kc2ixe

My CURRENT ride is a "King Cab" 1994 Mazda B2300 pickup with an Aluminum cap - otherwise stock except for way too many radios (depending on day - as few as two, as many as 4 ham radios) - 329k miles - still runs well I say current because the family has outgrown the truck (the 2 kids and I don't really fit in the front), so we're shopping for a new ride - Right now it's narrowed to a Nissan Long Bed Crew Cab Pathfinder, some sort of 7 seat SUV, or a Minivan - I don't want a mini van, but....

Just checking - Have you brought it to her attention? yep - I have, VERY recently, so they have not made it into the database YET

You going to offically submit this one to the NGS? You should!!

How do you find what are the oldest benchmarks in your area? The 2 1903 marks in my area that I know of are either offically destroyed, or have recovery notes from the 1930s listing them as destroyed, and Deb just hasn't gotten around to changing it yet

Wow - what a question. I've owned Vasque boots - very nice for MY feet. Probably the nicest I ever wore were a pair of Russell Moccasin CUSTOM fitted boots - yep, they make them to fit you, and you get to spec what YOU like - NOT cheap Believe it or not, my current pair of boots, which I bought so I could send the Russells back for new soles is a pair a Magnum Stealth boots - the joke. I like them enough that I'm on my second pair, and have not send back the Russell boots yet!! Part of what determines what I wear is time of year - I don't want boots with Thinsulate for the summer - heck, in the summer I don't even want goretex - my feet sweat, so... Now, in the dead of winter.....

My pack as an "original" leatherman, and I don't use it that often - but then again, I carry a "squirt" (the strange one from Radio shack - the only one with strippers) on my keys, and a "real" knife on my belt. The ONLY reason the leatherman stays in the pack is that between the PDA, the knife, and a HT (2 way radio) the belt really doesn't have the space to spare

It can be anything from Trivially easy, to VERY hard. You go looking for a benchmark that has an adjusted location, in a good GPS sport, and you should just be able to walk up on it. Ones with GOOD directions that have not had too much change in their area since they were last found are also easy - I found one the other week that hadn't been found since 1952 - walked right up to it. It was described as "In the west wall 3 feet south of northwest corner, 2 feet off the ground" - yep the big massive building built in 1952 was still there, and so was the disk The you go looking for some mark that hasn't been found in a while, where there has been massive construction - good luck - i t might be gone, might be burried, and all of the reference points are GONE - good luck. The first one I tried to find was like that

I get up before my wife, I think she has made my breakfast maybe 10 times in the last 15 years, ditto lunch. I do the cooking 5-6 nights/week, she doesn't give back rubs (she's never tense, so she doesn't understand them), and the first fall we were married she said "Your NOT going to sit around all day and watch football" - haven't watched more than 1-2 games/year since then That said, I wouldn't trade her for anything (still bugs me when she makes breakfast for the kids, and looks at me and says, "Make your own")

Varies on time of year - no parka now Let's see - off the top of my head My usual "go bag" (see www.thegallos.com/gobag.htm ) 30 ft 1.5" flat line 4" steel beiner chains hardhat 6 foot sling maps case of water toilet paper plastic bags food (enough for 2+ days) various non climbing ropes stobes copper pipe jpole antenna 50 ft 9913 coax duct tape ammo can with first aid kit and flashlight a few more flashlights spare batteries shovel (full sized) spare vest spare orange hats rain gear 2 5 gallon buckets (one clean, one for use as "the can" if ever needed) fire extingusher spare dual band antenna spare mag mount antenna 2 radios - both GE commercial - VHF and UHF truck mounted "rangr" radios - 100 watts each - programmed for 2m and 440Mhz bands usually 3 HTs - monobanders in 2m and 440Mhz, and a Dualbander APRS tracker box - aka, a 2m Ham radio, 7Ah battery, TNC and GPS in one container truck has "house" and "starter" batteries Oh yeah, sleeping roll, tarps, tent pegs and the like. Reflective tape mounted to magnetic sign material Mess Kit I think I have most of it there - other stuff gets added as needed (masts for antennas, more coax, etc)

I don't have a problem - for some reason, benchmark hunting is, FOR ME, a lot more interesting than caches (I've only bothered to look for one - I know where another is, but walked right by on the way to a benchmark) So, like someone else said, a clipboard, my hardhat, orange vest, and a commercal grade HT hanging on the belt, I LOOK like I belong poking around for benchmarks.

Artman, I've run into one or two who wish for the troops to do poorly, so that Bush will look bad. And yes, I work in the Media too

That must be recent because I've often seen notes in the trail registers from rangers who were doing just that. I even met a ranger on Giant Ledge whose job was to spend each day on Slide Mountain, then walk to Giant Ledge to spend the night and keep an eye on things there (not a bad job I must say). I know he was seasonal ranger, but I remember him busting people on Giant Ledge who were camped too close to the trail. He made them pack up and come down the mountain, where another ranger was waiting to take them before the judge. This was only 3 years ago. Seen the ranger making busts up on the top of slide for people sleeping up there. Did that once back in 1980 - never pitched a tent. Just put out my pad and bag on the rock up top - Gad the porcupines were BAD

I can tell your not used to working with State Bureaucracy then. It's an absolute classic way of banning things without banning things, OR of some bureaucrat banning something that's legal, but he/she doesn't like It's classic, and I seen it in other issues - make something require a permit, and you might even have a full process, but let's say it requires you to take an approved course - now you don't approve any courses, or offfer the course VERY VERY rarely, and by apointment only. They get to limit what happens then

Super geek chick here! Obviously YOU have never played D&D. I'm talking about OLD D&D...pencils, paper, hex maps, etc. Ah! Drunk D&D nights. Now that was some fun! :P Met my wife playing the Old D&D - NOT AD&D - the REAL old one - small books, Chainmail combat system... Sigh

Ah.... Some "City Hunters" are better hunters than some of the country folks. Dad lives in the city, and has hunted the same area every year for the last 64 years, less the time he was on Uncle Sams tour of Europe - Last year was probably his least year due to health Both of us are welcomed by the "locals" with open arms- we are sort of "honorary locals" - they know us by name, know our kids. We show up and HELP people. I was taught woodcraft by Dad and the folks up there. I not only had to pass the states "Hunter education" course, but my Dad's long time hunting buddy was the instructor, and I had to pass HIS tests, which included watching me in the woods for years So please, don't lump all "Bad hunters" with "City Hunters"

I'm pretty sure you can at least partially add Alabama, Delaware, Mass, Maine, Ohio, PA, Virginia, West Virgina, Rhode Island, New York, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland and most National Wildlife Refuges to that list. Probably others. NY Allows Sunday hunting - And you CAN get a carry permit, IF you live outside of NYC and environs - It depends on your county

Oh, I agree, it's just that I know the bluestone the LIRR used, and in a spot like where it is (Like I said, I found the door sill), it's PROBABLY gone, or VERY faint. No matter WHAT, right now it's under an anti skid coating (it's partly flaking, but it's there) I've got to borrow a digital camera - I've got 4 "landmark" stations that are GONE. The MOST interesting one is called "Little Neck Brown Stack" with NO description. Today, I found a 1910 photo of the location, and there is the stack - I have NO idea when this 90+ foot smokestack went away, but it's MORE than 35 years ago (as long as I can remember) - probably removed when the highway was put in that spot in 1939

Yep - to the left of the door, however, only in slate (bluestone), and 52 years since last recovery is a LONG time

Had a good day hunting today - went and looked for 4 marks - 2 "Not founds", 2 "recovered goods", one of which had not been recovered in 12 years, the other 52 years!!! One of the "Not founds" - I know exactly where it WAS/IS (slate door sill), but the sill is totally worn out since 1932, and is totally covered with an anti slip coating - who knows if the mark (chiseled square) is still under the coating, or worn away

The thing is, there are SO many laws on the books that are just NOT enforced - I can almost guarntee you that you violate a few EVERY day - yep, they were passed, and after a couple of years, no once cares anymore, or maybe it was JUST passed, and no one knows yet Drive in New York State? Do you have a flagman walking in front of your car to warn the horses your coming? Yep, still on the books. Hundreds of ones like that - ones on tipping hats, about facing front in the elevator with hands clasped, and not talking - hundreds and thousands of small little laws that have LITTLE to do with basic common sense that get violated every day, and are usually ignored, but if someone wants to enforce them they can BTW For a while, a few of these "dead" laws were being used to do drug stops in Brooklyn - what the local cops figured out was a stack of OLD laws, still on the books, but not enforced as the reason to do car stops (like the flagman law). Everyone KNEW the real reason - a way to get to pull you over, but...

Deb, One quick question RE reports... I'm digging through the stack of all benchmarks withing 3 miles from my house (quite a few) - in the reports, some going back as far as the 30s, there are "destroyed" notes (some even by USGS, or by the company removing them), but the stations are NOT listed as destroyed. What should we do in this case? Email you? Enter a new "destroyed" observation direct, and just reference the docs?