TheMCP

CB could actually be a lot of fun, and it wasn't all truckers, not by a longshot. When I was 13 my father gave me his CB radio because he couldn't figure out where the heck to mount it in his new car. So, I got a power adapter for it and stuck the antenna out my window, and poof, I was on the air. I discovered a whole local community of radio people I had never imagined, and made many friends... including the husband of a teacher from school, a couple in their 80's, a few kids from the community college, an old high school friend of my father who turned out to be a distant cousin by marriage, and even a kid from my school that I didn't actually know. On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog, and on CB nobody knows you're 13 until they meet you. I met everyone, and my social life became rich and interesting. I'm still friends with some of these people. Others have, sadly, passed away, but my life is better for having known them. But then, the sunspot cycle changed and the radio waves became overcrowded with noise. Also, powerful (and illegal) transmission power amplifiers became widespread and the idiots using them ruined the airwaves for hundreds of miles around them. The noise level from it all was so high, in order to not have constant noise coming out of the radio on every channel, I had to turn the squelch up so high that it would never receive *anything*. I found out the hard way that the FCC was totally uninterested in enforcing the law and keeping the frequencies useable... they basically told me "too bad kid, it's CB, we don't have time to do anything about that, what did you expect?" And *that's* when serious community interest in CB died off, as the people who really cared about it all finally gave up, went and got our amateur radio licenses, and moved off of CB to the 2 meter ham radio band.

Ok folks, things to keep in mind: 1) In general, parks tend not have any laws against going off the trails. 2) Just because you don't happen to want to go the same direction everyone else does doesn't make you a terrorist. 3) Cops showing up to question you about what you're doing is nasty and abusive of them. 4) A cop pulling a gun on you is a BIG DEAL in pretty much any state in the US, to the extent that in many states if they don't actually see a weapon in your hands before they pull their gun on you, you can have them suspended or discharged. So, if a cop shows up to question me while I'm doing something perfectly innocent and legal, I'm not about to be mister sweet cooperative victim and play along. Well before there was geocaching, I was (and am) a ham radio operator. I used to carry my radio everywhere with me. Cops would occasionally get it into their heads to stop me and interrogate me about it. It would generally go something like this: Cop: What are you doing with that radio? Me: Walking. Cop: I want to know what it's for. Me: Receiving and transmitting radio waves. Cop: Don't be smart with me. Me: Would you prefer I give stupidly incorrect answers? Generally it would go downhill from there until I pointed out that I was just walking home and I knew damned well I wasn't breaking any laws so if they had a problem with that they could arrest me and the judge would no doubt give them plenty of time to explain why when my lawyer grilled them about violating my rights. Then I'd leave. I'm disgusted that some of you think that it's a good thing that this has become such a stupidly paranoid nation that people are calling cops on innocent people in parks with GPSs, and cops are actually facistic enough to grill you about it. (I don't have a problem with them showing up to take a peek, but interrogating innocent people is another story.) I thought we were a proud and free people living in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, not a bunch of timid subjects of a police state like soviet russia. If we play along timidly, we are simply increasing the precedent that we can be intimidated. Only by standing up and saying that we are doing nothing wrong and do not deserve to be harrassed will we preserve our rights and freedoms.

1) Since the rules forbid placing caches on federal park land, why should we care? 2) <rant>I'm so comforted to know that everyone is looking out for something suspicious. Now if only we knew what suspiciousness looked like.</rant>

With my limited experience in caching I have only one concept I'd like to push here... We should try to keep caches adult-friendly. There's nothing wrong with putting kids' items in a cache and I have no problem with McToys, but when a cache is full of brightly colored plastic kiddie things and nothing else, it has little trade appeal to adults who may find it. Fine if the cache has a kiddie theme, but not for everyone else. My two favorite things I've found so far were a potholder (it sounds prosaic, but I needed a potholder!) and a keychain (I liked it better than the one I was using). Items I bought for trade purposes include pocket calculators, tape measures, paperweights... and a couple of small toys, in case I find a toy I want. In short, adults are doing this, single adults without kids, and I believe you should try not to marginalize us by making the sport too child-centric.

I find the accusatory tone that this is some kind of liberal problem deeply offensive. A real liberal would believe it should be the right of the people to choose, or choose not, to bear arms, and would object to this sort of foolish park policy. And I agree with SamLowrey about its foolishness. Practically anything can be defined as a weapon... a yo-yo could, I imagine, also make a fine garotte. Anything glass can be shattered and used as a blade. Anything hard can be used as a bludgeon. A marine corps drill sargeant once explained to me how to kill someone with a newspaper. The state I live in is so foolish about this that if you kick someone while wearing shoes you are charged with "assault with a deadly weapon" but if you kick them barefoot it's simply "assault." It's moronic, but true. So while I will choose to refrain from placing knives or food or matches in caches, I do recognize the laws and policies behind this no-knives rule are part of the dumbing-down of human culture and the least-common-denominator kiddie-proofing of the world. For these reasons, I find this rule objectionable.

1) I think I got started in 1993. I bought a Garmin GPS 12. It's still my only unit, its tank-like construction has kept it in as-new condition, and has excellent accuracy. I'm actually upgrading to a newer model now but the one I ordered hasn't arrived yet. 2) I have a terrible fear of being lost. 3) I have a terrible fear of being lost.