Barnacle Bear

A year ago, almost to the day, my wife and I went for Beatlejuice, our 13th. It didn't start out well because she was driving and I didn't give her directions early enough. Jaws were clenched when we got out of the car. Of course I chose the wrong parking lot. So we started a 1/2 mile walk down the middle of frozen Evergreen Lake. I was busy with the GPS but we held hands anyway. It was some kind of cold. We stopped to chat with an ice fisherman. When we reached shore a transformation took place. My bride went into what I now recognize as Stealth Mode Bravo. "Which way?" I pointed. She left. She didn't walk very far past it. When she doubled back, the look on her face was beatific. It was/is better than finding it myself. We took another trail back. Several times she said, "That would be a great place for a cache!" I was in heaven. Since then, while geocaching, I have learned many things about her I never would have guessed.

My wife likes to go on rides. She expects me to ride shotgun. That drove me nuts. Then we heard about caching. It may not be heaven but we have had many great times combining the two. The only problem is that she finds more than I do. Go have fun! BB

We got started a little over a year ago. The first geocachers we met lived more than 90 miles away. Because I am known as a geostumbler who cannot find his you-know-what with both hands AND a GPS, it took us months to discover NWOGeocachers. I was shocked to meet some of the most devious and sneaky people on the planet. They laughed and made fun of my puny efforts. Fortunately I have the skin of a rhinoceros. These same geolow-lifes freely share their knowledge and experiences. Some of their stories are simply unbelievable. In this area of Ohio, help is only an email or telephone call away. 'Course I still get more than my share of extraneous comments. I am truly thankful that I have fallen in with this outfit, but I think I may be turning devious and sneaky. Bob 1/3 of Barnacle Bear

Von Sweinigus is the second most important member of the crew.

There's a guy around here with 33 co-finds who doesn't even own a GPS.

Groundspeak has treated me very well. Great service!

Most cachers will not be offended if you log the date and time. Anything else will be offensive to someone. To be politically correct, don't log.

I alway wondered about Hydnckr and the Grizz. Last December a friend in Texas emailed me about how wonderful geocaching is. It just might be my answer. You see, The Woman likes to go for drives. Occasionally these drives have a destination. She expects me to ride shotgun. Just wandering drives me nuts. Maybe it's a guy thing but this getting into the car and driving out to nowhere is like going shopping. I don't do shopping very well, either. (Tractor Supply is different.) If we're going for a coat we don't need to look at shoes. Get the coat. Go home. Get confortable. Seems reasonable to me. So this geocaching thing comes along and I think, "She likes to go for drives. She likes to go for walks. I could get a new toy and nudge her in the right direction." Sounds good in theory doesn't it? Before we even talked about ordering a GPS we went out to find the one closest to home. It's in a local park. Ha, I know that park. I got topo. Piece of cake. Only we couldn't find it. It wasn't right where it was supposed to be. It was in the woods next to right where it was supposed to be. I lost all sence of direction in the woods. The Woman had words for me. We went back days later and this time I even took a compass. We started a reasonable search sweep. Just as we got to the end of the area we saw four suspicious people bushwacking the area. They were suspicious because, unlike us, they appeared to know what they were doing. It was SerentyNow and Searching for Fraggle Rock. What great embassadors for geocaching! I couldn't have planned it better. They were friendly and answered a gazillion questions and The Woman was hooked. I left convinced that I could have found the cache on the next sweep. What a joke. The GPS arrived around the first of 2004 and we have been caching ever since. We still go on aimless drives. I still ride shotgun. But now we take a geopack. We've also met some awesome people.

Early on something told me to let The Woman find it. The look on her face was awesome. That hasn't changed. And, she's getting better.

Some conciences are made of rubber. Combine that with a fear of what other's think and you have cacher that is always right. I'm easy to fool but you can't fool the one in the mirror.

My DNFs tell me what I missed and offer the opportunity to go back and find it. I found a former DNF this morning. Very satisfying. Plus I've had fun on every DNF. Why shouldn't I record that, too? It's my record. Edited for the word guys.

My psyrink finally figured it out. My stats suck because I have BiPolar Geofobia, complicated by the fact that TPTB can't figure out if I am magnetic or true. What's your excuse?

I use my gps to record the locations of permanent MetroPark benches. Don't know why they want that info, it's not like they are moving around a lot.

He likes it. His family likes it. He's going to change?

Who needs enemies when you can friends like those on this forum? On a scale of 1 to 10 your "serious infraction" hardly rates a fraction. I hope that you are mature enough to take a shower and move on. Many would simply let someone else plan, and take the heat for, the next event that might help the community and promote Geocaching. Do you really want to be associated with the friendly types on this forum? Your so-called caching friends aren't. Do not let them live rent-free in your mind. Find new ones who are not so quick to execute the messenger that they miss the message. Shallow is too deep of a word to describe their lives. Keep on caching! BB

Yea Brian! Is this geocaching? There's no geocaching involved in finding a cache you helped hide.

Hi Nickie! I agree whole heartedly. I have enough problems meeting cachers in NW Ohio and know nothing about caching in Florida. I attended a NWOGEO breakfast meeting, was astounded at the turnout and met many caching names I already knew. How can my Bro in PSL do the same? Do you know if there is a Central Florida group? BB

Hi Nickie! I agree whole heartedly. I have enough problems meeting cachers in NW Ohio and know nothing about caching in Florida. I attended a NWOGEO breakfast meeting, was astounded at the turnout and met many caching names I already knew. How can my Bro in PSL do the same? Do you know if there is a Central Florida group? BB

You can lump my stats any place you want. They will still be mine. I don't care how you manage your stats as long as you are a credit to geocaching. You can edit the cheater but you can not change the cheater. Eventually the cheater looks in the mirror and knows what he sees. If editing your logs makes you happy, go for it! BB

WANTED! GeoHoney to show my OLDER brother how to cache. [ Please send picture of GPS! ] Okay, it's an old joke. My brother lives in Port St. Lucie,FL. I live in Ohio. He doesn't know any cachers and is hesitant to purchase a GPS without trying caching. Is there anyone in the PSL area who might like a tag-along on a cache? Thanks!

von Sweinigus concurrs.

GIVEN: MY GPS is laboratory quality even though it is a close-out from Big Lots. GIVEN: The hiders GPS is obviously the one in error. FACT: I found his cache using his obviously wrong coordinates in MY laboratory quality, close-out from Big Lots. CONCLUSION: You are too stupid to be able to find this cache using the obviously wrong coordinates given by the hider unless you, too, have a laboratory quality GPS, closeout from Big Lots. That is not possible since I purchased the last one. Therefore, I am moving the cache to the correct location based upon the readings of MY laboratory quality, close-out from Big Lots. RECOMMENDATION: Go geocaching and change the world.

"The System" (Geocaching.com) cannot be compromised or cheapened. This place is part library, part phone book and part town square where we can share ideas and express opinions. The System does provide some statistics. But it does not foment comparison or hierarchy. Being human (mostly) the cachers do all the rest to themselves. The forums promote this because anyone can say almost anything while hiding behind their chosen 'handle.' Only the moderators keep it from oozing down to the gutter talk of CB radio. They do a great job. We live in a society of political correctness. Because of that we avoid criticism and judgement. There are always extenuating circimstances which much be considered and debated. The forums is where this happens. Isn't it great that the system designers saw the wisdom of a place where cachers can vent? There will always be those cachers who will do most anything to make themselves look good. They think that thousands of us are checking their stats on a daily basis. Let them think that. Keep you stats any way that you please. You are the only one who really cares about what you have accomplished. The System gives us a very good way to keep track of what we have done. At allows us to inspire others and make fools of ourselves if we so choose. And it allows yoyos such as me to pontificate on things that mean little to anyone but ourselves. BB

We don't care if you read: Our records. Our DNFails. (Too many but we still don't care!) About our finds. About our trades. These are just the stats that Geocaching.com keeps for us. You can use them or abuse them any way you want. BB logs to keep track of what WE did, when WE did it, and any comments WE might add. We just can not physically compete with many. We are not worried about anyone comparing us with/against/whatever you. There's no compasison - you'll win! We love the journal aspect of Geocaching.com. We wouldn't care if the only stats we could read were ours, if it comes to that. We haven't been inspired by stats but (Perhaps a note to 360 here.) we have been inspired by what others have written about a cache and the experiences they have had. If you jaw in the forums forever you will not stop this river. New technology might, but jawing won't. In the mean time we will be caching. BB P.S. It is not the 'imperial we.' BB is a team.

WELL Done!