calvinrtvp

Fellow owl, you've got a buddy in Virginia. (but Buffalos are noble animals, too)

Good, honest questions. Whether Jeremy wants to answer them is up to him and he shouldn't be judged for answering or not answering, but I for one would be curious to know the answers. I think it would be COOL to know the answers (especially about that "stock" question...looking for investors?)

I think the real answer to your question is not that there IS a solution to your problem, but that the gains offered by your proposed solution aren't worth the cost, effort and frustration to both TPTB and the moderators. Sometimes it's wisest just to let the question go and return to the sport that we all love. Continuing with this subject is getting VERY old very fast (I, too, have read all of the posts on this topic) and honestly, I think that there are other issues that could benefit more from TPTB's efforts than this one. Edited to add: I agree with CrimsonWrath. It's a bad idea to automatically archive caches. Edited again to add: The sport could be improved by dropping topics that aren't making progress and working on other topics that truly will benefit the sport.

What I usually do is find one cache that's near where I want to go and then do a "find all nearby caches" search. That way you'll find others as close as possible.

Only problem is that you wouldn't be able to carry your GPSr! (doh!)

Gotta love it! You left out Washington DC though. If you count that as a state, it trumps them all (of course 95% of the caches are virtuals....) Actually, most of Washington D.C.'s virtuals are actually WORTH something. And since there are so many of them so close together (all up and down the National Mall), it makes it worth the trip...you can walk from one interesting site to another completely different but equally interesting site. I personally like the ones that are in Arlington Cemetery...haven't been there yet, but I love Arlington Cemetery for the beauty, the peace, and the reverence in the area...I'll be going there soon. Since the virtuals placed there are intended to teach history about people worth revering, I appreciate the people who put them there.

How 'bout..."Last wife left me...looking for a new one. Can anyone tell me where to find the waypoints?"

I've used it and I like it for the very reason that I can publish a handicap accessible site without fear that it will be "lost in the words". It's also given me some ideas for other caches that without the pictures I might not have considered.

I've added a handicap accessible multicache to the site (Gold & Iron) just South of D.C....thanks for bringing it to my attention, rldill. Hopefully it will give a few more people the opportunity to "get out and hunt".

If you're going to Oahu, I definitely recommend the Strangled Palm Cache. I stopped through Hawaii on business and loved the view that this one provided more than any other. Also, if you've got someone back in the states that can drop everything and run to their computer to take your picture, the Almost Live! Vidcam Cache is a fun one and quick and easy to accomplish. A third one (and one that's close to the Strangled Palm Cache is the Kiddie Kache. It will get you up close and personal with the real beauty of Hawaii. I caught all three of these while I was on business in Hawaii last month. I'm going with the family to Hawaii for Thanksgiving and I'm going to make a point of letting them find each of these. One thing...get a REALLY GOOD MAP! (they cost about $12 for a map that includes every street, bus route, etc.) One thing that I noticed when I was researching my trip was that Hawaii seems to be a travel bug graveyard...everyone takes TBs there and nobody brings them home. So you can do the community a favor and rescue a few while you're there. Don't expect the prizes to be that great in the caches, but the sites and hides are incredible. Happy Honeymoon! (and if you come back with a really dark tan, then you'll know that you've done too much geocaching! )

A lot of times caches aren't disabled just because there is maintenance that needs to be done. I know of several caches that are temporarily disabled to allow the vegetation time to recover (may only be a couple of months, but that couple of months is critical) OR because the weather makes them definitely untenable (such as being under 3 feet of snow). That doesn't mean that they should be archived...just that the owner doesn't want people going to the cache either to protect the environs temporarily or to save people the trouble of looking for a cache that is obstructed, either by the weather or some other activity.

What about an opportunity to give it a "gold star" without it being a subjective ranking? That way, if anyone wanted to say "this one's extra special" then all they'd have to do is to give it an extra click...that would be a kind of reward to people who put a lot of effort into their caches (or who have made someone's day for being available at a critical moment...like Bons mentioned). I don't know that a "negative" rating would help the sport that much, though...only cause resentment. The logs would convey enough info by what they say (or don't) IMO.

Not just mountains, but all isolated places...while originally "cool" to place a TB in, can be very frustrating to watch a TB languish in. Hawaii is a good case in point. So many travel bugs head to Hawaii on vacation (cool!) but then nobody brings them back, or if they do, they're probably lost in the luggage or not getting logged back out. What should be one of the "coolest" locations (Hawaii) becomes a travel bug grave yard. I think that's what will happen to the mountaintop bugs. You may think the idea's cool, but it will quickly become an annoying TB trap. (Hopefully someone will rescue all those TBs shortly after they're trapped!) I like the idea of the person placing TBs at the top of a mountain being the one that sprung for them in the first place. Then, when the numbers dwindle, they can hike back to the top of the mountain again and replenish the cache.

fake library book We did a fake library book cache, too...actually, it USED to be a library book that was decatalogued. The librarian gave it to us and we hollowed it out and glued the pages to make a box. I wasn't there when she put it back on the shelf and even knowing approximately where it was, it was still hard to find without the exact Dewey number to find it. You can find it at: Gold & Iron

They don't make such a thing, whats with you and 30. You mentioned 30 alot when you were trying to get an exterra out of us and now you ask for a 30 bill My water bill's about $30...do you want that? I try to put a little bit of everything in my caches (okay, so I've only got two so far, but I've only been at it a couple of months)...and I'll always try to make a cache better for the next guy. Something for both kids and adults is important IMO. For first finders prizes, so far I've left a $20 bill wrapped around a stack of monopoly money (geo-cash) and a dream catcher ("dream-cacher"). I'd much rather put more effort into the location/hunt for the cache, though, since the contents will be transient anyway.

Don't forget that in order to place a cache, you need to get the permission of the landowner or the land manager! I was surprised by our county parks security guy...when I mentioned that I wanted to place a cache in one of the parks, he knew nothing about geocaching, despite the fact that there were already lots of caches out there. It gave me a chance to sell geocaching, but I had to make some emergency e-mails to other cache owners to let them know that he expected to be notified whenever a cache is placed.

Maybe a "lamprey"....one that latches on and "sucks" up to the other bug until it finds a better bug to hook on to (or until the other bug figures out a way to get it off!)

That's cool! Unfortunately, since you have to have the UPC number, you probably also have the product as well, so it doesn't tell you anything that you don't already know...i.e., you have a box of Carnation Hot Chocolate....well...uh...duh!?

Just make sure it's not the cache owner updating his cache before you beat him to a pulp.

I've got a brand new package of Monopoly money (even the big bills!) that I'm dropping off this week...does that count?

Funny you should mention this! I was in the local library talking with the manager about this just this afternoon. She was very enthusiastic...even to the point of offering to provide the book (already with the dewey decimal number on it, believe it or not) from a stack of books that had just been "purged". She's going to give me the book to hollow out and I'll use coordinates from local landmarks to help build the cache. I was going to do this as a cache that ANYONE could get to (since so many of the local caches are inaccessible to those in wheelchairs, etc.). Since it's an OLD book, it won't be as likely that it will be taken....it's already registered to the library, so I don't have to go through that hassle before leaving it on the shelf...and I have the full support of the library staff. Now all I have to do is build the first part of the "trail". That's the easy part!

I'm headed to Fredericksburg this weekend and discovered one of the COOLEST cache ideas I've seen yet...they've got a hunt that's easier to do at night than during the day...they use reflective markers down a trail (with left and right turns at forks defined by the way the reflectors are placed). Check it at After the Lights Go Out Cache What I was wondering is, are there any others out there that anyone's discovered (especially in this area)? I'd love to see more of these, since most of my frustration so far with geocaching has been the fact that the sun goes down too early...I always am wanting to do "just one more" but the darkness is definitely a limiting factor. Curious to hear if anyone's found any other night caches....

If you're going to do a "hand-off", why not do it at a cache site? That way, you can log the bug as placed in the cache, and your cousin can log the bug as picked up there. That way, it has a definite stopping point, rather than being snatched.

You can also print a bug sheet directly from your bug's page (where you entered or edit all the info)

I agree that mailing is okay, BUT I think that TBs that are in a RACE should travel by hand, rather than by mail. If I fly somewhere and hand it off to someone who flies somewhere else (either by giving it to them or dropping it in a cache and them picking it up) that's okay, but just because I have a friend in a goal area, I don't think it's cool to mail the TB to them. After all, the JOURNEY is the goal.