One of the problems I have been having lately is that I lack the time to go out and search for geocaches.

This is further complicated because there haven’t been any new caches here in this area for a bit of time and most of those here I have already located.

Although I could always go looking a little bit farther afield, my main problem is that my littles daughter is just too young for the two of us to go seeking solo.

At her current age, she just requires too much of a watchful eye to give the sport adaquate enjoyment in the field.

So what do I do in a case like this? … I bring the sport to us.

The first cache I ever placed was the “Honeysuckle TB Hotel & Trading Post” and was hidden among the honeysuckle along a service road that leads to nowhere just around the corner from our residence.

It was a great and popular location as it was right around the spot where two interstates come together.

The problems began in the fall when hunters started dumping the remains of the deer they killed along that same road, worrying me of what little adventurers might see and think while searching with parents.

Toss in that this spring, the honeysuckle seems to have gone crazy with the path to the cache’s hiding place lost among the tangled underbrush.

So … I wanted to move it anyway..

Well, after talking it over with my wife, we decided to archive the original cache and add its container to a larger “complex” that is located here on our property on the edge of the Frontier … Frontier Drive that is!

It will allow us to keep an eye on trackable travelers placed within, replace their plastic bags if necessary, log them as new discoveries, and maybe even meet a few fellow geocachers in the process.

It also gives us the chance to launch the first Starbase geocache that holds to the “Ships of the Cache” theme.

So even though we are a couple weeks from bringing the new geo-outpost online, I thought I would share with you the description that will be included on the cache’s page on Geocaching.com.

Additions that might be added before it goes live might be a permenant geocoin attached to the Station Commander, allowing people to sign up to the “Red Shirt” league as you can never have too many red shirts to send out on those away missions!

Enjoy the description of what is to come!

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Starbase 359, aka. The Honeysuckle (TB/GC Hotel)

The Honeysuckle, aka. Starbase 359, has been established by the “United Federation of Caches” along the Frontier (Drive) to serve
as a waystop for trackable travelers passing through the area.

Several internal docking bays within the primary outpost join with an external dry-dock to all traveling adventurers (travel bugs
and geocoins) a place to rest and resupply as they await the chance to continue their journey.

Located within easy reach of two interstates, it stands to reason that these items have the chance to go far.

In addition, SB-359 also is home to a detachment of “Geo-Fleet Corps of Engineers” stationed
onsite and whom are willing to replace and perform maintenance in the form of cleanups and replacement of plastic travel bags if necessary.

If you wish to conduct such maintenance yourself, feel free to use the supplies contained within the top level of the attached dry-dock facility.

If you have items to trade, look to the promenande inside the main facility to see what is available.

Also, make sure to look for the station commander (also the keeper of the key to the attached dry-dock) in the “Starbase Command Center,” but make sure to return him to his office after visiting as he has a lot of work to get done!

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A fan of travel bugs, we wanted to set up a cache near the interstate where travelers (and locals) can go to either place or help travel bugs move from place to place.

Close to both I-81 and I-64, this is a travel bug hotel and trading post. Although not in plan sight, we kept it easy to find as want it to be a waystop for travel bugs venturing from place to place.

Considering the heavy traffic through the region, it only stands that travel bugs can go far!

You can reach it in only a couple of minutes from both Staunton exits (220 & 222) and by traveling in either direction along
Frontier Drive.

Only a mile or two traveling from the interstate will put you at its location.

Although a replacement for the now archived “Honeysuckle TB Hotel & Trading Post,” this one is a members’ only cache for added security.

It also remains on the property of a geo-friendly family that keep a watchful eye on the location for added trackable traveler protection.

Make sure to park in the driveway of the white residence as it your safe-zone.

The fact that this is at the intersection of two interstates helps as does the fact that its location can be reached from either of two Staunton exits.

You will find the cache is a locked metallic box located under a dogwood tree with young honeysuckle shrubs planted to either side.

*** PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL TO RETRIEVE THE KEY FROM ITS HIDING PLACE (IN A MAGNETIC HIDE-A-KEY BOX) TO UNLOCK THE ACTUAL HOTEL! … FEEL UNDER THE PRIMARY CACHE! ***

Once you reach the actual cache, use the key to unlock the hotel and check out the interior of the starbase where you will find a couple of docking bays for trackable travelers, the promenade for your trading pleasure, and the administrative office where you will find the station’s official logbook as well as the station’s commander, Commodore Idaho.

If you have a traveling item that is too large for the internal docking bays, you can get the key from the station commander and
place the item inside the dry-dock facility behind the post at the base of the outpost.

Both the Starbase and dry-dock facilities are locked for the added protection of visiting trackable guests.

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**** If you have no geocoin (or travel bug) to swap and can help one of our hotel guests on its way to further its mission, you may
help move it along even if doing so leaves less than three GCs/TBs in the cache … as our goal is to help these items move forward in
their journey!!! ****

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Items within the starbase when it was brought online included:

Also, it contains an unactivated geocoin for the first to find.

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DIRECTORY: STARBASE INTERIOR

STARBASE COMMAND CENTER — Small Lock & Lock container that is home to the station commander, the key he keeps for the separate dry-dock, and the station’s official logbook. If you have a business card, wooden nickel, or other item that identifies you or your team that you would like to leave for those who maintain this cache, leave it here with the station commander.

DOCKING BAY ONE — Designed to hold geocoins traveling the world, Docking Bay One is the smaller of the two “docking bay” lock & lock modules.

DOCKING BAY TWO — Designed to hold travel bugs and non-coin travelers, Docking Bay Two is the larger of the two “docking bay” lock & lock modules.

PROMENADE — Home to tradables available for your trading pleasure, the promenade is the round cylinder lock & lock module.

DIRECTORY: EXTERNAL DRY-DOCK

DRY-DOCK UPPER LEVEL — The pull out tray is used to keep maintenance supplies that are available for to replace worn out plastic bags of travelers with newer ones.

DRY-DOCK LOWER LEVEL — The largest of our cargo bays, this location offers docking berths for those larger traveling trackable items (travel bugs) that just will not fit in the starbase docking bays. This location is also available should the starbase ever become full and additional berths needed to accommedate the many travelers.

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+ + + Starbase 359 serves as the homeport for the USS Pathfinder (a ship of the cache) and the Shenandoah Explorer Squadron. … so keep an eye out as you never know when a ship of the cache might be flying by on a mission!