TheDreadPirateRoberts&Crew

Where is the Noland Trail? I would love to hike it but don't know where it's at.

My son and I are immune, hubby and step-daughter are not. We found the best treatment is to soak a washcloth with Rubbing Alcohol (75% or 91% either will work fine). Wipe your entire body with the cloth. This breaks down the urushoils from the plant. If you just take a shower you end up spreading the oils to other areas. Also you can wipe your boots, gps, walking stick and pack with rubbing alcohol without ill-effect like staining or deterioration like bleach can cause. Wash your clothes in hot water with 1/4 cup of bleach. Remember to wash your sheets with the bleach solution and then wear long socks and long sleeping pants and a long sleeve shirt to sleep in and chance your pajamas every night for 4-5 nights as to not contaminate anything else. Hubby also found this great product at Rite Aid/Walgreens called Zanfeld. It is a pumice scrub that kills/breaks down the urushoils. It cleared his poison ivy up in 3 days and left a slight redness for a total of 6 days. Unfortunately it costs $40, but Rite Aid now has the generic brand name for $22. Hope you find some relief soon! Take Care, TDPR&C

Born and raised in The Burg! Lived there for 18 years 'til I joined the Navy....My Black and Gold are looking pretty fine this season! Okay, okay....they are my backup team to watch when the Steelers ain't being aired down here. I have a thing for Payton Manning....hubby thinks I'm crazy !

behind a tree in the woods....with a great view of one of the lakes at the park

Well, I placed my first cache yesterday...I feel as giddy as a school girl!!! It was every so exciting for me! My son (frogger03 ) helped me put everything together and find a good spot for it. As I logged in this morning to upload my pics I noticed Great Scott is the FTF! Wahoo! Here is the pictures of my first cache: The FTF gift bag: Here is the cache page: Link

what a great topic! I am new to this, but I love to log. The first few were short, but I am starting to take better notes in the field and now I am able to remember everything when I get back to log it. I find it actually fun telling about my adventure. I also love taking pictures and wish to see more pictures of people at caches. It is usually only my son and I so I hold the camera up and take multiple picture of us 'til I find the one I like (thank God for digital cameras)

I love taking pictures of us caching and I always add them to my logs. The last 2 I was unable to because 1. lots of poison ivy and trying to get hubby to a safe place and 2. forgot my camera in the car.....stupid,stupid,stupid. I actually have a folder on my computer for all cache pictures.

We call all of ours Gupus!

mine has a wrist lanyard that I use. When I'm not looking at it, it swings freely by my leg. It is probably not the safest for the screen, but they do sell screen protectors for most units.

I am currently putting my first cache together. It is a sports theme cache and I am a BIG Steelers fan so I ordered a few things from one of the Steelers stores in Pittsburgh and am awaiting its arrival (very impatiently to boot). I have got a bunch of other sports items that I stocked in it too. I will take a pic and post it as soon as I get the rest of my stuff in. I am super excited about placing my first cache and I have a second one in mind already....got to go and get another ammo can..... Congrats on your first hide! ~Erica TDPR&C

Mine is: www.myspace.com/ecrisher What a fun idea! I do have an addiction to myspace! ~Erica TDPR&C For some reason I can not get it to link, I've tried several different ways and it just wants to show the html code.....

It can be a little rough sometimes. One thing to keep in mind is if the cache owner placed the cache in the fall/winter it may have seemed very kid friendly at the time, not knowing that the area becomes overgrown in the summer. Also keep in mind that poison ivy seeds come mainly from bird droppings so an area that didn't have it last year may have it this year if a bird nested near the cache and ate poison ivy berries in the fall elsewhere. The planet is ever changing and some things get overlooked in the off-season. Don't get discouraged and keep on finding. There are plenty of kid friendly caches to be found. Also make sure to check the logs if you are concerned about that and or post in your log that there is a problem with overgrowth so the owner know that the cache may need to be moved or they may need to post a not stating that it is a good cache to find in the fall or winter. I notice many have posted about poison ivy covering caches this year and some owners were able to make notes of it in the description. Remember to be thorough in your logging if you see a problem or potential issue, it is most likely not the owners fault. If you are truly concerned about spiders, snakes and other wildlife maybe venturing into any wooded are is not such a great idea for you and your family and try to find more urban caches or in a park setting that has enough human traffic to deter such thing. Hope some of this helps and that you are able to get out and have a great time caching! ~Erica TDPR&C

I have an old Sony Clie (with a ` above the e). I love it. I've had it since I worked at NASA back in 2004. It is still the black/gray screen, but works very effectively. It has Palm III software on it and I was able to load cachemate on there with no problem. Also works fine with XP, but had to download the Palm desktop (for free) since my disc was outdated.

I served 3 years US Navy 1995-1998 - VAW120 NAS Norfolk (where I met hubby) - Aviation Electronics Technician. Medically Discharged due to flight line injury. Hubby is currently serving US Navy 1991-present. Aviation Electronics Technician NAS Norfolk. Shipping out to Bahrain in November. 4 more years 'til retirement! We are a proud Navy Family, Erica TDPR&C

I use cachemate on my pda. I think it was $8, not real expensive.

Nope, achillies tendinitis and heel bursitis in both heels. Most of the time it's a minor annoyance, but after I play a sport that requires running fast (I play soccer and softball), I can barely walk for 2 days afterward. In truth I went there and he told me to take naproxin (double the dose), ice it, do stretching exercises and use heel lifts and if that doesn't help to come back again for a cortisone shot. Well for the past 3 months I've been taking a double dose of naproxin, icing it, doing stretching exercises and using heel lifts (hey I can do a google search on heel pain), so he went right to the needle (ouch!). Hope it gets better because it's really cut down on my geocaching and hiking. I'm a basket case Sunday afternoons (when we usually hike and cache) because I played softball or soccer in the morning. All I can do is lay on the couch with each heel on a bag of ice. I am currently recovering from plantar fasciitis. I tore it while chasing my 4yo up hill in Pittsburgh...... However, I had achillies tendinitises in both feet while I was in the Navy, got medically discharged in 1998 and in 2000/2002 had an ostiotomy done on them (left in 2000, right in 2002). I get around so much better now. If you have some off time to get it fix I recommend doing it, it was the best thing I did for my feet. Hope you are feeling better soon, Erica tdpr&c

done, hope it helps!

I would write a letter offering to teach a segment on it like you suggested and then explain why you would like to teach it rather than having your caches used as example to later be destroyed. I think offering a solution to the problem first is a better route in this matter. ~Erica tdpr&c

I am actually working on a signature swag. I found a button company that is really reasonable and they look really nice too. I would love to find signature swag in a cache too that is why I am working on one of our own. ~Erica tdpr&c

Looks good and very yummy! Now you need to put a little chocolate scent that is in the air at Hershey. Great Idea! ~Erica tdpr&c

I feel your pain! I am stuck in an air-cast and am trying desperately to keep it as clean as possible so I've been reading posts and planning my own hide for when I get out of this thing! Maybe try to hit something during lunch or on your way home...can you cache on the weekends? Good luck trying to make some time, you will find it! ~erica tdpr&c

Ha,Ha...I moved! It got toooo hot there for me......and am still working my way north to Michigan.... good thing I don't have neighbors right next to me....i live in the middle of the woods...

I think I'm E/F. I agree with sbell I do like to see if anyone posts something interesting about the logs, but then there are other that I see it is close to were I'm going and I just want to go there because I will be near there. ~Erica tdpr&c

I like to find pins, patches and keychains. This is what I bring for trade: new keychains geocaching wristband TFTH, geocache, and CITO, and other kinds of new pins matchbox cars (for my 4yo to trade) Good Luck Pigs from The Smithfield Ham Shop Simpsons and Batman Skycaps (from a comic book store) We also carry specific items for specific cashes, like one that we are going to (when it stop raining) is a super hero theme cache so we got a spiderman matchbox car and spiderman pencil to take for the trade. I always check to see if it is a theme cache to make sure I have the correct trade item. oh, I also bring along a bunch of those inexpensive Bic ballpoint pens because we've ran across a cache without a pen and figured I would carry some extras so I can leave them behind if need be. ~Erica tdpr&c

Okay, so I was wondering how many cachers actually place a cache on their own property? I know a lot of people get permission to place it on someone else's property, but I live out in the country and was thinking of placing a cache on my own land and just wonder if anyone else has done this. ~Erica