Torry

... so could we start using bodies as "First-finder" prizes?

Dang, bumped up the thread and forgot to put in MY particulars. East-side Indianapolis.

I just have this mental image of a room full of hike-nerds, Jeep-freaks and flannel-coated techno-vegans gathered in a circle around two retired nature buffs going at it while swinging their GPSr's by the lanyards like Mom's purse at the after-Christmas sale at Sears. brrrrrr

If this does become a fight club thing can I start hitting people? What about the bruises? Is there a release to be filled out? But most importantly... can I start hitting people?

Cheapie notebook, 3 for a dollar. doubles as fire starter, toilet paper or cigarette paper. jot down a few notes from the page and off you go.

I've noticed similar situations on the website. I think there are those who get a bit caught up in a competitive attitude about the game. I can only hope we don't start voting people off the island.

I deliver all over Indiana and sometimes into the neighboring states and do most my caching while on the road. My employer doesn't approve of my activities but since I am allotted a lunch break I can do what I want for a half-hour as long as it doesn't take me too far off my route. I load up my little eTrex with co-ords and waypoints and carry a few trade items and a notebook and little else. Some of my waypoints have been in there for almost a year. When a cache gets archived i usually don't figure that out until after i've spent my lunch fruitlessly searching for it. I have to go with the "if it was good once it's good now" philosophy.

Yay! somebody who sounds like me about a year ago! I tagged along with a veteran for a few trips and got me an eTrex last May and have used it exclusively. I manually entered the co-ords as i didn't have the fancy cable to enter them straight from the computer. (no bucks for frills here) The biggest problem i run into is that the little puppy is full after 500 entries and i had to go edit out the old ones. I suggest you delete coords as soon as you find them to avoid a very tedious project. I usually enter the waypoint name and sometimes add an extra "M" for micros or "+" for extra-tough caches so i have an idea of what I'm looking for. The eTrex isn't the greatest under the trees or on cloudy days but it's taken me to plenty of caches and lots of fun. All the other gadgets are fine but not necessary for a casual cacher, get a good taste for it before shelling out a lot of bucks. I have a buddy who uses all the extra palm pilots and the like but he's a "chronic" and loves to have the best toys. Some cachers like to print out the cache pages for all the clues and notes. Meh. I'll sometimes jot a few notes down and accomplish the same thing.

Time to refresh... I picked one of the oldest "Anybody out there?" pages I could find about the Hoosier state. Estranho would be proud. There's been oodles of growth all over and a few faces have come and gone... ... anyone else care to chime in?

bon mots? Yes, he played Darney Bife on The Undy Triffith Show... man, this dyslexia thing is tough to shake...

Lemme guess...his last words were, "Hey, y'all, watch this!" Nope, it was "Red to red. Black to, um, er..."

... I'm sorry I got that started.

You get three months of free electricity. No matter what your dad says, you can't break a roof by throwing a baseball at it. Red to red. Black to black. If you want it bad enough buy it for your wife. Never trust a "Do it yourself" surgical procedure. The women that are at the bar at closing time are there because no one else would take them. The guys at the bar at closing time are there because they no the women are drunker than they are. Avoid giving beer to bears. It takes a lot of beer to get a bear to like you. The potato goes in front. A two dollar bottle of Febreeze is cheaper than a trip to the laundromat. Febreeze is quicker than a shower. Avoid women who smell like Febreeze. Febreeze is NOT a mouthwash.

I've come across a few ammo boxes that have been re-painted. It makes them look a bit less frightening. ... and as long as they aren't camo'ed they can be easier to spot, especially at night. I guess anything with Arabic writing would be a bad idea...

I truly appreciate the humor... HOWEVER - This area is about getting started. There are plenty of topics available that are NOT dead horses. Please move on to those and let us newbies get accustomed to the site. I promise that many of those that you find so tedious will be trading bon mots with you later on.

I've visited a few caches with post cards, baseball cards and the like. All too often they end up a soggy mess due to condensation or leaky baggies. Maybe some of the little pins and buttons or refrigerator magnets from the gift shop. I get a kick out of the magnets as I can decorate with them and have a reminder of the cache and area. Pencils and similar inexpensive souvenirs are also fun to find when visiting far from home.

I happen to personally despise micros. I fully recognize that often they are the only cache possible but I find the concept often abused with areas packed with film cans and breath strip packets. I wish the Mods were a bit more selective in allowing some of the micros I've encountered, especially when a regular cache was very do-able. I try to carry some decent trade items as well as some fluff at all times. I don't mind NOT getting anything exciting from a cache, that's not why I do this. Often the trinkets I find are recycled or go into a "memory box" with otheres as reminders of caches I've visited. If a cache contains extra-special goodies I try to trade fair, sometimes I'm over-generous, sometimes I just drop off extras if the cache is looking a little dry. I confess that I've sometimes came out ahead in a trade but I try to make it up on down the line. (Okay, that sounds like the thief saying he drops off his gains in the church box.) One recommendation I suggest is that cache owners take better care of their charges. Often I've noticed some of the chronics never visit their caches and keep them fresh, pick up signature items, and toss out the old golf balls and buckeyes.