Navigating West Bend's Cache Bash

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West Bend Cache Bash stands apart from typical geocaching mega events because it's organized by the town's Chamber of Commerce, highlighting how this Wisconsin community has embraced geocaching as a tourism draw while offering $1,000 in cash prizes to participants. We discover what makes this event special through our experiences finding creative and high-quality geocaches.

• West Bend Cache Bash features 66 brand-new caches designed specifically for the event
• Josh reaches his 10,000th geocache milestone with a Back to the Future themed multi-cache
• Creative cache designs include a pirate-themed "X marks the spot" distance puzzle
• A car wash themed cache requiring players to push toy cars through tubes to reveal codes
• Severe weather creates challenges but doesn't dampen the geocaching community's spirit
• Local Wisconsin culture experienced through cheese curds, local restaurants and a retro arcade bar
• The event attracts families with kid-friendly caches like the popular "Pull My Finger" monkey cache
• West Bend proudly calls itself the "Geocaching Capital of the Midwest" with thousands of caches in the area

If you've enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting us on Patreon at patreon.com/treasuresofourtown - your support helps us continue creating fun and informative content about unique destinations across America.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I know we slept close together.
It was very much a surprise.
Come on, you were.
Do you love to travel?
You love road trips?
Do you love finding hiddentreasures in towns all over the
USA?
Hi, I'm Joshua and I'm Craig.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Treasures of Our Town.
It's the podcast that exploresunique and charming towns
scattered throughout the UnitedStates.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Guided by our love for location-based games like
geocaching, join us as weventure to some of the country's
most intriguing destinations,uncovering hidden gems and local
secrets along the way.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
On today's episode.
Josh, we went to West Bend,cash Bash, slash, cash Splash.
Wow, in Wisconsin it was wetlike I'm talking wet, wet, wet
it made the news, craig it.
It made international andinternational.
It made uh national news, I dobelieve as well the area where

(00:57):
we were staying, craig menomineefalls.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
That actual town made news.
That was the word, the placewhere they got the most water.
So we water.
So we were right there in thethick of it, craig.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Exactly, and we've said that before.
Well, I've been there before.
When I was on the geocachingpodcast, remember I stayed at
Menominee, menominee.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Menominee.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
The Muppets.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Anyway, we're rabbit holing already 've got our inner
scott burke's going on alreadyand we're talking about the
weather.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
What a poor, poor start to this it's okay and I
will say josh, I will say this,I preempt this all the time it's
okay for us to talk about theweather if it's related to our
adventure, you see, in otherwords, this rain, it rained,
predominantly rain, so itactually it changed our
experience of the locationbecause of the weather, so it's

(01:52):
okay to talk about it.
We're not talking about theweather, what it is like here
today in my yes, for instanceokay, we're talking about our
experience fully acceptable totalk about the weather.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
It adds to.
It's a part of the story, thestory that we're going to tell
because this is an excitingepisode, because we are going to
relive our weekend, becausecraig and I spent time together
and I know we slept closetogether.
It was a very much a surprisecome on you were.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I was in my van and you were not in my van, so we
weren't that close in a hotelroom next to my bag.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
That was a teaser.
Now you know, now I was gonna,we should have waited, because
then you know they're intriguedlike, oh, they slept in the van
together.
That's interesting.
But now you gave it away.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
No, I didn't want.
No, I didn't want to give thataway straight away.
I didn't want people thought itminds to go that direction at
all.
Anyway, that might probably bethe intro.
To be honest with you, mate,what's been happening.
We're going to talk about allabout West Bend, whereabouts is
it, et cetera.
It's in Wisconsin.
We're going to dive deep intoWest Bend and also what it's

(02:59):
like there every single year.
Who puts on the event, what theevent is actually like, what
the event's about?
Because it's very differentevent to any other block party
slash mega geocaching event thatI've been to so far.
This year too.
So we're gonna dive right injosh, but before uh-huh, before
uh-huh, we've got to dive intosomething else.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Oh yes, we've got to dive into upgrades and delays
yes, we should have like alittle intro sound or something
for leading into our upgradesand delays, like some sort of
like airplane or, like you know,the ding you know the ding that
they do Well, no, the ding inthe airplane.
You know when they're like dingding ding, when you can get out

(03:38):
of your seat, when the seatbeltlights off.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
That's just the one ding.
When the seatbelt lights off,that's just one ding.
Now I was thinking about,actually, when you're inside the
airport waiting to board theflight and you hear the ding,
ding, ding like the mumble sound, you know when someone else is
boarding in another gate.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Or else the flight people that say first class may
now come first, because that'san upgrade.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
This is true.
Anyway, we're having the um,we're having a board meeting,
josh, before during the episode.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Again, you know that it's a great board meeting.
People don't know how excitingour board meetings are.
Let's talk about our delays andupgrades and delays exactly you
start you can me start?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
you want me to start?
Well, speaking of the weather,of the weather, my delay is a
real-life delay, josh.
This actually happened to meand it is a delay.
I got my very first flat tirein the van.
It was on a Tuesday.
In the van, she got a flat as Iwas leaving West Bend.
I was on the highway, it waspouring down rain, oh no,

(04:46):
literally, as I went past theoverpass, I couldn't even get
off the exit ramp.
I heard the blah blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Safety, safety idea for people.
You must pull off the road asfar as you possibly can.
I saw myself.

(05:07):
I went a little bit further andI'm not talking about a little
bit further, I'm talking acouple hundred feet because I
saw a guardrail, josh, and itwas the end of the guardrail.
So I managed to sort of sinkTuesday behind the guardrail of
some sort of barrier.
That's smart.
So I didn't sort of yes, yeah,and that's what I thought too.
You see, so guardrails are usedmore than just for deer caching

(05:28):
hides.
I'll give you that tip rightthere.
They actually use it for safetymechanisms as well.
So I did that.
I pulled behind this sort ofguardrail area so I gave a bit
of a safety thing and then Ispent the next I'm going to say
45 minutes changing my tire.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
You changed it yourself.
I'm proud of you.
What a real man.
You must have a beard andyou're a real man who doesn't
change their tire.
Well, I get a little bit nervousabout the jack situation.
You know if, yeah, I do.
Now you're a former policeofficer so you have probably
helped many a people with flattires.
But like sometimes you're likewhere you know where exactly do

(06:05):
I put the jack?
And like sometimes the jacksare like transformers and you
have to like fold them out.
You're like did am I doing thisright?
So this is, you know I I canchange a tire.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Craig, I have a beard but well, josh, I will say this
, even people without beards canchange tires.
So I know this is just acallback.
This is just a callback fromthe previous episode, because
the Well, josh, I will say this,even people without beards can
change ties.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
I know this is just a callback from the previous
episode, because the lastepisode you told me I was a real
man because I have a beard.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
And I'll let you know now, Josh, the percentages At
the end of the show.
I'll let everyone know thepercentages on the patron.
As to you, ask the patronshould you keep it or not.
So stick around, Josh, for thepercentages.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Okay, I haven't even looked recently, so we'll see.
I know, I know, we'll see.
That's a literal delay.
Craig, that's such a bummer.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, that's exactly a literal delay, but I got it
changed.
As I said, I managed to nowagain, because that was my very
first tire, flat tire, tuesday.
Tuesday is a big van, oh, she'sa big girl.
Is she's a big girl?
The spare tire is up herbackside, you know what I mean?
Like it's up and undersomewhere.
And so literally, josh youtube,yes, youtube, I'll try to look

(07:17):
to find it how I could actuallyget, no, how I could get the
spare tire out.
Oh, wow.
And because I thought to myselfI'm gonna have to empty the her
garage, you know, because Ithought there might have been a
winder, you know, from the fromthe top down.
But no, I could leave the wholething intact.
The winder is up and under theside of tuesday.
So I just literally stuck it upunder her backside and wound it

(07:38):
around and down.
She came, so I managed tochange the tire out.
That way got, got filthy, dirty, I got so wet.
Now, josh, you remember,because we were doing some
cashing in the rain, et cetera,on the Sunday before we parted
ways, do you remember what Isaid to you?
I said to you oh well, theseshoes I want to keep dry.
I want to keep these shoes dry.
The day before we were soakingwet.

(07:59):
I want to keep these shoes dry.
Blah, blah, blah I Before we'resoaking wet.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
I want to keep these shoes dry.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Blah, blah blah, I jinxed myself, Josh because it
was pouring rain.
And I was up and underneath thevan at some point in time.
I was wet, I was gravelly, Iwas dirty, I was filthy and the
shoes got saturated.
So yeah, so we could have foundsome caches in the rain.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
So, how far did you drive on the spare?
How far did you drive on the?

Speaker 2 (08:25):
spare.
So the spare in Tuesday isexactly the same as any other on
Tuesday.
So the spare is in a donutthere's no donut here.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Oh, that's nice.
So you were able to go prettydarn far, that's great.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, so I made it all.
Yeah, I spent the rest of theday driving itself and I managed
to get it changed the next dayin Des Moines, iowa, driving
itself, and I managed to get itchanged the next day in des
moines, iowa.
Oh, perfect, so yeah, so it wasa perfect time.
So I stopped in des moines,iowa and got her, got her fixed,
got her.
Uh, it was just and it ended upbeing a hole.
So it might have been a nail orsomething, but it must have
sort of flicked out or somethingoh, you got it fixed.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
You didn't have to get a new tire.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
That's nice no, no, no, it's got a plugged because
so she, so she got it pluggedand she's back on now.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Those tires cannot be cheap either, I'm guessing.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, no, they're a couple hundred bucks each, but
anyway, so that was my delay.
Look at this time frame.
We're already through with mydelay.
Josh, do you want to start withyour delay or do you want to go
straight into my upgrade?

Speaker 1 (09:16):
My delay is coming up this weekend.
I had a great weekend lastweekend at the West Bend Cash
Bash my son, haydencongratulations.
Hayden sent him off to collegethis last weekend and it was
like a rush.
It was a surprise.
We didn't realize he had to gothis weekend.
So I had to get him a planeticket really quickly.
And because I had to give him aplane ticket and because it's

(09:38):
Kentucky, all his stuff, hisclothes and his computer and
like all the stuff you need tohave to move into a dorm room he
just left behind.
So guess who has to drive allthe way to Bowling Green,
kentucky, this weekend anddeliver, deliver everything.
It is me and that drive is.
It's about 12 hours if I don'tstop.

(10:00):
So it's going to be a longFriday of driving.
I I can, if I'm, yeah, if Ireally kick it, I could probably
make it in 14 hours, but thatis a long damn driving.
So I have that ahead of me.
However, potentially this I'mgonna go right into my upgrade.
Potentially, if I leave earlyenough, craig, I can stop at the

(10:21):
place I wanted to stop for my10,000th geocache and that is
the world's biggest bowl ofpaint, which was the world
record which was the winner ofthe very first roadside
attraction, march Madness.
I have to visit it, craig, it'sthe, it's the, it's the winner

(10:41):
of the first I have to go.
So it's kind of, I'll say,craig, it's outside of
Indianapolis, it's kind of onthe way, it's a little out of
the way.
I go to Indiana, but I don't gointo Indiana that far.
So if I leave early enough,craig, I could go to the world's
largest ball of paint.

(11:02):
So stay tuned, it could happen.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
So you're turning a delay into an upgrade.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
You know what Yep Lemons and lemonades Lemons and
lemonade.
Yep, yep, that's right.
Good job, good job, thank you.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Try to be positive, that's right.
That's right.
Well, my upgrade, mate, myupgrade, it also includes travel
as well.
So I've made it to Denver,Colorado right now as we speak,
and it is on Tuesday.
So it only took me two and ahalf days, including the flat
tire, including doing my laundryin Des Moines as well, doing
the whole lot.
Yeah, it only took me the twoand a half days to get to Denver

(11:38):
Colorado, so happy with that.
Meanwhile, at the same time,another upgrade of mine, which
is kind of I'm going to goupgrade to delay a bit, and that
is I stopped, Josh.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
I stopped at Iowa, Iowa I-80, the world's largest
truck stop Also featured on ourMarch Bandits roadside
attractions.
Correct, the world's largesttruck stop.
It turns into a delay Becauseit's not that great.
It's not that great.
It's not that great.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
I'll be honest, people have raved about it, but
I believe the people who ravedabout it haven't been to Bucky's
.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
This is true?
There's no.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Bucky's up here yet.
No, no, I mean, it is Josh, itis huge, it is big, it's a town,
it's like a little town, almostit is, it is, but it is very
and look, it is what it is andthat is, it's a truck stop.
So it is very much pivotedtowards truckers, you know, and
so good luck to them as well.
We need them on our roads andwe need them in our communities

(12:33):
and everything else as well.
Without trucks we wouldn't eatmost of the time.
So, yeah, so we need truckers,so it is pivoted towards trucks.
Um, they've got a big areawhere it's literally all truck
you can get.
I mean, they've got an entiretruck, including the trailer,
inside the building.
Like it is big.
You know, upstairs, upstairs,when they talk about the uh, the

(12:55):
dentist and the movie theaterand you know all the things.
That's all upstairs, you see,and upstairs is that like a
trucker's paradise, becausethat's where they all go.
You see, yeah, to, to unwind alittle bit, I mean there's even
a chiropractor up there, forinstance.
You know, I never, I neverbelieved in chiropractors, josh,
but I went to one once, and nowI stand corrected anyway, but,
um, but yes, I mean, as I said,I was a little bit underwhelmed

(13:19):
with it.
I was.
I was expecting a lot more,josh.
I was expecting a lot, lot more,but it's more geared towards
the truckers than it is towardscar people, civilians, even to
the point where it's civilians,even to the point where the BP
is the main brand of the gasstation.
The gas pumps there's 10 gaspumps out there.
Yeah, you know, you go toBucky's, there's 120 plus gas

(13:43):
pumps.
Yes, to buck, you go to bucky's, there's 120 plus gas pumps.
Yes, you know.
Uh, so I believe bucky's is theone that's that's really
targeted towards, you know, theeveryday car driver and right,
whereas the truck stop is reallygeared towards the truckers.
So, hey, I still got, I stillgot myself a sticker, I still
got myself some snacks and I hitthe road again after that it
makes sense, because it is not.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Is not marketed as the world's largest rest stop.
It not marketed as the world'slargest rest stop.
It's marketed as the world'slargest truck stop.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Heavy on the truck.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
So that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, so it does when you look at it that way.
But as I said, josh, after myresearch and after our episode,
et cetera, I was kind ofexpecting more.
But you know, it just wasn't tobe.
It's more of a probably.
You know, back in the day whenit was first put, that thing
would have been absolutelymagnificent.
It's got the LED light not LEDs, but it's got the rim lights.
It's got all that sort of stufftoo.

(14:35):
But it's just.
To me it's looking a little bitdrab.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
You know it's agey.
Yeah, it makes sense.
And let me tell you, buc-ee'shas raised the bar.
It really has.
And it's funny because we'retalking about Wisconsin.
We're getting a Buc-ee's inWisconsin.
It's going to be the farthestnorth Buc-ee's ever.
Sooner or later it's going tobe up here in Minnesota.
Buc-ee's is going to take overthe world.
I'm convinced of it.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Well, at least the USA, At least the USA, at least
the USA, because I don't knowabout the world.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Wait, the USA isn't the whole world.
Wow, some people it is, butanyway.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Anyway, George, that was my upgrade.
What was your upgrade?

Speaker 1 (15:14):
I told you what it was.
I'm going to go see the ball ofpaint knock on wood.
That wasn't your upgrade.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
There was some other upgrade.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know We'll talk about it in the episode.
There was some other upgrade.
I know We'll talk about it inthe episode.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Oh, look at you slithering in what could it?

Speaker 1 (15:28):
be, what could it be?

Speaker 2 (15:29):
You look like a real podcast.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
I know A real teaser.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
I'm a tease.
I'm a tease, I know you are.
You are Mate.
All right, let's get into it.
West Bend, wisconsin first andforemost, Without the geocaching
side as well.
Let us know, Josh, where is it?
What's the distance betweendifferent locations, et cetera,
et cetera, in your mind?

Speaker 1 (15:49):
It's about a half hour north of Milwaukee,
wisconsin, a little northwest ofMilwaukee, wisconsin.
So you and I stayed inMenominee Falls, which is about
20 miles south of West bend andreally very close to the
outskirts of milwaukee,wisconsin.
And I do have a regret already.

(16:10):
I cannot believe we did nothave time, craig, to visit the
miller high life brewery.
Not brewery, yeah, brewery, uh.
Brewery.
Yes, it's a big big brewery.
It's um, because that's wheremiller high real factory.
It's a factory brewery.
It's a big big brewery.
It's um, because that's wheremiller highland real factory.
It's a factory brewery it'sboth.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, there we go.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
There's a tasting room, so it is a brewery.
Um, so, you guys, we werecorrect, we were so close, but
you had to get to your nextgeocaching event and get your
flat tire and you had to drivehome and it was pouring rain, it
was you know.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
So yeah, so it wouldn't have been too fun
either way.
So yeah, exactly, but anyway.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
So, craig I've been to west bend many and many, and
many a times.
I just spent a lot of time inwest bend because the thousand
dollar west bend cash bash it'sone of those mega events,
geocaching mega events that isin the same location every
single year and so it gets youto really visit that town.
It is an event run by thecity's Chamber of Commerce and

(17:12):
they do a great job organizingit but then also very, very
supported by the geocachingcommunity, particularly, I'd say
, a handful of seven to eightreally great hiders, and that is
what makes this event, I think,so awesome.
And we'll get to that a littlebit.
This episode just warning,warning, warning, warning is

(17:33):
going to be pretty geocachingfocused, but but that's okay.
But you know what?
We went to west bend a location, yes, because of geocaching,
and that's what this is about.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Exactly, and we're going to talk about what we did
other than geocaching as well,Josh.
We did a few things outside ofgeocaching itself too.
That's really cool.
But yeah, I will say, josh, Ihave been to West Bend once
before, but I never stopped.
I literally drove through thecenter of West Bend.
This is going back.
Oh, when was this after you?
And I went to, uh, gilby to doour filming?

(18:06):
Oh, I drove through the centerof west bend after coming
through green bay and all thatsort of area.
Uh, because of the munsies thatare in the area.
Yes, so munsie really was inthe magnet for me back before
this event, to go through westbend, and I literally just go,
went through west bend and justblasted the heck out of it for
muns months, you know.
So I went from there, I got asmany points as I possibly could

(18:29):
and then moved on, knowing thatI'd be back anyway.
So, yes, so yeah, that was thefirst time I went.
So this was the second time I'dbeen but, the first time I'd
actually really, truly been andactually spent some time there.
I spent almost a week there aswell, because I was there a few
days before you, josh, yes, sothat was cool as well.
I stayed, obviously, in my vanTuesday she's good to me because

(18:50):
it's free to stay in my van andI was at the Cracker Barrel
just south, just south of WestBend itself.
Now, josh, you messaged me andyou said you know I've arrived.
Do you want to meet up forbreakfast in the morning?
I said yeah, absolutely soundsgood.
And I said well, I'm staying atthe cracker barrel.
Do you want to be a breakfastat the cracker barrel for the
next morning?
You said that sounds reallygood.

(19:11):
I've got a cracker barrel nextto me.
I'm like what?
There's only one cracker barrelanywhere near west bend.
I'm like can you see my van?
And you're like oh yeah, youare.
You're like flash your lightstwice.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
I seriously looked out my window and I could see
your van.
That was wild.
We didn't even plan that, no,no.
And I had decided to go to thisevent at the last minute
because I thought I was going tohave to take Hayden to college
this last weekend but I didn't.
So I was like, all right, I getto go to West bed.
So I just made a quick.
I made a quick reservation.
I didn't even do a lot ofresearch.
I did the research like I.

(19:48):
I oh, I know Craig's going tobe in our cracker barrel.
I better stay close to acracker barrel increases my
chances of being close to Craig.
No, I just booked a randomhotel, not even in West bed,

(20:10):
which is wild, because I couldhave booked one at west bend.
I booked it randomly 20 milessouth because you know the price
is price is right and sureenough, we are staying right.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Next, to each other.
That was, that was funny.
That was very serendipitous, itreally was.
It really was, and of course.
So the first day when we met up, you walked across the parking
lot into the cracker barrel yeah, and you were taking a nap on
those chairs already well,that's because okay.
So if anyone knows josh, then uh, then everyone knows josh.
There's eight o'clock, let'smeet at eight o'clock.
I said, yep, no worry.
So I was at the front waitingat two minutes to eight.

(20:35):
Uh, now remember, josh issleeping right next door, and so
josh then starts walking acrossthe parking lot at 10 past
eight.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, and I might add joshua the geocaching vlogger
starts walking across theparking lot at 10 past eight.
Yeah, and I might add Joshuathe geocaching vlogger is
walking across.
Yeah, what's the difference?
Well, just because you knew I'dbe holding a camera.
That's usually usually, when Igreet you, craig, I'm holding a
camera.
I need to get your realreaction of how much you've
missed me.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Oh really, you're one of those.
You're like one of those needygirlfriends.
Yes, no, that's fine.
We had a beautiful breakfast,as always at a Cracker Barrel.
They're pretty, it's solid.
I'm a fan of Cracker Barrelbacon.
Yeah, it's solid.
Cracker Barrel Bacon.
Yeah, it's solid.
Cracker Barrel Bacon it's legit, that's decent.
But we don't have bacon likethat in Australia.

(21:23):
Our Australian bacon is verymuch like Canadian bacon.
Oh yeah, that's different.
Yeah, it's not the.
We call the bacon that you havehere in the US streaky bacon.
Streaky we call it streakybacon, not strips.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Not strips, but streaky.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Not strips streaky bacon, and you can only buy
streaky bacon when I was stillin Australia from Aldi.
Really, yeah, that's anotherone.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So it's like cheap bacon to you, but you like it.
Yeah, but you like it.
It's the best bacon.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, it's the best bacon.
I used to buy it all the timewhen I was in Australia, before
I even came to America for thevery first time.
I changed my bacon eatinghabits to streaky bacon.
See, it was serendipitous, josh, that I actually should be in
the USA.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, you like the streaky bacon.
I like streaky bacon only inAmerica and at Aldi.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
So then after breakfast, josh, you said to me
look, let's leave Tuesday torest for the day.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, give her a break.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Give her a break.
And then, Josh, you gave me anumber.
What was your number that yougave me?

Speaker 1 (22:29):
9,997.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yes, what is that number?
What's that number?
I 997 or 9,900.
That was how many geocachingfinds I'd had at that moment.
And I was about to enter thethousand dollar westbend cash
bash where I knew I'd be findinglots of geocaches.
And I looked at craig and I waslike craig, it's time, it's

(23:00):
time for me to find my tenthousandth geocache.
Craig, I haven't cashed muchthis summer.
You know I was getting close inat geo woodstock.
I was, I was, I was like Ican't go over at geo woodstock.
So you knew I was getting close.
So I I have not been cashing awhole lot.
So I've been just waiting andwaiting for the best moment.

(23:21):
And I don't know if this wasthe best moment, but it had to
be the moment because, as I saidbefore, I wanted to get the
world's largest ball of paintfor my 10 000, but it just
didn't work, didn't work outthat way.
So, as I craig, if we gotta, wegotta.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Now's the time exactly, and if you're new to
geocaching, what josh isreferring to is milestones.
So, as geocachers, we lovecollecting things, we love
milestones, and they start offvery small, like one, two, five,
ten, and then they go 20, 30,40, up to 100, and then they go
in the hundreds up to a thousand, and then they go in the
thousands one thousand, twothousand, three thousand and up

(23:56):
to ten thousand, and then, afteryou get $10,000, they go
$10,000 after this.
So the next milestone for you,josh, is $20,000.
Right, so you've got to double.
You're at net.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
And I've been geocaching for 16 years.
I'm going to be an old man atthis rate Another 16 years, Josh
.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
You're going to be in like a normal geocacher by that
age.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
I know be in like a normal geocacher by that age, I
know in the 70s, yeah anyway.
So anyway, 10 000 is a bit,maybe arguably the biggest
milestone that most geocachers Ithink, because, yeah, there are
people that reach.
There are very few that reachlike a hundred thousand.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
It's very few, that's a lot, a lot, that's a lot,
that's very few but there aresome.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
But so this is a.
This was the big one and all mymilestones, craig, I've done
something pretty special.
Usually involves some sort oftrip and craig was like you
should just make the event your10 000, and for me, it was like,
I was like uh I don't.
I don't know if I want to dothat.
I go to a lot of events.
Oh hum, so we found, we foundtwo or three caches that were

(25:01):
semi run-of-the-mill, and then Iwas like, oh it, now I'm at
9999, what do I do?
What do I do now?
I was like I got, I don't know,I gotta find a good one, search
the favorite points.
And craig is searching, cashly,his favorite points or whatever
, and he goes.
He looks at me, josh, he goesjosh, let's go back.

(25:23):
You said, josh, let's go back,and I was like what she goes,
josh, let's go back.
What craig josh, you're likelet's go.
Did you leave something in thevan?
You're like, no, yeah, exactly.
I said what are you talkingabout?
He goes Josh, let's go back tothe future.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Two.
Yeah, not one, but two, let'sgo.
What you're referring to, josh,is it was a nearby geocache.
It was a multicache as well,which they don't get as much
love as what they should in somecases, but multicaches, in my
mind, sometimes are morememorable.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
So this was a multicache with quite a good
percentage of favorite points onit as well.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
67 favorites, that's pretty good.
Favorite points yeah, it'spretty good.
And uh, yeah, back to thefuture.
Two related.
Now it was two waypoints, thena final as well.
We didn't know about the twoway points in the final until
after the second waypoint, butanyway, that was so fun for your
video.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah, it was so fun to discover it, though, because
I thought it was just gonna beone stage and then the net final
.
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, that would have been fine, because the first stage was
really cute and backing up asecond, let's go back.
Craig backing up if you don'thaven't heard this before, the
reason this is such a big dealis back to the future, is my
all-time favorite movie, alltime.
So that's why, when craig sawit, he was like, oh Josh, this,

(26:38):
I think this might be it, and itwas so.
It was a really good cash.
I was smiling ear to ear.
Stage two especially oh yeah,stage two was so good I'm and I
don't want to I'm not going tospoil it on this podcast, I'm
going to spoil it on my videoexactly go and watch the video,
all we'll say is that, uh, yes,there was a delorean involved.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yes, an almanac involved.
There was other things involvedfrom the movie as well.
So, yeah, it was all it was allhappening, um, and it was
really well themed yes, you know, exceptionally well themed too.
So I really I really enjoy.
I love good themed caches.
Yeah, it was a great thing.
I really liked it too.
So it was perfect for you.
It was perfect for your video.
Perfect you for your 10 000miles.

(27:20):
That's perfect memory for you.
You're never gonna forget thatone now no, not at all.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
So well done and it was really nice to share it with
somebody.
Craig, you know, I could havedone.
I could have done the ball ofpaint.
I would have been probably bymyself, and, and the man you
gotta, and the man that youwould painted it, started it you
would have had a certificatesaying it's a world record as
well.
Well, I'm still going to makeit.
I'm still going to make itthere.

(27:44):
Knock on wood.
Can you hear that?
Did you hear that that?
was wood it was knocking on Ijust made Goliath perk his ears
up when I did that Exactly yes.
So maybe, maybe, just maybe Iwill make it to the paint this
weekend.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Maybe.
Well, good luck, Good luck,Good luck with that.
So that was the 10,000th cache.
So we got your 10,000.
We did Well.
You put your camera away well,your actual video camera away
anyway from there.
Still had your phone out forTikTok.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, and then the phone came out.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
And then the phone came out and then we started the
West Bend Cash Bash.
Now, if you're a geocacheryourself and you've been to a
few different mega events etcetera, you haven't been to West
Bend Cash Bash.
What they do differentlycompared to any other mega event
, and that is this, is had runby the actual Chamber of

(28:34):
Commerce yes, the actual counciltourism board, whatever you
want to call it.
West Bend hosts this eventthemselves.
It's not a geocaching groupthat hosts it like every other
mega, every other mega.
You've got people like RyanSimmeljosh, who's just a
volunteer geocacher, involved,putting in hard yards, hard work
, hours and hours andfrustrating.

(28:56):
This is done all by the Chamberof Commerce at West Bend.
So that's what I think runsreally, really well.
They put some money behind itas well.
It is a $1,000 West Bend cashbash and it's $1,000.
That's made up of fourdifferent prizes.
You've got a $500 prize, a $250prize, two $100 prizes, then a
$50 prize as well.

(29:17):
So it makes up $1,000.
And all you need to do andagain, very different to any
other mega in the US is you justregister for free.
That's right.
So you go to their booth andit's always at the same location
.
You go to their booth the daybefore when it opens up and
they're there.
There's food trucks there readyto go as well.
You can actually sit aroundhave a geo chat as well.

(29:38):
But most people register.
They get a free bag insidetheir bag of some coupons etc
and also a map and they get thedownloadable code for all the
brand new 66 geocaches that areall brand new and those 66.
You can go around and grab all66 and they've got stamps in
them etc to prove that you werethere and depending how many

(29:59):
stamps you get, depending on howmany raffle tickets you get to
into the prizes, so but just theactual, for being there and
registering, you get one ticketand that one ticket goes into
the draw for the $1,000 WestBend cash back.
How's that for a roundup, josh?

Speaker 1 (30:14):
That was fantastic, that was good, and a little bit
of history too.
Fantastic, that was good and alittle bit of history too.
Originally, when the West BendCash Bash started many, many
years ago, the president of theChamber of Commerce at that time
discovered geocaching and hewas so amazed by it and he
declared this is how it usuallyworks.
He declared West Bend is nowgoing to be the capital of

(30:36):
geocaching of the Midwest.
They're like this is going tobe a destination for geocachers
and, sure enough, after yearafter year after year of hiding
caches there are thousands ofcaches in the area and a lot of
them are just.
They carry over for years.
A lot of them stay, stickaround the 66, stick around at

(30:56):
least the good ones, and so youhave a high concentration of not
just geocaches in the area butreally high quality geocaches in
the area.
That's right.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
And I think that's what we found as well, Josh,
especially with the 66.
You said to me very first,before we even started finding
them, you said Craig, these aremade up of either A really cool
gadget style caches where youhave to do something in order to
get the log and the stamp out,or B very cute looking caches,
well-painted, good style ofcaches as well.
So you were ready with yourphone, ready for all the TikToks

(31:28):
that you're going to create,which will come out slowly, over
, progressively, over the nextsix months, I'd guess.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Probably when it gets real cold and I can't get
outside.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
But, josh, I do believe, yeah, we did find quite
a good amount.
I think we found 19 of the 66in the one day, which isn't too
bad.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
It was hot, that was slowing us down.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
The heat was slowing us down, the TikToks were
slowing us down, my weight wasslowing us down when it comes to
those hills, but you know.
So all those things.
But there were people that didget all 66 done.
Some people turn around and go.
You know what.
I'm happy with that for theamount of time and I'll get the
ones next year when I come back,yeah, and they do that as well.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
For our geocaching listeners and those that are
curious about geocaching, let'sdescribe a couple of the ones
that really stuck out in ourmind.
A couple of the geocaches, um.
So if you've watched any of myvideos of gilby, um, there's one
that is like a snake game,that's if you've ever seen the
show survivor.
It's like a ball and thenthere's a snake and then you

(32:29):
have to hold the ropes and andpull the ball up to the top and
but this, but if you fall offthe snake you have to do it over
again.
Um, they had one very similarto that.
I can't remember.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
It was at the piggly wiggly wiggly and what it was,
josh, it was actually again,well themed though to the piggly
wiggly because it was a butcher, and the the, the snake down
where you're supposed to put theball, was actually sausage
links all the way down.
So, yeah, and the reason why Iremember it was sausage links
because I thought it looks likeintestines.
But but, yeah, that was a coolone too.

(33:01):
I love the cute ones out thereand the very inventive ones.
Now, there was very much oneparticular one that was
extremely inventive.
When I say inventive, josh, youand I we found a lot of caches.
Between the two of us, we founda lot of different styles.
You, sir, would be the one Iknow found a lot of caches.
Between the two of us, we founda lot of different styles.
You, sir, you, sir, would bethe the one I know the highest

(33:24):
percentage point, uh, average,yeah, on your, yes, your
favorite point, a favorite pointaverage on all your cash finds
in total.
Yes, so you found high qualitycaches and you pride yourself on
that.
There was one that we both saw,josh and you're like I haven't
never seen one like this beforewhich one was it?

Speaker 1 (33:41):
which one it was?
Was it the pirate one?

Speaker 2 (33:43):
yes, it was yes, exactly that.
Yes, yes, yes.
What was the part one like?

Speaker 1 (33:48):
so you walk up to it it was a pirate theme thing and
you walk up and it look, itlooks like a birdhouse, but the
birdhouse is like the face of apirate and it was really well
constructed as far as, like, thewoodwork on it was amazing.
You open it up and there was ax like, a wooden x like, and
craig went right away.
He knew exactly.
He's like josh x marks the spot.

(34:09):
I was like, oh, and there was arope attached to the x, and so
you undid the rope and yourealize, okay, this is attached
to the cache.
And then you have to movearound the circumference of
where the cache is in a circleand wherever that stretched, you
could go all the way around acircle.
Somewhere in that circle ofwhere it stretched out I hope

(34:32):
I'm describing this well iswhere the cache is located On
the perimeter.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
The perimeter, yes, the perimeter.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
The perimeter of that radius that you're talking
about too.
So that only gave you that Xand the rope only gave you the
exact distance you are from theactual container itself to sign
the logbook and also get thestamp.
Yeah, that was extremelyinventive.
I haven't seen one done likethat before, josh.
I'll say that Others that werea good little play on on

(35:00):
different ones, I mean josh,there was one fun one there as
well, because, again, somecaches are very cute and all you
need to do is to figure out theactual uh codes for the
padlocks etc.
There was one, josh, that hadus do-si-do-ing around a tree,
if you remember, and it was anoah's ark.
Oh, yes inside the tree therewas, uh, there was two, two by
two, everything in noah's ark.

(35:20):
Oh yeah, inside the tree therewas, uh, there was two, two by
everything in noah's ark's twoby two.
Yes, there's two lionssomewhere in the tree, but they
were separated from each other.
There was two, uh, two giraffesand two zebras, and so on.
Those uh two.
There was a number on each anda letter on each, and so you had
to work it out, what it was,and then open up the lock from
there, things like that that.
I think that was quite fun.

(35:41):
I quite enjoyed that, you know,even if it was so hot, but yeah
, that was a fun one too.
So they're very much inventive,very, very much inventive.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
One more, one more.
Oh, maybe your favorite, maybeour favorite's the same, maybe
it's the same.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Maybe it's the same the same.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
Maybe it's the same.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Maybe it's the same ready let's say at the same time
ready, ready, one, one, twothree, two car wash pull my
finger.
Oh, okay, not the same one.
Okay, I'll do my my.
Pull my finger first.
It was called pull my finger.
That was exactly the same.
Exactly what it was.
It was a nice, brand new,painted, beautiful box, uh, up
against the tree as well.
You opened up the box and hereis this big plastic monkey in
there, um, and there was a lockcode, a lot of little lock box

(36:27):
next to it, and so you had tofind the lock code and, sure
enough, you literally had topull this monkey's finger.
It didn't make the sound, but Ikind of made it for us, um,
like literally, uh, so as youpull the finger, uh, the code
pops out on his little bicep.
So I thought that was reallycute, really clever, and I love
it.
I'm just a really dad joke byheart, you know.

(36:48):
So pull my finger for me, butyou you still were the dad.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Well, first, on that one, we asked a lot of kids like
what their favorite one was.
When we were back at the eventand a lot of the kids surprise
the kids and craig like the fartjoke one that well, I'm young
and hot, I'm young and hotyou're what's your car wash this
one.
This one really sticks out in mymind.
There were so many good ones,but this one was at a far fleet

(37:14):
and farm and the right outsidewhere the cash was, there was a
car wash.
It was like the exit of the carwash.
So you go over to it andthere's like a big box there
right and you open, um, andthere's a little tube.
Uh, one outside of the tubesays enter.
The other side of the tube ofthe geocache says exit, and and

(37:36):
you push these little matchboxcars and, oh, the cache is
locked up.
You push the cars through andyou keep on.
Uh, on the bottom of the carsthat you know, you pull one out
of the exit.
It says just swag.
And then, and then you feedthat car into the front and you
keep feeding it.
It says just swag, just swags.
And then finally, one of thecars usually it's the one in the
middle had the padlock code andthen, once you got the padlock

(37:59):
open and opened up the cache,there were like all these
chamois, so it looked like a carwash inside.
Once you got it open, you'relike, oh, it's the innards of
the car wash.
So it was executed really well.
I've seen versions of that.
But usually it's like with amarble, where you're trying to
find the bison tube, when you'refeeding marbles in.

(38:20):
But I never thought of feedingmatchbox cars through a car wash
.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
That was really clever and well themed big
favorite place and well themed,well themed for that one too.
And the chamois you're talkingabout they're the ones that you
see that you normally wash yourcar with.
They'll cut in half and put ontop of the uh, on top the box,
like inside the top of the box.
So when you open it up, itlooked like those little fingers
were playing with the cash asyou opened it up too.

(38:47):
So that was really cool.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
It was great.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
Very, very cool indeed.
So, yes, we did 19 of thosesort of types and more and more
of those.
Josh, will all be on yourInstagram Eventually, tiktok
slash, youtube slash, whereverelse as well, all the social
medias.
That's where they're going tobe Eventually, you'll know.
I think people will know Josh,because you've got two hands
free.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
I know I've got somebody filming me, craig,
that's another reason I reallyappreciate Craig's good at the
filming and he's good at thezooming in and zooming out, and
there's one I did.
Oh my gosh there was one I didwhere I was recording.
It was like it was between thestorm and literally I walk up.
I was like hey, it's joshua thegeocaching vlogger or whatever.

(39:30):
And all of a sudden it's likethere's like a huge thunder
crack yeah, and we captured ityeah we captured it on film.
You'll get to see that as well.
So, before we move on, I justwant to say, if there are any of
the hiders that hid for thewest bend cash bash, I wanted to
just say every single cash wewe found was not a just a

(39:50):
run-of-the-mill cash.
A lot of creativity, a lot ofeffort were put into all of them
and I just want to thank them,uh, for that, because they are.
Yes, the chamber runs theorganization of it.
Yes, but this thing does nothappen to such a successful, in
such a successful way, withoutthe people that are out there
probably spending the whole yearbecause it's some of the same

(40:12):
people, oh, yeah, the whole yearmaking these geocaches for this
event.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yep, exactly right.
Yeah, big thank you to thosehiders out there as well.
And even to the point when,josh, you and I, we got back to
the event itself on the Saturdayafternoon and this is after
we'd done our 19.
We enjoyed ourselves and wethought, well, we better get
back.
You know, because you have tolog in between 2.30 and 4.00, or

(40:38):
2.30 and 4.30, you have to login to get your tickets, et
cetera, as well.
So you thought, oh well, let'sget back by 3 o'clock, and you
were going to do a live onYouTube as well, live across
YouTube.
We got out of the car, josh,and we started sort of mucking
around.
Again, technology didn't playwith us too well in regards to
YouTube stuff, but there was areason for that.

(41:06):
There was there was a reasonthat happened, josh, and that is
that all of a sudden, tickle,tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle,
the drips of rain startedfalling down.
I said, josh, we better getundercover here now if you
haven't been to west bend.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
This park, beautiful, beautiful, great park, regner
park, regner park, it's calledregner park great park, regner
Park, regner Park, it's calledRegner Park Great park.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
It has not one, two, but three total big pavilions,
and two out of the threepavilions, or sorry, three out
of the four pavilions, are alljoined up together as well.
And so we sort of startedrunning and started running
heavier and heavier and underthe big pavilion.
Now, josh, everyone startedcoming under that big pavilion.
Now, josh, everyone startedcoming under that big pavilion.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Now we're talking.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
We're talking a mega event here.
Mega event anywhere between 500and a thousand geocaches in
total.
And so, yeah, every singlegeocacher came in and was under
that pavilion, so itaccommodated that many people.
And, uh, so we started talking.
We thought, no, we're not gonnado live, wait till it finishes.
It was cracks of thunder, thenthere was torrential rain oh my

(42:05):
gosh torrential right yeah, itwas not like a shower.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
No, it was a major storm system that kept on
happening all night, like alllike.
We'll get to that, but I didn't.
I didn't even have power in myhotel that night.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
It was it was, I know I know, but flooded it was
crazy.
You think about it too.
I mean, here we are under thisbig pavilion and stuff as well,
the cracks of thunder like theywere close josh, oh yes, I have
got a photo of a geocacherveteran tributes his name is.
He found one of the trees thatgot struck by lightning and took
a photo of it as well.
So it looks really like amazinghow the it looks like a big

(42:45):
bear had been basically taken tothis tree and the lightning
strike on the tree which isliterally around the corner from
where the pavilion was.
Yeah it was so absolutelyamazing, we were drenched.
We talked for a little while.
We weren't were drenched.
Yeah, we talked for a littlewhile.
We weren't that drenched, untiluntil josh you said to me you
go, all right, let's just do thelive let's just do it.
Wherever we need to do it, let'sjust do it.

(43:05):
I said, okay, let's do it, andyou know, everyone knows me is
behind the camera, you in front.
And so we started the live.
Youtube video links for thelive will be in the description
as well, if you didn't see it.
Um, and yeah, we started inline.
We got our tickets, uh, for theraffles, etc.
And then you're like, oh, we'vegot to go across the big open
air area to the other pavilionto hand in our tickets.

(43:27):
Yeah, it was in a differentpavilion so I was, I was, I
didn't have an umbrella, so Iwas using like a big, big bit of
cardboard over your phone.
And then josh, being josh,decides to go dancing in the
rain, in the puddles.
What?

Speaker 1 (43:41):
was that song you were singing?
It was like from the moviesplash dance and it was like I'm
a maniac, maniac on the floorand I'm dancing like I've never
danced before and I'm runningreally fast and splashing water
up.
If you've ever seen tommy, it'sin.
It's featured in Tommy boy too.
He does that.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Uh, and it's called.
It's called flash dance, notsplash dance you made, I say
splash dance.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
You said splash.
I thought it said flash dance.
I thought I said flash dance.
Okay, splash.
You said splash dance.
Everybody rewind, rewind andsee what.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
I actually.
And then we got up there and we, we, we.
I'll be honest, josh, I reallyenjoyed.
I really enjoyed the live.
You know I really did.
Whether I got wet or not, itdoesn't matter, you know it was.
It was a lot of fun.
We spoke to a lot of differentgeocaches there.
We got different opinions onthe actual cash types, josh, we

(44:34):
had.
You were interviewing peopleasking what their favorite cash
was.
I don't think there was oneperson that said one that we
actually found I know there weremore.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
There were several more that we didn't find many
more.
I, yeah, I really enjoy gosh.
I'd say my best life.
That was a good live.
I think my best life was atgeowoodstock because we went for
a whole hour and there was nota not a dull moment in that.
But the fun thing about goinglive at events is that it gives
you an excuse to just walk upand start talking to people.
There was a girl I should say,not girl anymore there's a woman

(45:02):
named Lila that I met at theWest cash bash 10 years ago when
she and she's now like she'slike 23.
So at the time she was like 13years old, which is kind of
crazy.
And it was just fun to getreacquainted because you know, a
lot of people that come to thisevent are from wisconsin and

(45:23):
they're there.
It's kind of like the only megaevent that they go to because
it's close to home.
There.
A lot of people that don't arenot like us craig, that just
like go around and just like hitespecially you hit mega events
all over.
A lot of people are like okay,I go to my local one and that's
what I go to.
So it was fun to touch basewith people.
It's we're in hailmeister landtoo.

(45:44):
Hailmeister doesn't live toofar from.
There so we had a conversationwith him, um, but, but talking
to the, here's another thingabout this event more than I
think, most events, there's alot of families that that cash
in and spend the day cashing, sothat it was fun to talk to a
lot of the kids, especially someof the kids that actually watch
my videos, which is really coola lot of parents parents come

(46:06):
up to me and they're like no, we, we.
Um, I had a several that came upto me and just said, oh, I got
my son.
I was excited about geocaching,but I got my son excited about
it by by showing them yourvideos.
So, because kids love youtube,so they're like, oh, somebody on
youtube does it.
It must be quote, cool.
So that was really fun.
We had both of us had somegreat connections, uh, with

(46:29):
people.
Um, so that's that's reallyrewarding to us youtubers is
when you people come up to usand say, hey, thanks for making
videos, or just say your videosinspired me or you encouraged me
, like that's the reason we doit.
So it's the big payoff for uswhen we put out, put content out
into the world.
The same with podcasts as well.

(46:49):
It's like we don't always getthe direct thank yous, so that
was really fun, that's right.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
The only downfall, I do say, josh, in regards to this
event, was the fact that, yes,it did start storming, and storm
heavily.
All the vendors, josh, all thevendors.
They all packed up and they allkind of left, except for these
two young guys.
Yes, now, Josh, do you rememberwhat their business name was?
Now, these two young guys, Iwill say this I walked in the

(47:17):
day before and I did speak toboth of them prior to and they
do geocaching stickers and theydo like different small
geocaching hides you know, therewas like a bison tube with a
leaf wrap around it and someother things as well Geocaching
pins, they do.
So all these different things.
They are kind of local-ish toWisconsin, I do believe.

(47:37):
So I spoke to them the daybefore the actual event itself
and I told them that you'regoing to be there.
So we, we, they stayed aroundbecause they wanted to see you,
josh, as well.
So, uh, they, they come up toyou and they said you know, oh,
we, we love your content, etc.
They even said things like youknow, or look, can we sort of do
some collaboration stuff?
You know, blah, blah, blah andtry to get their, promote, their
, their sort of vendership outthere and uh, and they gave you

(48:00):
some stuff as well, josh yes,they did they.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
They put together some real, really, um awesome
stickers that I loved and,honestly, I don't, craig, I
don't want to mess it up, do you?
Oh, I want, I want to get.
Oh, I got it, I got it, I thinkI got it.
I don't want to mess it up,craig I don't want to get.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Oh, I got it, I got it, I think I got it, you got it
.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
I don't want to mess it up, craig, I don't want to
say it somebody else.
Go on, go on.
Is it Big B's cash supplies big.
Shout out to big bees cashsupply.
I have a sweet like magneticcash.
I got, uh, I got a pin.
I got some excellent stickers.
So shout out to those guys bigbees cash supplies, check it out

(48:44):
, google it out.
Link in the description, linkin the description.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
I'll put the link in the description.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely,yeah, nice, really nice kids too
.
So, and there was one other kidas we left josh as well for the
afternoon before before we uhwent for dinner, etc.
There was one other kid as weleft josh as well for the
afternoon before before we uhwent for dinner, etc.
There was one other kid thatcame up to you.
Do you remember that?

Speaker 1 (49:00):
and you said to me.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
You said to me that there is the reason why I just
drove all the way from minnesota.
And yeah, is for that one, thatone, literally two minute,
three minute interaction, yeah,yeah yeah, there was a young man
that came up to me.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
He just said he thanked me for the videos, which
was just awesome, and then heshared with me.
A couple years ago he was sick,like sick in the hospital for
two years, and he shared thathis video, my videos, were an
encouragement to him, um, whilehe was sick, um in the hospital,
and so, true, it was like, ohmy gosh, I well, I walked away.

(49:36):
We just walked away from thebed.
I was like that's it, that my,I was like my weekend's made, uh
, that's the reason, that's thereason I was here to be able to,
to hear, hear that.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
So that was, that was really cool because you think
about it, josh, as well.
And it is true, you get outsidethis game of ours.
Let's get outside, we outside.
We're in sunshine, fresh air,enjoying the world in which we
live.
And there are people out therelike that who literally can't go
outside, josh.
They are sick, they're ill,there's other issues as well,

(50:05):
and so for them to live throughsome other people's adventures
on YouTube, et cetera as well,then that's an absolute
testament to you, mate.
So well done.
Every single week, you have along form video for the last
almost 14 years it is true.
It is true anyway, anyway, let'sget back to west bend.

(50:26):
Uh, we went out for dinner,josh.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Yes, well, we consulted our dear friend, uh
chat gbt, which my chat gbt.
Her name is uh solace um so andshe told us to go, and I've
been to many restaurants but Ihadn't been to this one.
She told me to go to doolies, arestaurant right right downtown

(50:48):
, and it was.
It was great.
It was good beer, good localbeers.
I had an excellent burger.
It was very tasty, unique andexcellent and you had a really
unique the special.
It was really good it lookedgood.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, because I love it Whenever I go.
So you've heard it before.
Josh says that all the time.
Whenever you go to eatsomewhere, whatever, you always
ask the staff what's the mostcommon thing here, what do
people enjoy eating here?
Because normally that's goingto be their best product.
I also enjoy the specials too,Josh.
That's another little go too,because their specials they're
pushing it for a reason.
The specials they had, Josh,was a cheeseburger without the

(51:29):
bun, so bunless cheeseburger ona flatbread.
Cheeseburger flatbread yeah,cheeseburger flatbread, and I'll
tell you now that flatbreadcrispy, like really the crunch,
you know.
Next level crispiness was onthat flatbread too, so you can
even hear it clicking throughthe teeth.
Delicious the cheeseburger ontop with the actual the

(51:49):
cheeseburger type sauce and thewe call it mince.
You call it chopped meat on toptoo.
Oh man, that, just that justhit the spot, and for me, looks
are deceiving.
I don't eat that much, so itwas just enough for me, uh, to
satisfy me, and I was donewithout too much, without any
leftovers either either too.
So you were hungry, josh, yousmashed down your burger I

(52:10):
hadn't eaten since since thecracker barrel.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
That was hours before , and we did a lot of walking
too.
I smashed that burger and youknow, in this burger you knew
this place was going to be goodbecause it was full, there were
a lot of locals there and it wasvery clear that the locals
really loved this.
And you know why the localsreally loved it Because they

(52:34):
were proud of their town, andthat's a damn rare thing these
days.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Wow, I didn't even have to like.
Good work, josh, good work.
But you said before that youhadn't eaten anything since
breakfast, and I disagree, josh.
We stopped in at that onegadget cash with the little
cheese.
We had to get a little cheese,magnetic cheese, out of this
tubing, of this tubing, etc.
And it was right out the frontof a cheese factory.
Now, wisconsin are known fortheir cheese and they're known

(53:00):
for their cheese curd.
Oh, that was good, josh,explain to people, because
anyway, outside of wisconsin,what are cheese curds?

Speaker 1 (53:08):
that's a good question, it's a certain kind of
cheese.
I don't know how I think I'mgoing to.
I should ask AI because I'm notsure I think what they do.
They put the cheese into likelittle curds and I think, craig,
they boil it.
I think they boil the cheese.
So it's like a firmer cheesebut it's like a cheese glob.

(53:29):
And if a cheese curd is fresh,these ones that we made were
made probably days before, sothey weren't fresh.
If you ever have I don't knowif you've ever had a fresh
cheese curd that's made that daywhen you eat them, they squeak.
They squeak.
Squeaky cheese.
They squeak in your teeth,squeaky cheese.
Yeah, they squeak.
Yeah, but this place hadseveral different flavors,

(53:51):
flavors Of cheese curds.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
There's like original .
The one we had was a cheddarcheese curd.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
Yeah, but it was a beer flavored beer favorite
flavored cheddar, there wasthere was like um uh, bloody
mary cheese curd.
Yes, I knew you remember thatone.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Yeah, there was a pizza one as well.
There was also like jalapeno,like the spicy cheese curds too.
So there was all differentflavors, and plus they had the
jerky there as well.
So if ever you're in Wisconsin,you must I'm telling you now,
you must find yourself a placeto have or buy cheese curds,
because it's just an experience.
I love experiencing local,slash, state sort of cuisines,

(54:32):
et cetera.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Yes, and this cheese shop was called helds.
I believe h-e-l-d.
Apostrophe l's helds and therehas been, there has been,
there's been caches thereseveral times when I have
visited the west bend cash bash.
Then there was used to be theclassic gigantic, you know mouse
trap that people could like.
Oh yes, that used to be outfront, so it's perfect that

(54:55):
makes sense, so that makes sensedoolies.
And then we're walking downtownand I see a glorious thing.
I see a sign, and the sign isof a gigantic 8-bit nintendo
controller.
This is, you know, craig, thisis our, this is our era.
The 8, 8-bit Nintendocontroller speaks to us.

(55:17):
And then, right above thecontroller, the sign said game
over, and it was a bar.
And I was like, oh my gosh,that's Craig, that's got to be a
retro.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
A retro bar and it's like we're going to have to get
another drink.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
we're gonna have to another b, if you know why?

Speaker 1 (55:38):
because we have we know where it's a travel podcast
.
We got to talk about more onthe podcast, so we got to drink
more beer and go more placesexactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
So we had to for the podcast and we went there and
yes, we got a beer.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
We got a summer shandy.
That's not typically the kindof beer that craig gots, but
craig gets.
But he he decided you know whatI'll do the summer shandy why
not line and google summershandy?
And if you don't know summer,do people know which summer
shandies are?
Is this common knowledge?
It's kind of like a yes, it'skind of like a lemonade beer
heavier on the beer, light onthe lemonade.
Um, but yes, we went and sureenough, there were pinball

(56:17):
machines.
There were old school videogames the pinball.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
I played toy story 4 that was it was two dollars for
one game you were, you were like, I was like what the?

Speaker 1 (56:30):
heck, there was a wedding reception going on next
door.
That was kind of weird, um, andthen we're like.
I looked at Craig, I was likewe got to play something cheaper
, so I walked you right over to1942.
Was this the first time you'veever played 1942?

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Yes, it is.
I didn't know what it wasBasically, for those who don't
know, you come in first and Icome in second of the overall
leaderboard.
Basically it is a um, I'm gonnasay like a, an old school air,
yeah, air sort of version of umspace invaders, no, so yes
that's what it's like world warii themed like an air force yeah

(57:04):
, world war ii.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
Yeah, you're shooting planes down.
Yeah, just shooting planes downlike crazy, and I got very
american top score, top scorefor the day.
You got second place and weboth got to put our names in the
in this, uh, the top score.
That probably lasted like twohours till they closed and
unplugged it, so exactly forthat, exactly so that's all
right.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
That's all right.
I'll go two hours on second toyou.
Yeah, for a game I hadn'tplayed before.
Yeah, and then craig we retired, we were tired.
We were bushed, yeah, yeah, wewere beat.
That was a big day.
It was a big day, yeah, and itwas still raining.
It was still raining all thetime it was still raining.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
So much rain.
So I check into my hotel.
Craig goes to his van and at 1in the morning you hear a crack,
of lightning slash, thunder andeverything.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
the power out for you .
True, for you and for me.
Yeah, you had a generator, Ihave, I have my, I have my own
solar, I have my own electricityin this van.
Um, just just a side note aswell, josh, and that is if ever
you've actually stayed in a vanof sorts, or even in your car
and you tried to sort of, or oreven in a bungalow, for instance

(58:19):
, where there's a tin roof andit rains on the tin roof.
Yeah, oh man, it is a goodnight's sleep.
I got a, apart from that, onewake-up call with a crack, um,
with a big thunder.
I had a glorious night's sleepin the van.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Yeah, Luckily your van didn't float away.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
No, this is true, I woke up, josh.
I woke up the next morning andI went to go into the Cracker
Barrel to use the bathroom andit was all closed up.
I thought, oh, I'll go toMcDonald's, and McDonald's was
closed up.
And then I realized, oh, allthe lights are out.
All the street lights are out,all the lights are out, all the
traffic lights are out.
I'm like, oh, there's a bigblackout.
Then I thought to myself, isjosh even gonna wake up?

Speaker 1 (58:56):
with his, my, my, thankfully my my phone was
charged well, so that was.
That was not enough, but it isa serious inconvenience.
I mean there was no hot waterbecause the hot water heater was
turned off.
It's very it's.
The whole hotel room is dark.
So you're walking around withyour flashlight like it was not.

(59:17):
You know it was not convenient.
It like first world problem,but like this was not.
You know this, it was aninconvenience.
I was ready to get up and startour day and we started our day
and I was like the night beforeI was like craig um and oh my
gosh, this is so, this is soserendipitous too, because we
could have just, it would havebeen convenient, just like, okay

(59:37):
, we'll just go to the crackerbarrel again.
But then I was like this wasbefore the power went out.
I was like I was like we gottago somewhere local.
So I so I asked solace again.
Not solace, solace, it's solace, solace, I don't know.
Solace, solace, it's not solace, it's solace, solace, I don't
know.
Solace, solace, it's not solace, it's solace solace sounds
horrible like even solace soundslike you have no soul, although

(01:00:00):
ai probably doesn't have a soulanyway.
So I asked great breakfast,locally owned breakfast places,
and one of the places that cameup was the main street cafe and
so I said craig, I'll meet youat 8 30 at the main street cafe
and we pull up to a, a stripmall.
Isn't it funny how, likebreweries, the same way you're

(01:00:23):
like oh it's gonna be this andyou see the reviews, oh it's
really good food, and then allgreat beers, oh great ambiance.
And then you pull up and you'relike wait a minute, it's a
strip mall.
There's a lot of strip malls inour country, yeah, but like a
lot of strip malls, you go inthere and you're like it's like
going back in time.
It felt like, okay, we're backin 1980s.

(01:00:46):
It felt like this restauranthad been there for quite some
time and you said, I think itwas a Chinese restaurant at one
point 100%.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
It would have been a Chinese restaurant prior to
being this diner cafe, becauseit still had that red bar in the
middle where you can go and getyour drinks, where they would
have hung up those Remember thegold cats they have, Joshua the
poor that moves up and down.
That would have been on thebench, I can guarantee you.
There would have been dragonson the wall.
They had bamboo.
Still on the wall was bamboosticks still that's the wall so

(01:01:15):
clear.
100.
That would have been a chineseshop before this uh, main street
cafe took over.
But again, good food, josh,good it was it was solid.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
It was solid, it was very much like local home cooked
, like.
You know what I mean it was itwas good nothing was heated up,
it was all.
Everything was made fromscratch.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
It was clear so that was great, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
And then craig yeah it was still raining, still
raining, it's rain, rain readyit's the cash splash uh, but we
had a very important event to goto later that morning before
before the event, though westill had some time we actually
went around and did a couple ofdouble, a couple of caches,
whereby the caches themselveswere in parking lots, so we

(01:01:56):
didn't get our feet wet.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
And there was this one place we pulled into.
It looked like a Home Depot.

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
It was a grocery store.
It was a grocery store.
It was a grocery store parkinglot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
And as you pulled into the grocery store parking
lot, out of the corner of my eyeI see this car driving through
flood water.
And then the car just went anddipped down its nose straight
into the ditch, like a ditch.
That was down there and I waslike what.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
And the water went over the bottom of the car and
I'm like completely underwaterthe whole front of it underwater
, the whole front of the car isunderwater.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
So I looked up and I got out of the car and I walked
over without going into theflood water myself, because you
never, ever, walk in floodwaters.
Um, as I looked over and I gotthe guy's attention as a young
guy too, josh, you would havebeen like teenager, yeah,
teenager.
And I said, and he went and Isaid, are you okay?
And he's like, yeah, I'mcalling someone.
I said okay, as long as you'reokay, and he just he stayed in

(01:02:48):
the car, yeah as water wasprobably filling up.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
He was probably filling up the front.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
There's no way it wasn't absolutely, it would have
been on in his feet.
His feet would be in the water.
Anyway, we're okay.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
So we then went and walked over to the cache that
was in the dry path and then anduh, yeah, oh yes, we were doing
the cache or whatever, and therain was really coming down and
you know I'm kind of I wasgetting a little nervous, craig.
I was looking over at a carthat was like in, like submerged
, and I saw the parking lot.
It was quick, you know the flat, it was a flash flood warning,

(01:03:21):
it was filling up and I was likewe looked at each other, we're
like if we don't get out of thisparking lot, we're going to get
carried away, we're not goingto be able to leave.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Exactly.
But I will say, josh being Josh, yes, there will be a TikTok in
it too, because, yes, he stilldid film with Tessa.
Yes, I did.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
Yes, I did, I have priorities.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Then we went over Josh after that and we went to
the Munzee event.
Munzee were hosting an event ina separate park area and this
park, though, josh, even thoughit was a park and it had a lake
in the park and stuff as well,this park was not underwater.
This park was surprisingly highand dry.
To a certain degree it wasstill wet underfoot but yeah,

(01:04:05):
there was no flood water in thatpark, which surprised me a lot.
But again, nice park area witha nice pavilion sort of place
where we stood under there andwe had a bit of a Munzee chat
etc.
Did a few of the Munzee pins.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me,josh, you've been doing the
Munzee all morning you werecapping away.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
This is the day before.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
Sorry, the day before .

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
The notes are a little messed up, but that's
okay.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
That's okay.
The day before you were cappingaway, but in saying that you
were then congratulated at theMunzee event, yes, I was,
Because the day before the daybefore you were the number one
player in the world.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Dun, dun dun dun.
This has happened two times inthe last week.
Wow, yeah, because I was numberone in the world last weekend
too, which that was a littleeasier because it was between
clan wars, but anyway, it stillwas number one.
So I was number one.
I just realized this, craig.
I was number one two Saturdaysin a row.
Saturday is the prime day forMunzee play and our dear friend

(01:05:05):
Minnesota boy, minnesota boy,minnesota boy, he has been ahead
of me.
He was ahead of me by sevenmillion points at one time.
Guess what's happening?
I'm like 2 million points awayfrom Minnesota boy.
Wow, the suspense, I don't know.
Is he shaking in his boots?
Is he nervous?

(01:05:26):
He should be, he should be, heshould be he should be, because
you know what, craig, I am not acasual player, I am a….

Speaker 2 (01:05:32):
Not anymore, not anymore.
And I know that feelingHonestly, josh, I know that
feeling.
It was only a few weeks ago nowwhere I was behind Rob, the
president of Munzee, and therewas a big thing about me
climbing up towards Rob as well.
So I remember being 8 millionpoints behind, 6 million points
behind, 4 million points behind.
Right now, josh, I'm 10 millionpoints ahead now, rob.

(01:05:57):
So, anyway, I'm digressing, I'mgoing different.
If you want more munzee chat aswell, don't forget the official
munzee podcast.
Uh is also out there everysingle week where I speak to rob
the president of munzee.
We had him on the show too,josh, the other week too.
So that was really cool.
So that's more of the Munzeestuff.
And then, josh, we parted ways.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
Oh.
Yeah, I know All good thingsmust come to an end, but I had
to get home.
I had to get home.
You had to get to Coloradobecause you were about to attend
another mega event this weekendwhich will be, I'm sure be,
fantastic.
Anyway, west bend, a greatplace, the capital of geocaching

(01:06:40):
in the midwest, selfself-proclaimed, but it lives.
It lives up to his name.
Um, there's a lot more.
I mean, we just craig, we justscratched the surface with the
amount of geocaching that isavailable there.
Um, beautiful, beautiful parks.
That park where we had themunzee event because there was
so much rain, we had like asurprise waterfall.
There was a creek there andthere was a waterfall, and I'm

(01:07:02):
sure that usually isn't awaterfall, but that day it was.
It was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
It was a waterfall because the water was actually
coming from the park over theroad and into the creek area, so
that's not normally a waterfallthere.
But, yes, that park was totallyflooded and they did cancel the
Sunday breakfast event as well.
But, josh, you were aroundSpeaking of the mega event as
well.
I still remember you werewalking around and you had your
brand-new flash tags that yougot as well.

(01:07:27):
Now, flash tags are like theselittle silver tokens, like
silver quarters, if you like,and they've got your actual
emblem on them as well.
So they look really cool, andso you were handing them around
as well.
And, josh, you normally handyours around to patrons as well.
So if someone wants to be apatron of this show, for
instance, do you like that?

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Nice segue.
How can they be a patron ofthis show?
No, all the patrons are goingto be asking for my flash tags,
which I'll just tell you, people, I do not have enough.
I only have 88 of them and mostof them are gone.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
The treasures of our town might be getting some flash
tags.
We haven't discussed that yet,but yeah, it's a possibility,
it's a possibility.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
It's a possibility.
Uh, yes, if you've beenenjoying our podcast, this is a
listener supported podcast.
By supporting us, you'rehelping us continue to create
fun, entertaining content,informative content.
So you know, you want to knowwhat west bend's all about
before you go there.
Yeah, and yeah, you know,cliffhanger, what you know what

(01:08:28):
will I find the biggest ball ofpaint this weekend?
Who knows?
We don't know, but you willfind out.
Who made you know.
You know what?
Maybe I'll make a really quickvideo if I go there and I'll put
it up for the patrons thisweekend and they'll get this
maybe they'll get to see itbefore this.
This podcast is even released,because we're in the future,
right now, who knows?
Anyway, if you'd like tosupport us, consider joining us

(01:08:51):
at Patreon, at patreoncom.
Backslash treasures of our town.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
Josh, of course.
Well, you did do the Back tothe Future for your 10,000th
cash, fine, anyway.
So that was the spoiler.
That was the thing that we hadto talk about, wasn't it?
Your 10,000th, fine.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
Yeah, didn't we talk about that already?
Oh, we did yes, we did yes, wedid.
All right, then, about thatalready.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
Oh, we did, yes, we did, we did yes, we did.
All right, then.
All right, well, how can peoplecontact us then, if they want
to contact us?
It's getting hot in this van.
It's getting hot, my brain'sgetting fired.
How can people contact us?

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
Feel free to reach out to us at
treasuresofourtownpodcast atgmailcom, where you can follow.
Just simply search Treasures ofOur Town in Google.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
That's pretty cool.
So that's it for our show today.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite
podcast and, as always, Josh,may our travels always lead you
to the most unexpected andamazing hidden gems around the
world, even if they're wet Likethe cash splash.
Cash splash.
West Bend cash splash.
See you next time, everybody,bye.
I can't believe the boys forgotJoshua's beard.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Keep loose.
Percentage is at 55% to keep.
Let them know your thoughts.