For many geocachers, there are a few places on a “bucket list.” That list could include Groundpeak Headquarters, or a GeoWoodstock, or some amazing cache that most people will never get to.
For many, the list also includes Mingo.
Mingo – or GC30 – is the oldest active cache in the world. It’s in the Northwest corner of Kansas and was placed on May 11, 2000. That means this May, Mingo will celebrate its 15th birthday.
I’ve wanted to hit Mingo for many years. From everything I’ve read, it’s not the most awesome, amazing geocache out there, but historically speaking, it is pretty amazing. It has withstood the test of time and it’s something to connect the start of the game to what it is today.
Travel with some purpose… a caching road trip!
Plus, it would be one hell of a road trip.
Here’s the one issue – it’s nearly 1,400 miles from me. Sure, I could find a flight, rent a car and do it, but where’s the adventure there? I want to road trip this. I always envisioned a long trip out to Kanasas, caching along the way and grabbing as many historical and top-favorited geocaches that I could. Then driving back a different way to collect a few more states.
Then comes the issue of … how do you do this? Your own car? A rental? Somebody else’s car?
I lease, so tacking on 3,000-plus miles might not be a smart move. I’m already way over where I should be, so would doing that be smart?
Maybe that means renting a car and splitting the cost between a few people and going on a cannonball-style road trip. That would be fun. Just take off, hit those cool caches on the way out and back and do it within like four or five days.
The issue I’ve noticed? Apparently some rental companies give unlimited miles east of the Mississippi River, and then charge you when you go beyond. So I need to look into this more to see what it would actually cost me in a rental to do it. It might just be easier to take my wheels and hope I can get a month or two where it doesn’t move that much.
This would be a travel dream, though.
No worries about being a tourist or anything. This would be travel with a purpose. A couple of maps and planned out geocaches for the route, and maybe even try and set up an event or two for the trip. Some stops for a few photos, decent food, and awesome geocaches.
Old-school travel. A road trip to be remembered.
I am sure other geocachers have done this before, no matter where the road trip is taking one to. I have gone on some geocaching travels as well, but there’s something about this trip that has interested me for a while. Maybe it’s the adventure of going somewhere I’ve never been before. Maybe it’s the idea of traveling with one main purpose and nothing else. Or maybe it’s just the idea of the unknown.
Years ago, a couple of us were going to the center states based on something I had worked on for a newspaper. We were traveling with little money, no planning, and in a day when there were no cell phones and Internet.
Though prices back then were much lower than they are now, I think it could have been a disastrous trip.
We got about four or five hours outside of the home area and my car wasn’t acting right. We stopped a service station and the guy was nice enough to peek it over and not charge me. Turns out my four-cylinder was running on about three or three and a half. He advised us not to do the trip.
So we didn’t.
Instead, we stopped at a rest area and ate. We talked about the plan. Made a few calls (pay phone) and headed home.
It was probably a smart choice.
That being said, I’ve never done a trip like that. It’s always been something I’ve wanted to do and geocaching gives me the perfect chance. Just a destination and a purpose and a lot of open road between here, there, and back again. Something tells me, there’d be many awesome caches, too. And several new states added to the total.
This is definitely some travel I’d like to do – geocaching style!
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For a geocacher, that sounds like a dream trip. Mine would be a trip to wine country in CA, and a European vacation. Maybe one day…
I like road trips, too. 🙂
Linda recently posted..Small Town Travel
I’ve only been to Europe once — when I went to Ireland in 2010. And I’d love to return there, and a few other spots. But one thing I’ve always said, too, is that there are so many awesome spots in our country (as well as Canada) that I’d love to see as well!
Mingo is on my bucket list as well. Straightline miles, it’s only 994 miles from me, but that would be the farthest cache away from me that I have found when I finally get there. The farthest cache, at the moment from me is one up in Idaho, a mere 937 miles away.
I’ve toyed with going out to get Mingo several times. Each year, when we’ve planned a camping trip in that direction, things have conspired against me. This summer doesn’t look good unless I go in early June as we have a wedding in July and I’m sure my daughter won’t want me straying too far from home during that month. I can understand that.
Now, the next summer is pretty much free and clear at the moment and the summer of 2017 would be really epic as there’s a total eclipse of the sun that will fall just north of Mingo. Get the oldest cache, then watch a total eclipse of the sun. Man, wouldn’t that just be amazing?
Paul Myers recently posted..Travel – Day 4 of the Chill
If I can find somebody up for a 4-5 day trip across the U.S. to go get Mingo this year, I plan on it. I’ve mentioned it to a few people for spring break, so we’ll see. I’d love to just take off and drive – do caches along the way, get Mingo and head back. I figured if we did two routes, I’d get 10 new states. Others would get even more. And I’d be snapping a lot of photos and all. Would make for some fun blog posts!
I don’t think I can hold off until 2017. Though I’d hope it was still there, who can ever tell? I figure the sooner the better when it comes to Mingo!
I spent the majority of my life in small town South East Kansas, so it’s interesting to find out that middle of nowhere Kansas is a top spot to visit for geocaching. We passed by Mingo on 70 a couple of times and had no idea the significance.
Heather {My Little HEA} recently posted..Get to Know Me – 25 Q+A and A Giveaway!!
It’s definitely a place that is a “mecca” of sorts for geocachers, considering the historic significance. Are you a geocacher?
I still can’t get over how our AMAZING geocaches were trashed and eventually stolen. How do they keep something like Mingo intact?
Katherine recently posted..Houseboats and Espressos
When did you have geocaches trashed? We had a whole heap of ammo cans in my area get stolen a few years ago. Mingo, I believe, has been snaked once or twice. I give the owner credit for keeping it up and running as it’s truly an historic cache!
Caching on a road trip makes it so much more enjoyable. While I have never gone on a big trip JUST for caching I have driven Arizona to Ohio and back. I cached along the way an it made the trip more of an experience than a drive. The fact that caches are rated now (are they still?) made it easier to pick the ones that we worth stopping for. Caches along a route was nice too so I didn’t get too off track. I saw a lot of cool little places and things on those trips because of caching! I planned for one every hour or two and if I didn’t feel like stopping, I just kept driving!
That is absolutely true. I love planning caches for when I travel, as long as I am with people who don’t mind. The actual geocaching road trips can be a hoot. I love doing them, though they don’t happen as often as I’d like them to. If I can pull off the Mingo one sometime this year, I’d be stoked. But I have about three or four places I’d like to travel to this year, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to do them all, both financially and getting time off!