mortaine

I hate that rule. I have a tb race going on, and almost every tb hotel the bugs are in has that rule. Or some slight variation of it. I'm putting on my race entry TB tag a note that says "this travel bug can ignore TB hotel rules." Hey, if you were on a high-speed race across the country, I'm sure *you'd* skip out on a hotel bill once or twice, too. I'm sure the TB hotel owners won't mind..... [Not really, but what can I say? My TB's a wild one!]

They'll find that everything grows really well with all the bone meal you've planted in the soil! Everything decays eventually, even bones, or gets eaten/scavenged by animals. I'm sure the chickens you buried are long gone.

Are the new tags available for purchase yet?

Thanks, webscouter, for the offer. I've asked the current holder to hang onto it for a month. When it gets near KC (it's going to a cache near Cameron so it might not make it all the way to KC), I hope you pick it up and enjoy it, too!

Children frequently have an innate sense of right and wrong, and many are not as caught up in their collections as we might think, when given the opportunity for genuine sharing. You should be proud of your son for the empathy you have instilled in him, and the wisdom to innately know the right thing to do.

Handicap ratings? Percentage? My word, you make it sound like you're cheating if you don't log a DNF, no matter how you play otherwise. There is no rule on geocaching.com that says you have to log ANY DNF log, ever. Therefore, THERE IS NO CHEATING if you don't log one. On the other hand, clearly you have some kind of mindset that comes from golf that I don't understand. I don't play golf, with rules or otherwise and when I play mini-golf, we use the "bridge" rules (you can have someone stand on the other side of the hole and serve as a backboard), and we don't care. My oldest minigolf companion is 6.

They're about 14 years old? Yeah, go directly to their parents. They don't need to get into trouble with the cops for it, and you don't need to involve the school, but those kids need to be grounded. If the parents handle it right, the kids will have to somehow repay you for the damage caused to your cache, and they'll learn that valuable "actions have consequences" lesson. If the parents blow it off, well, there's not much you can do except wait for them to shoot up their school....

An honest search is expected before anyone logs a DNF, unless the DNF log entry says something like "I'm a wuss, it started to rain before we got to the cache site, so we turned back." Then we know to ignore that DNF, as it contains no useful information, just a weather report. For me, an honest search means going back, because I don't believe I can see the right spot the first time around (I nearly flunked driver's ed because I couldn't identify a driving hazard in a still photograph-- I also have problems with the "what's wrong with this picture" puzzles). Knowing, as I do, that this is my own limitation, I therefore don't log a DNF until I'm really certain that it's not just my deficient brain being silly at that particular moment. If someone with dyslexia tried and failed to unscramble a puzzle to get to a cache, would you expect them to log a DNF? All the DNF log would do in such a case is call attention to their own disability, not provide valuable information about the cache or site in any way. When I determine that my lack of ability to find a cache is not caused by my own myopia, I log the DNF. I don't expect or demand anyone else to play by that criteria for themselves, nor do I appreciate anyone else criticizing me for determining what is and isn't the right way for ME to play the game. It's also not an arbitrary criteria-- at least, no more arbitrary than "if I get out of the car and walk towards the cache." Since he was out there with four other people, I certainly feel the person who logged a DNF on my cache fulfilled the same criteria I would expect of myself. What's more, I don't know how many times he visited this cache before logging a DNF. He logged it over 2 weeks after I listed the cache in the first place, and is well known for being a FTF'er, so he may have been out there previously and didn't find it then, either. It doesn't bother me-- in some ways, if he was out there twice, that makes his DNF more meaningful, because I know he really tried. And finally, I don't make up the criteria for how *he* plays the game-- if he logs a DNF, I expect it's for a reason, same as for me.

solohobbes, if you let me know the name of the letterbox, I can post a note to the LBNA mailing list to let the owner and nearby letterboxers know-- someone in the area will certainly be able to pick it up and move it for you. One of the big sites for letterboxing was overrun by a DDOS attack today, so you might also have luck sending a note to the LB owner tomorrow. Unlike geocaching, though, letterbox owners don't have to live near their boxes, which is why it can be easier to post a wider-range note and ask for help.

I'm on a "cool log entry" kick right now, so mine would have to be: # of cool log entries. Also miles logged on my TBs-- I like those numbers. My found count is cool, too-- I like it. I like watching it increase. I don't stress about it, though.

A difficulty 5, in my opinion: Should probably be a puzzle cache of some kind, or require special knowledge for finding or opening the cache (I've heard of caches with a combination lock or a lock that requires a lockpick to open-- that's very spefcialized) Or could be very well hidden or camo'd-- a really convincing fake rock in a pile of rocks, for example. Hidden somewhere that people don't expect to look (in the branches of a tree, for instance-- as long as you don't have to climb the tree to get it, but most cachers look down, not up). Or could be an unusual enough container that it camo's well-- a tube that's buried up to the cap (which is green and has astroturf on it to camo it like grass, for example), and removing the cap opens the cache, for example. Somewhere on the boards I saw a good description of the difference between Terrain and Difficulty: Terrain is everything you go through until you're at the cache site. Difficulty is everything you go through to get to the log book once you're there.

I usually go back to caches that I couldn't find, so I log DNFs when I've tried at least twice, and at least one of those was with someone else. If I can't find it with a second pair of eyes, then I feel that I've really done everything I could, and it's time to log it as "not found." I feel a DNF entry does a couple of things: It tells the cache owner that the cache could not be found. On the cache I own, a very experienced and respected geocacher logged a DNF recently. I *KNOW* I have to get out to that cache and make sure it's still there. If he can't find it, then it may be missing. If it's not missing, then it might be incorrectly rated; it's my first cache, so I don't know if the ratings are accurate. I think they are, based on my experience as a seeker, but I don't know for sure, since I've never had to hunt for this cache. It tells the next person to visit that it couldn't be found. When I'm searching, I don't let one DNF bother me, but if there are several in a row, I know that the cache might be gone, or that it might be harder than it seems at first. It encourages other people to post DNF logs when they can't find the cache. This is important-- if one person can't find it, no problem. But if that person posts a DNF, the next person might feel encouraged and post their DNF, knowing that the cache could be missing-- it relieves them of the burden of feeling like they "failed" at finding the cache.

1) Write cool, interesting, or funny log entries. Usually, this means having cool experiences. 2) Think of interesting places to put a cache. So far, this means only one cache placed by me (I am very creative, but not in that direction). 3) Allow a bit of magic and mystery into my life at least once a day. I don't have a "numbers" goal, but I like to set up a list of caches I'm going to do on a particular day or a particular trip.

Thanks, everyone for the advice. Fortunately, my email to the current holder arrived before she placed the bug. I feel very comfortable with her hanging onto it for the next month; she sounds like a very responsible geocacher, the kind of person whose hands you don't worry about your bug being in. The bug had gotten within 300 miles of its destination, which in Missouri isn't that far. It's basically been hitting the caches along the main highway that cuts across Missouri and runs not to far from home.

In addition to contacting the cache owner and the TB owner (just courtesy so they know what's going on), post to the letterboxing list (letterboxing-usa I think is the one on Yahoo) with the name of the LB-- I think most people will know it's not supposed to be there, but it's good to post a note to the list so that everyone will see it. Also in your post, ask someone who both letterboxes and geocaches in that area to stop by and pick up the TB and move it to a cache for you.

I know, this never happens. My travel bug, Austin's Joke Book, set out two years and over 6,000 miles ago to get from a geocache in Santa Cruz, California, where I live, to a geocache in Cameron, Missouri, where my mother lives and where my nephew, Austin, used to live. Along the way, it's picked up many kid-appropriate jokes from people in many many different states. It is now within 300 miles of its destination, and the weather in Missouri has gotten good enough to geocache. Today, I got a log entry from someone that his son had taken it to school for show-and-tell on geocaching (how cool is that?!?!?!?) However: My mother, who geocaches and who has been watching this travel bug with baited breath, broke her arm 3 weeks ago. It's going to be another 3 weeks, minimum, before she can use her right arm again. Geocaching is out in the meantime. The travel bug, meanwhile, gets closer and closer. We don't want to have the bug arrive nearby and then lose it because she wasn't well enough to go retrieve it. Also, I have to make travel plans to come get it with her and Austin when it arrives (Austin does not know about this travel bug, in case it doesn't make it-- you can imagine how hard it's been for his grandma to keep that big of a secret from him for 2 years). So, what now? I've emailed the last person who logged it to ask them to hold onto it, but like many, he didn't log his grab until the day he planned to go out and place it. Should I just wait and see, since it might go to New York next anyway? Or should I email the next person to grab it, if the most recent one doesn't get my email before he goes out, and ask them to hang onto it for a few weeks? If the bug owner contacted you and said "please slow down my bug" would you think she was insane?

There's a cache here that is near a car in a tree-- obviously, it's a car wreck site. My own geocache is on a site where a mudslide killed 11 people. There are nearby shrines to the deceased. I make it clear on the cache page that it's an unofficial grave. My 2 cents: 1) Be clear on the cache page that this site needs respect. 2) Don't put the cache anywhere that someone finding it might get hurt or cut by debris, and make that clear in the cache page as well. For instance, the cache is not underneath the car in the tree or near that particular tree-- you can find the cache without risking having a 1950's automobile land on your head.

You'd be amazed at how small a wheeled thing can be-- I was on eBay this week and found inexpensive silver charm bracelet charms that had wheeled cars and bikes and such on them, which I thought would be a pretty cool micro TB item.

[Yes, I *am* full of questions!] Also, is it OK to very liberally interpret the word "wheeled," or is the race going to be like last year, where "wheeled vehicle" was the criteria? As in: a lot of things have wheels that aren't vehicles. Wheelchairs, steering wheels, Mayan calendars, and spinning wheels all come to mind.

Another question: Is it okay to send a non-standard TB tag? I.E.: A lot of people alter the metal tag they get from Groundspeak, or duplicate it in a smaller, home-made tag for smaller (micro-ready) TBs. Is this acceptable?

Sorry to ask so many questions.... Can the TB travel by air, as long as it logs into a cache in the next state? Can the TB owner offer small "bribes" (thank you postcards, not gold doubloons) to anyone moving their bug along?

Julz, I'm sure if you ordered this week you'd get it in time. The Cannonball info hasn't even gone online yet, so we don't know what to put on the TB goal tag or where to send the bugs to start them out!

I do wonder, though-- what's the value-add of using a jump drive, compared to just having people upload a picture and log entry to the travel bug webpage? Here are the advantages I can see: 1) Can add your route/map/GPX file to the jump drive (this would actually be kind of a cool way to use the jump drive, you know-- have people put their favorite caching route or their found waypoints or their track from the day they found the TB or something.). 2) Can add a longer document, like a word file (virus possibility). 3) Can add programs-- also virus possibility. 4) Can post a picture that wouldn't be allowed or appreciated on the website (nudie or inappropriate pics, or pics showing the exact location of a cache). The main thing that you want to be wary of is people using it to transmit a virus to others who pick up the TB, and also you want to find some way to get the data back to you when you decide it's full.

A $5 entry fee is fine-- that's about what I paid for my TB tag. I don't know that comparing 2003 and 2004 stats is all that effective-- I think geocaching as a sport has had tremendous growth between 2003 and today, and people who would have joined the race in 2003 would have been around for a while. I think you would get a lot more people participating today. It seems to me that you would have a lot of people signing up if you offered both flavors, because there are some who wouldn't consider it worth the entry fee, and then there are some who would see the entry fee like a lottery ticket-- pay it to get into the running for a prize! [since the actual task that results in the prize is outside the owner's control...] At least, that's how I see it. Oh, more rules questions: Can the TB owner pick up the bug, if it ends up in a nearby cache, to move it?

I thought you were going to have it both ways-- folks could pay an entry fee if they wanted to compete for prizes, or race for free for a certificate. I would probably pay the entry fee; I know there's overhead involved in something like this.