Board Member Profiles
Brian is the President of TXGA. He started geocaching in 2008 after reading an article in Scouting magazine about geocaching and thinking that sounded like a good activity for his sons and good use for the GPS device sitting in the drawer at home. After DNFing his first cache his stubbornness kicked in and he was hooked. Fifteen years later, the family tolerates caching and Brian is obsessed.
Brian has always had a love of travel, history and exploration so this is the perfect hobby! Brian has found caches in over 30 countries, 48 states and 400+ counties including all 254 in Texas. He is always excited about the next trip/adventure whether it is in a new country or in a spot around the corner that has not been visited. I have had some incredible adventures in my geocaching adventures and have hours of stories that I will readily share over an adult beverage. The one thing about caching that I never really anticipated is the friends that I have made along the way – those are for more important than a “Found Log”.
Brian
Name: Brian Erickson
Geo Nic: BE Viking
Email: bevikingtex@gmail.com
Board Role: President
Started Caching: 2008
Marcellus
Marcellus is the Central Texas Representative for the TXGA, and author of Geocaching While Black. He started Geocaching in June 2018, and was elected to the TXGA Board in 2020. From the beginning, his primary geocaching goal was to complete the Texas County Challenge, and he began the blog to document the journey. He completed the Challenge in January 2020, and took up the new goal of visiting every county in the United States. He has thus far completed five other state Challenges and begun work on over ten more. He has spoken at the HQ’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, been interviewed by Groundspeak, featured on NPR, and appeared on GeocacheTalk and other podcasts, both geocaching and non-geocaching related. When he is not geocaching, he likes movies, opera, board games, and spending time with his two daughters.
I started 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 sounded fun, so we gave it a try. We started by finding one right at the entrance of our neighborhood. All of our grandkids have been involved in geocaching at some point, we even have them all their geonics. We love taking them on adventures with Grammy and Nana.
We have 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 won’t ever forget- 14 states in 12 days. I love all the places geocaching has taken us and the people we have met and the lifelong friends we have made. We love the adventure. We are expanding our goals to one day finish our Jasmer, visit all the states- we are trying to find the oldest cache in each state and a cache near each state capitol, and whatever other goals we decide on as we go. Thanks for the fun!
Cheri
Name: Brian Erickson
Geo Nic:
Email: cheritummelson44@gmail.com
Board Role:
Started Caching: 2016
Patricia
Name: Patricia Elkins
Geo Nic: MsPatt
Email: Mspatt1027@gmail.com
Board Role: Southeast Region Representative
Started Caching: 2014
Hi, I am MsPatt from Houston, Texas. I have been caching since 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 very quickly into my Lifestyle. And I have been very active in Geocaching and within the geocaching community. As a natural progression of Geocaching, I was asked to join the Texas Geocaching Association as a Rep for the SouthEast region in 2016. It was my pleasure to step up and give back to the Community that is so friendly and helpful and so interesting to be a part of so many Adventures. My role is to Educate the public on Geocaching and to Host events to teach Geocaching 101 classes to the public and to help promote Geocaching.
Michael is the Finance/Compliance Director for TXGA and in his day job, works for a financial company in Coppell. He and his wife, Lisa, started geocaching in 2019 after Lisa’s grandfather passed and she inherited his collection of coins, Totts, and gps receiver.
Michael is an avid traveler, having been to all 7 continents, 130+ countries, and all 50 states. He speaks German and Spanish fluently and in his free time, you can often find him relaxing with a book on linguistics.
Michael
Name: Michael Cash
Geo Nic: mijkie
Email: maikl.kesh@icloud.com
Board Role: Finance/Compliance Director
Started Caching: 2019
Adam
Name: Adam Demshar
Geo Nic: Carrot Killer
Email: demshar@gmail.com
Board Role: Vice President
Started Caching: 2013
I grew up in The Woodlands, Texas, but soon after 9-11, I joined the Army and found myself living in Georgia. The Army allowed me to travel to 13 countries and I even got to live in Germany for three years. I always seemed to end up back in Georgia though, at either Fort Gordon or Fort Stewart.
I first started geocaching almost immediately after returning home from Afghanistan in 2013. I saw a geocaching sticker on a car and was curious what that was all about. I looked it up and realized there were several geocaches within a ¼ mile of my home. I immediately left my house on foot and started looking for geocaches armed with a TomTom meant for turn-by-turn navigation. As I am sure you can imagine, I wasn’t successful. When I finally did make my first find a few days later, I was hooked! It wasn’t long before every weekend was dictated by where I could go geocaching with my three boys.
A few years later I met a lady while out geocaching that I ended up marrying. That geocacher was none other than LadyBlackCat. Teaming up with a full-time geocaching partner has proved to be an invaluable asset. We both share a passion for traveling, camping, and finding geocaches.
In October of 2018, I received a permanent change of station sending me to Fort Hood, Texas. We ended up moving to Georgetown, where we plan to stay. After moving here, we were eager to get to work on the Texas County Challenge and finished 4 months after we arrived as the 186th and 187th finishers. Now, we jointly host the Texas Geocampers events five or six times a year. Hosting these events allows us to combine our three passions, as well as to tour the state’s most beautiful areas. Most of all, we have enjoyed the friendships that have developed over the past three years of campouts.
Esther
Name: Esther Lopez
Geo Nic: Bigguy in Texas
Email: Bigguy921116@yahoo.com
Board Role: Education Director
Started Caching: 2006
I was a teacher for almost 30 years in the Edinburg (TX) CISD. After I retired from teaching in the public school system, I started working for Hallmark as a merchandiser and then became a territory trainer for them helping new hires across Central Texas. After Covid I became part of the Hallmark Virtual Training team and now train new hires across the country.
I have been geocaching since 3/06 and love to hide!
I have introduced many people to geocaching in schools, camps, festivals, fairs, teacher workshops and conferences.
I am K13, Kevin Boatman, the 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 racecar 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 cache types in one day on Pikes Peak, birthday caching around Galveston with my daughter, and the Fish Fry Events I’ve hosted.
Kevin
Name: Kevin Boatman
Geo Nic: K13
Email: kevinrevin@hotmail.com
Board Role:
Started Caching: 2006
Elisa
Name: Elisa Reynozo
Geo Nic: georeyna
Email: elisa.reynozo@sbcglobal.net
Board Role: Director of Membership
Started Caching: 2008
Elisa Reynozo is the Director of Membership for Texas Geocaching Association. She began geocaching on August 5th, 2008, when her son, Daniel, was just 6 months old and her daughter Rachel. A neighbor encouraged her to begin caching as a way to take the kids out of the home and enjoy the parks around the great city of Houston. Elisa started out with easy caches, but curiosity got the best of her and she found herself traveling to state wide events with her family and fellow geocachers. She has also been able to travel internationally to geocache which has involved the countries Iceland, Canada, and Mexico.
Elisa lives in Houston, Texas and is part of the Southeast Region. She was part of TXGA in 2011 and even headed the 2011 Texas Challenge event in Sam Houston State Park. Due to changes in her family, she could not stay with TXGA but continued following TXGA Challenges and TXGA Round-up around the great state of Texas. Her heart was still part of TXGA and with encouragement from other geocachers, she decided to apply for Director of Membership in 2022 when the job became available. Being Director of Membership has lead her to meet many fellow members and rekindle friendships with members she knew from her earlier years of geocaching. She really enjoys working with the TXGA Board and finding ways to bring members of TXGA opportunities to use their membership in different events being planned with the TXGA board. She is hoping to encourage growth amongst the membership and activities for all members to enjoy.
Born and raised in Texas and happy to be back living in Texas after a few years out of state. GotYour6 started caching with their kids and found their first cache in Disney World, Florida in 2013. Many years went by before geocaching was brought up again and we opened our own account to jump in on the adventure. Now we need to re-visit all the countries we traveled to before becoming geocachers!
GotYour6 is Texas County Finisher #301. When not out geocaching we love spending time with our kids and grandkids on our ranch in west Texas. We love exploring the country in our Jeep and finding the off-road caches the most.
Cindy
Name: Cindy Salmon
Geo Nic: GotYour6
Email: gotyour6mail@gmail.com
Board Role:
Started Caching: 2013
William
Name: William Davis
Geo Nic: TerraViators
Email: terraviator@yahoo.com
Board Role: IT Director
Started Caching: 2010
I began geocaching April 11, 2010. I saw a photograph of a person holding a GPSR that referenced Waymarking. I found the Groundspeak website and placed my first geocache that day in my front yard. I found my first the next day. I’ve worked as an IT professional most of my adult life with a stint as a journalist, primarily TV weather and general assignments in western Colorado. I was born in OKC, grew up in Moore OK, and graduated the University of Oklahoma. I am a rabid OU sports fan. Like most Geocachers, I enjoy traveling, photography and history. Earthcaches are my favorite type and some of my best geocaching and travel memories are in Michigan and New England, especially Rhode Island and Cape Cod.
