Welcome to the 3rd Biennial Geocaching Road Rally! We will be meeting at the picnic shelter at Nixon Park in Hartland (note the location change). Rain or shine. Road Rally teams will stagger out starting at 8am. Lunch around 11:30am-2:30pm.

Geo-chatting all day long! Come for lunch and to watch other cachers come back in from the rally. ALL are welcome to attend the event and enjoy the food and geo-chat.

A special thank you to Ranger Boy and Silyngufy for helping me plan and hide this year. With the addition of Jr.Ole born March 16th, I wouldnt have time to plan this event out without help. So to all the participants, prepare for some new twists and turns.
The road rally is a social gathering, a competitive game. There is a picnic at the park after the rally. As in previous years, wifeyole and me will be supplying hot dogs and brats with all the fixings. We’ll start cooking lunch around eleven but feel free to come anytime. Please consider bringing a dish, salad, dessert, etc to pass. Also please bring your own beverages. I’m told Beccaday and family will be coming with another awesome cake! We are starting earlier than in years past to let everyone (aka Ranger Boy) have a chance to get to Star Wars bobble head day at Miller Park.
Official rally rules will be announced approximately 1 week before the event.
Children are welcome and encouraged to attend the event, there is a nice playground at the park as well as a splashpad, but I would recommend only kids 12 or older on a rally team given the number of stops and getting in and out of the car safely and quickly. You know your children best so ultimately the choice is up to you.

The course will take at least 4 hours depending on how well you do.Like in 2014, we will be preparing a rally more like a “Great Urban Race” competition instead of a defined course.; Every 10 minutes, 5 teams will all be sent out; Instead of following a planned route, it will be up to your team to strategize and determine where you go, what caches you will find and what tasks to complete. If you just want to come for lunch and to watch other cachers come back in from the rally, please state that in your will attend log. ALL are welcome to attend the event and enjoy the food and geo-chat.

Although this is mostly for fun, this can also be rather competitive and usually is. Prizes will be awarded the winners.

Each team will be given a starting time in advance. These times will be staggered so that not everyone is going out at the same time.; The first five teams out will have the best chance for FTFs. The first cars out will be picked by a lottery based will attend logs to this event.

Event starting time will be 8am.

Each 4-6 person team will need the following:
1) One digital camera

2).A smartphone and car phone charger.

3) a vehicle with an odometer and with enough gasoline in it to go at least 40 miles and enough room to fit the entire team

4) One member with good reading / navigating skills.
5) One member with a valid drivers license.
6) At least 1 GPSr with capability to manually enter coordinates for 10 or so new geocaches on the course. *
7) $5-10 per team member to do optional tasks
8) A plastic bag to bring back scavenger hunt items
9) A pen

Preferably, each participant should also bring a food item to pass for lunch after the event.

In order to keep things fun and fair, here are some Road Rally Regulations.

Teams of 4-6 people – only allowed one motorized vehicle per team.

You will have 4 hours to complete the rally. Where you go and what you do will be up to you.

Points are how you win. In the unlikely event of a tie, shorter time will be the tiebreaker.

Everything is optional. Each cache is worth points. The points for each cache is determined by adding the difficulty and terrain of that cache. (ie a 1.5D/1.5T = 3 points) To prove you were at a cache there will be a code word attached to each log. You will be given a sheet to fill in.

There will be a number of optional tasks, bonus questions, and some items to bring back with you. Each will be worth variable points. There will be a maximum of (TBD) points available.

Time only matters for the tiebreaker AND if you go over time of 4 hours, sharp. Each 10 minutes, or fraction thereof, over time will be a deduction of 2 points.

It should go without saying, but do not sabotage or make more difficult the hides for other teams. Saboteurs will be disqualified. The winners will get a small prize, but its not like you are playing for a new car or $20,000 or something. This is meant to be competitive fun, fun being the key word.

Some helpful suggestions:
Teams can temporarily split up when going for a longer or higher terrain cache, it only takes one member of the team to make a find. You may NOT have more than one car.

Some businesses are not open during the entire rally. If there is a task you want to complete, plan your route accordingly.

This is a 4 hour rally to respect everyones time – Don’t try and do it all, do what you want. I think it would take 6+ hours to do everything.

There is no additional bonus for FTFs – but they do count for bragging rights on the permanent cache for us FTF hounds.

If you need a phone-a-friend, Ill give you my number the day of the rally. A phone-a-friend to me, will result in half the points being deducted for that cache. (If it is my error, no points will be deducted).
Scoring will be done at the end of the rally. But its really not about the rules, its about the fun and camaraderie with fellow cachers!
Please feel free to contact with me with questions via email or this webpage. Keep this page on your watch list for updates. Otherwise, we hope to see you on June 11th