Raceway Woods Christmas Golfer

While at Raceway Woods, we picked up this Christmas ornament from A Pink Floyd Experience (GCGVG0). What better tribute to the raceway, and to our Christmas visit, than to transform it into a world-traveling bug. The Raceway Woods Christmas Golfer will be released in Minnesota as soon as we get back into the field.

Geocaching at Raceway Woods

Over the Christmas holiday, we visited relatives in the Chicagoland area and went geocaching at Raceway Woods - formally known as Meadowdale International Raceway. It was built in 1958 near Carpentersville, Illinois, some 40 miles northwest of Chicago - designed to rival the great race tracks of Europe. The track was 3.27 miles long, and had a variety of turns and elevation changes. Its signature feature was the Monza Wall, a 180 degree steeply banked turn that led onto the 4,000 foot main straightaway. Raceway Woods is open to the public for hiking, biking, horseback riding, picnicking and other outdoor recreation - including geocaching.

Here's a 1958 view of the Monza Wall.

Below is a view of the straightaway in 1968.

Here's what it looks like today.

Meadowdale International Raceway has a great website, chock full of vintage and contemporary photos. I encourage the reader to visit that link.

It was a beautiful Christmas day for geocaching at Raceway Woods. The skies were clear with temps in the mid 30's. With no leaf cover the GPSrs were spot on and the caches easy to find.

The nephews show the size of this hide.

And here's the whole gang at the wall.

Save the Silo!

The famous Pure silo that graced the early track was slated for demolition until racing enthusiasts and local residents got wind of it. A fund was set up to save the silo, the goal reached, and the silo is nearing complete restoration. The addition of benches, landscaping, and possibly a geocache will make it all complete. Click on either picture to read all about the restoration.

Coming Soon - Where I go.com

The author of the game, using Wherigo Builder, creates rules that generate media events on a hand-held device. For example, when a person enters a game zone, the device can play a sound or show a picture. The author can also create virtual objects and characters that "live" within the zone for the person to interact with. A person could "talk" to a virtual character, "pull" a virtual switch or "give" a virtual item from their inventory to a character. Using rules within the Wherigo Builder the author can tell a story, create a puzzle game, or generate a tour guide.

Read about it here.

Listen to it here.

OCCCS - Obsessive Compulsive Cache Craving Syndrome

You know that you are addicted to Geocaching when... read more.

Sell Your Soul Geocache???

In recognition of what they claim to be the sudden and recent popularity of selling souls, and the fact that many geocachers nowadays are into the numbers game and will do lots of things in order to score a quick and easy find on a cache, Vinny & Sue Team proposed a cache called, Sell Your Soul for a Smiley! But it seems the reviewers don't really like the idea. My favorite quote in the thread is, Found the cache. The soul inside was wet, so I replaced it with a new one.You can read the entire thread here.