RPW

A lot of CITO containers being created and spread out to help clean up the world? Sounds like a noble cause.

The above is the main reason I do not like micros. So many people use containers that will not stay dry. [bTW: I live in the great lakes region where it is hard to keep caches dry either because of the freeze/thaw cycle or because people will open the cache in the rain] Of course the same can be said for non-micros -- that is the containers can be wet. However usually with a non-micro I was either led to an interesting location and/or the find was easy enough that I do not feel that I wasted my time.

I have found the these type of caches before. Can you do it? Yes, paper can be put into them. Do the work? No. The paper always gets wet and torn. The breath strip containers are far from waterproof.

The DNR "nonrule policy" on Geocaching went into effect about a week ago. Mountain Climber mentioned that there was going to be a meeting in Jan to discuss the policy with the land managers. It is possible that this will occur at the Jan. 13th, 2:00 PM DNR meeting at Ft. Harrison although it is not on the agenda and thus perhaps not. Maybe MC can clarify this. It would be handy to know when the land managers are up to speed on the new policy so that we cache hiders can approach them knowing that they should be prepared for our caching requests. The DNR web site does not have a functioning link to the policy however this link to the Jan 2004 legislative code has the policy as the second one in the list. It will be interesting to see how the policy works in practice. I would be interested in hearing about people's experiences. BTW: The latest Indiana Outdoor Recreation Guide might contain something on geocaching. At least the advert in the above link indicates this. Have we hit the big time with our hobby?

I will not be able to attend "Free Coffee" this week. I have just too going on this week that a drive down to Indy and back (60+ miles per leg) on Tuesday is just not feasible. I hope that the upcoming event is well attended and that you will schedule another one in the future.

I'd prefer the 11th since I will be out of state on the 18th. Of course some people might argue that is a case for the event being held on the 18th. Thanks again.

Ugh. That is a receipe for getting nothing figured out. There are enough problems in establishing a date when a small group people are sitting around a table facing each other. Trying to arrange a date with a larger number of people only sporadically connected to each other via email and bulletin boards ... the mind shudders! We would be discussing this forever. My suggestion: just choose a date that is good for you the host. Make up an event cache. Whomever can make it will make it. Besides the chances are good anyway that we will have a traffic crippling snowfall on that day and thus any careful date planning will go down the tubes. BTW: Thanks very much for offering to host. Ever since I read Pip's encounter with you I have been wanting to get down to the winery and meet you in person.

Hey Torry (or any one else). You know what they say, "if you aren't part of the solution then you are part of the precipitate." [for the chemists; others would say problem] Anyway if Strohem is not stepping up to host the coffee break then why don't you organize it? I am willing to bet that Strohem would not mind and might actually be grateful. I'd do it (and actually am, see GCKY2J slated for Feb.) except that being in Lafayette makes it hard to organize an Indy event. Naturally my personal preference is for a NW Indy site however any site would do. It just needs someone to take the initiative. The worst that can happen is that no one shows up while on the upside ... well, the possibilities are endless.

Went GCing this weekend in Renssalear (mid-NW) and found a very nice multi for older kids (I'd say 7 on up). GCJ2VV: Soggy Bottom. It is a 6 part multi but the stages are very close together and hidden in interesting containers. The clues (especially the last two before the big final cache) are tricky -- they probably need a kid (or someone capable thinking of outside the box) to solve them. The hiders are on the premise and, if they have time, would probably be glad to talk GCing. The final cache is, as the name implies, in soggy ground which is why I recommend this for 7+ years. Renssalear (or however you spell it -- I never seem to get it right) is right off of I-65 between Indy and Chicago and so if you are traveling that way and have an hour to kill then this cache would be a good one.

Does anyone have any information on if the Indiana DNR enacted their non-rule policy that they were suppose to discuss in the Nov. 2004 meeting? Item #9 in the agenda (the link may be time dated since it refers to the 'current agenda' and not specifically to the Nov. agenda. Perhaps they are going to carry over the discussion to the next meeting?

Quoting myself... The weather was just good enough (snow on the ground but some sunny days) during the T-day long weekend that I got to the end of the quest. Now I will no longer have an excuse to daydream. Many kudos to the cache owner -- Shakey Sam. If any of you have 10+ hours to devote to the hunt (I had to spend multiple days due to non-caching commitments) it is truely a great one to experience. It took me to some of my favorite parks inside Lafayette/Tippecanoe county plus some that I have never been to before. The caches themselves are very challenging.

I do not see a big difference between WAAS on or off, at least in Indiana. However I have only done limited side-by-side comparisons. A 60CS, eh? That is some serious moolah. I am lucky to be able to afford a Legend. Or, perhaps more importantly, the gas to go geocaching.

It is a good idea. A lot of other nearby organizations -- INKY (Louisville area), LEGS (Illinois), ChicagoLand. the various Ohio groups -- have simple "meet & eat"s. These are official geocaching events however they are nothing fancy. Instead they are just a way to get together and chat. Especially with the colder weather and early nightfall cutting into our geocaching time having such events in Indy would probably attract a fair number of people.

TTI: Good point. The Greater Lafayette Geocaching is waypoint GCKWBQ. The four groups who have managed to complete this monster since it was posted about a month ago (10/19/04) have been uniformly enthusastic about it. I am only up to step 8 with many more to go. I find myself thinking about it at work and describing it to non-geocachers. I may have even found a convert who will be able to go with me this weekend. Yea! Now if the weather will only cooperate.

You are right. I shouldn't allow my chain to be yanked. Think twice, post once is always a good policy. Sorry for causing waves. Unfortunately it has been a dry caching several weeks for me due to many other interfering activies and the early sunset which is ruining after-work caching. About a month ago I started on the "Greater Lafayette Geocache" (GLG) -- a multi with somewhere between 15 and 20 steps. Some people have managed to complete it but it is turning into a fiendish adventure. Some very creative hiding places and techniques combined with travel all around Tippecanoe county. People are reporting 10-12 hour completion times with 70-80 miles of driving and a fair number of hiking miles. So it is going to be hard for non-NW Indiana cachers to join in on the fun but if any of you have a spare weekend the GLG would be something to enjoy. I hope to complete more of it this T-day weekend -- got to do something to combat the turkey/gravy/potatoes calories.

If you are referring to my posts, I never said that. I simply said that chatter is ok but that the other thread was meant for geocaching conversations and the chatter was interfering with that. "Abject silliness" and "off-topic" conversations have their place and this topic ("Indiana cachers hello!") can be it. I, and others, can choose not to read it because I/we know from the get-go that there will be very little of interest (to myself, at least) in it. What the offical moderators think about this topic is not for me to say. There is a reason why the off-topic forum was created and I suspect -- but do not know -- that they would prefer for off-topic threads to be started there. But perhaps they do not mind. I certainly do not mind because it is obvious what this topic will be about.

Big Mike: No need to apologize for keeping people on topic. This is what I was getting at in my mid-September post when I said: Some people just like to talk. Nothing wrong with that. That is why the topic 'abject silliness' and the forum 'off-topic' were created. However cluttering up a perfectly good topic with inane chatter ... well, it just turns most people off and is bad manners. In my opinion this particular topic " Indiana Cachers: Who and where are you?" has been pretty much ruined by the chatter. Any newbies will probably be turned off within a couple of minutes of reading some of the posts. Closing this topic and starting anew would (once again, in my opinion) be a good idea.

Heads up that part of the Nov. DNR meeting will talk about geocaching. The Garrison, Ft. Harrison State Park 6002 North Post Road Indianapolis, Indiana November 16, 2004 10:00 a.m., EST See item #9 of http://www.in.gov/nrc/minutes/current_agenda or directly in PDF format http://www.in.gov/nrc/minutes/current_agenda/item9.pdf Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the meeting. However if other people can do so -- or if you wish to write in your comments -- the DNR would probably be glad that you did so.

The gathering went very well and we even got our local paper interested enough to run a small article on geocaching. Journal & Courier article Unfortunately they did not mention the picnic. However I hope that the article will generate more interest in geocaching.

Take a deep breath and give her the GPS unit. Don't hog it. Just like the TV remote -- as much as it hurts -- just hand over control. And then don't hover over her micro-managing the unit. I cache with two other people. Separately. One is my wife and since we have two GPS units neither has to give up control. She gets more frustrated with the unit than I do because she wants it to remain pointing in the same direction all of the time and so sometimes I lead the charge towards the cache. Actually we do not "charge" towards the cache but ratherly take a leisurely stroll. We stop to look at things. We talk. We hold hands. It is definately the hike and not the hunt that gets us going. She does have a dogged determination to find the cache but, as with all things married, knowing when to compromise and when to not insist on finding the cache once it no longer becomes fun is the key to our adventures. My other caching pal is an old buddy. Male. We both have GPS units and are highly competitive. Once we get to the parking spot we both give each other time to get out of the car, get our caching equipment on and to let our GPSes warm up. But once those couple of minutes are over then it becomes a race to find the cache. Once I was on a streak of finding cache after cache. He was getting so frustrated that I finally "let" him find the next one. I am going out with a new friend this week. He is a cacher that often goes out with his wife but wants to try a new geo-partner. It will be interesting to see how we approach cache finding. I suspect that he will be less competitive than my other buddy and more into the walk.

Neat. If anyone goes (I'm 60+ miles away and, besides, have to work ) then let us know what happens.

Joypa and I went out last weekend and laid out 4 multi-caches of varying length and terrain difficulty. Plus we have one kids' multi-cache. A permanent cache has been placed as well; its coordinates will be published at the event. We've managed to come up with a lot of cool swag. Joypa contributed half and I contributed the other half. While Joypa was showing me what he brought I kept thinking to myself, "gee, I wish I wasn't an organizer because I'd like to get my hands on some of this." and I believe he was thinking the same when I show him my contributed swag. Of course we don't go to geo-picnics simply for the goodies but rather to meet people and have a good time. Which I hope we will do. At the moment the weather looks like typical Indiana fall weather; i.e., anything goes. The schedule is as follows. Noonish to 1 -- lunch (bring your own). 1 to 3:30 Caching! 3:30 to 4: Random drawing for door prizes. Hope to see you there.

Bump on this one. Joypa and I are going out next weekend in order set the event up. Hope that the rest of you can make it.

A side note just in case: Illinois has a Prophetstown SP as well. Car54 is talking about the new Indiana one. IndyDiver was the contact to the Indiana State Parks. He posted a note over a year ago on the InGeo site (www.indianageocaching.com) saying that the State Parks were not going to make a policy. Of course this may have changed. Also I can not find IndyDiver's notice any more and so can not quote it. Getting hold of any of the people who put on the fall picnic -- Daggy, Deermark, KepNFit, Indy Diver -- or SouthFace (who is active in InGeo) might get a response on what is happening through the official group. It would be nice to have a cache in Prophetstown SP. Although I can see that because they are making a nature preserve they may have limits. On the other hand they are creating camping, picnic areas, and a bike trail and therefore the SP is not completely "all nature". Make sure that you are talking to the SP people themselves and not the "Museum at Prophetstown" which, as far as I can tell, are different people.

I posted to this topic about a year ago but there is no harm in repeating. From Lafayette/Purdue area. Been caching with a GPS since Mar '03. Before that I found one cache from the description alone; something I still like doing if I know the cache hiding area well. Have hidden a handful of caches and have co-sponsored one event last Feb' 04. I prefer caches that take me on a hike -- the 1-2 star difficulty and 3-4 star terrain type -- although a good puzzle is also fun at times. Really dislike wet caches in non-interesting locations. Use to go out caching with my friend SKeillan but then he got married to a non-cacher. I sometimes drag my wife along caching. She usually spots the caches faster than I do! However she often does not like the hikes. If we can ride our bicycles then she is game. Recently I have been talking with Joypa. His wife is also a reluctant but willing-to-support-her-spouse type of cacher. The Lafayette area is fairly low density in caches and thus Joypa and I will probably go out together later this year down to Indy or other points an hour so away in order to pick up some new caches. Joypa and I are also sponsoring a small geo-picnic Oct. 24th. We would like to meet other nearby cachers. Personally I think it would be interesting to meet Torry ... a person who likes pigs has to be neat.