iambobbrown

Thanks for the replies. I had done all of that, reloaded drivers, Garmin Express, Web updater, etc. Nothing worked. I would plug it in and it would prompt me if I wanted to go into mass storage. It would appear it was working as normal for 15 seconds, and it would just go into "non" mass storage mode. I would get a beep from the computer and message box stating USB not recognized, blah blah blah. And just now, I unplugged the Oregon from the cable, but left the cable plugged in. I kept getting beeps from the computer. I just figured it was left over issues and ignored it. Well on a whim, I switched cables. Stopped using the Garmin issued cable and used another from an external hard drive. Works like a charm. To think of the hours I wasted trying to get the unit to work and it was the cable. This is why I hate computers. So anyway, I am able to load data from GSAK onto my GPS now. I feel like I have extra money in my pocket. Bob

I jut upgraded to Windows 8 and I can not get my computer to recognize my Oregon 300 in mass storage mode? Did I just turn my Oregon into a small boat anchor?

I didn't find it in the cache, but I found a $100 bill on the ground on the way to a cache.

All three places seem like excellent choices. I think I am going to drive up to Thousand Oaks on Friday night and spend Saturday geocaching around there. I am hoping I can get to the other places during the week. Do either of those two parks (Elysian Park and Griffith Park) have bike rentals? I have never been to Santa Monica/Venice Beach. I am assuming there would be bike rentals there. Does caching on a Sunday along the beach sound like a good idea?

The conference I will be attending is downtown LA, but that is from Mon-Thu. For Saturday and part of Sunday, I am totally wide open. I have not booked a room yet, so I am free to go anywhere.

Hello All. I will be in town for business. Flying in early to spend the day geocaching. I will have a car, I like to hike and I like to bike. If you were to recommend a place to spend a day geocaching, where would it be? Thanks, Bob

Great story. Congrats!! I think you ought to hide the wedding cake and give your guests GPSs to find it.

Will we know by the GC code? Sorry, I did not place this in the other 1,000,000th Cache thread. That one is getting long and hard to read and this question is different.

I use a simple macro to automate that process, added it as a button on my toolbar and it just takes one click. To the OP: There is information on the GSAK website, and in Markwell's PQ tutorial, that explain how to maintain your off-line data...worth the few minutes to takes to read it. I think I've only searched for one archived cache since I started using those techniques...and that was only because the cache was archived after I left the house that morning to go caching. I tried looking for Markwell's PQ tutorial, but was unable. Can you tell us where the tutorial is located? Thanks found it: http://www.markwell.us/pq.htm

I use a simple macro to automate that process, added it as a button on my toolbar and it just takes one click. To the OP: There is information on the GSAK website, and in Markwell's PQ tutorial, that explain how to maintain your off-line data...worth the few minutes to takes to read it. I think I've only searched for one archived cache since I started using those techniques...and that was only because the cache was archived after I left the house that morning to go caching. I tried looking for Markwell's PQ tutorial, but was unable. Can you tell us where the tutorial is located? Thanks

I took my friends geocaching a few weeks back and they enjoyed it. My friend sent a note asking about GPS units and I sent her the following note back. I thought someone else may appreciate my comments. And I thought others may be able to comment as well. All I know is Garmin. There are people on geocaching.com who also prefer the Delorme PN-30 and PN-40. I own a Garmin Oregon 300 and I love it. The Oregon comes with a touch screen, the Delorme units have buttons to press. There are some people who say the Garmin Venture HC is a good entry level unit. This model has a little “joystick” sticking out of it. I had a similar unit until the joystick broke. There are a couple of things you have to think about before committing to a unit: Paperless geocaching. This is important when you are out in the middle of nowhere and you can’t find the cache, or when you are trying to figure out which cache to go to next. Paperless allows you to read the cache description, the hints, and previous logs. Those items can be helpful at times. The Oregon has a great paperless caching interface. I have read that the Delorme units support paperless caching, but I do not know what the interface looks like. Turn by turn directions. At first, I did not think I was going to need that, however, now that I have that, I am glad I do, but I only use it in the car. However with the Oregon 300, you have to purchase an additional map on a micro SD card. I think I paid $65 for that. If you do that, you want a street map, not a topographical map. This allows me to enter an address anywhere in the US and it will calculate the best route. According to what I read, the Delorme models above include those maps. I do not know if they have turn by turn directions though. I also purchased a bike clamp and a automobile navigation setup (which is basically a suction cup setup with a cigarette lighter cable. According to Amazon.com, it looks like those accessories are available for the Delorme units as well. Now that said, Oregon is $355 on Amazon.com. The Delorme units are on sale at REI for $199 and $258. Both of the Oregon and PN-40 units are the same list price $399. At that price I would buy the Oregon even knowing I had to buy the additional map. BUT, since the Delorme units are on sale AND they come with the maps (both topo and street) I would have to consider the Delorme. I just looked at the Delorme site. Their maps have an annual subscription feature. I would have to find out a little bit more about that. Garmin releases a new map chip every year, however, you have to buy it new every year. It will contain street updates and new points of interests (stores, gas stations, movie theaters, blah, blah blah). I suspect the Delorme subscription is an attempt at Garmin competition. The other Delorme difference is the “widget”. From geocaching.com, you have two ways to download geocaches into your unit, one at a time, or a bunch at a time (called pocket queries). To use pocket queries, you need to be a premium member of geocaching.com at a cost of $30.00 bucks a year(which I think is worth it). The nice thing about pocket queries is when you are going somewhere and you do not have the time to go through each and every geocache, you can write a query along the lines of: “Give me all the caches within 100 miles of Redwood Falls, MN” or “Give me all the caches that are 1/3 of a mile off of I-90/I-94 between Minneapolis and South Bend, IN.” Garmin supports the pocket queries out of the box. Delorme needs a “widget” that costs an extra $10.00. I do love the Oregon, however, there is a learning curve with the unit. Every Garmin manual I have ever held in my hands is not very good. There were some things I had to learn how to use by trial and error There you have it. The nice thing about buying at REI, is their return policy. I would verify first, but I remember people returning things a year later and getting their money back. I am perfectly willing to answer more questions. Just wait until you start using pocket queries and GSAK, but that will come later. Bob

Wow, that worked perfect! All those pocket queries I wrote and I never noticed those list boxes. Only 8 caches left from May of 2000 all across the world and I have one 26.3 miles from me. How lucky am I? Thanks again.

I started thinking I would like to fill up my "Finds by placed month" grid on GSAK stat gen. I do not have any finds of caches placed in 2000. I did a search of caches placed in 2000. As it stands now, I can get a cache for every month in 2000 within the 500 mile limit. However, there is a cache only 23 miles from me that was placed in May 2000. It's GC code is GC28. One assumes that this is the 28th cache placed in geocaching history. It got me thinking where is GC01 and GC02, GC03, etc..... So I wrote a pocket query for caches placed in May 2000 within 2000 miles of home (Chicago), but the miles always got changed to 500. So, bottom line, I would like a query that returns GC01, GC02, where ever they are. Now I also realize that archived caches will not be returned, but I can fill in the blanks by manually searching for them one by one. (Kinda of a pain, since I do not know how many of those are archived). Please don't shoot me if this was covered in another thread. I did some searching but that 5 character limit on searches was driving me nuts. (Can't search on May, 2000, 500, GC, ugh). Making my search keywords more generic either timed out or returned 35 pages of results. Thanks for reading, Bob

Hi, No we will not have camping gear. There are a few National Park lodges in Sequoia/Kings Canyon. I have not checked availability yet. What I meant by touring is us driving on paved roads in our rental car. Thanks

Hello everyone, We are wondering if you can help us plan a long weekend getaway. I have a conference in Vegas, Oct 19-22. My wife is going to fly in after the conference. We will hang in Vegas for a night and in the morning drive to a destination. This is where you can help us. We have from Thursday till Sunday morning. Two places we are thinking of are Grand Canyon, and Sequoia/Kings Canyon national parks. We have not been to either place. Our activities would be limited to hiking and touring. I have this feeling there would be more to do in Sequoia/Kings Canyon. Geocaching does not weigh into the decision. Any advice to give? FYI - we would be flying out of our destination spot, thus we would not have to drive back to Vegas. Thanks Bob and Linda

I found it. It was Lake County Radio Group (L.C.R.G) - GCM4N1. I had it tucked away in GSAK. Maybe I am confused. I thought they kept caches that were archived if you had found them previously.

I work down the road from Independence Grove and occasionally, my firm will sponsor some sort of offsite event there. I remember finding a geocache there on the west side of the park. (There may have been two, but I definitely remember getting one. ) Looking at geocaching.com, I do not see that cache listed. Perhaps I did not log it and it has been archived. I was just wondering if anyone else found that one and still has it appear on the website. What was the name of that one? Bob

Hey everyone, I will be coming to sunny Florida for a week of R and R. We will be spending a couple of days in North Miami Beach and then driving to my Mother-In-Law's house in Cape Coral. Outside of geocaching and time, what is the difference between going us-41 vs. I-75? What would I be missing by not taking US-41? FWIW, we will have a six year old and and eight year old with us. And we will be in a rental car. Thanks, Bob

i am still in the majority.

I am also. for now.

Ooh, I have a theory. (It is mine, it belongs to me. I call it Theory number 1.) Searches for words of three characters or less have issues.

I am thinking about placing my first cache and I started doing some research on names for the cache. If you search for the keyword "one", you get back 8 caches. That seemed odd to me that only 8 caches would have the word one. If you search for "two" you get back 8 caches. Odd, but now I start to think there is a problem in search. Now if you search for "three", you get 1,256 caches. "four" gets you 932. (Incidently, one of the "four" results has a "two" in the title, but that is not returned in the results for "two".) Now I think there is a bug in search.

I like to ride my bike to caches as well. Being in the suburbs of Chicago, you have to have planned route or carry a map for adjustments. Some of the streets do not have sidewalks or bikeways. And with traffic, you do not want to be riding on the street. I print from GSAK using the myGME macro. If I am not city caching, I drive to forest preserves and cache along the bike routes within them. If I have to go off the trail, I carry my bike in for about 100 feet or so and lay the bike on its side. Heck, coming back I can get 40 feet away and not see my bike. Remember to take a waypoint where you leave your bike.

Actually, I would like to see stats that generally do not have to do with people. I would like to know which state has the most caches per square mile. Which cache is the has the most logs? Which cache is the most active? Perhaps those two stats by state. How about a list of the oldest caches for each state? In terms of people stats, I would like to know who has found the most, who has the longest streak? I know that will probably start a competition, but since there is no monetary prize, who cares? Would I pay for them? I think they should be shown to Premium members only. That might get more members to sign up for Premium service.

So did I!! I was following a winding road through a desert park. The road was going to wind in a loop, rather that walk the road, I cut across the desert scrub area, About 75 feet away from the road, there was a $100 bill that has been trapped by a small bush and partly covered by sand. Do you think there is a rich geocacher leaving $100 bills around when he or she goes geocaching?