Geocaching is life to me. That may seem over the top but as you’ll see it’s not really.
Growing up I always loves the outdoors. I would be out in the woods, down by the river or up the mountain any chance I could. One of the things that drew me there was the sheer love of exploring. I had to know what was over the next rise or around the next bend.
Even when I was not out exploring I was at home looking at maps; trying to image new places and new things. I would devour the National Geographic each month when it arrived by mail. Even travel guides and brochures would be quickly perused for all I could learn from them. History was the only thing that could draw me away from my maps, only to be pulled into the places it would take me.
When I left for the service I had the chance to go to many new places and see many new things. This only made me want more. Seeing what was out there became an obsession, a passion, a hunger.
When I met and married my lovely wife she joined me in my desire. Soon afterwards the Clan grew and I found my other true passion, my family.
While stationed in Alaska in 2006, we bought our first GPS. We purchased it so we could travel of course. In the material that came with the unit was information on Geocaching. At this point I had never heard of caching. It sounded like fun so I went to the site and signed up. That evening we found our first two caches as a family. The Totem Clan was born.
In the next month that we had left before transferring to North Dakota we found 70 caches. We were hopelessly addicted. There were place we saw that month we had never seen or heard of before. We were exploring as a family.
When we arrived in Grand Forks, North Dakota there were only about 35 caches within 50 miles of our new home. It didn’t take long to clear them out. After that we had two ways to feed our new addiction. We would hit the road when on leave to find new caches or we could hide caches. We began to do both.
As we began to get more into caching Big Bear, my wife, got her own account and began to hide a few caches. As the cubs grew they each started their own accounts. I became Totem Clan.
In November of this past year we moved back to my home. I returned with my family to the woods, rivers and mountains I so loved as a child. Now we live and cache in southwest Oklahoma. My love for exploring, my love of this land and my love of my family all can be found in own pursuit, caching.
My family, my friends, my land, my passion all is here in caching. My life may not be caching, but caching could be my life.
