2013 Summer Soiree Silent Auction and Donations

– Willing to offer up a cache hint or puzzle solution? – Willing to give a guided tour of one of your caches? – Do you specialize in crafting some unique item? – Have cache containers or geocoins laying around? – Have something that might be great swag to a cacher? If you answered, yes, to any of the above, NoVAGO encourages you to consider donating to the Summer Auction… As most of you know, NoVAGO does not charge dues, but instead holds several fund raisers throughout the year.  Our main fundraiser is the summer silent auction. Please see the forum post for a description of what a silent auction is and how it is run, I will not go into that here. If you have an item or items that you’d like to donate, please contact me (dave — rufnredy) or any officer off-line either via e-mail, or PM … Continue reading

Upcoming Geocaching 101 Class Dates …

Here is the list of the upcoming Geocaching Class Dates. NoVAGO is hosting these classes at the various libraries and has developed a powerpoint presentation that is easy to follow and provides the basic information needed to let new comers be a part of our caching community. What we need is you … If you can help out either as a presenter … just talking about geocaching or as a helper following students around with NoVAGO provided GPS units let us know … KanukGirl, Schwandt, HokieCachers and ItMustBeJames have already presented the classes and if you have any questions or concerns about your ability to do it, please contact them They had a blast and highly recommend the experience to everyone … The classes and locations are: Thursday, June 27, 2013       Walter Reed Senior Center 1:00 PM Saturday, June 29, 2013         Sterling Library 2:00 PM Saturday, … Continue reading

The Summer Event is Here … Mark your Calendars

NoVAGO’s summer event has been booked. We will be in Purcellville at the Hillsboro Pavillion on Sunday August 11. We have the pavilion all day and will be looking at a pot luck lunch, new caches in the park, and a silent auction. Speaking of Silent Auctions, we will be posting requests for donations for the auction. In the past we have had everything from signature NoVAGO items to GPSs to coins and assistance with puzzle solutions. Please think of what you may have to donate to the cause. This is our main fundraiser and helps cover the cost of venues and meats etc for the quarterly events. Be on the lookout for the event page to publish, should be soon … But be sure anyway to mark your calendars and plan on a day of socializing, caching, grabbing puzzle hints, and generally having a good time … Is it … Continue reading

Give Back to Caching

As we are working our way into June, we are in need of volunteers to hold Geocaching 101 classes and walk around assisting while the students test their new skills.  In addition to class help, NoVAGO needs all kinds of volunteers to support our ongoing community efforts and quarterly events.  Are you good at Organizing?  Speaking?  Heavy Labor? Finding Caches?   We can use each and every one of you and your talents. To this end, we have scheduled NoVAGO’s Spring Volunteer Fair on Sunday May 19th. We will be demonstrating how easy it is to give the Geocaching 101 class (you know how to cache so you know all of this stuff already).  We will be looking for some much needed help and will be talking about opportunities to assist making caching more fun for everyone. Come by the Reston Library (11925 Bowman Towne Drive) on Sunday afternoon between … Continue reading

Some Random Thoughts …

Spring is here … weather is warming up and the various critters that have been sleeping are now stirring and becoming more active .. Was on the Eastern Shore this weekend and moved a rock to find a little snake … BE CAREFUL … we have had a couple of poisonous snake bites in the last couple years and surely do not need any more … Along those lines, the poison ivy is starting up its activity … if you don’t know what it looks like google it and read up … Spring is a time when tender leaves and stalks are tender and if you break one you may well be affected … And of course … several ticks were spotted this weekend … be aware of them and make sure you do thorough tick checks when you return from a caching trip … those itsy bitsy ones are … Continue reading

Voting is Underway

It is that time again … time to voice your preferences for the best NoVAGO caches of the year. After receiving and sorting through uncounted emails, we have accumulated a list of the top nominations. I hold in my hand the envelopes. As a child of four can plainly see, these envelopes have been hermetically sealed. They’ve been kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall’s porch since noon today. No one knows the contents of these envelopes.  It is now time to reveal the contents of the envelopes and begin the voting process. The voting will be tabulated through surveymonkey. The link to the ballot is: PLEASE take the time to vote and let your voices be heard. There were a lot of great caches placed last year and they all deserve recognition, but only the few will be named best in category based on your votes. … Continue reading

Spring has Sprung

And that means loads of events and chances to get out and meet and socialize with other cachers. There are so many things are happening in the next few weeks … We have another CITO event scheduled this month in Sugarland Run. CITO’s are a great opportunity to show our appreciation for the parks and those who allow us to place caches in them. Please come out and lend a hand, it is really is a good time and a lot of fun wandering the woods with a bunch of other cachers.  Ask those who volunteered their time at Beaverdam Reservoir last weekend .. Events for March include: 3/13 2012 NoVAGO Award Nominations – Tortillas & Talk by NoVAGO | GC46PM0 | Virginia 3/13 Are you Soup-erstitous? by hokiecachers and ItMustBeJames | GC4629Z | Virginia 3/14 Pizza 3.14159 in NoVA 😉 by rufnredy | GC46NY6 | Virginia 3/15 The Ides … Continue reading

Happy February ;)

Well, January has come and gone and we welcomed in February with an awesome event. Lots of folks braved the cold and attended NoVAGO’s Winter Event Groundhog Day at Glen Carlyn. Big Thanks to Nemo Consequentia and In2Mud for placing caches and to Schwandt and DerekTiffany for bringing in the donuts and drinks. The new caches include a must do multi Nemo created in under a week. Loved the hike, stages, and little twists and turns along the way. It has been NoVAGO member recommended and is on the bookmark list already .. VOLUNTEERS All, we need help .. We are looking for people willing to take a couple hours out of a weekend day to teach or assist at a geocaching 101 class. Currently NoVAGO has been asked to support a dozen classes this spring and summer and we need to start planning staff involvement. These classes are a … Continue reading

Winter Event Updates – Please Read

Good Morning Everyone … Hope you are all enjoying the snow … brings back memories of last week in Northern Norway building a radome in between snow falls 😉 After some discussion, and considering we only have 9 will attends so far, we have changed the event to follow in the tradition of the winter events of the last couple years and made it doughnuts and hot drinks. NoVAGO will supply coffee, tea, hot chocolate and doughnuts. If there is something special you would like to add to the list, you are more than welcome, but nothing is required … The rest of the page pretty much remained the same … the schedule was modified some as there will be no big potluck this time out … We hope you are not too disappointed, but in the big picture … as the web page mentions, there are a boat load … Continue reading

Volunteers Needed

It is that time of year again. Various groups throughout the area are planning their summer schedules and we have received several requests for geocaching classes. We are looking for volunteers to help out. Generally speaking the classes will consist of a short presentation on geocaching and, for most, a short trip into the local wilds looking for caches. NoVAGO has several presentations in hand from previous classes and we are looking to update them before all the classes start, so there is very little prep work to be done. A typical class lasts around 2 hours anad could be any time of day or day of week. What we need are speakers to give the presentation and a few helpers to accompany the students on a cache hunt. The bottom line is we need YOU, whatever level of support you are comfortable with. As classes come up, we will … Continue reading