LSUFan

I think the gas stations all around do pretty good because of geocaching/geocachers. I'm wondering if the upward demand for fuel around the world is due to caching becoming more popular. Maybe somebody will do a study on this for us. I haven't checked on how much Garmins/Magellans stock prices have went up since the game began. EDIT: I went and looked at garmins stock and their revenue has definitely increased the last 3 years. I'm not sure if it's geocaching related, but it definitely couldn't hurt. http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/RevenueEPSSumma...N&selected=GRMN

Mtroop, when ask about software for your axim, are you wanting mapping software (with maybe voice guidance), software to read cache pages in the field, aerial view software, etc. You can get all of these and much more for your axim. Not knowing what you really want in the terms of software, I'm just going to provide a few links to some stuff I have on my axim X5, that I use frequently. www.mapopolis.com -----for autorouting, mapping, turn-by-turn navigation, geocaching maplet conversions, etc. It has a free trial to see if you like it. http://gpxsonar.homeip.net/default.aspx ------gpxsonar--for going totally paperless and having all the info from the website with you in the field. It's provided by another geocacher free of charge. There are many more programs out there. These are just some I recommend from my experiences. LSUFan

Advance Auto Parts stores carry them. They come in a two pack for a few bucks.

Just another little idea that you can feel free to hate is to have a small ftf trophy made at a local trophy shop. I have been doing this for some puzzle caches around here and get the gc name and number engraved on the trophy. It usually cost's me less than four dollars per trophy. The local ftf hounds really go for it. LSUFan

Thanks for your reply Mtn-Man. I, like Thot, had wondered exactly what the problem was with locationless caches. I thoroughly enjoy doing locationless caches, especially since our area doesn't have that many physical caches. I usually have to drive over a hundred miles now to find new caches. Locationless caches were a nice alternative to me. I do understand it all now after reading your take on it. I had no idea of the difficulties in the process with them.

OK, you can do it this way if you have a gps card running in your pda, a bluetooth gps running(if applicable to your pda), a standalone gps hooked up with wires, or just know from looking at a map on your pda exactly where you are and want to mark a waypoint at. If you have a gps running with mapopolis all you will do is tap on the blue dot at the #4 stage below. 1. tap on tools 2. tap on maplets 3.tap on add location 4.tap on the position on your map where you want to add a waypoint 5. then type in the location name, select category, and icon as shown in the above forum post to finish it all out. Hope this helps

Gpxtomaplet is good to use if you want to make several waypoints all at the same time. If you just want to make one waypoint, then do it one of these ways. If you know the coords of the waypoint you are wanting to set up, like say from a cache page: 1. tap on tools at the bottom of the screen 2. tap on find 3. tap on latitude/longitude 4. tap and change all of your coords for degrees, minutes, and thousandths 5. tap on add landmark 6. type in the location name for the cache GC**** (if your keyboard hasn't appeared to let you type, tap on the bottom right-hand icon to bring up the keyboard, then tap it again to close the keyboard. 7. you can type in additional info for this cache if you want to. Make sure under category(optional) that geocache is selected---it makes searching easier if you categorize it-------also under the icon option on this page, it's easier to find on the map page if you make sure the icon you select is the american flag. You change the icon associated with the cache by tapping on the left/right arrow keys beside the icon symbol. If you use the flag icon, This makes your caches appear as red dots on the maps when you are zoomed out. When they are red dots, it's easier to see them seperated from towns and communities on the maps(which by the way are yellow dots) 8. Once you have selected and changed all the options you want, then tap on OK at the top right of your screen----all done now I was going to tell you how to mark a waypoint when you have your gps going but remmebered you haven't got that far yet. Hope this helps. There is a little learning curve, like in all programs. Once you practice a little with it, you'll like it more and more.

I use mapopolis on my pocket pc and think it is great. Did you use the gpxtomaplet converter that mapopolis makes for easily converting gpx files to maplets. I'll be more than happy to go over everything you can do with mapopolis if you want to email me. The Maryland Geocaching Society has an excellent article on their website about different mapping programs to use with pocket pc. You might want to check it out. http://www.mdgps.org/modules.php?name=pocketcaching LSUFan

Like mlk3454, six of us down here in the south use our axims with gpxsonar with no problems. We however use our sd (secure digital) cards to store the info from GPXSonar on. We have all bought CF GPS cards to use in the compact flash slot. That's what is great about the X5's is the fact they have both slots on them. You can use the axim as a gps and a paperless cache holder. The best of both worlds. If you ever do go the gps route with your axim, make sure to check out mapopolis. They have a utility that will convert the gpx file you use for gpxsonar, into waypoints that show up on their maps for you to navigate to.

Mapwom, I asked the same question the night of the hurricane. I guess emotions were running pretty high that night because I had to lock the forum down after the responses started getting ugly. It does seem cooler heads are prevailing now and posting in your forum. I also thought it was a legitimate question to ask, but I guess my timing was bad. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=107181 Mtn-man, you better rest up. When everybody's lives get's back on track in LA and MS, you're going to have a ton of caches to approve.

Actually if you drink Anheiser-Busch brands, then the answer is YES, they do have something about disaster relief on their website. http://www.anheuser-busch.com/Citizenship/MakingFriends.pdf Make sure to check out page 6 of it. They tell how they started out from the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 of doing this and have kept on.They also supply fresh drinking water to disaster victims. So keep on chugging it down brother, you're helping us all.

Jcell, I totally agree with you. I have already sent money but plan to send more. Since GC doesn't seem to think their southern CUSTOMERS are important enough to warrant better consideration than an off-topic posting in the forums, I think I can see where my $30 premium membership would be better spent.

You are misreading what I am saying. I am saying that the caches mean nothing after a natural disaster. I'm trying to point out in these forums for everybody to read, about caching etiquette from the finders, not the owners. I went back and bold text this in my original post so nobody will misread it again. I am stating that the owners are not going to want to hear about the caches missing when they have so many other problems. The question remains on what should be a good way for ALL of the geocaching community to handle a situation after a natural disaster as to not upset the ones affected by the catastrophe. If you will look and see, I am from Louisiana and will be one of those affected by this. I know that I, nor my neighbors down south are going to want to receive an email in the near future from someone telling me to get out and check on the cache. My question still remains, should there be some kind of blanket way to temporarily disable caches in an area hit hard by a natural disaster/catastrophe so the owners won't have to deal with the subject until they're ready to.

I'm sure everyone knows by now that Louisiana and Mississippi are about to be pummeled by the hurricane. Many caches will either be destroyed, lost, or damaged from the winds and rain. Caches owners in these regions will have many other priorities in their lives besides worrying about replacing caches. Do you think that GC should blanket temporarily disable all caches in an area hit hard by natural disaster until owners get time to check on them? Should GC (and approvers) allow a longer time period for owners to check on caches if someone submits a request to be archived soon after the disaster strikes? I know that many owners don't know caches are missing until logs are posted saying so. I'm just not sure how some people are going to emotionally react from an email telling them to check on their cache, especially if they have just lost their house or worse. What should be the proper etiquette for these situations?

NFA was correct in his earlier post. I use a wi-fi card in my laptop and pocket pc and can usually just drive up in many hotel parking lots and access their free wireless networks. Most hotels even advertise their free high-speed internet. My local grocery story even has a wifi network that can be accessed by customers. Once you find several chains of hotels that offer this, you can usually find one easily.

Don't you think we should stick to the continental US, Roscoe? Well Enos, I was thinking about some bonus points for Alaska and Hawaii. I'm going to run all the ideas by all participants after I get all the information in about the tb hotels. Cablemonkey suggested Washington D.C. also, if anyone knows of a good tb hotel near there. I want to thank everyone again for all the help so far, and please keep posting the state hotels here in this forum.

Thanks a bunch WildwoodBob and Welch for your input. That's two states down and 48 to go. I really appreciate all the help. We are also going to need friends in each state for when the tb's eventually make it there. 8-27-2005 UPDATE: So far we have tb stops submited for the following states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. We are still asking for advice on the other states. Please keep up the good work.

That's one of the things I like about finding caches after Pork King, he usually leaves a trail to it. Instead of calling myself fat, I like to use the more politically correct term of having a low height to width ratio. My theory is that if I can get as big out as I am tall, then I will be round. That way I can roll everywhere and save a lot of wear on my knees.

Several of us are getting a tb race started with some friendly competition between LA and MS. Our bug goals is to be placed in a travel bug hotel in each(or very near) each state's capital city. I am asking all fellow geocachers for their recommendations (along with the cache ID) on travel bug hotels in each state's capital. Can everyone help us out with this because who would know the caches better than the locals. If you are the owner of the cache, self-promotion is allowed and encouraged Thank You LSUFan

I was wondering if this was possible to do. I was needing to replace a activated travel bug to a new tb tracking number. The reason for this is because someone who actually doesn't have the tb is posting logs for the tb. This is not being done in a malicious way and is a game between some local geocachers. If I could replace the tb with a new number but keep the log posts it has, it would mess this other cacher up and he probably wouldn't be able to get the new number. Does anyone know if this can be done? Thanks

You can make you own gpx files from the ngs database. It is shown how in this forum. Works like a charm. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=100535 LSUFan

You cannot download benchmarks per say a pocket query but you can still go paperless with them. Here's how to do it 1. You will need to go to the NGS website and download the particular county maps you want to search. It's best to do it one county at a time for the size of the file. Start out by clicking on this link http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_archive.prl 2. Select the state and click on get county maps 3. Select which county and click on the download PC Zipped button to get it downloaded (make sure to unzip the file if your computer doesn't do it automatically for you) The file you will get will be in the .dat format. The data in this file will probably be more current than the data on GC. You will need another program that converts it into the familiar gpx format that everyone uses with GSAK, GPXSonar, Mapopolis, etc etc. This is why you need one more piece of software conversion utility. 4. Click on this link and get the BMGPX conversion software. http://parkrrrr.com You will then convert the dat file to a gpx file and there you go. PAPERLESS. Put the BMGPX file in it's own folder. Also put the downloaded dat file in this folder. Just drag the dat file and drop it on the BMGPX icon and it will automatically convert it and add a gpx file with the same name in the folder. Just take this newly converted gpx file and do the same things with it that you do with your geocaching gpx files. Just make sure to rename the files to something you can remember them by. I use Mapopolis, and GPXSonar on my pocket pc and they work like a charm out in the field. All the information about the benchmark and mapping to it. The best of both worlds. Hope this helps

Give me an NBC address and I'll activate one in the morning

Maybe CoyoteRed and Sissy can make some kind of gag gift trowel trade item because of this. If Cr & Sissy are reading this, put me down for a few. ROFLMAO! I found a really rusty one in front of my house about a year ago. Its been sitting in my garage ever since. I'm thinkin' TRAVEL BUG! (psst.... stay tuned...) It looks like there are going to be many trowel tb's released soon from reading the posts. Too funny

What's the price on those?