The Board

I’m K13, Kevin Boatman, former East Texas Region Representative. I began geocaching in 2006, after accidentally discovering an ammo can outside a cemetery. Over the years, I’ve amassed thousands of smileys, and collected way more smiles from the scores of geocaches I’ve placed, geocachers I’ve met and events I’ve hosted.

My geocaching name came from my race car number, so when not geocaching, you’ll most likely find me at a racetrack watching some form of auto racing.

I’m a part of The Tatum Crew, and if you haven’t heard, we host the best events in Texas.

Some of my favorite geocaching adventures include a 60-foot rope climb in Michigan, hiking to the top of Guadalupe Peak with my son, getting seven different geocache types in one day on Pikes Peak, birthday geocaching around Galveston with my daughter, and the fish-fry events I host.

Hi, I’m MsPatt from Houston. I began geocaching in May 2014, when my son and his girlfriend introduced geocaching to me at my Mother’s Day lunch. It sounded so interesting that I needed to see more. They introduced me to the LPC (light post cache — popular in the USA) and this hobby turned into a subculture in plain sight, and quickly into my lifestyle.

I’m very active in geocaching and within the community. As a natural progression of geocaching, I was asked to join TXGA as the Southeast Region Representative in 2016. It was my pleasure to step up and give back to a community that is friendly, helpful, and interesting to be part of. My role is to educate the public on geocaching, host events, and teach Geocaching 101 classes.

Michael is the Finance and Compliance Director for TXGA, and in his day job he works for a financial company in Coppell. He and his wife, Lisa (HotRichGirl), began geocaching in 2019 after Lisa’s grandfather passed and she inherited his collection of coins, tools, and GPSR.

Michael is an avid traveler, having visited all seven continents, 130+ countries, and all 50 states. He speaks German and Spanish fluently, and in his free time he might relax with a book on linguistics.

Patricia is the TXGA Secretary. Her geonick, Ca$hQueen, is a nod to her career in treasury and cash management and a play on the word “cache.” She is an International Business and Marketing double-major graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, a wife and a mother of two daughters, a creative in music and dance, and loves celebrating her Mexican heritage and exploring cultures of the world.

She discovered geocaching while leading her troop of Junior Girl Scouts, when there was a badge for geocaching that could be earned by completing a list of requirements. Her troop set out for Brazos Bend State Park, where a park ranger taught them how to geocache using GPS units. Badge earned! Her troop moved on to other activities — but not Ca$hQueen. She was hooked. Geocaching feeds her need to be adventurous, spontaneous, joyful, and creative: road trips with her geo-buddies, hosting events, placing caches in Sugar Land and Houston, and competing on the Southeast Texas puzzle team at the Texas Challenge.

As a recent contribution to the geocaching world, she would like to be known for coining the acronyms PACO (Phone a Cache Owner) and TACO (Text a Cache Owner). Use them the next time you’re stuck!

I’m a software consultant with a passion for travel — I’ve logged more than 1.4 million flight miles so far. When I’m not working or on the road, you’ll almost always find me geocaching, a hobby that’s become a huge part of my life.

Before I discovered geocaching, my frequent trips were mostly spent in hotel rooms or checking out whatever “local attractions” happened to be nearby. Geocaching changed that. It turned every trip into a mini-adventure. Whether it’s a quick park-and-grab in a parking lot or tracking down the oldest cache in a state or country, there’s always something new waiting.

I’m also one of the community script writers for Project-GC.com. I created the Texas County Challenge progress checker as well as the Two Step checker. And yes — I’ve developed a deep love/hate relationship with the Lua programming language along the way.

I’m Joe Francone, BklynTex1015. Born and raised in Brooklyn, I moved to Texas with my wife Jannetta (TexBklyn1015) in 2016. We’d spent years hiking before discovering geocaching in late 2022 — and it opened up a whole new world.

We were welcomed into the community right away and learned from veterans like TheOutlaw, Moosiegirl, Bartman914, and HiDude98.

At the 2024 Texas Challenge, we teamed up with Pnutmom2001 to form the Adventurous Caching Crew (ACC). When we cache with Bartman914, we roll as the Mischievous Caching Crew (MCC).

ACC is currently about 70% through both the Texas Challenge and the Two Step Challenge, and I’m proud to be repping CenTex every step of the way.

I had an initial intro into geocaching in 2006 at a Girl Scout event but never followed up on it. My husband, Lin (73sfasu83), got interested after a 2018 camping trip to a state park that had information on geocaching. We started out sharing a cache name, but I eventually got my own later that year. We both completed the Texas County Challenge — #347 and #348 — in January 2024.

My favorite finds are caches and Adventure Labs that tell a story about the area or introduce me to something fun about where we’re visiting. I particularly liked the ones at Abraham Lincoln’s tomb and cemetery in Illinois, the A League of Their Own ones in Rockford, the caches at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, the Century of Progress homes at Indiana Dunes NP, Goodnight Cemetery in the Texas Panhandle, the ones along Route 66, and of course, Mingo.

We love traveling, and I’ve gotten a lot of our caches while visiting family in Colorado and Vermont, or on trips to play with the J.P. Sousa National Community Band. We like caching with our kids and grandkids when we get the chance, and we’ve taken part in four Challenges, two Roundups, and countless events around East Texas.

Michael McKinney is one-sixth of McKsix. He is a high school chemistry teacher just south of Dallas. He and his wife, Rose, have four boys.

During the Covid quarantine of 2020, they discovered geocaching was the perfect social-distancing activity to do as a family, and were quickly hooked. The allure of finding treasure, learning obscure historical and scientific facts, and finding new spots to explore — locally and while traveling — keeps their family on the hunt. Discovering this community of like-minded people has been an added bonus.

I began geocaching in May 2016. My wife, OneCrazyChick, mentioned it when looking for something to do with the grandkids. After reading about it, I thought it seemed fun, so we gave it a try. We began by finding one at the entrance to our neighborhood. All our grandkids have been involved in geocaching at some point, and they all have geonicks. We love taking them on adventures with Grammy and Nana.

We completed the Texas County Challenge and used geocaching as our tour guide when we went to Hawaii in 2017. In 2020, we rented an RV and took one of our granddaughters, SassyChick, on an adventure she probably will never forget — 14 states in 12 days.

I love the places geocaching takes us, the people we meet, and the lifelong friends we’ve made. We’re expanding our goals: finishing our Jasmer grid, visiting all the states, finding the oldest geocache in each state and a geocache near each state capitol, and whatever else we decide as we go. Thanks for the fun!

Elisa Reynozo began geocaching on August 5, 2008, with her six-month-old son, Daniel, and her daughter, Rachel. A neighbor encouraged her to geocache to get the kids outside and enjoy the parks around her home in Houston. Elisa began with easy geocaches, but curiosity bit and she began traveling to statewide events with her family and fellow geocachers. She has geocached in Iceland, Canada, and Mexico.

Elisa was involved with TXGA in 2011 and headed the 2011 Texas Challenge at Sam Houston State Park. Due to life changes she stepped away, but she followed TXGA Challenges and Roundups around the state, and with encouragement from other geocachers she returned to the board in 2022.

Serving on the board lets her meet fellow members and rekindle friendships from her earlier geocaching years. She enjoys working with the TXGA Board and finding ways to bring members opportunities to use their membership at TXGA events, and hopes to encourage growth in the membership and activities everyone can enjoy.

Hi everyone! I’m Alicia from San Angelo (you might know me as BabyDoll of BigDaddy_BabyDoll). My geocaching journey began in 2013 when my daughter introduced me to this amazing hobby. I’ve fallen in love with every aspect of it — being part of our worldwide community, and enjoying the adventures, physical challenges, and delightful surprises that come with each new find. My husband Micheal (BigDaddy) and I go on road trips whenever we can, exploring places we never would have discovered if not for geocaching. We’re currently working on the Texas Two Step Challenge, with a bit to go.

While at the Roundup in Alpine, I expressed my desire to build a stronger geocaching community in our area, and I’m honored to have been asked to serve as the West Texas Region Representative. This hobby is too much fun not to share — and let’s be honest, it’s so much more than just a hobby. Since beginning this journey we’ve met some of the friendliest people imaginable. After all, isn’t life all about the journey? I’m looking forward to hosting events and discovering more of the wonders around us.