JohnE_Cache

I am really jealous of you with rattlesnakes. Since a kid I have been fascinated with any venomous snake. When I went to college, I lucked out and found a phd candidate doing his research on venom concentration/fluctuation by season. In our lab, we had rattlers, mostly water moccasins, a couple of copperheads, and a coral snake. I milked these snakes with him 20 times shy of 1000. There is no way to describe holding the head of a rattlesnake while his tail is rattling, but I imagine it compares to skydiving. Unlike copperheads and water moccasins, the rattlesnake's head is very pliable, and it can turn the roof of its mouth upward. Even though I was warned of this, I still was not prepared for how easy the top of the snake's head could invert. Copperheads and water moccasins had much chunkier heads and were more comfortable to milk after the initial jitters subsided. As another member posted, I too work in an ER, and almost every snakebite we see (venomous) involves a young male, intoxicated, and bitten on the hand or arm...indicating he tried to pick it up. Our hospital has never recorded a death in a 20+ year history. Only in rare cases do we even administer Crofab, the polyvalent antivenin, as some people have worse reactions to that than the venom. If you leave these snakes alone, you are far less likely to be bitten. To the poster that feels the need to arm himself against a cold blooded animal with no arms or legs, perhaps a my-little-pony convention would be more to your liking. I'm sure it is very safe there. Experiencing the outdoors has certain inherit risks (lightning, bears, snakes) and is not for everybody.

OK, ignore question one, I see the stored maps are erased every download. I'll just have to add the Carolinas to my saved mapset and re-download the new set.

Can't locate manual, road trip in 2 days. 1: When downloading maps, I've noticed that sometimes/always? it erases the maps stored. If I have Map A stored, and I want Map A + B, there is no way to download just Map B, correct? I basically have to download the full monty every download? I have most of the east coast stored, I need to add the Carolinas. Rather than losing my entire mapset (yes, it is saved on the software) or download the entire set + Carolinas, I was hoping just to insert them. 2: When I first got my Garmin, I thought I recalled where I could hook it up to my pc and see live tracking. I think I had a breadcrumb trail set/footprints (sorry, forgot terminology/hurry), and observed the "drift" of the reading over time shown as blue circles over the homestead. I have not been able to figure out how to do this again. Was this perhaps a flashback, or a dream I had...or is there some way to pull this off again? I want to use my laptop on this road trip and instead of squinting at the tiny screen as I navigate thru DC, look at a much larger display. Thanks in advance.

There's a DVD exchange cache I did. Kinda felt sorry for the owner. He started out placing cool, top-rated Horror flicks in there. By the time I got there it was mainly stupid kid movies...Yui-gee-oh and other lame titles. Somehow, I don't think that was his intent...to give out free horror movies while getting lame dvds kids outgrew.

So I'm out with the kids yesterday tromping all over the PA SGLs. Couldn't find the cache due to time and battery situations. Went to the State website to see if I can find a better approach on our next attempt, and they are doing the annual trappers license thing on their homepage. So exactly how do I avoid these traps when me and the young'unz are bushwhacking? They trap for bear in PA, and the idea of my 5 or 6 year old getting entangled in one of them is...let's just say highly unsettling. Anyone out there that either traps or deals with trap regions wanna set my soul at ease? I thought having to look out for snakes, hornets' nests, and bears [oh my!] was fun enough!

Here's my take...from a 100% pleased 60Csx owner. Last March, I was exactly where you are...no, I'm not retired with a motorhome unfortunately, but I didn't know where to start, millions of questions, etc. My experience? 1. I would not get antenna until you try it in your vehicle and find it has poor reception. I've used my unit successfully on a 747 at 37K feet without an antenna. 2. I would suggest getting a 2GB card. I got mine on Amazon with an adapter thingy for around 20$. Of course, this is only necessary for the software I'm about to suggest you buy. 3. Topos aren't necessary...but get them anyway. They're only 100$, and here's why I like them: Not necessarily for the elevation circles, but for the billions of landmarks. Since topos, I found out there was an abandon mining shaft in my neighborhood. None of my neighbors believed me until I showed them on the unit. So we checked it out with the state, and found out we have mines all under our 'hood. So most of us bought subsidence insurance. IMO, that paid for topos alone...especially if my backyard starts caving in and the State pays for it instead of me. 4. I bought the Streets, Topos, as well as a car pack that includes a cig lighter adapter and mount. I also bought Energizer's 4 AA rechargeable system, and just rotate 2 and 2. It even comes with a cig adapter. Oh, and I bought a laptop because my crappy pc didn't have a dvd-rom, and the Streets needs it...but if you have a dvd-rom already, you're good. Next piece of advice? Read the manual, reg your stuff with garmin, and get going. Here I am 3 months later and I feel like a pro. Enjoy.

And you voted for Ralph Nader I bet. I did in '00, but it was more a vote against the status quo. That way you don't end up with blockheads with 28% approval ratings and such.

I try to wear birks as much as I can in the warm season...which work most walking situations. When I hike, my dream boots are Vasque Goretex. However, last time I went boot shopping I couldn't find them anywhere, so I had to settle for waterproof Timberlands. They are lighter and cheaper...but no Vasques. I got caught in a pinch on Friday. Wore the birks to a walking-micro. Couldn't find it, got another cache recommendation at the site...went there, and suffered pea-sized gravel intrusions, as well as slipped/slided all over a rocky mountain climb. I need to find a pair of textile sandals with grippy soles.

Even if what they THINK is the cache turns out to be exactly what the hider KNOWS his cache looked like before the bear, mower, fire etc intervened? Even if the hider isn't anal and grants them a find? Ok, so how about everyone across the country write my name in their upcoming logbooks for the week. Then I can PROVE that I found thousands of caches all over the country, without so much as leaving my city. What does that prove? I mean, obviously we have this huge problem of cheating geocachers...I say we require a DNA sample, retina scan, photograph with GPS coords/cache/cacher, thumbprint, and what the hey...lets get the whole lot notorized, shall we? Just go ahead and say it: Finding a cache is not finding a cache.

These examples, as well as all the others on the link you provided [thru page 1], seem to have one thing in common: No cache was found. I don't see anyone arguing that angle. The argument as I see it involves FINDING a cache. The actual cache. So lumping that in with...say, people that never saw the container, people that think the coords are as good as finding the cache, etc just seems a tad disingenuous. But hey...let's go a step further with the dramatics...anyone speeding towards a cache, not using their turn signal, or exceeding 3000 miles since their last oil change ALSO don't get to count the cache, since that's breaking the rules as well.

No doubt, lol. Man, some of you need to relax. If someone hiked 10 miles to a cache, only to find a bear-shredded wuz-a-cache, and you're saying that doesn't count because **whips out 45 pound rulebook** Article 7 of Geocachers Act 19, lines 49-52 CLEARLY states blah blah blah..., lol... Sheesh. Sure, we all try to log the find...but if some extraordinary Act of God causes that one, single cache out of many to be unsignable, despite FINDING the cache where is was hidden? I'd log that cache in a heartbeat. If the case is made to cache owner and they don't want to credit you, especially if you can ID the scene? I sure wouldn't waste any more of my time on their caches. I've had a situation where a cache was muggled hours before I went there...the owner said I could count it, though I declined since in that case I actually DIDN'T find the cache [nor was it a 10 mile hike in the brush]. To me, it has little/nothing to do with the little smilies on a screen, and everything about getting outside and enjoying a new spot.

To address the extractor kits [though that part of the thread is a year old], they were invented with the best of intentions, but what we learned is that it actually sucks the venom deep inside small blood vessels [the hickey effect], causing extreme localized damage. The best thing to do [aside from the hospital/911/etc] is to let the venom diffuse throughout the body rather than force it into extreme concentrations. But keep in mind, half of all bites are "dry", as the snake uses its venom for prey and may not feel the need to waste it on an animal too large to be considered prey. As most of you realize, these Timber Rattlesnakes are actually quite docile and would much rather prefer to flee. And due to ignorant morons killing them en masse, they are getting to be quite rare, especially here in PA. I am glad the sentiment here is of appreciation, rather than hysteria. I guess it almost makes me smile that the average snakebite victim is a young intoxicated male who tried to handle/kill a snake he was aware of...rather than hikers being bit by snakes they didn't see. I've worked with venomous snakes extensively in college, milking not quite 1000 samples in my day. I can tell you one thing, the Timber Rattlesnake can nearly invert the roof of their mouths and "slash" their fangs in ways I've not seen any other snake do. Copperheads and Cottonmouths have a sort of chunky head and not pliable, whereas these rattlesnakes [specifically Timber] have upper jaws like a gymnast. I was always glad to get them out of the way when we did our milking cycle, lol. Copperheads/Cottonmouths have a head/neck profile much easier to grip. If anyone knows any places where these Timbers are common [geocache-wise], please message me. I am dying to show my son one in the wild, and unfortunately they are not as common as in NC, where I grew up and attended college. Of course, I no longer handle these things now that the research is done, but I never got any pics of the snakes I worked with, other than the Cottonmouth and copperheads I adopted. Unfortunately, I had to release them back to the wild when I had kids. I would love to photograph these snakes and share them on the board...I could look at these things all day long. Awesome pictures everybody... -former venomous snake junkie Well, tried to post a pic of my cottonmouth, but it said dynamic pages not permitted???

That looks close to several species, but given your area I'm going with western fox snake. It also looks close to a corn snake, maybe a hognose snake depending on how your local varieties appear. But if I was a betting man, I'd say western fox. Elaphae vulpina (same genus as rat snakes). Edit: This guy's hue looks more in tune with the specimen you saw.

Hmm...how does one delete posts? Oh well.

Looks like Anslinger made quick work of this crowd, lol. I never could figure out how they made a plant illegal, but a cheap gallon of Tequila can be had for any idiot with $20. Personally, I'll take a pothead over a drunk any day of the week, regardless of what the idiot law says. The law sure didn't help me as I had to endure a drunken idiot with profane language while watching a hockey game with my kids last week. Marijuana....it's gonna GET YOU!!!

Ahhh, I knew it had to be something simple. I've been going nuts trying to use the keyboard from the "find" button. Thanks.

Trying a multicache tomorrow, and wondering how to enter the coords from the first stage of the cache directly into the unit. I've only used mapsource so far, and don't feel like dragging the laptop deep in the brush, heh.

And then we could address the word "reasonable". Fortunately, my wife is an attty with a high-profile firm here and went to law school with the DA. So locally this example would never be. But I have witnessed individuals getting their constitutional rights trampled by a cop elsewhere, and I stepped in and we began the lessons of "order of operations". The cop was pretty sarcastic towards me, but did back off. I did get a "Terry search" out of the deal, but it was more for show than anything. I told him I felt honored he considered me that big of a threat. It ended up being cool, but God knows what would have happened had I not stepped in. By and large, 99.99% of the cops will play by the rules the minute they know you are aware of the rules. I hang out with a few cops myself, and they don't conceal the fact that they will "Jedi-mind-trick" a POI (person, in this case lol) into consenting for a search with the tired old "if you have nothing to hide, why not let me seach your car" schtick/etc. And copies our our beloved US Constitution can be had at the bargain basement price for ~2$ shipped, in convenient pocket size on eBay. Everyone should have one, and no...that's not me selling them.

And if the officer has no reason to place me under arrest, how can I resist arrest? It is amazing to me the number of people that don't know their very basic constitutional rights. Disallowing my person to be searched is not resisting arrest. Again, we have an order of operations here. I guess I missed the part where I had been placed under arrest at this point? Again, I would not be searched. How do I know the cop even received a call? He can search me all he wants after he gets a warrant.

So why specifically were you being detained? Did you consent to any search? There's an order of operations here, and if you weren't doing anything wrong and ended cuffed up in a cruiser, something went wrong, lol. No way in hell am I getting searched on public lands out with family. I'd be polite and courteous, but I've given them no probable cause and they're not gonna search me.

I guess I don't really get the "swag" thing...I'm in it to sharpen my GPS skills, find new places, excercise, get the kids outdoors, etc. In my few caches so far, I have not really seen anything that impressive. One of my first caches was a really cool DVD cache that someone obviously put some thought into...and he started out with about 7 really cool, top grade movies. That eventually trickled down to nothing...so he went back and restocked...by the time we got there, I had only heard of one of the movies or so. Like someone said, nothing against Pilates...but it ain't worth The Matrix or whatever. Thus, the only thing I have taken is a wooden nickel from our first find, I let my son pick it as a keepsake. The item I brought was too big, so I guess we screwed them the cost of a wooden nickel, lol. But having a 5 and 6 year old, I have a filled UHaul's-worth of "swag"...maybe I should remove my stereo and guitars and offer my house as a geocache to be de-trincketed? Cheaper than a maid, and people will actually feel like they came out ahead. I do like looking at the stuff, but some of the things are just laughable. Less than Happy-Meal-Toy quality, back when the item was new. Just give me the log and I'm on my way. JohnE "TNLNSL" Cache

Wow, that logo looks sweet to me. I just hope the geocachers aren't as slack as my fishing group is...whom I dubbed the NEPA Last Minute Bailers.

I see. Thank you for that data, that puts things in perspective. Looks like I'll have to trim some fat to get it all one one disk, if I still go that route.

I'd like to have both map types of the US saved on the unit, will 2gb suffice? Also, how will I be able to access the two? Will they show as icons on the menu page on the GPSr? I have topos already...2gb disk and mapsource city on the way. Or is the intent just to save the areas of a more finite region? I don't want to have to download every specific area every time I visit another region of the country. This is all a little overwhelming right now, any insight greatly appreciated.

Doesn't look like tomorrow will work out either. However, drop me an email and we will hook up. It might take a while, March and April are pretty packed with kids' soccer/bdays, etc...but I constantly have freetime pop up on me shortnotice (and unpop, as tomorrow illustrates).