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In my opinion, then, the Board needs to specifically define where the committee has authority. Perhaps it should be within a certain budget or some other limiting factor. If the committees must bring every decision to the Board for a vote there is less of an advantage in having a committee structure.

For example, does the Campout Committee have the authority to determine the fee schedule (t-shirts, camping, pancake breakfast) or does that go to the Board? Can the Education Committee spend money on literature without Board approval? Can the Picnic Committee authorize a Lake Superior cruise for the committee members to determine the practicality of a WGA picnic on Madeline Island? 😀

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Do the committees have decision making authority or do all decisions go back to the Board of Directors for vote?

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An article about the contest was in local paper last Friday.

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@Lostby7 wrote:

You live in a hotbed of Geocaching activity!

That is quite funny to read, considering what it used to be like here.

Welcome to the WGA! I hope to run into on the trails someday – or perhaps at the CITO event in Eau Claire on 4/14.

Ruth

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I’m also from the Chippewa area. I know that I wouldn’t mind hearing about corrections on my caches. I would guess that most people wouldn’t mind corrections like that, as long as it was politely done.

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I believe the pricing structure is based on a one-sided design. So, you can sleep twice as long, now. 🙂

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The Green Tree is very convenient to Robin’s event location.

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My favorite event! Please sign me up if you’re still looking for victims ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H volunteers. 😉

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I’d recommend the Green Tree Inn & Suites in downtown Eau Claire. Walking distance to decent restaurants (and a few caches – maybe more since I don’t know where the contest caches are). I stayed there after a work Christmas party. I have two co-workers who live(d) there (one during a divorce, the other 3 days/week because he really lives in Minneapolis). I stayed in the main building (the older part, I think). It was clean and cheap ($45). Free wireless, as well.

I had a two-room suite. Sleeper couch/TV/small fridge (maybe a microwave, but I can’t remember) in one room. Double bed, tv in the other. Real keys for the door (to give you an idea of age), but the rooms must have been updated because they do not look ancient.

It is also walking distance to some *very* interesting neighborhood bars, if you’re in the mood for adventure. The Farmer’s Market is nearby (Wed and Thu in season), and outdoor entertainment (at least last year) on Thu nights.

The neighborhood is a mix of the old, run down-ish type of small downtown and a downtown revitalization.

The Eau Claire library is a couple of blocks away, with internet access, in case you aren’t carrying your own laptop.

If you do stay here, especially during the week, let me know. I work very nearby and would love to join you for a cache or two or three.

Contact info:
516 Galloway Street — Eau Claire WI, 54701
Phone: 1-800-236-3411

Ruth

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I realize my address and phone number are available to anyone who cares to look up my name. However, geocachers real names are not available unless they give it out in some public way.

I know my name is out there, attached with my geoname, because it was freely available when I was a Board member. However, not all geocachers have given this information out.

As to not placing caches where I need to give out that information, I certainly wouldn’t if I hadn’t already made those details public.

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In Wisconsin it is the Wisconsin Open Records Law (Wis Stat. 19.31-19.39).

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What bothers me about this is the information being given out. That form includes real name, home address, phone numbers, and email address for the geocacher. This type of information is not obtainable through geocaching.com unless the geocacher has made it available.

I hope this DNR officer imposed a fee to cover the cost of locating the form and copying it.

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@LightningBugs Mum wrote:

And then there was the time we were searching around in the obvious spots. I looked inside a big hollow log to find this

If you were in the Minneapolis area, that could have been a Posen hide.

If I had found that in a hollow log at ground zero I would have pulled it out expecting to find a cache container in the head cavity.

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It is things like TE’s experiences that make me so hesitant to geocache too far into the boonies by myself. That, and bears, of course. (Although my closest known geocaching contact with them was at Bjornson – not so out in the boonies.)

No real unusual finds for me. I have, unfortunately, encountered the impromptu outdoor toilet near a cache more than once. The weirdest experience was while geocaching in Eau Claire with zoejam (from MN) and after returning from the cache in a creepy wooded place along the river we saw a car come zooming out of where we had been. None of us had seen anyone in the woods while we had been there and it had limited access. It was scary to think that people were in there that we couldn’t/didn’t see.

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@LightningBugs Mum wrote:

March is my least favorite month for precisely this reason. That and my birthday. 😡

Think of each year as another smiley in your stats. After all, the alternative is a DNF.

Ruth

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