The Georgia Geocachers Association September 2006 meeting was held September 9th at Cooper’s Furnace Day Use Area along the Etowah River in Bartow County. There were approximately 70 people in attendance. Forty-eight existing members signed in under forty-two geonicks. Twenty-two new members signed in under eleven geonicks. Thorny and Fate’s new son Gafirecracker made his debut at a GGA event and signed the roster to become the GGA’s youngest member.

The meeting began at noon with Smiling In Acworth releasing fifty white doves. Burgers and hotdogs were grilling as everyone arrived. Those attending brought side dishes and desserts with the accumulated food being more than sufficient to feed the multitudes. The cookout provided an opportunity for everyone to visit and meet new cachers. Johnnie had arranged two games for the occasion, one a bingo name game that gave an opportunity to meet people and learn some things about other cachers that we already knew by geonick. The other game was the birdhouse game where everyone took the coordinates of a nearby birdhouse to see how close they could come to the coords that Johnnie had found for the birdhouse. Redworm and Bushbob tied with the closest coords to Johnnie’s, and Redworm won the tie breaker. Her prize was a nice hiking stick which was donated by Johnnie.

Following lunch while everyone was too stuffed with food to do anything else, Mtn-man presented an informative program that covered travel bugs, geocoins, and waymarking. His presentation covered the history and etiquette for travel bugs and geocoins which was especially informative for new cachers who were able to get answers to questions they had about bugs and coins.

After the program there was a raffle with prizes and a group photo was taken in front of Cooper’s Furnace of those in attendance. Everyone was appreciative of the efforts of BadDawg and Johnnie in making the arrangements for this meeting.

Thanks to everyone for their contributions to the cookout and for attending. The next GGA meeting will be the annual Challenge Event and will be held at Elachee Nature Center in Hall County on October 14th. The first hunt of the day at the Challenge Event will begin at 10:00 AM, so plan to be there early in order to get your coordinates for the morning hunt.