The month of March unfurled record-breaking winds and tornadoes, as all of us in SLAGA-land are well aware. But it also brought us an awesome new Adventure Awaits Winner. SWAseeker (Bill Schwend) qualified and won the month's challenge, and quite easily when one looks at his geo-record.
To date, Bill has found 43,307 geocaches...WOW! He started caching in 2003, and since that time has completed the Jasmer challenge, the Fizzy D/T grid challenge nearly 13 times, and has cached in 8 different countries. In the USA, he's not only found caches in every state, but has found a cache in 2367 of 3144 counties. That's 75% of the USA counties, which includes finding all the counties in 21 of the states plus DC! Bill is also currently ranked 4th in the state of Missouri for the most finds.
When asked about his favorite cache, it was hard for Bill to pick a 'favorite,' with so many finds and accolades. But one geocache adventure stood out as a truly memorable and enjoyable adventure. This was GC1169 Mission 9: Tunnel of Light, when he traversed the dark, damp, 2-1/4 mile long Snoqualmie Tunnel to access the A.P.E. cache in July 2018.
As for the March challenge, which wasn't much of one for this prolific cacher, here are his four qualifying caches, published in the same year but in different months. and one event:
GCAT0V7 - Port Cargo - Hidden : 06/15/2024 Logged: 03-2025
GCAVHX0 - Big Creek Cache - Hidden : 07/22/2024 Logged: 03-2025
GCAXDEB - The Musical Fruit - Hidden : 09/01/2024 Logged: 03-2025
GCAZ4AQ - Booger Hook - Hidden : 10/12/2024 Logged: 03-2025
GCB2R89 - Pie on Pi Day? Sure Thing! - Event Date: 03/14/2025
Aside from geocaching, Bill discovered a new hobby back in 2022. Apiculture or backyard beekeeping had always fascinated him, but he thought a large plot of farm or country land was necessary. But when he discovered beekeeping could be down in town, in any backyard, he was hooked. Thirteen beehives later, Bill happily manages his colonies year round, then strains, bottles, and sells the honey. In the photo below, Bill is grafting queens, which involves transferring young, developing worker larvae from their normal cells into special queen cell cups to encourage them to be raised as queens.
Bill oftens brings some honey to SLAGA events to sell to honey-loving geofriends, or will answer a GC message for anyone interested in purchasing some to arrange pick up/delivery. This journalist will contest to it's sweet, sticky deliciousness and needs more, hint, hint.
"Winter's grip begins to fade, as March unfurls its gentle trade...
The world awakes, a hopeful sight, with promise of the coming light.
The bees, though still in slumber deep, begin a stirring, secrets keep.
Then a gentle breeze and warming sun, awakens what has been undone.
Bee hives begin to stir and hum wth buzzing sounds, a joyful drum.
And March's magic, soft and bright, inspires the bees to take flight."
(excerpts from poem, 'March's Awakening')
