20160624 - UP in the am and G and I headed to get the oil changed and the car washed for the trip to Indiana. We loaded up the car and took another boy, Gary, with us. We stopped halfway and found a geocache at a roadside stop, a giant indian, a giant ice cream guy and a big Garfield before reaching the questionable hotel... Settled we headed over to the ballfield for a tie? The boys played well and a good safe fun day of travel.
20130405 + Up and in to work. It was a fast day and not too cold so I grabbed a couple co-workers, Steven and Dianne and headed outside to introduce them to Geocaching. This was their first find! I think they are hooked. Finished the day and got home in good time to grab a bite to eat and then the fam went to see the new G.I. Joe. Home and all boys to bed, ready for a busy weekend.
20120903 - Up in the am and DJG&I hit the road. We got bfast at McD's and then headed N to Marion. We got to Uncle Roger's and loaded up the Shop Smith, the boys explored the house a bit and Jeanne served us up a nice lunch. This Shop Smith is special as it was used by Grampa Winger (my Grandpa, the boys Great Grandpa) to fashion the cabinets in the Farmhouse kitchen. There was a receipt from 1950 in the manual. Some history there... We then headed out to the High School football field where we played some football in front o the stands. Roger had picked up Brad and we had a nice chat on the field. Then we all headed to the big cemetery next door and introduced Roger and Brad to geocaching, and dropped a travel bug. Next we searched out one of the Roadside America's items, a mysterious 1 ton granite ball on a tombstone the magically rotates while no one is looking.
It was cool. Them across the road to the tomb of President Harding.
Back on the road with a frosty for everyone and home in no time. I had a couple friends come over to help me unload and put some wheels on the Shop Smith. We tested it put and it still works! It will need some TLC, but a good tool to have and D is already making plans to make his baseball bats himself...
In for dinner and boys to bed. I headed to Bible Bangers and then home, worried about a meeting invite I got late tonight from my boss' boss... :-s
20120731 - Up worked, dinner with fam, played with boys in playroom a bit, dinner, l to zumba, JG&I to ice cream night at pool. J got bloody nose. Found 2/4 geocaches. home watched Olympics, up late working on survival supplies
20120706 - Up early and out to the pool for our last swim at the resort.
Back to the room, loaded up the car and on the road. The first stop was the world's smallest church. When we got there a guy was mowing. I asked him some questions and he told me it was his dad that built it in 1972. His dad wasn't sure it was with the effort until one morning he stopped in to check on it and found a bottle of liquor with a note under it; 'I came here to kill myself but found the Lord instead'. From that day on his family has taken care of the little building. Here is Bruce Young posing with the fam.
Back on the road and the boys watched a movie until we got to the world's largest strawberry. Then down the road a bit to the world's largest chest of drawers and just a few miles more to the world's largest coffee pot.
And then to the boys favorite stop. The world's largest milkshake for a yummy treat.
Just a short hop to Pilot Mountain where we hiked to the top. For great panoramic shot go here-> http://360.io/FcaXjJ
We drove through 'Mayberry' on the way to the hotel. We checked in and then on the way to dinner we found a car show and the world's largest pencil.
One last stop before dinner... The world's smallest church VA style. (on our travels the smallest 'World's Smallest Church' we have found was on our vacation in 2011 in Michigan)
We finally got dinner at a Chinese place we found a couple years ago and then back to the hotel for a evening swim.
After the swim we got our traditional hot chocolate.
Almost home, but not quite ready for vacation to be over.
20120613 - Up way to early to catch a flight to ORD. Caught ride from there with Jim and we drove up to Racine WI. We got to plant early so I introduced him to geocaching! We headed back to the factory for our meeting 8-5. It was good meeting and nice to see the place and meet the people.
Back on the road to the airport. Got there and couldn't jump an early flight :-( Sat around, read book, finally home at midnight and got some taco bell for a late dinner. Home, went to check on D and he was missing... He was sleeping on floor in J&G's room. Bed about 2am... There's a 22hr day for ya!
20120425 - Up and in to the office for a busy and exciting day, well Larry did lose his wallet... I had a review today and it went VERY WELL!!! The day ended and I headed out to eat with some coworkers from CA and the UK. We had habatchi and over dinner conversation they discovered geocaching, so we gave it a try. The UK guys were quiet good and after finding the first one they wanted to do more, so we did 3! What a good end to a good trip.
20120424 - Up and into the office for an all day meeting. The meeting was pretty good, especially The presentation Larry and I did :-) We finished our meeting in the evening and then headed out for a big company dinner. After dinner we took some of the new guys and introduced them to geocaching.
20120117 - Up and the the airport for a 5:30am flight... Spent the next many hours in the air and on the road. I got to the cube farm about 12 noon and spent the rest of the day in meetings.
Out for a nice dinner with the team and introduced the new folks to geocaching :-
20110901 - Up and out on customer visits. Richard and I found a cache between visits. After work I headed out on my own to a Chinese buffet, the mall and Barnes and Noble.
20110724 + up in the morning an broke camp from a miserable hot night on the hard ground because of a deflated air mattress :-( We had breakfast with the scouts and then headed out into the park for some geocaching with the Sampsons. We found a bunch,and a huge monolith! Tired, dirty and ready to go we hit Youngs Dairy on the way home for dinner. J slept on the way home, wish I could have. Home, cleaned up and stuff out to dry. We headed to the pool but had to leave due to lightning :-o Home for dinner and watched the new Alice in Wonderland.
20110723 - Up in the morning and J and I packed up the car and headed to John Bryan St Park. We got there and the Scouts that spent last night here were at the Air Force Museum in Dayton. So we pitched our tent in the extreme heat and headed into Yellow Springs OH to check it out. We found some unusual stores there and a Subway where we picked up lunch. Back to the camp site to eat and it POURED!
We sat under the shelter and watched it rain. Soon the rain stopped and the other Scouts arrived and the boys were off playing it the woods. The rain didn't cool things down any, it just got stickier... Yuk!
We had a good dinner and then tried to make a snare trap but gave up and went geocaching. We found one but not the other, it was too dark.
The boys roasted some marshmallows and J fell asleep sitting up in his chair. Everyone to bed. I'm now going to try to sleep in this hot pea soup...
20110720 - Up early and over to the office. L got the drains cleaned out This mowing so everything ok at home. I sat in one place on a class room until 5... Class was out and I hit the road. I made it to Josh's house and then we headed to Deja Brew.
Deja Brew is an on premise brewery. Josh goes there regularly and gave me a tour and he and other guys there explained how the process works. I then met the owner, Ray Schavone, who kindly took about an hour away from his customers to explain to me all the ins and out of his 14 years of running his brewery. I learned more from him in that time than any books will ever teach me. Ray has a great place, it was packed and in his own words, 'it's like having a party every day'. I'm excited and want to learn more!
After the visit Josh and I headed to dinner. Only two stops before we found a suitable restaurant tonight, 'Ted's'. We each had a 14oz bison steak that was so incredibly good I had to lick my plate :-)
I dropped Josh off and then headed home. In made one stop at a location where for the past two days I had attempted to find a geocache. This time inbound it! After a long day, great beer experience, a fabulous steak, a good time with Josh and finding the illusive geocache I made it back to the hotel completely fudilled! A good day, and a better one coming up tomorrow: heading home :-)
20110719 - Up and into the office for a day full of training. L and the boys got home with Gma&paW after their outing. After work Josh and I headed out on a cache spree. We found 4 of the 6 we went looking for. Trying to find a restaurant that served crab legs was harder, but we found one. L called and tonight has clogged drains... Back to the room and worked a bit.
20110718 - Up early and to the airport. Flights delayed... Took 9 hours to get to the office (UNREAL!). I did arrive just in time for a meeting, but it got cancelled... Glad I flew in a day early... Out to eat and then some geocaching and exploring. I found this monument to one of the members of Prince Henry First Sinclair of Orkaley (Scottish) exploration team that was in North America in 1398!?!? HUH!?!? What's that? Nearly 100 years BEFORE Christopher Columbus Sailed the ocean blue???? Learn something new everyday....
20110716 - Up early and D and I head out for our annual 'Dad &Me' day; a day where I go with just one of the boys and we do something fun, adventurous, what ever they want to do, up to midnight. First stop was Joes to drop something off for the Bible Bangers. Then to the gas station to get supplies, water, candy and more candy. Then we hit McDonald's for a good healthy bfast :-) On down the road heading south, our first stop is to look at some box vans. The next stop was a rest stop where we saw a single man helicopter land and found a couple geocaches. We past a flea market so we had to do a u-turn and go back to explore: no major finds.
Onward to the canoe place where we boarded a bus with a couple dogs, drunks and other families to hit the river for a couple hours. We put in and headed down stream. We made a put stop at a natural bridge that was pretty cool, but scary (for me, not D) to walk across.
Back on the river and we we had a good time, almost flipped over once, stopped to skip stones and have a snack. I put D in the back and forced him to learn how to steer a canoe. He wanted me to switch him at first, but I insisted he keep trying and he got it. I think he is a bit reluctant to try new things (just like his mother...) as he wanted to but did not participate in jumping off the old railroad bridge or any of the rope swings we passed...
I think D had a good time and learned something. I know I enjoyed just floating with I'm, hearing his stories, watching him study how we drifted over the water and was still my little boy.
Arms a bit rubbery and just a bit wet we headed to the next destination. We got there, got harnessed up and heading up into the trees for a couple hours of zip-line fun.
We were a group of Russians from Cleveland that amazed D as they talked in Russian and did crazy things. It was two brothers and their girlfriends. Just as last year I volunteered D to go first and he took right off.
The little girl guiding the tour had to ask him to slow down and wait for the rest of us a couple times. He is like a monkey up there and loves it. We had a blast and commented on the different obstacles and how hard, easy or scary they were. This is one time no depth perception cones in handy, I really can't tell how high up we are... After completing 52 airborne challenges and 18 zip lines we headed to the mother of all zip lines, a 500 foot stretch that goes over a pond :-o man was that fun!!! Harnesses off, arms rubberyer (i just made up that word) back in the car, sustained today by Oreos, gum and water we headed to an ATV place. We got there, took the safety class and mounted up on out 350cc Grizzly 4x4 4 wheelers. The girl took us on an 8 mike trail, through mid holes and ruts and steep hills and deadly hair pin turn, all thing that would make his mother faint... and he did really good, only running into 3 trees (vast improvement from last year...). We finished up that trail and the girl and I decided it was best if we stay in the field and follow those tracks around, so that is what we did almost until the end. At one point D came up and looking purely exhausted I ask I he had enough and without hesitation 'yes'. We headed back to the office where D finally got to rest his arms and watch me go over a really cool obstacle course with teeter totters for the 4 wheelers and other ridiculous things. Arms spent and energy gone we tried to get dinner at a diner we like but it closed just minutes before we got there. So we headed into Logan to find a place to eat and just our luck we found a Chinese Buffett :-) Without mom around to through in a veto vote the car nearly drove itself there and D and I filled up. Back on the road and D was asking what else we could do. I figured there would be more caches On the way home so we went into a cool park and found this huge rock ready to fall on the road and smash someone (this actually made D quite nervous...).
But no caches... It saw getting dark so we hit one more gas station for coffee and hot coco to get us home. On the way home D and I had some really good conversations about everything that popped into our heads. Back in our town now and into the drive and sadness sets in as our day is almost over. We get in, our stuff unpacked and cleaned up. D fought his closing eyes to stay up till midnight, he wanted every minute he could with me today; and I too treasure every second with still this little boy, growing up all to fast... It really doesn't matter what we did today: we did it together and had fun doing it. Thanks for a perfect day God. I hope you give us many more.
20110709 - Up to a pretty quiet house without J around. Whenever and one of the three boys are gone the volume is exponentially lower... I got some reading done and then cleaned out the garage. D planed a sandlot game and was calling his friends to invite them. J got home and DJG, Connor and I headed out in search of a location to put out my first geocache. We found about 4 of them today and we did find a good place to plant one!
Home for dinner, some catch, swinging in the hammock and s'mores before some of the MasterMindGarage guys showed up for a meeting. Small group, but good meeting. Cleaned up, had a beer with Joe the neighbor and watching the fire die down.
20110703 - Up and D grumpy... To Russ and Nancy's and J&I did a geocache. We stopped back at the house, got Russ and GmaW and we all did another geocache. Darma & Loori and Eliz met up with us and we all headed to the Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Indians game. It was a great stadium and we had great seats but it was HORRIBLY HOT! We consumed as much liquid as possible and took turns getting into the shade and misters, but ended up leaving early before we all melted. Back to russ and nancy's for a bit and then drove home. We met Gma&paW for dinner at the Olive Garden and then home, all boys clnd up, exhausted to bed.
20110627 - G was up throughout the night with a fever... All up, bfast and loaded. We made our first stop at a geocache to drop off a couple travel bugs.
We then went straight East to Lake Erie. We took our shoes off and walked on the water. This makes 4 of the Great Lakes in this one trip!
On the road and back in O-H ! We stopped in Bowling Green for lunch and to see the World's Largest bronze falcon.
Back on the road and I had several more stops planned, but with little G feverish and asleep we finished the trip home straight through. We got home, unpacked and settled in. LD&J back out to Vacation Bible School. G&I went to the Dr for his throat and the DQ for dinner. I got him all med'd up and we went back to the ball fields to watch some of the playoffs. All back home and Doc and I out to meet with the Bible Bangers.
20130405 + Up and in to work. It was a fast day and not too cold so I grabbed a couple co-workers, Steven and Dianne and headed outside to introduce them to Geocaching. This was their first find! I think they are hooked. Finished the day and got home in good time to grab a bite to eat and then the fam went to see the new G.I. Joe. Home and all boys to bed, ready for a busy weekend.
20120613 - Up way to early to catch a flight to ORD. Caught ride from there with Jim and we drove up to Racine WI. We got to plant early so I introduced him to geocaching!
We headed back to the factory for our meeting 8-5. It was good meeting and nice to see the place and meet the people. 
20120425 - Up and in to the office for a busy and exciting day, well Larry did lose his wallet... I had a review today and it went VERY WELL!!! The day ended and I headed out to eat with some coworkers from CA and the UK. We had habatchi and over dinner conversation they discovered geocaching, so we gave it a try. The UK guys were quiet good and after finding the first one they wanted to do more, so we did 3! What a good end to a good trip.
20120424 - Up and into the office for an all day meeting. The meeting was pretty good, especially The presentation Larry and I did :-) We finished our meeting in the evening and then headed out for a big company dinner. After dinner we took some of the new guys and introduced them to geocaching.
20120118 - Up and in to the office for a full day. After work I went out to eat with the group and we went to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner.
20120117 - Up and the the airport for a 5:30am flight... Spent the next many hours in the air and on the road. I got to the cube farm about 12 noon and spent the rest of the day in meetings. 
20110901 - Up and out on customer visits. Richard and I found a cache between visits. After work I headed out on my own to a Chinese buffet, the mall and Barnes and Noble.
20110719 - Up and into the office for a day full of training. L and the boys got home with Gma&paW after their outing. After work Josh and I headed out on a cache spree. We found 4 of the 6 we went looking for. Trying to find a restaurant that served crab legs was harder, but we found one. L called and tonight has clogged drains... Back to the room and worked a bit.
20110718 - Up early and to the airport. Flights delayed... Took 9 hours to get to the office (UNREAL!). I did arrive just in time for a meeting, but it got cancelled... Glad I flew in a day early... Out to eat and then some geocaching and exploring. I found this monument to one of the members of Prince Henry First Sinclair of Orkaley (Scottish) exploration team that was in North America in 1398!?!? HUH!?!? What's that? Nearly 100 years BEFORE Christopher Columbus Sailed the ocean blue???? Learn something new everyday....
20110709 - Up to a pretty quiet house without J around. Whenever and one of the three boys are gone the volume is exponentially lower... I got some reading done and then cleaned out the garage. D planed a sandlot game and was calling his friends to invite them. J got home and DJG, Connor and I headed out in search of a location to put out my first geocache. We found about 4 of them today and we did find a good place to plant one!
20110703 - Up and D grumpy... To Russ and Nancy's and J&I did a geocache. We stopped back at the house, got Russ and GmaW and we all did another geocache. Darma & Loori and Eliz met up with us and we all headed to the Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Indians game. It was a great stadium and we had great seats but it was HORRIBLY HOT! We consumed as much liquid as possible and took turns getting into the shade and misters, but ended up leaving early before we all melted. Back to russ and nancy's for a bit and then drove home. We met Gma&paW for dinner at the Olive Garden and then home, all boys clnd up, exhausted to bed.
