Silver Anniversary for FTF
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- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 1263
In geo-language, cachers know that FTF stands for First-To-Find, however in SLAGA-land it is also known for Food Truck Friday events hosted by Robert Klemme, aka Geokid12. This past Friday was the Silver Anniversary, or 25th FTF event, held at 9 Mile Garden in Affton, MO
The 9 Mile Garden is "Affton's only outdoor event center and Missouri's first Food Truck Garden" (credit '9milegarden.com' website). It's a fun place for family and friends to gather and enjoy local food and drink, and sometimes live music or performances. Outdoor movies and other community events are also held there and notices posted on the Garden's Facebook page of upcoming events. Basically this was an ideal spot for a fun gathering and a geo-event, as Robert discovered a few years ago.
In April 2021, Geokid12 hosted the SLAGA Spring Picnic and chose the 9 Mile Garden as the location. There were 47 attendees at that picnic. And while this was a bit different venue then the typical park shelters where the picnics were usually held, it turned out to be wise decision. It wasn't an official FTF event, but it was the precurser to those fun events. With Robert living just a couple miles from the Garden, and enjoying the atmosphere and food truck availabilities, as well as opportunities to meet up with geocachers, this venue was an easy choice for launching his now infamous events. In April 2022 the very first FTF: Food Truck Friday (GC9QC4N) event was held, but being a cold damp day, the 13 attendees met inside the Garden's 'Canteen' center instead of outside, which is a plus for this outdoor venue.
It only took a couple of months for the word to spread of this unique event and venue. Robert reported that, "the highest attended FTF event was #3 (GC9TZ05), which was held on June 17th 2022, with 34 in attendance."
He added that, "Another notable FTF event was the one that wasn’t even held at 9 Mile Garden, FTF #8 on March 31st 2023, the first one of that year. It was moved to St Louis Bread Co at Grasso Plaza due to weather that was so bad that they actually closed 9 Mile Garden. Usually even if there is rain the Canteen is still open, but this was above and beyond. The 9 attendees who braved the weather were treated to a rainbow at the end of the event." While there are, on the average, 14 to 15 attendees at Robert's FTF events, the smallest group was 5 cachers who showed up on a cool day in April 2024 for FTF XVII.
FTF V: Food Truck Friday 5 FTF XXV: Silver Anniversary
As the months went by, Robert continued to host FTF events as the weather permitted, and this past Friday's event was the 25th, FTF XXV: Silver Anniversary (GCBC5J9). It also happened to be Oktoberfest celebration at the 9 Mile Garden, so FTF attendees not only enjoyed live music and food truck items, but there was beer tasting and craft tables to purchase unique items, like the Halloween earrings this reporter purchased. Twelve cachers attended this very lively event. This is a consistently enjoyable geocaching event and venue, and one worth attending at a future FTF. Because when asked if he would continue to host his FTF events, Robert said, "As long as the few faithful continue to show up, I'll continue hosting them. This is a fun location and being an Affton resident, it's great that I can help support by patronizing this local establishment, which is quickly becoming an Affton icon."
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Some Group Photos From FTF Events
SLAGA's Triple A Winner!
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- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 1102
August in SLAGA-Land brought us sunshine and heat with days as long as 14 hours, temperatures over 90*F for 11 days, and 0% precipitation recorded. But it also brought us our August Adventure Awaits Winner, Denise Muskopf, better known as 6dancer.
Denise has been caching exactly 16 years to the day that she was notified of her August challenge win! She started geocaching when her sister, Deborah, returned home from a Colorado visit and the two of them went on a picnic in Valmeyer, IL. Deborah had been caching for about 5 years by then, and as they were picnicking, she told Denise that there was a geocache under their table! Denise was amazed! The following day she found a cemetery cache and after that was hooked. She has since found 6850 geocaches to date, has cached as far north as Alaska and as far south as Argentina. She has cached across the Pacific ocean west in Hawaii and across the Atlantic ocean east in Germany. She's missing only one day to fill her calendar grid, so everyone wish her a Merry Christmas on December 25th with a reminder to go out and grab a cache that day! (HoHoHo)
But back to the summer heat and her August accomplishment. Denise endured the heat to complete her task of finding five different geocaching types with one event in the mix. These are her qualifying geocaches.
Cache 1: GC6QGW4 Wherigo - aLieNs
Cache 2: GC4MT9J Multi - Red Corvette
Cache 3: GCB9W73 Event - The Gateway to Finland
Cache 4: GCB7972 Traditional - LesMar's Little Library on Lansdowne
Cache 5: GCBATRM Mystery - DDH US # 35 - 100 Field Puzzles Challenge
When interviewed about why she chose to participate in this month's SLAGA's Adventure Awaits challenge, Denise said, "I chose to participate in this one because they were my recent finds, so the challenge was easy since I had the ones I needed to qualify. I'd previously sent in qualifying caches for maybe eight months."
A worst geocaching experience that Denise shared in the interview, was when she " got lost in the woods trying to find Misi-ziibi (GC8KRWQ) a D3/T4 in Cliff Cave Park. [She] was lost wandering for a good hour and finally prayed for help. About 5 minutes later, a young man stepped in the path. [She] asked if he knew the way out and he said sure. He was an Angel." That was brave (or maybe a little risky) of Denise to attempt a T4 with needed TOTT solo. Happily she made it out of the woods, but sadly she never got that smiley. Another geo-fear she shared is that she is a bit scared about going down steep hills, because falling is always on her mind.
Nevertheless, geocaching is Denise's favorite hobby! She goes out with her friends 3Nina and NEgirl every week. Her favorite geocache is one she owns and is in her yard, GC89GP7 "GNOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS." She also enjoys reading and playing games.
CONGRATULATIONS 6DANCER ON YOUR AUGUST CHALLENGE WIN!
2025 SLAGA Travel Bug Race August Update
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- Written by Robert Klemme
- Hits: 954
It's time once again for another TB race update! How are things stacking up?
Scrumptious Summer Send Off
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- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 984
For 17 years, SLAGA has hosted an August Meet-n-Greet Event at the infamous Ted Drewes Frozen Custard shop. This shop has been setting the standard of frozen custard (concretes, malts, sundaes and more) for over 95 years and four generations now and is a beloved spot for St. Louisans.
For SLAGA, it's a scrumptious summer send off event spot that is always well attended by the greatest geo-folks around. It's a relaxing time to meet fellow members, where caching adventures and plans are shared, and good ole 'catch-up' conversations are held among friends.
This year's event was on Saturday, August 30th in gorgeous summer weather. It was hosted again by our President Michael Smith (cootie_man), and attended by more than 30 members, including the long-time host Steve Bromley (javapgmr), who pleasantly surprised all by his attendance.
This August Meet-n-Greet was another tasty treat for SLAGA folks! If you missed out, there are several events scheduled in the month of September. Just check out the SLAGA calendar, then 'concrete' your plans to join in some fun.
2025 SLAGA Travel Bug Race July Update
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- Written by Robert Klemme
- Hits: 1066
Much like the weather, the travel bug race is heating up! Let's check in and see how things stand as of the end of July
The Heat Is On...to Win in July!
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- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 1075
The heat was on during the 'Red, White, Blue, Stars, Stripes and Flags' month of Adventure Awaits, and SLAGA's repeat winner was no stranger to conquering that heat and the challenge. Robert Klemme, aka GeoKid12, aka original FTF events and Family Game Night host, SLAGA board V.P., and current Father Cachemas is the July 2025 winner. His qualifying geocaches for his win include:
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Cache 1: GCB7KX4 Starry Penguin Event
Cache 2: GCB9NH4 Red Stripe, Blue Flag, White Stars
Cache 3: GCB7KXD Red, white, and blue Penguin event
Cache 4: GCB9V1N Tougher Kids Come in Many Stripes Too - Challenge
Event Cache: GCB99BC NoCo Game Night Pre-Summer Picnic Edition
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When he last won in December 2023, Robert had just over 10,800 geocache finds. Currently he has nearly 14,400! That's due partially to his daily caching streak of 2121 consecutive days since 10/26/2019. It is also due to his numerous caching trips to various events around the country, including this year's MOGA in Abilene, KS in March, where he placed in the individual and 2-person team competitions, and his first GIGA attendance at GeoWoodstock XXI in Morgantown, West Virgina in May. Besides these two high cache-count events plus a county run in Mississippi ealier this year, where he completed the state, some of his recent and future plans are upping his finds numbers significantly as well.
From the last week in July continuing through September, Robert's calendar includes Geocaching trips every other week.
- MWGB July 23rd - 27th
- West Bend Cache Ba$h August 7th - 10th
- New England County Run August 19th - 24th
- Grand Canyon & 4 Corners August 30th - September 7th
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