are.we.there.yet?

Pick a cache in a familiar area. Make it an easy 1/1. Read everything on the log page...the description, the encrypted clue, the other logs, look at all the photos. Look at all the "spoilers", 'cause you need them. Print everything. Try to find caches that are "large", not those micro things. Click on the map and to go to the map website. Zoom in on the map, so that you have a map of the exact location and all the streets that will take you there. A few geocachers use maps and don't even use a gps. Bring a stick and poke in the ground leaves alot. Try one that was hidden for kids and have alot of toys, they are sometimes easier.

Boy, this travel bug stuff sounded great! Went for the 4 bugs for one price deal. First travel bug was placed in a carefully selected high traffic cache while on vacation. It was promptly picked up and moved to a not-so-high-traffic cache 2 miles away where it still sits. Travel bugs #2 and #3 were both left in the same great high-traffic cache in another state. They were left in the same cache because they were "related" and wanted to start their trip together. Two...note that TWO days later the next visitor to the cache wanted to pick them up but they were gone! Cache owner searched the area and tells me they are MIA. I've still got #4, an unactivated bug...but it's hard to have much interest in sending it out...

Tired of seeing so much trash in caches so...I've started leaving my own signature item after reading these logs. Maybe others will start leaving better stuff if they find better stuff. My signature items are nice handmade one-of-a-kind beaded bracelets (glass/wood/no cheap plastic pony beads) that have a small are.we.there.yet? charm attached. Charm can be removed as a keepsake and then owner will have a nice bracelet to wear. I've got a photo of them...just slow getting the photos loaded onto the computer.

Greetings from the heart of Kudzu country! You have got to see this stuff to believe it...When most of you think of "weeds", you think of stuff a few inches off the ground that chokes the grass. This stuff covers not just the grass, but trees and abandoned barns whole! I laughed at that comment about pulling up weeds! This stuff has roots that go down 30 feet and nothing will kill it...strong herbicides, fires, drought, nothing! Just think, the government used to plant this stuff on purpose for erosion control...that's why you see most of it along roadsides. The only thing that will kill it is taking it away from home...it gets so homesick it just withers away when it gets away from the south and just doesn't grow anywhere else. The lore is priceless...shut your windows at night or the kudzu will grow in the window and steal your kids!

What treasure do you leave in a cache? Do others think it is trash or treasure? I often leave ten year old baseball cards, found at no cost in my kid's room, 20 cards in a card sized ziplock; toastie toes, heated feet pads from a Walmart clearance bin for 75 cents a pair; Z-cards, a small plastic credit card sized toy with pop-out pieces that make a 3d plane, 25 cents in a clearance bin; and rain ponchos, 2/$1 at the dollar store.

There are only 3 caches in my town, a dozen or so within 60 miles of where I live. Of the 3 in town, one (the first one) was placed by someone on vacation that noticed that there were no caches in the town. She placed it near a relative's house with the understanding that the relative would watch it. It is the best maintained cache of the 3. The other 2 were presumably placed by locals and they are poorly maintained. I laugh when I read about people going on their lunch hour to "up" their "finds" into the hundreds. Finding 20 caches would require 200 mile round trips for me! I'd like to give something back to this sport and want to place a cache locally. It would be a nice 3/1. I haven't placed it yet (and may never), because it's hard to continue an interest in a hobby that will expire by the end of the summer due to a lack of local caches and an unwillingness to travel long distances. I would be delighted to place a cache to encourage the sport, but just don't want to maintain it for years. I wish there was an easy way to put a "wanted ad" to search for someone to adopt a yet-to-be-placed cache. They are welcome to have all the "glory" and the problems in maintaining the cache. Since there isn't, I'll just continue the hobby thoughout the summer and put extra items in neglected caches as I go along. I'm also going to do a few travel bugs. If my interest wans, I'll just tell the email folks that those travel bug notifications are "junk mail".

The question isn't will I place a good cache, but will I maintain it? Is this a passing interest that will go away after a couple of hunts? By placing a cache, you need to be willing to maintain it for several years. If you are not sure, try a travel bug instead. If you get tired of them, just turn the computer off.

We thought of that yesterday when researching sites. Don't know if we can get permission, but we know of huge unused 1/2 ton antique safe in a local museum type place...combination dial...hunt could be totally wheelchair OK, too...no water damage, no accidental finds, no heat/cold...

After much reflection, I think I'll make the cache a 4/2. I can make it a 5 by making the puzzle part really difficult (some college math required), but I won't. There are just too few caches here, and anyone that does geocaching here will probably want to go to all the local caches. There just aren't enough caches to "eliminate" a few because they "require special skills or equipment" that the average geocacher does not have. There are currently only 3 traditional caches within 25 miles of where I live, a dozen or so within 50 miles. I will make it as hard as possible without special skills...lots of basic geocaching research, multiple cache hunts, simple middle school math puzzles, extremely well hidden, etc. so it will deserve a "4". I'm going to up the terrain to a "2". There won't be much walking, but it will likely be in wooded areas that are not wheelchair friendly. It is going to be a Cd only cache (to reduce trash) and written to resemble a tacky mystery story. Hope ya'll can come see it when it is set up. Thanks for the suggestions...keep them coming while I continue to refine my plans for the cache.

I am thinking about placing my first cache. There are very few caches here (all 1/1). The only locations available for caches are terrain 1...small local parks. I want to make the cache more challenging by placing a truely difficulty 5 cache. So...give me suggestions or describe caches that you have seen that were difficutly 5. Do caches that are 5/1 interest you or not worth the trouble?

A family friend asked a young woman to marry him using geocaching. The mass produced email sounded so interesting that I had to go to this website and check it out!

Hello! I'm taking suggestions for my first cache...How can I set up a cache so that it won't fill up with so much trash? I'm not going for a cache with $20 stuff. I'd just like it to continue to have 50 cent or $1 items (no fast food coupons, used/broken toys, 5 cent throwaways). This will probably be a high difficulty cache in an area with few caches, so isn't the entertainment of the hunt worth 50 cents or a dollar? Would a note that says "no trash" in the description help? What do you think of it being a theme cache? "Dollar Store" theme? "Cds (new or used family music, dvd, software, games) only" or "clutch pins/state quarter microcache" theme? Would a theme keep out the trash without getting people frustrated hunting for a theme item to add to the cache? Other theme suggestions welcome, as are suggestions on how to set up the cache to discourage trash.