The first Upper Ottawa Valley Cache Challenge (GCV6JX) was held in Petawawa over the weekend.  About sixteen geocaches were hidden specifically for the event, including one I placed called The First Deacon of Golden Lake (GCW5JH).  People started caching Friday evening and met up for dinner at Kelsey’s in Petawawa Saturday evening.  (Fortunately, unlike another Kelsey’s I’ve written about, this one knew how to properly cook beef and no broken glass was found anywhere.)

I headed out Saturday morning after the dragon boat practice and found my first cache shortly after 2pm.  Over the next four hours, I found another five caches and attempted an additional two that were DNFs.  I met up with a couple of other cachers from Ottawa at the third-last cache and we did the last three together.  The last cache, Life’s a Beach (GCVDVH), took us to a beautiful sand beach at the edge of the Ottawa River in Deep River.  If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to rush back to Petawawa, we would have stayed there for a while soaking up the sunshine and fresh air.

It was a very successful event and there was already talk of a second event to be held in the fall.

Once again, I’m taking part in the Nortel Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival. Unlike past years, however, I am steering for the PCL Singapore Slings rather than Paddle By Numbers. (We couldn’t get enough people to put together Paddle By Numbers by the deadline. Oh well.)

The Singapore Slings have been paddling in the festival almost since the first year. We’re practising twice a week until race weekend (June 24-25).

If you’d like to sponsor me, you’ll find a button marked “Donate” at the top of the column on the righthand side of the screen. Clicking it will take you to the ODBRF website where you can make an online donation. This year, the Ottawa Dragon Boat Foundation is supporting the following local charities:

• Ottawa Senators Foundation & Roger’s House
• Centretown Laundry Co-op
• Junior Achievement of Eastern Ontario (JAEO)
• Special Olympics Ontario – Ottawa District

Thank you in advance to everyone who makes a donation! 🙂

So, I’m out for a ride with a friend after work when I notice that the back tire of my bike is a bit low. We stop and I pull out my air pump. As I’m hooking it up, I hear the gentle hissing of air escaping from the tire. A little investigation reveals it’s coming out near the rim. So, I take the wheel off the bike, deflate the tire and pop it off the rim. I slap a temporary patch on it and put the wheel back on the bike. We continue our ride, but I have to add air after dropping my friend off on the way home.

So, that’s two flat tires in less than a week. At least it wasn’t another flat on my Tracker.

I headed out this morning to Val des monts on the Quebec side of the river and managed to log my first FTF (first-to-find). The cache, Valpin #18 – Tranquillité (GCVW2A), was hidden at the side of a swiftly flowing river. While I was there, a heron landed about 15 feet away from me, which was very cool.

I then did another cache and when I came back to where I’d parked I discovered that I’d parked on glass so I had to change the tire. Fortunately, the tire place tells me that it’s pluggable so I won’t have to buy a new tire. Or tires since it doesn’t appear the Tiger Paws on my Tracker are available.