Melrose Plant

I'm going to have to check that out. I have a Ford and a Saturn (and formerly a Chevy S-10), and I can set my unit down between the seats of the Ford (the dash is curved and really sucks for geocaching, the unit slides around) and usually still keep a lock. My parents have two Buicks. I might have to borrow one as a test.

I haven't been able to download waypoints either. I have a 60CS. My problem is that my stupid computer doesn't seem to recognize my stupid GPS as a piece of hardware. So I've been going manually, the same as I did the Geko 101 that the 60CS replaced. It doesn't bug me yet, but I'm going to want real maps someday. It might be a problem then.

I'm with you. I always decode the hint first. After a year and a half of doing this, I've decided that I really don't like looking for the thing all that hard. I like signing the log book, and reading other entries, but what I really like is seeing things or finding things that I never knew existed but for somebody placing a cache there. My gripe for the week: A puzzle cache called "GeekSeek" where the coords were in code AND the hint was in code. In fact, they were double-encoded. When you decoded the hint, it said, "Geeks don't need hints." Ah, but I do. So far, I've been the only non-geek (geek being a professional in the computer industry) to find the darn thing. Actually, except for the non-hint hint, I really enjoyed that one anyway. BTW, it was a full-sized cache camouflaged really cleverly, even though it was dang near in plain sight, and could have used an on-site hint.

I can empathize. I started my vacation the same way. Only I was a little luckier, because I lost mine about a week and a half before I was supposed to leave. I still had all those waypoints in there, though. If it makes you feel any better, you really helped me out a lot in Mississippi. Thanks. See this cache page.

The main problem I have with most of these types of discussions is that if we are not very careful, we begin to talk about the homeless as if they are an infestation and not actual Children of God (please substitute your appropriate religious or secular phrase here--this is not really a discussion about religion--the sentiment should be the same for most). The logs for my "homeless" cache I mentioned a while back were headed in the direction of the "infestation" attitude, so I headed it off with a lecture. I think it worked. For a while, anyway, till it dropped off the bottom.

Ha! That's funny, I was just there, and I had the opposite problem. There were TOO many caches. OK, I had to cover 600 miles in one day, so that cuts down on the caching. I had two DNFs that day, out of 10 searches. On edit: Ah, I see, now that I actually read your post the second time through. You were there quite some time ago, before most of these were there.

This happens to me all the time. I do a lot of my First to Finding in the wee hours, then I have to go to work where there's no computer. It might be 12 or more hours after I found it that I got to log it on the website. In fact, the third or fourth finder is often the "FTP" (we call it first to post) in our area.

I have a river bottom cache called Inter-Urban Railway. Within 2-3 weeks after I placed it, somebody set up camp with 30 feet of the cache. They didn't stay long, it's so far off the trail that it's just inconvenient, even for a homeless person. I gotta hand it to him, though, he packed in a LOT of stuff, and there just is no easy way in. There are easiER ways, but no easy way. The shelter was abandoned well over a year ago, and it should be obvious to anyone that no one lives there, but I still get comments in the logs about "I worried if anyone was home." At one point, I gave a lecture in the log about social awareness. Now, it really needs to be a CITO event. I try to pack out some trash every time I do maintenace (which isn't all that often--it doesn't require much attention), but a person cannot carry all that much trash at one time bushwhacking quite a ways through the brush, then walking a good three quarters of a mile to the nearest road. It would take at least 50 physically demanding trips to even make a dent. James

This was our first cache. Unfortunately, it was stolen at some point and was archived. It was the closest one to our house at the time, about five miles away. It was funny reading the log again after all this time, not because it sounded so newbie-like, which it really doesn't. It was because my wife wrote the log. I think that is the only time this has ever happened (maybe one other). I think on the next couple I wrote the logs, but pretended I was her. After that, it was obvious that she wasn't nearly as interested in it as I was, so I dropped that pretense right there and then and started writing logs as myself. But I still to this day carry the "Balboagirl" moniker. It's almost just to late to change it now. No one would know who I am.

If you're that new, I'd go with the Geko at first, and you can always get something else later. I, up until the past month, had found all my 200+ caches with my trusty Geko 101. That's the completely manual cheapo model. I stupidly set it down at a busy cache site (busy with mostly muggles, that is) and left it there. It was of course gone when I realized what I had done. I replaced it with a 60CS, but to tell you the truth, the way I use it right now, without learning how to use all the features, I might as well have bought another Geko (except for the larger screen). I love the 60CS, but I still miss the Geko. And this is one where you have to punch everything in manually. With the 301, this is not an issue. Go for the Geko! Then decide later.

The only DNFs I get regularly on any of my caches are because of terrain and/or mosquito reasons, not because of clever hiding. I always email with hints about how to get around the ridiculously steep bluffs without killing yourself, or whatever the case may be. I haven't gotten any complaints yet. Of course, I haven't had anybody with a DNF come back to find it yet, either. Hmm. . .

Here is a slightly amusing example of a deleted log. There is a fairly recently hidden cache, called Cross Eyed Cache. Look at the third finder's log. It says simply, "Whatever." Before it was deleted, it said something to the effect of, "I just love these stare-e-o-grams." And then you will see my smart mouth note right after the re-entered log. Funny thing is, the hider and the finder are caching buddies, and I think they are professional colleages as well. They may not be direct colleagues, but they both work in the computer industry in my area. And now for the real irony. I never was able to read the thing, deleted log or not. I had my sister read it, and then, to add insult to injury, I still could not find the cache! So let's not be too quick to delete logs. It says right on every cache page that logs may contain spoilers, so for the greatest challenge, don't read the logs. To each his own. If it bugs you that much, you could choose a more subtle approach and re-hide the cache slightly.

I am not as strict with the DNFs as some are. I don't necessarily follow any hard and fast rule--if it seems like it should be a DNF, then that's what it is. If it seems like it ought to be a note, well you get the idea. And yes, I have logged multiple DNFs on more than one occasion. I am not afraid of the purple frowny face. In fact, I just logged one today! It seems like I have more DNFs than almost anyone in my area. I wonder what that means?

So far, I have removed two archived caches. There is another not really close to me which I am sure is still there, even though it was archived some time ago. These caches were hidden by. . . no, I won't name names, but he's hidden a LOT of caches. Way beyond what a person could resonably maintain.

Altitude always is a concern for Balboagirl. When caching, she switches from her usual four inch heels into more walkable three inch heels.

I have so long ago quit trading items that it doesn't bother me in the least if the cache is full of junk, with one exception: If the cache is so crammed full of junky junk that I can't get the lid back on properly, and it's obvious that the previous finders couldn't either. In this case, I have no problem removing the junkiest of the junk so the water-tightness of the cache is not compromised.

I have to blame my wife, Balboagirl herself. She heard about it from someone on another message board she frequents (although I don't think that person is a regular cacher), she found the website, she bought the GPSr, and she dragged us out to our first cache. Since then, I have sort of taken over the geocaching, and she doesn't want much to do with it. Ironic, isn't it? And now I'm stuck with this user name. I could change it, but I've had it too long. It just wouldn't seem right.

I work construction, so I don't have a fixed commute. My shortest commute would be when I'm laid off. My second shortest commute is the one for the job I'm going to starting Monday--about 25 miles and less than 30 minutes. My longest (non overnight stay) commute has been 110 miles, which took 1 hour, 40 minutes. Lots of opportunities to geocache alonge that route, but precious little time.

Somebody already mentioned this, but let me emphasize this triple if you're searching at night: Make certain you MARK THE LOCATION OF YOUR VEHICLE. Trust me. Wandering around in the inky blackness in the woods when you've got to be at work in 30 minutes does induce a certain amount of panic. This is true (for me at least) even if your foray into the woods is only 150 feet. I get turned around easily, especially in the dark. Also, if you're doing a longer cache out in the wilds, it certainly does not hurt to mark waypoints at things like where you left the trail, or took a fork in the trail or other such important changes of direction. If you find that you're miserable on a caching trip, give up and go home! Even I, described by others as having a problem of obcession with caching, have gone home from 150 miles away because I wasn't having fun any more.

I just use a standard day-pack/college bookbag type backpack which is specially loaded for caching. Sometimes it gets a little overstuffed during a longer hike with the kid and the dog, but caches are only so long around here. I carry a 2.3 qt Tupperware with me stuffed with several ziplocks, spare logbooks, pencils, tape, etc. for cache repair. I also carry two flashlights at all times.

I normally try to make extra footprints to a WRONG place, and while I'm doing that, drag a branch behind me in an attempt to obliterate my footprints to the RIGHT place (assuming I've found it at all). It's hard to do that with this icy crap we've gotten around here lately, though.

Under no circumstances would I delete a DNF. It's part of the saga. Recently, I did not find a cache that was hidden at the wrong coordinates. Two others who had sought with no luck deleted their DNFs, once things were made right. I would rather leave mine, because it makes a good story.

I like winter caching for a number of reasons: Less vegetation, no mosquitoes, no TICKS (I got Lyme Disease last summer), fewer Muggles, and several more. . . However, if there is any significant snow cover, be prepared for a lot more DNFs. It's just part of the game. On one of my DNFs last winter, I must have been mere inches from finding the cache. It was very, very easy during the summer.

C'mon, do you really expect the real Balboagirl to show up to a penny ante operation like this? She's got real class.

I'll have to check on my exact number of LTFs, but there is this one in particular that I feel really guilty about, one of my first dozen finds. I found it, and left a Travel Bug. The containter was a five quart ice cream bucket, and it was leaking like a sieve. The owner hadn't logged on to the site in months. I thought I'd be a Good Samaritan and go out there again and replace the container. Which I did. The cache was hidden at an Interstate rest stop. I may have been observed replacing the cache. It may have been muggled by the maintenance crew. However, it may have flat out blown away, too. I had to trash most of the swag since it was ruined. The ice cream bucket was frozen in place and had made an impression in the ground. My 1/2 square Rubbermaid container was, in retrospect, in great danger of blowing away in the 40-50 mph winds that came up in the next few days. Either way, I figure it was my fault. And a Travel Bug, too. I have never let it happen again. Oh yeah, I remember another LTF now. The park rangers confiscated the cache right after I found it because the owner (also MIA) had failed to procure the necessary required permits for it. Plus, the cache was in atrocious shape. This was obviously not my fault.