[Az-Geocaching] Arizona Geocachers' Shame

[listserv@azgeocaching.com]

Okay, that's enough!  Let's get a few facts on the table.

> an 'out-of-towner' breezed into the Phoenix metro area and
> swiftly blew away the record 

and

> We ... were appalled that a cacher from out of state should hold an
> Arizona record. 

Jeez guys ...
 
1)   I lived in Arizona from mid 1993 until 2000.  

2)   I left both my kids behind to live in Arizona ... yep, they have spouses, 
jobs and homes, so probably won't be leaving anytime soon.  

3)   With the kids there, do you honestly think my wife will let me retire 
anyplace else but Arizona?  And, don't even start with the whining about 
snowbird status.

So, although I don't presently live in Arizona, I'm would argue against the 
derogatory "cacher from out of state" label.  Do you now consider Loren from 
Team Sand Dollar an outcast?  If so, I'll accept the title, but if not, don't 
throw me out because I had to move to the Midwest right before the sport was 
invented.

> At the time, we heard a lot of grumbling from others like, "Sure if we
> didn't already have so many finds, we could do that."

Well, just ignore "Team Roping the Wind" ... honest, he'll quiet down after 
awhile.

> Now, who's up for spending next month in Illinois, picking up a couple
> hundred caches? ;-)

I just put out nine new ones ... will that help?  Actually, Chicago has some of 
the best cache hunting around ... if you don't mind the dripping humidity, 
mucky swamps and mosquitoes the size of roadrunners.  Phoenix micros are great, 
but finding a pill bottle in the middle of a hot, humid, tick and mosquito 
infested forest preserve adds new meaning to frustration.  By the way, a 
hunting trip to Chicago is about a three hundred mile round trip … humm, you 
can fly there in the same time it takes me to drive.

> Arizona cachers, we have consequently rectified that revoltin' development.

What, you took all month to move the bar up a couple of caches?  You must 
remember that I only took two weeks (14 days … not a single day more) to find 
160 caches.  Yes, that’s 160 caches. I know the stats only show 159, but 
Highpointer was obviously so mad he changed every cache I found into a members 
only cache just to reduce the count ... and I'm a dues paying member to boot.  
Shame on you Ken!!!  So, Team Sprocket, the challenge is 161 caches in two 
weeks, not a whole month.  And, no more fluffing up your count with just those 
1/1 caches either ... one cache hunt has to be "Return to Sender" ... and at 
least a sprinkling of five star difficulty caches.  Oh, and don’t forget … you 
probably should find all of the caches in the South Mountain Range … just to 
make it fair.

Okay, so now I've vented ... I'll go back to lurking.

With tongue in cheek,
Jeepster (Tom Clark)

Oh, by the way Scott, congrats on the 162 cache finds last month and the 55 
finds in a single day.