Team Dromomania

Oh yes. I forgot to say another deception I use is my camera. I don't have a dog or small children. But with a camera I can zoom in very close and it seems natural. And many times I'm taking real photos. In one case there was a cache hidden on a full size human statue made up of old rusted tools which was also a fountain. I couldn't locate the cache but I took several photos. When I got home and looked at the photos on the computer screen there was one item in that mess of tools that didn't seem quite right. I returned and bingo!

I have a bright orange teeshirt I wear when I know I'll be searching along roads or around any other utilities (power transformers, light post, ditches, etc). I do service work and at times will wear my work shirt if I'm caching around bushes since it looks much like some of the grounds keepers outfits in this area. In all cases I act like I know what I'm doing. I seldom get any second glances. Those rare times that a muggle ask what I'm up to, I usually tell the truth. I lie badly.

Done it: a view of little sluggers Done it: The Pinicle of our day Done it: The Longest Mile Done it: Left or Right? (offset cache) Sluggers was a short climb. Pinicle almost killed the last cacher making the attempt. My own attempt was very scarry. Longest had very tall grass. And Left or Right had bats. Of these only the Pinicle could have easily killed me or the others. I won't be going there again.

I've heard of cases where in order to get permission a cache was made into a members only cache as this would reduce the number of visits and supposedly would limit visits to more experienced geocachers that would know better than to damage foliage when searching for the cache. That's a very valid reason and I've used the same reasoning on other post. And as far as profit - the owner gets none but payment must be made for the membership so a profit is made by the listing agent. My point was that some areas won't allow caching if it is "for profit". If this has never come up before then I assume it really isn't an issue.

Just a thought. Although most public places will allow geocaches, some parks will not allow anything which is for profit. My guess is that Premium Member caches would be excluded from these areas since one must pay to become a member. Has this been brought up before?

Thank you for that sample letter. That will make a good base for what I wanted to say in my letter to a private land stewart. I figure the worst they could say was NO.

Is EVERYBODY in the thread 58 years old?

Not all of us elderly (I'm 58) are afraid of change. I've got a cool GPSr (Garmin GPSMAP 60CS), PDA (Sony Clié), and I work with technology (I'm a DBA working on a IBM mainframe). So, there are some of us that enjoy change. I'll be 58 in about 1 1/2 hrs. I purchased a M/W for my Mom over her protest - later she loved it. I purchased a cordless phone for my Mom over her protest - she learned to love it. She never did get the hang of DVD, VHS, or computers. But my Downs Syndrome brother loves 'em. I should not have implied that all eldery hate change. Besides, I don't think "58" is really an old age. I find this new equipment for the blind to be very interesting. It brought to mind an old Star Trek TV show where a gal that Kirk fell for turned out to be blind but she could "see" by wearing this shawl-like covering. Who knows that GPS will be used for 10 or 20 years from now.

I read this curse the other day and I have to admit - it works. In the past several days I've been cursed with NOT winning the lottery. I've also been cursed with gaining another pound, and the worst curse of all: I had to set through one of those "mushy" movies! Argggggh!

I think that's a great idea. But judging from my Mom and computers, it will be mostly the young who will use these new devices. I don't know why the elderly are afraid of change. Last week I finally found a cache which had been giving me problems. The hint was "A blind person could find this". I wonder what the attribute icon will be for "approved for the blind" caches?

Is there a form letter or a sample letter for asking for permissions from some land stewarts? If so, just point your finger and I'll head there. Thanks in advance.

I think there's a bit of a difference between a camo/hidden cache and coins left open on the ground next to a trail. Granted, the circle was unusual and I'm sure the person/people who left the coins had their reasons for doing so. I'm also sure they were aware that anybody walking down that trail would see the circle and coins. In fact, I'd be very surprised that they wouldn't expect the coins to get picked up by hikers. Besides, the coins have served their purpose as an offering/wish/or whatever to whom or whatever for their blessings or curses. Unlike the cache's stash notes explaining things, there's nothing at that site to make me privy to any desires concerning the coins. Your note idea may have been a good idea if those responsible wanted the coins to remain with the circle.

The cache with this bullet was a clear quart plastic jar. But I suppose by its very nature that by placing the bullet into the jar made it into an ammo can.

I was doing some repair work in a local shoe store when my conversation with the female store owner turned to the "new" homeless problem then appearing in town. There was one middle aged lady among the homeless who spent most of her daytime hours roving about town. This lady comes walking down the steet and the store owner went outdoors to offer a pair of shoes to her. The lady growled, "If they are made of human skin I'll take them, otherwise I don't want them!" The store owner suddenly got a fear of her and even locked the store doors when that lady walked by. The lady died a few years later having live - by choice - on the streets. In my mind it doesn't matter if you were a VET, rich, black, girl, or whatver - if you refuse to accept help you are no longer a homeless person but rather a bum. I would like to avoid areas which support bums. If a cache is placed in one of these areas then a note stating that fact would be nice in the cache's web page.

A hunter found a cache and left this note and trading item: Of course, I removed the bullet.

As soon as I saw the picture I instantly thought it was a breast Nah, my wife wouldn't have let me look at another breast.

We spotted this one on a hike to my Redbud Trail cache. It's big but harmless.

My wife and I were about a mile or two into a hike to a cache in a wooden area when we came across this: It had markers at N, S, E, and W and also had a bunch of coins in the center area. It looked like it had been there for a while. Is this one of those "witches circles" I've heard about? On reflection I wonder if it might be some sort of Indian circle (there are several Indian tribes in this area). BTW, I have no idea what the area had been used for but I took the coins.

Interesting. I just came across panties a couple of days ago at GCHFVJ and noted it in my log. This cache took about a miles worth of hiking to get there.

It's amazing the difference just leaving and coming back another time can sometimes make in the way you look/think/see things in the area. If I've looked and looked and looked, and it is a 15-mile drive to the cache location, there is no way I'm going back without a serious hint from the cache owner or another finder. To paraphrase what you said, Most of the unfound geocaches for me are located at least an hour's drive - one way. I commute 1 1/2 hrs each work day so an hour seems "short" to me. Hints help me judge which caches to go after. I just don't care for useless hints. On the other hand, clever ones are ok by me. Another I don't like but should expect in this area are the Spanish language caches. la rama alto is about as helpful to me as "no hint needed" I have to admit that I usually have a pretty good idea that spanish is needed when I read the cache page.

I'll bet this was probably a useful hint. Was there a sign with City Ord. 9-12.050 nearby? The cache was probably hidden there. This cache was hidden in a wooden area off a small park. I don't recall seeing any signs on the edge of this wooden area. I just looked up that code and it's saying don't dump garbage. Because of the massive amounts of PO around the cache it has since been disabled. Still you might have something there. A sign may have been located at another path leading this the cache area. I'll just write this hint up as a "may be" helpful if you take the right path.

Dead cats, dead deer, dead boar but the worst was a few bags of dead dogs next to a roadside cache. Yech!

Cameras are nice but expensive and they too can be ripped off. How's this for an idea: Hide a physical cache in the viewing range of an existing webcam but leave that little bit of information off the cache page. Then you could sit back at home and watch ALL the cachers do their thing and most likely get a few good laughs at those cachers trying to be stealthy.

You don't have to be crazy to geocache. But it helps. I see your find is near my son who lives in Hazelwood. If you every bump into him be sure to tell him to phone his Mom once in a while.

Congrats. But watch out, I'll be getting there soon - at my present rate in about 20 years!