jicknarson

That is a great price... I am much more comfortable spending $329 than $500+ for the 550t, even though that is a good deal. Now - is there anybody out there with a Costco membership that will buy one for me? I'm good for the purchase price - really!

I cache alone in remote areas often... that is my preferred type of cache, and I feel a whole lot safer out in the woods than I do in an urban setting - just me. I always carry pepper spray at hand, hanging from my belt pack and not tucked deep in some pocket, but more for the event that I get between a mama bear and her offspring than run into some shifty human. My cell is always with me, I travel with my vicious Golden Retriever (not! but at least she is company) and I make sure someone knows where I am headed. If I am attempting a cache I feel might be risky or more challenging than usual I try to find another foolhardy soul to accompany me. On several occasions I have run into people out in the middle of nowhere - usually they are as startled as I am. The only one that gave me a moment of apprehension was a gentleman carrying a machete, who asked if I was alone. Turns out he was cutting balsam boughs and just trying to make small talk..... but I had a flash of stepping into some grade B horror movie. I agree with the previous opinions - male or female, be prepared, keep your head up, and chances are good you'll be OK.

This is not just a southern MN term - I was introduced to it here in the far north (of MN, that is) when I started caching last year. Ya, you betcha - we have lotsa geobeacons up here!

jicknarson active and ready for deployment from Britt ... and it looks like northern MN is underrepresented here!

He included Girl Scouts. OP ended with "How many of the ladies here were in Girl Scouts and how far did you get in it?". Glad you replied. To add another twist - and this may have been addressed earlier, but I am joining this topic late... How about female geocachers involved in Boy Scouts? I was a Cub Scout den leader for years, and was also actively involved in Boy Scouts. I just wish I had known about geocaching when I had a den of boys to entertain and enlighten - this would have been a great activity!

While I see your reasoning, Team GPSaxophone, I think the issue is the difference between using one's eyes and brain, vs the "scorched earth" method. Just the way I am interpreting this.....

????????????????????????? Thanks, Bittsen, I'm going with evil kitty for now. Got one of those, too.... spends her days terrorizing the golden retriever. Looks pretty much just like the pic.

Hey, GeoBigDawg... Not so sure about the bus... but the dog is great!

Hobbies besides caching? Something "fun"? Odd? Mcabre? I have had to design things for customers before that they couldn't describe. On an hourly basis, I enjoyed it. When it was priced per job, it sucked. Hobbies besides caching? Surely you jest! My garden is running a not-at-all close second since I started hitting the road every free moment. Fun and odd are good. Macabre... cool, but maybe not me. I cache with my golden retriever - not so macabre. Thanks for thinking... I am working this weekend, not much computer time or opportunity to respond....

If I could define "out there" I could probably design an avatar! I see I opened the door for some out there ideas... ummm.... loved em and laughed....but not sure they are how I want to represent myself... for sure not the pumpkin butt. A simple image, not a complicated picture, something not really mainstream - I guess that would pretty well apply to geocaching in general.... Wish I had a better idea what direction to go in.

Wow - is this offer still good? I would love someone to design an avatar for me - something a little out there, simple, incorporating some kind of geocaching theme... Or can just be a graphic of some sort. I have no inate creativity, so this is totally beyond me. My user name doesn't really apply - it is an inside family joke, non-related to caching. I am open to suggestions! Thanks in advance......

You could just as well have been changing the radio station or checking your rear-view mirror. Yup, Knowschad, I could have.... but I wasn't, and that, for me, is thought-provoking. Looking in my rear view is part of safe driving. Changing the radio station or checking my GPSr is not.

Gotta jump in here - this is my first post, so feel free to flame. Whatever. This will not be a popular opinion, and it is not one that I would have held a week ago. I was out caching last weekend, on back roads and topping out at 45 max - while keeping one eye (I thought only one) on my GPSr. Glanced down (again - I thought it was only a glance), looked back up to see a big (close) flash of brown..... and within 3 seconds my vehicle was totaled. Quick as that - and not to say that it wouldn't have happened anyway - this deer was on a death mission - but I had no clue it was even on my radar. I do feel that if I had my eyes and attention ONLY on the road I might have had a chance at avoiding the accident, whether partially or fully. Luckily there were no injuries involved. Will this change my practices in the future? I hope so....

Well, guess this is not a catastrophe on a global level. but it nearly was on a personal one.... Heading for a couple of caches that the logs indicated were a long, tough hike in, so I wanted to drive as much of the way as possible. Found what I believed to be the right road, and although it looked pretty rough I managed to travel about 50 feet before I realized this was the entrance to a hiking trail. There was no possible way to turn the car around, and when I attempted to back out I realized (by the terrible screeching noise coming from the passenger side of the the car) that not only way there a visible boulder on the driver side (which I managed to avoid) but a hidden one on the other - don't know how I drove in without hitting it. I think I only had about two inches clearance on either side of the car, and for a while I was quite worried I wasn't going to be able to "thread the needle" to get back out.... and then what? Abandon my car, paint it camo, and hope no one noticed? Finally maneuvered it out and ended up with a bunch of dents and much less paint on one side of the car. The hike in to both caches was not bad at all..... ug. Learned my lesson (for awhile, anyway!)