Welcome HeliDood

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:30 am

I want to welcome another Central Wisconsin cacher to the group. HeliDood's name has been popping up in the published caches arena as well as the found area. Nice to see another cacher "just down the road" join the group. You will find alot of help & alot of advice if you ask for (some good & some not lol) Check out all the forums & ask questions or add suggestions. Take time to look at GC22P6H & maybe head over to meet cachers whose names you see in the logs.
Again welcome HeliDood!!!!

Becky (blue_cougar54494)

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:32 am

Welcome, we were just caching somewhat central Wisconsin yesterday and have our own ties to the area (we met in college at Point!) Lots of great people here willing to share all kinds of opinions!

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:42 am

Welcome HeliDood! The WGA is a great organization to belong to. You will find these forums helpful, entertaining, informational, and very social. Happy caching!

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:09 pm

Welcome! Take advantage of events in your area or just through out an email to someone in your area for any pointers.

WGA Friend Joined: 2010-01-08 Posts: 275

Thanks for the welcome. (I spotted this thread just now)
Yeah, so far I've just been slowly finding the caches in the Wisconsin Rapids area. Haven't really ventured outside this area just yet, but will soon have to since I've already got most of them in town.

I can't make any commitments to attend events, since being a full time student means I haven't got a lot of money to travel around the state, but I will try to get to what I can.

About me:
I'm a Navy Submarine Veteran, served for just 5 years from 2001 to 2006, lived on the east coast the whole time (Connecticut, Maine, & New Hampshire). Thanks to the Navy, I've travelled to some pretty far off places and around again. Unfortunately I didn't see much since the other side of the world when viewed from the inside of a submarine resembles very much like the inside of a submarine (subs dont have Windows, for those who dont get the joke)
This is a picture of my boat from 2005. We were coming into Bahrain (in the middle of the Persian Gulf). I'm in the photograph, I'm one of the guys in the guys bent over in the back, with my good side facing the camera. If you want info about submarines, you can google "Los Angeles Class Submarine" That should satisfy a curious mind, although I don't mind answering questions. I actually enjoy talking about them, and I love telling sharing sea stories.

Thats actually when I started Geocaching, when I lived out east. I had a good friend from the Navy who was very in to it, and he and I would make finds together. I had my own account back then, but that account is since lost.
I created a new account late last fall, and have been into it pretty steady (although very casually) ever since. I expect to be a little more active once this snow melts off.

How I got my name:
I'm very much into R/C, specifically helicopters. It's a very technically challenging & rewarding hobby for me. The Dood part of it just means that I'm a Dood (Dude). Dood also means "Death" in the Dutch language, like the Grim Reaper, so that makes it fun, too.

This is one of my helicopters, the picture taken last fall at club field located between Wisc Rapids and Plover.

I'm also into airplanes. Here's my friend Brian flying (hovering) his 90" Edge 540

Lately, it's been too cold to fly outside (funny that it isn't too cold to go geocaching Smile

) So I've got an airplane specifically for flying indoors.
Perfect for a gymnasium or field house.

I'm also an avid guitar player (and other stringed instruments)
Music is very personal to me, and I have a great appreciation for most things having to do with music.
I've already incorporated music into a puzzle cache, and I can tell you already it won't be the last, as I'm already working on another puzzle that will include a piece of music.
Since it's hard to find a piece of music to fit a geocache, I thought I'd create my own. For the past week, I've been sitting down with a piece of blank sheet music, scribbling in the notes as I go. It's proving to be more of a challenge than I first anticipated.

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:14 pm

Welcome to our addiction! Being a full time student also, I know how tough it can be to find those caches!

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:02 am

Flying RC was my most recent Pre-Caching obsession. No helis, just planes. I haven't flown in a couple of years, but have been getting the bug to go again. Jeez, I've got three brand new planes that I haven't even flown yet.

WGA Friend Joined: 2010-01-08 Posts: 275

Team Black-Cat wrote:

I've got three brand new planes that I haven't even flown yet.

Whatcha got? Selling any? I just happen to looking for something along the lines of a 60 size Edge or an Extra. I was hoping to have one of those 50cc 90" gassers that are so popular right now, but I really can't afford to get one of those in the air anytime soon.

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:05 am

Nothing for sale. I probalby should get rid of a few, but can't bring myself to part with any of them.
.10 Sprite
.20 Aerostar
.20 Cub
.20 Zero
.40 trainer (forgot the name)
Skybolt (60 size bipe)
Tiger 60
and a few more that I can't remember right now.
I never got into the big gas planes. Too much $$...
I did build (and still have, but not mine) a scale Cessna Skymaster. It's a push-pull twin .65.

BTW, it's never too cold to fly! I've flown in a snow storm and attended a winter fly-in where the temp bottomed out at -10. Geocachers only THINK they've cornered the market on crazy.

WGA Friend Joined: 2010-01-08 Posts: 275

Team Black-Cat wrote:

BTW, it's never too cold to fly! I've flown in a snow storm and attended a winter fly-in where the temp bottomed out at -10.

...but helicopter pilots actually need both thumbs to fly, unlike a plank pilot who can fly with one hand in their pocket, or holding a cup of hot coffee.

I have flown in -10 weather. It's not fun. Well it is, but only for a few minutes.

I went to the Winter Fun Fly in Wausau a few years ago, I didn't have a good time. It was bitter cold, and the gusting 25mph wind wasn't helping.

A real concern of mine, though, is the plastic ball links on the rotor head. With the high loads on the head, and the high head speeds we run, the last thing I want is a linkage breaking because it got brittle from the cold.

That helicopter costs a good $3000 to get in the air. It's not exactly cheap to crash.

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:41 am

Flying in winter can be fun on a nice day. No wind...
Helis take too much tinkerin' to be fun in the winter, and a failure becasue of frozen nylon wouldn't be fun either.
Plank pilot... Snob.

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3259

Team Black-Cat wrote:

Flying RC was my most recent Pre-Caching obsession. No helis, just planes. I haven't flown in a couple of years, but have been getting the bug to go again. Jeez, I've got three brand new planes that I haven't even flown yet.

Well, I had a .40 trainer that served me well for many years but I got tired of the wipe-the-oil cleanup routine when I wanted to fly for 5 minutes. The park flyer wouldn't do it out here (too much wind) so I changed to an EP and moved the electronics to the new model.

Wouldn't you know it, the Turf Gods demanded a sacrifice and so we needed a little fuselage...repair Embarassed

Got it all rebuilt in summer, looked to be running great, gave it a hand-launch...

...Whereupon it immediately took a left-hand bank and went full throttle, prop-first into the field.

So, that took care of my RC flying adventures for now. Instead I fly the full-size Cessna with which I have had markedly better experience.

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:45 am

It's funny how full scale experience just doesn't translate well to RC. Here's to keeping your "real life" record intact, GR!

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:24 pm

Welcome to the WGA. Thanks for the really cool photos. Very cool.

zuma

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:57 pm

Here's a pic of the Skymaster. It's modeled after a friend's full scale plane. It's painted like a Riley Rocket, but it's actually a plain Jane Skymaster. 88" wingspan. The silver one behind it is my Zero.