Geocaching – IndyScan.com

2024 April Update

What’s Going On:
On Saturday, 09 April 2016, my son and I released a “Travel Bug” named “Nigel Wants to Race” into the wild. Little did we know it would still be active eight years later. The Travel Bug’s goal was to visit 100 caches in 100 cities in honor of the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016.

I just received an update after a long absence. Nigel is back on the move again & so far has traveled 41,295.4 miles and has been logged 751 times.

What I’m Watching:

Fallout – Amazon Prime – Based on the amazing gaming franchise, the TV adaptation has been well-received by fans (and nominated for multiple awards). I thought they did a really good job bringing the aspects of the game to the live action screen and it makes me want to play the game again. It’s already been picked up for a second season and I’m looking forward to it.

Ripley – Netflix – This was a big surprise. Set in Europe and 100% black and white, it was a very captivating show with some nice twists. The sub-titles got a little tiresome, but they were worth it in the end.

What I’m Buying:
Coffee, lots of coffee. We picked up a new coffee maker that does Drip, Nespresso & and Keurig, so it’s very flexible. I used to poo-poo Keurig coffee because, evidently, I wasn’t drinking the right stuff. Enter Peet’s Big Bang, Medium Roast Pods. These are delicious and brew a properly strong cup. And I now understand the convenience of the K-Cup pods.

As for Nespresso, I can now enjoy a decent shot of espresso on demand. It’s not the same as a proper coffee shop espresso pull, but it works for homebrew (and again, the convenience).

And Finally…
The Interstate’s Forgotten Code. I thought I understood the Interstate Numbering system, but I learned a few things from this video. It’s worth a watch.

92 County Geocaching Adventure

Just got back from a 2-day adventure with my son in Southern Indiana collecting Geocaches in 2o new counties. The goal is to visit all 92 Indiana Counties and log a Geocache in each one. After this trip we only have 16 counties left to complete the challenge. We were hoping to complete the challenge this year but we’re not going to make it.

Only 16 more counties to go after this trip!

It took quite a lot of planning for this 2-day trip. With so much ground to cover we needed to be as efficient as we could be but still have some fun. After a lot of research I identified 20 Geocaches that had multiple “Favorite Points” as voted on by other Cachers. This usually means a Geocache is something special and not just a 35mm film container (or pill bottle) in a bush. I was hoping that by choosing favorited caches we would have more fun and my 15-year old son would stay interested in our goal.

Of course when the day came we had rainy (but WARM) weather. We ended up with Rain on day-1 and a cold front in the afternoon of day-2. Considering this was between Christmas and New Years I was really happy with the overall 50-degree conditions.

Below is a gallery of the photos taken during the trip. We had a great time and are already planning to get the remaining counties in the next few weeks (if the weather cooperates!).

Waiting to be found…
Nano container in the belly of a big fake grasshopper
Feeling lucky in the middle of an oilfield in SW Indiana

Gil Hodges mural Petersburg Indiana
Half way through day one & already needs a wash!
Last one for the day, at least it was easy to find.

Day-2 started with a wooden chicken in a tree
One of many State Parks we discovered.
Just a T-Rex holding a matchstick container in a tree

We drove on a lot of fun roads this trip
Another park
Quarry near Bedford
Final Cache and a Chinese Coin headstone.

Did You Know Purple Paint = No Trespassing?

Effective July 1, 2018 Indiana became the 12th state to enact a “Purple Paint Law”. I spent a couple of days Geocaching in Southern Indiana last week and saw a lot of property marked with purple paint. Luckily I remembered hearing about the law but this was the first time I had seen the paint being used in leu of the traditional No Trespassing signs.

I was wondering about how this might be a problem with color blind individuals but it turns out Purple was chosen because it can be seen by most people with that condition. There are, however, people that see no color and that couple be a problem.

A new Indiana law went into effect on July 1st, that may help you mark your property boundaries more efficiently to prevent trespassing. The “purple paint law” is found in Indiana Code IC 35-43-2-2 and stipulates that appropriately applied purple paint can be used to mark your property with the same legal effect as using a No Trespassing sign. Landowners attempting to protect their property from trespassing have often been frustrated by the need to post signs and replace signs torn down, vandalized, or rendered unreadable by the elements. Marking boundaries with purple paint should provide a more efficient and inexpensive option, as well as eliminating placing nails in your trees.
Purdue Extension Blog

According to the law, HB 1233, the paint must be:

(A) on a tree:
(i) as a vertical line of at least eight (8) inches in length and with the bottom of the mark at least three (3) feet and not more than five (5) feet from the ground; and
(ii) not more than one hundred (100) feet from the nearest other marked tree; or
(B) on a post:
(i) with the mark covering at least the top two (2) inches of the post, and with the bottom of the mark at least three (3) feet and not more than five (5) feet six (6) inches 19 from the ground; and
(ii) not more than thirty-six (36) feet from the nearest other marked post; and
HB 1233

The 11 other states with Purple Paint Laws are:

Maine
Texas
Illinois
Missouri
North Carolina
Florida
Idaho
Arkansas
Montana
Arizona
Kansas

I think the biggest issue with this law boils down to education and awareness. It’s only in effect in about 20% of the country and it’s not very apparent what the paint means. As a Geocacher that goes in a lot of off the grid locations it’s something I’m certainly going to have to keep an eye out for. People who hunt and fish are other groups that need to be made aware of this law for everyones safety.

Be careful out there!