The Uncanny Appeal of “The Streak”
In April of 2009, my daughter Megan was born. I had decided to take six months off work for parental leave. As part of that leave, I also decided that for every day I was gone, I would find a geocache. 180 days straight. I finished the streak off with an event and then purposely left the next day to be cache free.
On June 23, 2011, Ma & Pa hid GC2YD1N and it seemed a challenge had been issued to folks in the area. At the time, there were very few people who could actually claim this find. I remember going out to the cache and snagging the FTF and wondering how long it would be before other’s would follow.
As it turns out, it seems that the streak challenges really took off from then. More and more people were now trying to see how long they could go, and see if they could beat some of their geocaching friends. The art of “streaking” really seemed to take over for awhile.
But what was the appeal? For me, it wasn’t about trying to see how far I could go but just giving me an excuse to get out of the house everyday when I was dealing with a very fussy young baby. But for many others, it seems that there’s a challenge to see how far they can go without stopping. I know of several cachers who have broke the 500 day streak point and I find that amazing. If you can still enjoy it after going that long, then kudos to you.
That’s the key. After about 120-130 days for me, it felt like a chore. It was a lot of fun at first but as time wore on, it was more and more like work or a job than having fun. By the time the 180th day hit, I was ready to be done.
So how about you? Have you participated in a streak, and if so, how long and why?
230 days and counting for me so far. There have been days that it wasn’t so fun, but for the most part I am enjoying it. What is getting very tough for me now is the distance I have to travel for caches that are winter friendly and ones I can find at night, since I work most days. My goal is the end of March (so I can claim the task for COAP) then I just want to fill my calendar.
I would say that we’re more social cachers than hard-core cachers. We struggled to get one a day for 11 days in a row and didn’t enjoy it at all. For us, it took the joy out of caching, even for that short period. We think it’s amazing (or crazy addictive behavior ) when others do it but we’re just envious wimps. 🙂
I have a streak of 203 days and I must admit that it was quite a chore at the end of it to keep that streak alive so I quit. I figured that I would not try and do a streak again and then along came Task # 44 !!!
Kudos to anyone doing a streak. No matter the length, it takes dedication and planning to pull it off. Some of the ones I have heard of in the past few years have been inpressive to say the least (*cough* Scouter_Rick *cough*).
Personally, I feel that the “need” to find a cache would eventually wear down the “fun” aspect of caching for me, which is why I don’t do it. To each their own. Just because it isn’t my thing, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t get a thrill out of. One of the great things about caching is the variety-from hides to finds to even the cachers and how they cache.
On another note, I am planning a 1 day caching streak, to begin and end on February 17. Congrats to me on this accomplishment!
I started mine accidentally, I had come home one day and noticed that I had been out 14 days in a row so I said in the shoutbox that I was going to see how far I could go. That day Ma&Pa started theirs and they were always 14 days behind me. So between them following me and Zor being the only one around with any type of streak I figured I would see how far I could go. My goal was only 200. When the 100 day challenge came out I was able to get it as well. I ended my streak at 211 when I forgot to go out on day, I woke up the next morning and realized it and said oh well, it is over. If I had kept going I would be at 702 today…lol I won’t be doing it again.
Well, I feel I should pitch in on this one. I am at day 677, and it has not been a major chore, as I work on the road and haven’t really cleaned out an area (yet, coming close in NFLD). I was going to stop at one year (366 with the leap), but as it was starting to get nice (Last April) I decided to carry on, it was a habit by then to look at the map and have one planned for the next day’s drive. Then I was going to stop at 600 last November, nice round number, and no winter caching (having to have one lined up for those snow days). And then along came Task 44, as Geodimeter said. I promised Mrs D that the dedication (remember, the word addiction has so many bad connotations) would stop after the contest. But time will tell ….. 🙂
Day 407 for us. Not sure when it will end but we will keep at it as long as it is fun. We are enjoying the challenge and the planning.
Keeping it going has meant getting up before dawn to get caches on a day we were flying out of town.
It has meant going out just after midnight to get a cache on a day when a blizzard was predicted.
It has meant doing cableguys punchline series at the rate of one cache per day and walking about 3 kms each day to get them.
It has meant figuring out a couple of wherigo caches.
It has meant trying for a couple of caches in the Hillsborough area that we had been avoiding and walking long distances to get them.
It has meant calling MA when she was in California one day last fall to tell her I had yet to find a cache for that day. (she called me back an hour later to tell me she had one. I was standing at a cache on Falconer road when she called)
AND it means convincing Belladan to drive us to a cache when he picks us up at the airport in Moncton after 9 pm in a few days
Just like Rev’s example, when it ends it ends. We will not fudge the figures or the dates of our finds to keep it going.
One thing that makes it easy for us is the fact that we cache together which makes it more interesting and allows us to combine the cache hunt with another activity such as a long walk together, or meeting friends, or spending an hour having coffee and reading the paper at mac D, or running errands together, etc
I echo Milo’s comment exactly. I am an envious wimp. When my longest ever streak of 7 days is finally broken, it will be purely by accident. 🙂
To all those who have completed streaks, be it 20, 200, 400 or whatever, I look at you in awe.