NorthWest Arkansas Cachers

I had been planning tis trip for a couple weeks. I originally was going to leave about 5am on 11-15 but, then decided I would leave in the morn' 11-14, then decided what the heck ? Why not just leave Thursday as soon as I had my stuff packed ? LOL I was originally only going to go to Van Buren/Fort Smith, the Van Buren Breakfast event, then head to Clarksville to find caches there and come home. Well, one thing led to another, and I went from Fayetteville (after paying a bill) to Alma, Van Buren/Fort Smith (and surrounding towns), Conway, Cabot, Conway, Morrilton, Clarksville, Paris, Clarksville, Harrison, back to Clarksville, Mountain Home, and finally home. I had started the trip knowing I wanted a total of 500 finds by the end of the year but, not thinking I would get it on tis trip. When I left 11-13, I had 306 total finds. When I came back home on 11-20, I had 500!

I left Fayetteville at 2pm Thursday, 11-13. I headed down to Alma to check out the A-Z place everyone keeps telling me about. I decided from there to find a few caches around Alma before heading to Van Buren/Fort Smith. I only found 9 caches that first day.

Friday, I was still in VB/FS looking for caches, and found 21 caches.

Saturday, I found 7 caches before the VB Breakfast, then headed directly to Conway for the ArkGeo Eat and Greet. I found a few caches around Conway and the surrounding area before heading to Cabot for another 16 caches, making it 32 finds total for Saturday.

Then I headed back West to Conway and Morrilton for more caching, finding 36 caches on Sunday.

After a few hours of sleep in Morrilton, I found a few more there before heading up to Clarksville. RKLMBL took me around to 27 of their caches in only four hours! After leaving their place, I headed down to Paris to find a few caches. I had the most finds ever for one day on Monday, mostly thanks to RKLMBL; 46!

Tuesday, I was in Clarksville again and found 19 caches for the day.

Wednesday, I decided to head up 103 and had planned to take the "Clarksville Loop" but, decided last minute to head up to Harrison and Mountain Home. Well, that plan kinda went South, and I went back to Clarksville by the end of the day. I found 20 caches along the way up and back again.

Thursday had to be my last day on tis trip, one way or another. I was determined to find my 500th cache, and once again decided to try to make the oldest cache in Arkansas the magic number. I headed East, thinking I was going to the correct Mountain Home, and was halfway there before I realized there were TWO Mountain Home's! I quickly changed direction, and headed North. I found the last 11 caches I needed to make my Trip Goal, and headed home.

I was finally home by 715pm. I was gone for a total of 173 hours. LOL I drove around 1400 miles during the entire trip, finding a total of 194 caches. I dropped off 10 trackables, and picked up another 13 to bring back home. I met so many cachers, tis not funny. I had a lot of fun on tis trip but, think I'll be taking a break from anymore trips for a while. lol Two trips in just over a month was a bit much on my system. And sleeping in my car in 30 degree temperatures (if not less)...

Monday night while I was in Paris, I was trying to make a left turn to head to another cache. It was dark (after 8pm), and only one poor street light nearby. I could not see the road, and missed the turn. I tried to make the turn anyway, and kinda missed it. My front right tire ended up in the ditch, and my back left tire was a good two feet off the ground. I could not get out without help. Luckily, a lady pulled over and stopped. She called her boyfriend to come and pull my car out of the ditch. While we were waiting for him to show up, AT LEAST two dozen other residents of the MOST AWESOME-EST town of Paris stopped to make sure no-one was hurt and that I had someone coming to help. Several even offered a cell phone to call for help. Paris tis full of very nice people who will offer to help a stranger who's stuck on the side of the road. I miss towns like that. The boyfriend and another guy finally showed up, and then a few minutes later two cop cars showed up with lights flashing. lol The cop asked if I had been drinking. LOL He asked for my driver's license and said someone had called in a car accident; that's why they came out so fast and with lights flashing. They blocked the road so the lady's boyfriend and the other guy could pull my car out.

Tuesday morning, not 12 hours after the ditch incident in Paris, I did almost the exact same thing again! sigh And tis time, no-one was driving down the road I was stuck on 'cept the mailman, and he couldn't help me. I ended up having to call for a wrecker to pull me out, and that cost me $40. I was trying to get a cache right next to where it happened but, after that, I gave up on the cache. lol I never did go back to try and get it.

I have finally finished typing up all the logs (still have to post them to each cache). Tis taken me several hours to just type the logs. lol

Disclaimer: For those who care about copy/paste logs (Hey, I'm one of them!), NONE of my logs are copied or pasted. I HAND typed out every single number, letter, and word! While out caching, I always keep a notebook with me to take notes on each cache I find. And I do write at least some kind of note for each and every one. The day I was with RKL and MBL was a little harder to take notes, as we went to 27 caches in only four hours but, I spent the two hours afterwards catching up and writing out the mini-notes I had taken while out with them. The ONLY part of my logs that MIGHT be a copy/paste tis the Find # total and/or for the trip/day. And when I do a trip (like tis one and the Tulsa trip last month), I'll copy/paste a blurb to point readers of my logs to my summary of the trip.

Sounds like you had a good adventure. There is a Mountain Home and and Mountain View. Mountain View is east of Mountain Home. Too bad you missed the Gorilla Stash but I know you will get it.

Don't worry about it. Missed caches are only adventures waiting to happen.

lol Who says I missed out on the Gorilla Stash ? grins I changed direction and headed to the correct Mountain Home. And trust me, there's TWO Mountain Homes. The wrong one tis South of Pangburn, North of Letona. North West of Searcy.

Wow, I have lived here my whole life and not known that. Now I have to research it and use it against someone.

What an adventure. I think you found more caches in a week than I'll find between now and next December. LOL. You are a cache hunting machine!

You should be applauded for not going the easy copy and paste route also. At one time we had found something like twenty caches over a weekend and it took me two days to write all the logs and it wasn't easy. To find so many and keep track and not just copy all your logs is outstanding dedication that I know all those cache owners will be very thankful for. Way to go Howlingmoon!

You are officially in need of a super-cacher T-shirt (like Superman's). 194 in eight days is outstanding (some may say nuts), and 46 in a day will make it hard to beat your personal best. Thanks for the update here and I think it's great you take the time to write meaningful entries for each cache.