A geocaching road trip can be a great way to spend a weekend (or longer) exploring new areas. Geocaching and road-tripping go together like PB and J, like beer and Pizza, like…well you get the picture. There are however several things you can do to ensure that you have the best road trip experience possible. Here are a few tips and ideas for you would be road-trippers.
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- Find the right buddy – Sometimes hitting the open road on your own can be a good thing, you get to clear your head and spend a few hours in blissful solitude. Chances are though that if you’re looking at a “road trip” we’re talking about something a tad longer than a 2-4 hour drive. If this is the case, bringing the right friend can have a number of advantages; you’ll have someone to talk to, joke with, split the driving with etc. But also keep in mind that you’ll be spending a lot of time in a small area with this person, so you need to choose wisely. Have a friend that loves to complain, always seems to lose their wallet and loves to drink milk despite being lactose intolerant? Yep; you’re going to want to pass on bringing them along.
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- Plan, but not too much – Unless you have unlimited time and are completely foot loose and fancy free, you’ll need to have some form of plan as you start out on your road trip. This could be as simple as, “we need to be back by 7pm on Sunday” or even “we’re driving to Washington D.C. because that’s where my favorite cheeseburger place is”. A geocacher needs to take this a step further if they plan on going “off the beaten path”. With the advent of smart phone use in geocaching this has become less important than it used to be, but if you’re going into remote places, make sure you load geocaches along the way into your GPSr device.
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- Snacks – Beef jerky, fruit, a cooler with your favorite “adult soda”, whatever you think you’ll need, it is far likelier to be cheaper and more readily available if you pack and bring it yourself. Speaking from my own experience, some people can get quite grumpy if they haven’t eaten in a while and having some snacks handy my help to avoid Mr. Pissy Pants from ruining your geocaching adventure.
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- Car/Motorcycle/Bike – Duh.
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- Epic Mix Tape – I know, I know – no one makes “mix tapes” anymore, call me retro. But whether it’s on your iPod, through a satellite service, a burned CD or maybe even a cassette, make sure you’ve got the right tunes to cruise down the road. Though not noted above, this may also be a qualifier for the first point on selecting a travel buddy. If you’re into 80’s hair band rock and he’s into Britney Spears, you both may go a tad crazy.
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- Cache Containers / Maintenance Items – All caches fall onto hard times and if we all help take care of the caches out there they will last longer for all to enjoy. You can get free logbooks here on this website (just sign up for our newsletter for the free printable book). Also having these items will allow you to hide a geocache should you find that perfect spot that you want to share with your fellow cachers.
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- Clothing/Toiletries – The good news is that unless you’re driving a Delorean you should have plenty of room to bring a wide variety of clothing to fit almost any need. Even if it’s summer, plan on bringing jeans and a jacket – you never know where your adventure is going to take you. Ditto for the winter; you don’t want to have to pass on that hot tub offer from those random Swedes you met along the way because you failed to pack a swimsuit. (Wait, that might work out ok… you get the idea)
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- 101 Devil Caches – Ok; probably not 100% needed, but it makes for good reading, and this is our blog, so a shameless plug for the geocaching book we wrote to help cachers build their own tricky caches was in order.
- Dry Erase Board – Sometimes you want / need to communicate with other cars while hurdling down the freeway at 70 miles an hour. Writing a message on a dry erase board and holding it up to the window is one way to communicate. (You do so at your own risk, we’re not saying it’s safe)
Going on a road trip is a time honored rite of passage for many young people and families alike. We hope that these tips will help you on your next adventure. Have you ever been on a geocaching road trip? Have any photos that you’d like to share? If so, we want to hear about it! You can reach us through our contact page or via facebook!
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