DanOCan

I said I never could do it.  I said I never would even bother to attempt it.  It sounded so simple yet would require a tremendous amount of effort.  The challenge?  Find at least one Geocache every day for 99 straight days.

The challenge was laid out by Miles (aka peanutbutterbreadandjam) with his cache called, creatively, “99-day challenge – Calgary, Alberta” back in July of 2010.  Soon a thread started on our local caching forums talking about who was working on the challenge and for sharing tips on how to meet the goal.  I posted this on August 10, 2010:

“I’m that last person who will give advice on this thread.  My longest streak was something like 21 or 22 days while on vacation, and by the time I reached that point I didn’t care if I ever saw another cache.”

Not content to let sleeping dogs lie, I had to follow up with this gem:

“For me, when I set a caching goal it becomes a thin line between a ‘challenge’ and ‘too much work’…

So, how is it I find myself here just one day away from completing the 99-day challenge?

  I didn’t set out to complete this challenge.  What I wanted to do was replace my beaten up and aging Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx before vacation.  I bought a new Dakota 20 from GPS City and wanted to give it a trial run before we left, so after work on Friday, June 17 I detoured to “World Pin Trading Cache” in south Calgary and made my first find with the new unit.  I had no idea at the time it would set me off on this journey.

Day 5:  Summit of Mount Manuel Quimper

Like any addict, I remained in denial for a long time.  On July 11 I posted this quote on the local forums:

“I’m not officially working on this challenge, but I reached 25 days today, which is my longest streak ever.  I suspect it will either end this weekend when I am in Saskatchewan in a cache-thin area, or shortly after I start back to work next week.”

I think internally I knew I wanted to use the head start vacation had given me to complete the challenge.  I was too afraid to admit it to anyone.  As long as I was the only who knew I was trying then no one else would need to know if I failed. 

Day 31:  Humboldt, Saskatchewan

Day 38:  Summit of Ha Ling Peak

By July 28 (Day 42) I didn’t try to hide it any more.

“I’ve also burned through the three "’safety’ caches I had – caches close to my commute route that sounded like they would be easy finds for those days when I didn’t take time to plan anything else or the weather was bad.”

The first real threat to the challenge came on July 30…

“I’m at Day 44 now and I twisted my ankle out in Kananaskis so if the swelling doesn’t go down I’ll be making a list of Terrain 1 [wheelchair accessible] caches along my commute route if I’m going to keep going.  Still having fun, which is good.  As soon as it stops being fun I’m done.”

I hobbled my way for a week or so, picking off caches that were easily accessible.  As the ankle recovered over the next week so did my spirits.  Sunday, August 7:

“Well, I crossed over the halfway point this weekend – today will be day 52.”

The first day where motivation became a factor was just a few days later.  Thursday, August 11 was a really bad day at work.  I remember I missed lunch and was dragging my butt.  On the ride home I was struggling just to stay awake.  I had left my GPSr at home.  Things were looking grim, but I used my iPhone to locate a cache while we waited for a pizza to be ready for pick-up.  It was a difficult find and if Shirley hadn’t spotted it I suspect the streak would have died that day.

Day 65:  Summit of Mount Burke

Day 73:  Summit of Mount Allan

Since then things have gone pretty well.  I managed to keep the streak going during our family reunion on the September long weekend by going into the city early one morning and then by dragging a number of the in-laws out for a long hike to find a cache the next.

No matter what, the challenge will end tomorrow – win or lose.  I’ll either find a cache and reach the 99 day mark or I won’t and it ends.  If I do complete the challenge I will likely continue to push my streak further by a day or two.  I don’t know, I haven’t thought about how I will end it. 

This seems like a good chance to reflect on the streak and the memorable moments.

From a purely statistical standpoint:

Over the course of the last 98 days, I have found 303 caches hidden by 160 different people.

170 of those caches have been in Alberta, 125 in British Columbia and 8 in Saskatchewan.

Thanks to being on vacation the bulk of my finds have come on weekdays – 163 weekday finds vs. 140 weekend finds.

During the streak my most productive caching day was August 7 when I found 27 caches.  (Not bad for being on a sprained ankle!)

The closest cache to home that I found was 9.05km away.  The furthest was 846.04km:  Tofino Beaches – Tonquin.

During the Ghost Town Convention in mid-July I found the caches that would go down as the furthest north and east:

– St. John’s Church Fire N52 21.625

– Marysburg Assumption Church W105 04.292

I found a cache on the summit of Mount Allan which, at 2813m, is the highest maintained hiking trail in the country.  I found nine caches at sea level.  In between I knocked off some memorable summits / hikes:

– Mount Burke

– Ha Ling Peak

– Jumpingpound Mountain

– Cox Hill

– Lusk Creek Ridge

– Mount Manuel Quimper

It’s been a great summer and the streak has certainly played a part in that.  I’ve been more motivated to spend time outdoors than at any other time I can recall.  Not bad for something that started purely by accident…

Anyone who ever watched The Jetsons has been waiting for the day when we’d have Rosie the Robot running around cleaning our houses for us.  We certainly have come a long way – after all, I rarely wash dishes manually anymore and I certainly never need to open the garage door myself.  Just because our robotic friends don’t crack wise like Rosie doesn’t mean they haven’t been quietly invading our lives in the background.

iRobot first brought the robotic vacuum to the mainstream in 2000 with Roomba.   I waited several years before taking the plunge, finally buying one in 2005.  At first I thought it was fantastic, merrily cleaning the floors while I was away at work.  Everything was fine for about nine months and then Roomba started to have problems.  After spending some time on the phone with iRobot tech support, it was determined that we needed to ship it back – our Roomba was dead.

We waited several weeks before we finally saw a replacement.  Instead of the same model, they had shipped us a different model.  When I attempted to look up the model number on the website, it didn’t seem to exist.  Figuring it was a prototype or something I didn’t push the issue since it had all the same features as the original model.

It ran for about another year and then stopped.  A replacement battery and things seemed OK until it died a third time.  This time I decided enough was enough and, after roughly two-and-a-half years of service over the course of four years, Roomba was relegated to the basement with my other obsolete electronics before finally hitting the electronics recycling depot last month.  So long old friend.

I didn’t wait long before moving on to a new unit.  In the years since I purchased my Roomba a new player had emerged on the market.  Neato Robotics had shown up in 2009 and announced the XV-11which sounded an awful lot like the Roomba killer people had been waiting for.  I wanted to find out if the XV-11 was to the Roomba what Firefox was to Internet Explorer.

I’ve now been using the XV-11 for about a month, so this is certainly not a long term test by any means.  However, in that month the XV-11 has really been an outstanding purchase, although retailing for $399 CDN means I won’t be getting a new camera lens any time soon.  (I purchased mine online through RobotShop since they advertise how they will offer a five-year warranty on domestic robot products.)

So, with that – on to the comparison!

The first thing you notice is how the XV-11 has a squared off front which, according to the company, allows it to get into corners better than the rounded Roomba.  Certainly makes sense, especially since it lacks the side brush which the Roomba uses when cleaning along walls.  In terms of size they are comparable, although the XV-11 is slightly taller according to the specifications.

The XV-11 next to a pop can for scale purposes.

The charging station is a better design than the Roomba.  Whereas the Roomba’s charging station has a flat base and requires the vacuum to drive up onto it and dock, the XV-11’s charging station is designed to be flat against the wall and the vacuum just has to back up against it.  (Yes, it backs against it.  I learned this the hard way because during my initial setup I naturally put the flat side of the vacuum against the flat charging station and wondered why, when I returned a few hours later, it hadn’t charged the battery yet.  Hey, I don’t do manuals!)  The XV-11 hasn’t had a single problem docking, whereas the Roomba would often need to make multiple attempts at getting connected properly.

The XV-11 charging.

Once I had my charging issue sorted out, it was time to clean.  This is where the real differences between the XV-11 and the Roomba become apparent. 

The XV-11 pulls a few feet away from its base and then turns in a complete 360 and scans the room.  It determines the layout of the walls and the obstacles such as furniture and then plots its attack.  It will start by doing a trip around the perimeter and then methodically move back and forth across the open spaces.  The Roomba, on the other hand, seems to move erratically in a random zig-zag.  When the XV-11 cleans your entire room you feel as if it was planned, when the Roomba cleans your entire room you feel it was dumb luck.  I know iRobot says the Roomba has an advanced algorithm which it uses to cover the room, but the XV-11 certainly “feels” smarter.

This smarter feel also comes into play when it comes to covering multiple rooms.  Whereas the Roomba would wander off down the hallway, do a couple of sweeps and then wander into one of the bedrooms, and then maybe work its way back to the living room, the XV-11 will actually sense the entrance to the hallway and make a note of it.  Once it completes the room it is working in it will then return to that entrance and start cleaning that area.  This is a robot that actually creates the impression of having true intelligence.  (Yes, I know iRobot now offers models which use “lighthouse” beacons to guide the Roomba from room to room but the fact that the XV-11 will do this without the need for additional hardware is a huge win for Neato.)

Speaking of intelligence, how about this?  If the XV-11 determines its battery it too low to allow it to complete its cleaning cycle, it will navigate back to its base, recharge the battery and then return to the spot where it left off and continue cleaning until it has covered the entire house.  When the Roomba would run low on battery it would try to navigate back to base, relying on being able to see the infrared signal rather than knowing where the base was.  If it made it back to home (which was hit and miss at best), it would simply consider it’s work done for the day and wait for the next automated schedule to kick off before starting all over again.  This meant if you had a big enough space the chances of the far reaches of your floor getting vacuumed weren’t all that great.

One of my favourite differences is in the navigation method.  Roomba had a large front bumper and would contact an object and then attempt to navigate around it.  This meant that it would wander around gently and blindly bumping into everything in your room.  The XV-11 still occasionally runs  into things, but it does an excellent job of actually sensing and avoiding them without the need to resort to its bumper.  You have a lot more confidence in the XV-11 that it won’t knock your planter over while you’re away at work.

Another advantage of the XV-11 is the LCD screen which gives you instructions and messages in plain language, not depending on your to decipher a mixture of lights and status beeps like the Roomba.  It will tell you when the dust bin is full, it will thank you for emptying the dust bin, it will tell you if it needs to have its stair sensor cleaned.  It’s a user friendly experience – I had done a manual clean, scheduled cleanings for twice a week and pretty well figured out the whole thing before cracking the manual.  The interface is simple, with buttons for Up, Down, Back, Select and Start.

The LCD is easy to read, the interface is intuitive and understandable.

Neato seems to have thought of everything.  When the XV-11 has finished cleaning, it actually shuts down the vacuum and drives back to home base in a much quieter method.  It’s that sort of small touch that really makes me think Neato was intent on taking robot vacuums to the next level whereas iRobot gives me the impression of a company that is content to make slight tweaks to their models rather than actually innovating.

What about the similarities between the models?

Neither vacuum is really quiet, although I don’t find them any louder than a traditional vacuum.  You can still watch TV while they work, but it will mean you need to have the volume cranked pretty loud.  You’ll certainly want to schedule them to run while you’re away at work – it’s just easier that way.

Both units do an excellent job of getting under furniture such as beds.  In fact, being ever so slightly shorter, the Roomba actually holds the edge here.  The XV-11 has gotten stuck under the bench by the front entrance once, as it is just small enough to wedge itself in there tightly if it hits it wrong.

Both the XV-11 and Roomba have built-in abilities to detect stairs and stop before falling down them.  The only stairs in the current house are guarded by a door so I haven’t had reason to test the XV-11’s ability in that area. 

The dust bins are roughly the same capacity, although I believe the specs say the XV-11 has a slight advantage.  Honestly, with a dog and a cat in our household both vacuums pick up enough hair and dust that I want to clean the bin after every run anyway.  I prefer the XV-11’s dust bin because it lifts out of the top of the unit whereas the Roomba required you to pull it off the back of the vacuum.  The Roomba’s system had a higher probability for accidental spillage when emptying.

The XV-11 seems to have a better brush underneath, in the sense it doesn’t have the pet hair wrap around it as much.  With the Roomba I needed to clean the brush after almost every cleaning but the XV-11 has only needed that once in the month it has run.

I don’t want to seem like I am being too negative on the Roomba.  I had given serious consideration to buying another Roomba to replace our original.  Certainly iRobot offers a wide variety of models to suit a range of budgets whereas Neato seems to be content to let the XV-11 stand alone.  The Roomba also has a better system for blocking off areas where you don’t want the vacuum to go, relying on infrared “virtual walls” vs. the magnetic strip used by Neato.  The magnetic strip idea is nice because it doesn’t require batteries, but if you don’t have carpet to hide the strip under you need to either pick it up and put it down every time or leave it in plain sight.

I also need to be fair and say that the Roomba did a great job in our old house of navigating from carpet to vinyl.  It has to be harder on the units to deal with carpet.  By contrast, the XV-11 has a simple task as everything is hardwood and tile.

It could also be argued that it isn’t fair to compare the Roomba model from five years ago with the relatively new XV-11.  iRobot could have made a number of improvements to their models that I am simply not aware of.  (If iRobot wants to send me a demo model I’d certainly give it a fair shake…just sayin’.  I also need to see how well the XV-11 holds up over a long term testing period – one month is not enough to determine the overall durability of the product.

Regardless, my floor has never been neat(o)er,

Call it a restlessness.  Call it a case of wanderlust.  Call it whatever you want.  I know it when I feel it, and on Sunday I was feeling it.  It is that feeling I get when I hear the call of the open road, when there is nothing I want more than to drop the windows, slide back the sunroof and crank up the iPod.  When that feeling is really strong – I’m talking “feel it in the pit of my soul, can’t stop my leg from bouncing while sitting at my desk in the office” strong, there is just one destination that will satisfy me.

Yes, it was time to visit Dorothy.

Dorothy is not my favourite ghost town, that distinction goes to Bents, SK.  Dorothy has the distinct advantage of being much closer than Bents; I can be there in a couple of hours.  However Dorothy was my first ghost town and, much like your first car, it will always occupy a special place in your heart that no other can take.

I have lost count of the number of visits I have made.  Because I have been visiting Dorothy for so long (close to 15 years?) I feel the urge to always try and see it from a fresh perspective.  While most times I come in and make a beeline for the churches, this time I took a slower more gentler approach.  I took the time to cross the river on the yellow bridge and ease my car up the hairpin turns to a high point overlooking the valley.  I wanted to drink it all in, to gain a sense of perspective, to verify that all my familiar landmarks were still there waiting for me before I finally came down and entered the town proper.

I pulled into the park on the west end of town.  I took time to explore Arthur Peake’s ranch house, which was originally built just west of town in 1897 before being moved to the current location in 1986.  It was an amazing place, fully furnished as if old Arthur himself was just waiting for you to tie up your horse, shake the snow from your coat and join him for a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs.  Believe it or not, it was the first time I had ever been inside of it.

I approached the old Catholic church from the rear, as slowly as one would try to sneak up on a rabbit or other game animal.  The church has undergone a number of renovations since the first time I ever saw it back in the late 90’s.  The roof has been replaced and the windows and doors repaired.  On my Facebook page I described Dorothy like a woman who has had extensive cosmetic surgery but you know deep down she is still the same great gal she always was.

Most of the information I have says the church was operational from 1944 to 1967, meaning it has been abandoned a lot longer than it was ever in use.  Regardless, if you listen closely it isn’t hard to hear the echo of a church bell ringing across the valley or the haunting images of those who came to this place to worship.

Circa 1999 on the left, 2011 on the right.

The renovations to the United Church (1932-1961) are even more extensive.  The roof is repaired, the doors and windows are no longer vacant portals and there is a fresh coat of paint.  Even the grass and weeds have been neatly trimmed.  It looks as if it could be ready to host your wedding next weekend if need be.

I’m sure seeing the supposedly dead town of Dorothy coming back from the brink serves as an allegory for one’s own life and experiences, but frankly I am too tired to go down that road tonight.  Dorothy has served her purpose – she has allowed me to re-centre myself, to go back to the foundations of my personality and gain comfort from knowing that everything I felt was lost is still there, it just needed to be rediscovered.

I certainly cannot claim Dorothy as my own.  I often comment that this likely the most photographed ghost town in Alberta.  No, many people have discovered her charms over the years, but she has enough to share with everyone.  Each person who visits Dorothy brings his/her own perspective and thus gets to experience her in a different way. 

A visit to the old Alberta Pacific grain elevator and my personal quest is complete.  In keeping with my own personal ritual, I bid a farewell to Dorothy one more time, promising to visit her again sometime soon.  Perhaps next time we shall get together on a cloudless moonlit night, or some time when a crisp blanket of white snow covers her?  I don’t know when it will be, I just take comfort from knowing the next time I need her she will be there…waiting…

I am not a tree hugger.

It’s just a tree.  It happens to be the tree I have parked under for the better part of ten years, but it is still just a tree.  It doesn’t matter that I have had a love-hate relationship with that tree all this time.  Sure, in the Spring it would drop sap all over my car but in the Summer it would shield my car from the blazing sun.

It doesn’t matter that I have watched it grow.  It doesn’t matter that many mornings I would gaze at it and wonder how old it was.  It doesn’t matter that I have wondered who originally planted it.  It doesn’t matter that it is not as healthy as it appears.  It doesn’t matter that every time a storm passes by it drops large branches.  Those storms will pass just like the countless storms it has weathered in the past, right?

No, none of that matters.

What matters is that today as I climbed into my car to drive away I stopped and bid farewell to that old tree by giving it a friendly pat on the trunk. 

After all, I am not a tree hugger…

This has been up on my Facebook page for a week or so now, but I thought I’d share it with a wider audience here.

My apologies to Glenn Frey, but I’m claiming “fair use” even though I’m not covered under U.S. Copyright law. 😉