I was a little anxious at first after hearing how NOT to get your jeep stuck in the sand. I really, really did not want to be that guy. The one buried in the sand up to the axle (and believe me…we saw plenty of those guys out there.) But after we crossed our first dune,  which was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, I felt pretty confident that I was not going to get stuck.

It took us a little while to find the ponies. They are wild and they do go wherever they darn well please. Plus it was hot, blazing hot. Which meant they were most likely seeking shade. I was delighted thrilled spastic with glee when we ran across our first band just hanging out and grazing. We saw one hugely pregnant mare. She didn’t move at all.

After hanging out and taking pictures for a bit (you have to stay 50 feet back from the horses) we headed out and continued our search. You might think finding something as large as a horse would not be difficult. You would be surprised. If they don’t want to be bothered, they can make themselves pretty well invisible (trust me, I speak from experience).

And speaking of Villain, I always say I’d love to have him in my back yard. Well, after running across these guys I may have changed my mind.

This band of horses also happened to have a burro in it. No one knows where that fellow came from or how long he’s been around. But there he is. Go figure.

Enough with the narrative. It was loads of fun. We had a grand time and I would totally go back again.

(also we did some other stuff on our way home and I just threw those galleries in here. Richmond, VA for a cache and then Bluestone & Pipestem state parks)

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And so first thing Friday morning I got online and booked us the last room at the General Lewis Inn for Saturday night. Our plan was to get up EARLY Saturday morning and head south, grabbing the GeoTrail caches, nicking down to Mullens to avenge a DNF, then head over to Lewisburg where we’d spend the night (oh yes, taking in the New River Gorge on the way). Then we’d get up on Sunday, have a leisurely breakfast and take a tour of the Smooth Ambler Spirits before heading northward to grab that pesky page 56A. And THEN stop off in Elkins to make The Wheel of Morality.

Yeah, we I had an awful lot of stuff planned

And then I was out caching Friday around 1:00 p.m. standing on the gawd-awful side of a hill at some lake on a ‘trail’ when I got an email that said my hotel reservation had been canceled per my request. What? WHAT? WHAT??? Since I had cell service I immediately called and said, “WHAT? WHAT THE HELL?” “I did not request my room to be cancelled. Please to be explaining yourself.”  Oh, said the folks at the General Lewis Inn, the room you booked wasn’t really available. The internet site had not updated. What? WHAT? WHAT???? So this later turned out to work out for the best since I made (after returning from the FTF hunt from hell) reservations in Beckley, which was as far as we got on Saturday before giving in to hunger and exhaustion.

Anyway, short recap of trip.  Knocked off a Hawk’s Nest State Park and did an awesome hike to do so.  Found necessary caches on Coal Heritage GeoTrail until we get to Fayette Station. Where we FAIL to find the cache there. Even though it is so simple a blind cacher could spot it from his/her car. That FAIL meant there was no reason to go to the bowels of WV Mullens to avenge that GeoTrail DNF since I would still be missing one cache. We did, however, have a lovely drive down to Fayette Station and took in the scenery.

Calling it a day we crashed for the night in Beckley.

The next morning my still elaborate day 2 plan was still in tact until I looked up Smooth Ambler Spirits and found they were closed on Sunday. STRIKE ONE.  Fine. We still had additional things to do, such as find a cache in Monroe County and then one in Summers County and grab a few state parks for both the WV State Park Challenge and our VIPP stamps. Which worked out pretty well until we got to Cass and I was so distracted by getting stuck in computer cords that I forgot my VIPP cards in the car and consequently totally forgot to get them stamped.

We then also realized that the Earthcache at Organ Caves would have to be passed on since Organ Caves weren’t open on Sundays. Come ON people. It’s Memorial Day Weekend. How about a little flexibility. But no, denied booze & earth caches. Geez.  We did manage to score page 56A which was a load off my mind.

And then we went to Elkins and had delicious Mexican food with Bob & Keith which is where THIS post picks up.

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And this, my friends, is a good handout (courtesy of team member Dee).

Yes, this tiny scrap of paper held the key to successfully navigating London and surrounding areas over our great adventure during New Year’s Eve 2004.

Handouts Rule!*

*exceptions to this rule apply, but they are too detailed and complex to share.

The U.S. branch of Team Kuclick (UTK) had been rather negligent in visiting the Far Northern branch HQ.  Our earlier planned trip fell by the wayside when sickness hit UTK and then scheduling hell caused more issues.

Our only concern this time was that the previous two times that Team Kuclick was together, SCW (Small Child W) took one look at Chad and had a complete and unstoppable MELT DOWN.  Catastrophic and utter rejection of Chad, the thought of Chad, the word Chad and all things Chadean.  The potential for disaster was high.  SCR (Small Child R) was cool with Chad though, fortunately.

In an attempt to ensure that Chad didn’t have to spend his visit in Canandia hanging out by himself in the guestroom, CTK undertook a PR campaign on behalf of  UTK.

“Friends are Coming!” 

“Yay! Chad and Chris are coming.”

“We like Brad Chad!!!”

There was only one little glitch. We were “grown up” friends, not exactly the friends that SCW & SCR were expecting, but after a close examination and some goofiness by Chad, we deemed the PR campaign a success.

After a complex navigation of our scheduling options (we actually were expecting a handout with our various choices) we decided upon morning at the gym and then an afternoon of hauling a wagon of children on a river trail in order to geocache. There’s always geocaching. Always.

The only downside to our epic geocaching adventure (yes, it was epic the kids had to fjord a stream and sidekick Engineer had to move a tree from our path – EPIC I tell you) was that it wore the grown ups out.  Unlike the rest of the landscape in the part of Canadia we were visiting, the river trail was not level. No. It was not. It had hills. And ice. Not to mention the 50 or so pounds of small children in the wagon being hauled behind sidekick Engineer & little wooden boy. And then there was the 24-ish pounds of small child that Purple Monkey Dishwasher was carrying.

So instead of staying up late after the kiddies went to bed and carrying on like we had planned, we crashed. Sidekick Engineer fell first and despite attempts by PMD to wake him, he missed out on the nachos. Little wooden boy fell next, stretched out on the sofa. He did regain consciousness for a fully caffeinated soda and nachos, but his time was limited.

PMD & I did our best to stay awake until at least 11 p.m. I think we made it, but I’m not sure. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

We had a better plan for the following day. Two words:  Endless Sushi. And geocaching.  Our plan was to tackle A Kach to Remember a 9 stage multi-cache and then have dinner.  After all, we had a wagon & a stroller. How could we go wrong? Well first there was the wind. And lack of gloves for PMD. And lack of sunscreen for me (what was I thinking?). And some early-on fussiness from the Giant Baby. Not to be daunted though, Team Kuclick perservered and found ourselves at the final. Whereupon I fetched the final while everyone else got chased by rather irate geese. 

Objective achieved, we headed for sushi. Suffice to say, enless sushi is a whole heaping lot of sushi. I think I’m still stuffed.

Good times, man. Good times.

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We were sitting in line at the Canadian border, on our way to visit the northern most branch of  Team Kuclick headquarters. We were pondering what exactly the correct term was for the inhabitants of Ontario.

“Ontarios. You know, like cheerios,” says Chad. I countered with Ontarians, which seemed much more likely. Hey, after being in the car for 5 or so hours, anything sounded good.

Finally it was our turn. Whereupon we had the following exchange.

Border Guy: Do you have any weapons?
Me: <kind of incoherent> No.
Border Guy: <grinning>But you’re from West Virginia.
Me: <puzzled look> We don’t hunt, if that’s what you mean.
Border Guy: <still grinning> But you’re from West Virginia.
Me: <catching on> Yeah, well they’ll be kicking us out soon you know.

Totally wearing cammo next time I visit Canada.

Somehow we thought we’d manage to go on a horseback ride in the mountains, play golf and skeet shoot during this sort little jaunt. But in the grand tradition of me being unable to focus once actually on vacation, we accomplished none of the above.  Sometimes it’s just as much fun to wander around aimlessly – even when not in search of an ammo can.

Not to say that there wasn’t geocaching, because honestly, do I ever go anywhere that doesn’t inolve geocaching? Exactly. Since Knight Who Says Ni was in town as well, we decided it would be a great opportunity to knock off four pages of the DeLorme Challenge. It’s a good thing I keep dramamine in the glove compartment because all the tiny windy roads aren’t always agreeable to my stomach and that could have ended quite poorly for my new car.

We got all four pages (yay for us!) ,  had two DNFs, and managed to out wait a van full of guys in orange jumpsuits. Three people giving a grove of pine trees the shake down for 15 minutes must have looked completely normal to those guys! We continued to circle, look and poke even after the van had gone on to other areas that needed grounds keeping help to no avail. Oh the sadness of a DNF.

To bouy our spirits we headed back and indulged in tea. Chad honed in on a nice warm, suncovered spot where we settled in and tried not to fall asleep. It was a struggle, Kris battled back by sitting up prim and proper which makes it rather difficult to nod off. I relied on her to not let me slump forward and slide to the floor as I was getting pretty darn comfortable as I filled myself with lovely petite fours….mmmmm…..delicious tea cakes.  At any rate, we had urgent things to do after tea – such as find a place to eat and then get all dressed up. But more about the latter in a different post.

Ah, sometimes it is good to be me! Or Ping….it’s always good to be Ping.

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Secondary mission: go to Irish Fest and see The Tossers rock out. (Kris, Rick & Vince had the same plan!)

From my vantage point the trip was not too bad. Hey when you are short you can stretch ALL the way out in the back seat. I think Chad disagreed since he drove the entire way.

Our first order of business after making it into Chicago was to go and see the “Bean” since it wasn’t finished the last time we were in town. Wow, what a difference 3 years makes!

The Lake just amazes me. I have a hard time comprehending that it is a Lake. Looking out onto the horizon and there seems to be no end. And the water is amazingly clear. Ping has been to Chicago many times before but never had the chance to get his pic taken so we of course had to stop and do the tourist thing. Which left lots of people shaking their heads as we made our way through the city!

After a stop for a snack and refreshments at the Pier itself, we hailed a cab and waiting in rush hour traffic. Yep, we are smart. Kudos to our driver though, he worked hard to get us over to the Irish Fest and we arrived just as the gates were opening. And then there was booze. And delicious booze it was indeed. Although sadly we missed opportunities for free booze and food since we weren’t single and couldn’t participate in the Hooley. Drat! It was hot outside but nice and cool inside. Eventually after a harrowing hotel ordeal <Boo! Hiss! to the Millennium Knickerbocker>, Kris, Rick & Vince appeared. Nothing like driving from Morrisvale, WV to Chicago, IL in one fell swoop. But they made it with time to NOM and shop before The Tossers took over the place. The show was, of course, awesome. To say it rocked would be so cliche, but I can’t think of a better way to describe it! Best $8 event I’ve ever been to (yep, $8 in advance, how great is that? Oh sure, we had to stay over, but that’s part of vacation and Dad picked up the petroleum bill, so we are in good shape)

Day 2: Chicagoland

So when I didn’t think our trip to Chicago could get any better, it did. We’d been out and about geocaching and enjoying the gorgeous day, having some yummy Thai food and just being on vacation. As we neared our hotel I heard drums. Odd, but whatever. Then I noticed a crowd on the sidewalk very near our hotel. The crowd was clapping and dancing to the drum….even more odd. But wait! It gets totally better because in the middle of that crowd was a man on a white horse…I kid you not!   Those of you who know me, know that I love a) horses and b) shiny things. OMG, both together and in front of our hotel nearly caused me to self-combust on the spot! I took pictures, lots and lots and lots of pictures and was in the enviable position of being beside the door when the groom (it was a wedding from what I gathered) dismounted and was greeted by the bride’s family. And then I took more pictures of the horse!

After Chad talked me down from that experience we headed out to the Land of Geeks – aka Fry’s Electronics. This was dangerous territory for both of us, since I own lots and lots of gadgets which “require” lots and lots of accessories. And for Chad it was dangerous because…well it was a shop that sold bits and pieces of computers. I present, Chad in the land of Motherboards…. There was lots and lots of looking and examining and walking in circles, but in the end Chad left without purchasing a single thing. I, on the other hand…I got new toys! Who in the world would ever have thought I would have a phone that has 2 GB of storage or that so much stuff could fit on such a tiny piece of plastic. Chances of me losing that SD card? Extremely High.

Finally back in the land of Golden Domes and so forth, we took a trip to see the newest member of the Berry Clan. After all this time (just over 34 years) Mamaw is now a Great-Grandmother courtesy of my cousin Shelly. And truth be told, while The Tossers were awesome and it’s always fun to visit Chicagoland, we really came up to see Jackson and Shelly. He was doing the obligatory baby thing of sleeping when we arrived and woke up long enough to demonstrate how strong he is. Man, who would expect a month-old to nearly be able to fling himself off my lap? Uh, not me. But no worries, I wrestled him into submission.

Without any fanfare, I present the link to the rest of THIS set of pictures. More posted shortly.

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I wasn’t expecting a bog at our 3800 ft elevation, but there it was. It was my first trip to Dolly Sods, and the great weather ensured that I had a good time. Thanks to Rock Rat for the invite, and to the Wandering Bears for the company.

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