Disclosure: This shop, “Road Trip Treasure Hunt” has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RoadTripOil #CollectiveBias
With my husband temporarily working out of state, our household bills have doubled while his salary basically stayed the same–which means our planned summer vacation had to be cancelled.
Instead of an EPIC cross-country trip, we have been enjoying mini-staycations and going on as many Road Trip Treasure Hunts as we can plan.
What is a Road Trip Treasure Hunt you ask? It’s simple. We map out a string of geocaches, pack a picnic lunch, load up my SUV with the kids, a cooler, and our Go-Bag, and spend the day geocaching.
I love how geocaching brings us closer together as a family, plus it teaches the kids how to work as a team, and it gets everyone out of the house! (What is geocaching? Read all about it here!) Sometimes we end up driving 2 hours away discovering new places and searching for caches along the route.
Because I drive an 18 year-old SUV–with nearly 110,000 miles on it–that we can’t afford to replace, it’s very important that I do everything I can to keep it running smoothly. That means keeping up with oil changes every 3,000 miles, along with other preventive maintenance.
As I said, money is tight, that is why I always take my SUV to Walmart’s Automotive Care Center to get the oil changed with Pennzoil® High Mileage Vehicle® motor oil. It’s a motor oil specifically designed for vehicles with over 75,000 miles. Pennzoil helps clean out sludge inferior oils leave behind, while also reducing leaks and oil consumption, allowing a high-mileage engine to run better.
Getting your oil changed at Walmart’s Automotive Care Center helps make those summer road trips a success by saving you time and money–especially from repair expenses that can happen if you don’t keep up with your car’s routine maintenance!
Right now you can save even more on Walmart’s high mileage oil change with a $4 Rollback. Normally $39.88, a high mileage oil change is on sale for only $35.88! You can use the store finder here to locate an Automotive Care Center near you.
Now that the car is all taken care of, let me tell you how to get started on your first treasure hunt.
Three Steps to Your First
Road Trip Treasure Hunt
1. Getting Started
It’s simple to get started and the best part, it’s practically free! (There are plenty of free geocaches. You can also pay for a yearly membership at Geocaching.com to access the premium caches.)
Download the app to your smartphone, register for a free account and you are ready to hunt treasure!
Caching containers come in many different types and sizes. They can be as small as a pencil eraser or as large as an ammo canister. Some caches look like ordinary objects, such as a rock or a large bolt, but it’s normally just a resealable plastic container.
Inside the mini or small caches, you will only find a caching log strip to sign (no room for a pencil!). The larger cache containers are filled with inexpensive objects or “SWAG” to trade.
2. Pick Your Cache
To find a cache, simply open the app and type in your zip code. A list of caches will populate for you to scroll through to find the one you want to tackle.
Each cache will list a difficulty and terrain rating, as well as the size of the container.
For your first cache, choose a medium to large sized cache that contains SWAG. It’s a lot of fun for the kids (and adults) to pick something out of the cache after you find it. Be sure to choose one with a low difficulty for the first few tries! There’s nothing more frustrating than trekking all over and not finding the treasure.
After selecting the cache, click on the “Start” button to see the map and start off on your adventure! Either follow the compass or map in the direction of the geocache.
Once arriving within a few feet of the coordinates, start searching the area for the cache. Look behind signs or metal posts, in hollow tree limbs, under rocks, etc. Look for anything that seems out of place, like an electrical plate in an odd spot or large bolt that doesn’t belong.
If you get stuck, go back to the geocache description and look for clues and hints (many times the name of the cache is a clue itself). Another good place to find hints is within logs of previous cachers, some will add an extra clue or instruction if they found the cache hard to find.
HINT: To avoid hurt feelings, have each child look for the cache, and instead of grabbing it when they find it, have them say “Found it” or walk back a few steps and raise their hand. This way the other children can find it on their own. Then take turns as to who gets to open the cache first, gets first pick, etc.
3. Caching In
You found the cache, now what?
- Sign and date the log
- Remember: If you take SWAG from the container, please replace with new SWAG.
- Replace the lid tightly
- Return the cache to its original hiding spot
- Using the smartphone app, report the cache found and get your smiley face! (You can upload pictures and leave notes for other cachers when you log your find.)
Congratulations on completing your first treasure hunt!
My girls really enjoy our treasure hunts. They love searching for the caches and trading SWAG. But for me the important part is the time spent together, playing outdoors–no kids glued to the TV or fighting over the computer.
Spending time outdoors, exploring new areas, and working together as a team creates “treasured” memories your kids will remember long after their Xbox is obsolete.
Now off to your first Road Trip Treasure Hunt!
Before you take off for your next road trip, stop by Walmart’s Automotive Care Center (use the store finder here to locate one near you) for an oil change. Don’t miss out on the high mileage oil change Rollback price of only $35.88!
Getting the oil changed at Walmart is so convenient! I drop off my car with the experts at the Automotive Care Center, grab a shopping cart and pick up all the items I need for a successful picnic. By the time I’m finished shopping my car is ready and waiting for me!
Let the experts at Walmart’s Automotive Care Center make your life easier, and help keep your car’s engine going strong and running cleaner with an oil change using Pennzoil.
That sounds wicked fun. I have been thinking about getting started with geocaching this summer. It sounds like something my boys would like.
This is, by far, the coolest treasure hunt ever! Road trips are always fun, but this road trip is an over-the-top adventure that kids of all ages will love. I like how you let each child find the treasure and the one who found it first gets to open it.
Always a great idea to check over your car before going on any kind of road trip. Mini or large trips are always fun. We do day trips as well and always have an adventure.
oh my gosh – this sounds like a super fun way to do a road trip! No boredom or “are we there yet” I might have to try it out on our vacation this year!
PS – I always get my oil done at Walmart so I can shop while my car is getting some love!
We love doing stuff like this! It’s fun to go out and look and see if we can find. It’s exciting to go for a little treasure hunt wherever you go. When we go on road trips a lot of times we will do a little scavenger hunt of some sort so that the kids stay engaged.
Whoa that’s a good deal! We usually go to our dealership for our oil changes but we pay WAY more, I’ll have to share this with my husband 🙂 Your treasure hunts look so fun!
A road trip treasure hunt sounds like so much fun! I think we may have to do something like this with our kids. They would love it.
I’ve never heard of geocaching. I must have been living under a rock. It sounds like a blast and definitely something my son and I would do.
This is such a fun idea. We go on a lot of road trips during the summer. THis is a great way to keep te kids entertained in the car.
Geocaching used to be really popular around here. There were caches just about everywhere. I bet it would still be fun.
I’ve never heard of geocaching before but it sounds like fun. My family is adventurous and loves a good challenge. This would be a perfect activity for us. My son has been asking for a road trip.
What a fun and unique ideas! A road trip treasure hunt sounds really fun and amazing. My family would love this idea.
I always get an oil change before heading out on any long trip. I’ve never tried it but have heard geocaching can be fun.
This is a fun and unique way to spend a day with the kids. Treasure hunts are always fun and it is great that there is an app that can help us make it a successful activity.
I’m familiar with geocaching, but I’ve never done it myself. I think I would really enjoy it! Plus, if you’re willing to explore out a bit then you come across all sorts of new sights and adventures. Thanks so much for sharing, and thanks for the heads up on the Pennzoil rollback right now, too! #client
Sounds like a great way to take an inexpensive vacation! I have had people suggest geocaching in my Little Free Library so this post helped me understand that a little bit more. Thanks! Plus saving money is always a bonus!!!
What a fun idea Kate and thanks for sharing! You had me at savings and treasure hunt!
This sounds awesome! And what a handy app to utilize! xx, I’m Fixin’ To
I loved treasure hunts when I was little. I honesty never knew this even existed. We are going on a road trip soon to I will have to tell the hubby all about this.
Treasure hunts are a blast. My boys do them often.
Awesome. That looks like a blast. May need to do this soon.
This is such a fun idea! My kiddos & I have never been geocaching. I think we need to change that before summer is over. 🙂
What a fun way to make a road trip a bit more exciting. We are headed on vacation all month and will be doing lots of driving…will definitely look into some caches!
This kind of treasure hunting does sound like it could be a lot of fun. I wonder what kind of swag you have found and what kind of swag you leave in return. I can imagine that my daughter would love it though.
Totally going to try this on our next trip.
This sounds like such a cool idea! I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough so I can try this with her!
This sounds really fun! We did geocaching a couple of years ago when it first came out but only did it around our home. I’d love to actually do something like this. It looks like you guys had such a great time!