whartonia

I think I've given up all hope on one bug. We released him on 4/17/2008. It was picked two days later and that's the last we've heard. I've sent three messages, but have never had a reply. The cacher was a 10 year old boy. His last visit to geocaching.com was on 4/19/2008. He hunted with a group of students at a local school. I e-mailed the club's user name and never heard back. Their last visit was on 7/2008. After reading various posts, I'm assuming that I can re-release another bug using the copy tag. Should I grab it from the user so that I can drop the new one in a cache.

A while back I ordered 5 sets of TB tags. Have finally gotten around to activating them and I noticed that one set does not match the tracking #'s on the plastic bag. I've checked all the others and they are fine. Any ideas on what to do? Is it a big deal?

Last year I bought a Signal antenna topper for my car. A couple of weeks ago it came off in the car wash. I started thinking about making it a personal travel bug. My question is: can I go back and dip it into caches that I've visited since I started caching over a year ago?

I made a choice last week to leave one coin in a cache. It's a cache that sees a decent amount of traffic in a month. There were 4 TBs/coins. I took a coin that I will hand-off to another cacher that will fulfill it's goal of going to China. I took a TB to move on my own. My friend took a coin to move with her family. We left one for the next cacher.

I carried around a TB the other day hoping to drop it. Unfortunately it was too big for any of the caches. I contacted the owner and he/she was completely cool with dipping it so that it can log the miles. I went back to edit the log and it doesn't give me the option of dropping the bug. I'm sure that I'm missing a simple step. Can anyone help clue me in? I've got 4 or 5 caches that I'd like to dip it in.

I've had a bug since January. We stopped caching for a few months because of a hectic school schedule. Yesterday we went out and I intended to drop the bug. We found 4 caches and the bug wouldn't fit into any of them. I did physically try to put it in the cache. Can I log it as dipped so it at least gets some miles while I've still got it?

Yesterday we came across a few new geocoins. Instead of the actual coin, a laminated version of the coin was attached to a Geocoin Buddy tag. I assumed it was so the owner didn't have to worry about the actual coin being stolen.

This bug just popped back up. Looks like the cacher recently handed over 4 bugs to a fellow cacher. A very honorable thing to do. The new cachers seem to cache every few days. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't complain much about this one. The bug was released in April and spent time in two caches in Florida and was then taken to Alaska. It was picked up at the foot of a glacier and then moved to Mexico where it was dipped and stayed with the cacher. Yesterday it was grabbed by the new cacher and is currently in Spain. 6,735 miles after only being in 4 caches is pretty sweet! Another update on this bug. The cacher in Spain dropped it last week. It's in a cache at a castle that was built in the 10th century. It has now traveled 11,998 miles and has only been in 5 caches. It originated in Florida, then went to a glacier in Alaska, dipped in a cache in Cozumel and then dropped in Spain. So while it's sad to lose one, sometimes you hit the jackpot. http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1473144

Oh yeah, that's what I did. Cache Along a Route. After I ran it I make a special note of the ones I thought that I'd really want to try for. I didn't want to hunt long and hard for something. I wanted them to be quick and easy finds.

Did you know that you can load the Garmin North America street maps to the Vista HCx which will give you turn-by-turn directions? That's how I use mine.

A pocket query is definitely the way to go. That's exactly what I did when I cached from Ocala to Jacksonville. I'll also be in Orlando this weekend. Friends are running the Disney Marathon so we'll be watching them. I plan on finding a few caches with the kids while we're there.

I think I read about geocaching in a parenting magazine. I thought it was cool, but didn't think much about it after that. Now I have a couple of friends are into it. Last year I bought my first GPSr.

This bug just popped back up. Looks like the cacher recently handed over 4 bugs to a fellow cacher. A very honorable thing to do. The new cachers seem to cache every few days. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't complain much about this one. The bug was released in April and spent time in two caches in Florida and was then taken to Alaska. It was picked up at the foot of a glacier and then moved to Mexico where it was dipped and stayed with the cacher. Yesterday it was grabbed by the new cacher and is currently in Spain. 6,735 miles after only being in 4 caches is pretty sweet!

What about a real life non-geocaching friend? I took my neighbor one weekend and she had a blast. I also started a club with other homeschooling families and several have enjoyed it enough to do it outside of the club meetings. Start talking up geocaching with your friends and see who might be interested. Does any of them like to be outdoors, do they like hiking, do they enjoy solving puzzles or mysteries? Geocaching fits in nicely with all of those. Heck, my sister can't stand anything like that, but when we geocache she grabs the GPSr and leads the way. Why, because she likes to be in control. A little irritating, but hey, it's someone caching along with me.

I know that GSAK is a program that offers quite a few bells & whistles, but since I'm still under 100 finds will I even need all of that? I recently started using my iPhone to cache along with my Vista hcx. I'm mainly interested in having the information from the cache page at my fingertips while caching. So far the iPhone is pretty good at that. I can see the difficulty/terrain, hints and the 5 most recent logs. I thought that I read that GSAK will also only give you 5 logs. Is there something else that will come in handy if I add GSAK to the mix?

After poking around a bit I clicked on AGREE TO LICENSE AGREEMENT. After doing that a screen came up that had all the previous queries I have run. Forgot about that screen, that's how long it's been since I ran one. Sure enough the ones that I have been trying to run were there saying that they were never generated. Did something else and bam, they arrived in my e-mail. A few months ago I had a complete laptop crash and lost all sorts of stuff, maybe that was yet another thing that got screwed up in it all.

dang double post.

Did you forget to check the day of the week? I ran one this afternoon and checked Saturday. Still nothing but the preview. I even chose to use a different e-mail than the one that gc.com uses (even though it was correct). The preview list shows 200 nearby caches that I haven't found.

I've read that there has been a backlog on queries, especially scheduled PQ. However, I can't get anything to work. I don't run any scheduled queries, in fact, I haven't run one in ages. I've been trying for a few days and can't get anything. I can see the preview, but nothing shows up in my e-mail.

I'm sure others will reply with concrete evidence as to why one model is better than the other. I'll just say that I've been using the Vista hcx for a year and it has been fabulous. I use it with City Navigator maps. We've had a great first year of caching.

I highly recommend adding a laminated tag to your TBs. You can find the self-adhesive ones in the luggage section of your local stuffmart. I also have a handy dandy corner rounder that takes off the sharp edges. If you come across bugs that could benefit from having a goal sheet you can email the owner and ask if they would like you to add one for them. Whether that be a laminated tag or simply printing sheet and throwing it into a baggie. (Never add or remove anything from a bug without the owner's permission) I never thought about using my corner rounder on my laminated tags. My bugs have only been out there for less than a year and the tags are looking pretty sad on some of the pics I've seen. Hoping they hold up.

Thanks for all the replies. Now I don't feel too guilty for getting a smaller camera. The Canon Digital ELPH SD1100 IS was on sale for $149. I love the look and my sister's ELPH has lasted for years. Hoping to be more diligent about taking pics while caching. I love seeing them in other people's logs.

I have a Fuji FinePix S8100. It's a great camera, but on the bulky side. I'm very tempted to buy a new digital that is easier to take along caching. I've been itching to get a Canon ELPH, but thinking I could probably get something cheaper. So have you splurged on a camera specifically for caching? If so, what did you buy?

I've got 6 bugs out and 4 of them aren't moving. I've e-mailed the cachers involved, some twice. One hasn't been logged since October, but the cacher is in upstate NY so I'm assuming that the weather is hampering their caching. I haven't bothered to e-mail about that one. Another was passed along in April to a family member who just received a GPS for Christmas. This cacher has been great about responding to my e-mails. Just hearing back about the TB is good news. Third bug has been held since August. The cacher's last logged cache was in October, but has logged in regularly. Last login was 12/22. He's a long time cacher and has handled over 79 bugs so he obviously knows the importance of them. He hasn't responded to either of my e-mails. I'm not terribly worried about him. This cacher travels the world so I'm sure my bug will turn up somewhere sweet. The last bug was picked up quickly after I released it and hasn't been seen since. The cacher is a child that cached with a local school's club. He hasn't logged in since and the club hasn't logged in or cached since July. He also hasn't responded to my e-mails. The other day I did send a message to the club's account hoping that they might remind the cacher about the bug. We live within 10 miles of each other and I'd be willing to pay the postage to have it returned. This is the one that irritates me. I have 5 more bugs to release so obviously I haven't been burned by the experience. I just love getting those e-mails saying my bug has been found or dropped.

Santa me, myself & I bought me a geocaching.com sticker for the new used car, a Signal antenna ball for same car I know I'm a dork and 4 travel bug tags. I love Santa.