Cache in Carolina (North, that is!)

Johnny Cache is on the move now! Tennessee was a quick stop, and now he has stopped in North Carolina, less than five miles from the South Carolina border. No new destination have been achieved, but the odds of getting to one soon are quite good.Total mileage is now at 3,588 miles. We are looking forward to seeing where he goes next!

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Map Making

Here we are, Christmas Eve and Laura and I still have some Christmas shopping to do. Good thing we are not having our family Christmas for another two weeks, when my sister comes back from Idaho. We have most of our shopping done though, but still a few loose ideas on presents to finish our shopping with.

I have been doing some odds and ends at work, getting caught up with projects and brainstorming other things to do or attempt to do. One of my projects has been designing a 3D computer model of the districts landscape. It's in the first stages, but some things are starting to come together. It's interesting to see the wide range of geography just within our district.

I have been doing some experimenting with some of our GIS (Geographical Information System) program that I use at work. Some things are understandable but others take some practice, and so I have been doing some practicing. I made a map of Nebraska and used the geocaches we have found and placed within the state. There are several programs that will do this for me, but manually working with the information can be more rewarding and can help to understand the information more clearly. Here's the simple map I came up with quick.
The red dots are geocaches we have found. It's quite obvious we hang out right around Kearney a lot, but we have also done a fair amount of traveling around in the Panhandle as well. Interstate 80 is pretty easy to see as it goes west from Kearney. The green dots, which are a littel difficult to see, are geocaches we have hidden. We have hidden 7 in Nebraska - we had three or four in Montana, those were adopted by one of our geocaches friends in Missoula. Here is another map that shows the counties we have geocaches in.The exception is Logan county, we actually have only hidden a geocache there, not found one...

Well, that's the news for now. Tomorrow is Christmas and we are headed to the Sandhills, just like we have done the past 26 years.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Johnny Cache Finds Tennessee

Well, good ole Johnny Cache has made it was to Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has now traveled 3,411 miles and has stopped at four of the destinations on his long list of goals. Those however have only been the states of Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Tennessee. Hopefully he will make his way to Nashville while he is in Tennessee, but you just never know where the next Geocacher will take him. We will be waiting for him to get picked up and move along with another geocacher on their adventures! Until again

-=Nolan=-

A Letter To The Editor

For those of you who know me well, you might know that I like to speak my mind occasionally - ok, maybe more than occasionally. What better way than getting my opinion in the local newspaper?

I wrote a Letter to the Editor a few weeks ago and thought I would share it. A little background first though. A little over a month ago, I was out for my run after work. Keep in mind, the sun had already set and the street lights had come on - it was dark. As I came to an intersection with a marked cross walk a car rolled through the stop sign - it was close enough that I slammed my hand on the back of his trunk to let him know I was not very happy that he didn't stop. If we would have met a second earlier I would have been on his hood...

Well, the young man then rolled his window down and started yelling at me for hitting his car. I didn't hesitate to throw my thoughts back at him. Maybe next time he will think a little when he's driving his car...but I doubt it.

Here's my letter:

Every year, after we set our clocks back, it seems the idea of venturing out into the dark for my evening run is borderline insanity and more dangerous to my health than staying home on the couch and watching TV. I have been running on the streets of Kearney for over a decade now, and it seems some drivers need a friendly reminder that even though the street lights have come on, there are still many people who get outside to take a walk or go for a run. When I run in the evening I try to wear at least a light colored reflective top to be seen. Lately, it seems my efforts to allow motorists to see me are falling on blind eyes.

I have noticed drivers on cell phones or text messaging who likely never noticed I was running around their vehicle at an intersection. Usually I have to run around the back of a vehicle after the driver speeds to the stop sign and finally come to a stop with their rear tires blocking the crosswalk. Had I been a few steps quicker or they arrived a few moments later I would surely become a very unwelcome hood ornament or perhaps even worse.

Simply stopping before the cross walk, looking both directions, and proceeding is an easy practice to follow and would improve the safety of our streets for both pedestrians and drivers. At least a few of us could breathe easier while we exercise.

It's not much, but at least it's something for people to think about. It was in the paper a few weeks ago, and since that time I haven't had any trouble when I have been running - but it's only a matter of time until another bad driver ignores a simple traffic law and receives my fist pounding on their car. It wasn't my first and it won't be my last.

Until again

-=Nolan=-