this last minute trip up to South Carolina, we weren't going to able to stay long. I also made arrangements with cacher friends QQnonrev to be there for the start just in case we were late getting over from Melbourne Beach. Which was the case. We arrived late, greeted everyone, a quick lunch, and we were out the door early too heading northbound.

I knew it was going to be tight on time, however when making these trips you just have to make an occasional stop to break up the time. Plus now that we're trying to complete our Geocaching counties map, there were several along the way to get.

Our first stop was at the same exit for both Liberty and Mcintosh Counties. One stop, two caches and two counties! One more county stop in Georgia and another in South Carolina, we continued up to Dillion, SC and checked into the hotel for the night.

This morning Candy and I drove up to the next exit, at the famous "South of the Border" Mexican themed tourist trap on the border of North and South Carolina's. We managed to find two geocaches there before her grandson showed up with his father at the rendezvous location.

Heading south now back to Orlando, we stopped two more times in South Carolina to find ordinary caches in two new counties. The next stop however was a bit more interesting! A virtual Geocache called Area 51-SC, located in Bowman, SC. Not sure of the story behind this place, but it on the side of this house and I think the owner just went crazy with his utility shed building a UFO Welcome Center! The things you find while Geocaching!

On the way to another cache to pickup a new county, we were driving down this rural road and passed by this house with some really cool metal fabricated yard art. We just had to stop and take some pictures!

Another weekend and another road trip behind us. I guess this was a practice run for our summer vacation which begins next week. I hope you'll join us.

2015-06-06: From Weir-dos to Hiking to Climbing Trees

Today was a mix of a little bit of everything. Taking Candy's granddaughter along with us, we started out in the Dr. Phillips area having lunch at The Greek Flame restaurant. I have hidden a Geocache there on their patio and just recently someone stole the contents out of it. And next week I'm hosting another Geocaching event there.

After lunch we drove down the street by the library to grab an Earthcache about Weir Dams. Behind the library and along Dr. Phillips Rd are several Weir Dams one after another that help to slow the flow of water. We strolled along side getting the answers we needed for the cache, took some pictures, and headed back to the car.

We then headed down to St Cloud and further south on Canoe Creek Rd. The next cache was a short hike in Parker Hammocks, the Prairie Lakes Unit of the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area.

From there we continued on Canoe Creek Rd over to US-441 south towards YeeHaw Junction. We found several more of those Puzzle / Challenge caches along the roadside and a few more traditional caches. Two of which were my favorite tree climbing caches! Makes me feel like a kid again.

I hope you are enjoying our adventures. Feel free to leave your comments. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time...

2015-05-31: Weekend Road Trip to the Appalachian Trail

This weekend my 18 year old son began his adventure, hiking the Appalachian Trail. So he needed someone to drop him off. Candy and I volunteered. We left Orlando early yesterday morning, stopping by Winter Garden to pick him up. It was a long drive up I-75 to North Georgia.

We didn't have a time frame to get there last night. He wasn't starting his hike until this morning. So on the way up, we stopped for 9 Geocaches. Several of which were in new counties.

We arrived up in the area around 4pm yesterday and I knew the roads may be rough getting up the mountain to the trail head. Having some time to kill, we decided to go and check to see if the Prius could make it up there. There are several different access roads and we chose the one from the southeast, the Nimblewill Gap Rd. For the most part, it wasn't too bad. It was pretty winding, gravel and rock, a few rough spots and bottomed out a little bit. But doable. We didn't go all the way up to the parking area, having maybe a mile left. But in the forest it was getting dark quickly and I wanted to get off the mountain before then.
So this morning, we got up, checked out of the hotel, and made our way back up the mountain. Well that last mile wasn't anything like what we already went through! We bottomed out pretty bad and I thought I was going to get stuck. We couldn't go any further. So I backed up, turned around and we had to drive an hour around the southern part over to the Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge. From there we took the access road up to the parking area. It was still rough going, but not as bad as the other side.

So from the parking area, you actually have to hike back south for about a mile to get to the actual start of the Appalachian Trail. So we hiked with him, took some pictures, and hiked back to the parking area. We would have liked to hike further with him, but with all the trouble getting up here, it was already noon and we had a long drive back to Florida. So we hugged, said our goodbyes, and wished him well.

Then we drove home non-stop except for food and gas.

2015-05-26: Out For A Drive Geocaching in Crystal River

For today's Geocaching drive, we decided to go someplace new. We had taken Hwy 50 all the way west to the Gulf of Mexico before. So this time we decided to drive Hwy 44 all the way to Crystal River.

Taking the Florida Turnpike north all the way to I-75, the next exit it Hwy 44. We exit there and head west, seeing what was there along the way. We stopped for several caches in Inverness including this creative, funny, or maybe you consider disgusting cache. Can you see the cache container? Yeah, it's under the fake poop!

From there we drove straight out to the end in Crystal River and Fort Island Park. Looking north you can see the nuclear power plant. From there we turned back and found five more caches in the area heading home.

2015-05-24: Geocaching Power Run and Short Hike

Today we returned to find more of the power run caches along US-441 near YeeHaw Junction. After Geocaching 2 hours and 31 caches later, the heat had gotten to us and we called it quits with the power run. Driving down to State Road 60 turning east, we headed for Blue Cypress Lake.

There were another 12 caches along Blue Cypress Lake Rd and we found those too. The last of which was a nice little hike down a trail through the swamp. The last two caches down at the end on the lake by Middleton Fish Camp we couldn't get too because we didn't want to get wet.

We called it a day after hanging out by the lake for a few minutes and then headed back for home. Until next time...