Brian - Team A.I.

Where/How will the leftover silver editions be sold? Per The Caching Place website (quoted above) they will only be selling the copper editions. That looks to need changing, actually. Initially, coins were available exclusively to AZ cachers in the pre-order stage of this process to guarantee that they had the best shot at acquiring some. Due to the limited run of the LE coins, we weren't sure if there would be any left at this point. Since there are, LE coins will be available, but certainly fewer than 200.

Oh goodie. A forum troll has risen from the dark depths, and so soon! For those who have been involved in caching in Arizona since it came into being, Wyle E was legendary in many respects. Starting with the fact that the entire clan was well liked and respected, they had a penchant for early FTFs, and their caches were practical works of art in the puzzle realm. Yellow Jeep Fever (the locationless) was created in honor of this caching team, and so far nobody has argued counter to speculation that it is because of this team and that cache that the YJTBs came into being a few years ago instead of another color like red or black. The 4 Wyle E TBs that one must find in order to log a specific cache also tied into this association. The Jeep isn't yellow because it isn't going to be yellow on the minted coin. It will be 3-dimensional in the color of the coin itself (silver or copper). See The Rubicon Brothers coin for an example of the engraving capabilities of this company. -3 points for excessive use of the exclamation point.

They shouldn't be honored until tomorrow though, so just be aware of that. The formal ordering doesn't take place until the specified times, and tcp will be made aware of the issue.

It has nothing to do with the attitude of the area, and team caching is an acceptable aspect to it. However, given the effort put into getting everything just right as I see it, I didn't want other cacher banding together (team a, team b, team c and team d) to collectively go out and search for it if fewer than one person from each team had done the work and solved the puzzle.

grocery bag.

Ditto. When dating time comes for my daughter, her big brother will be ~20 and will get his butt thumped by me if he isn't the protective older brother I expect him to be...and her 'dates' will get to come in the house and meet Dad, along with an array of weapons, each being explained in the context of how far away I could shoot him if he treats her wrong, and what some .00 buck will do to his...stuff if ever tries to use it with her. My son will get a similar speech in just a few short years, except the .00 buck comment will be directed at him if he does something stupid, and will have the understanding that if he gets himself into something, I'll hand him a shovel and he can make the choice to either keep digging or save himself.

I've used velcro on several caches, and it holds up well considering. It's a good alternative when you want something you're putting out to be there on a permanently temporary basis.

There are quite a few female cachers up here, and some of them have proven themselves very sneaky as of late.

Irony rears its ugly head once again. I just mentioned yesterday in another post about cache cop type stuff and commented that cache pirates hadn't surfaced since the thing a couple years ago. However, this is a bit different. They are simply cache vandals and should be reported to TPTB. Hopefully something can be done about it on that level.

What irks me is that the 3 refineries up here all get their crude from Wyoming/Montana/Canada for ~$20/barrel. Yet when it comes to sales they charge current market rates because they can, not because they should. Even with those refineries so close by, there isn't a single break we get on fuel. The ConocoPhillips refinery here is the most profitable of all of their refineries...gee, I wonder why? They mark up the processed fuels 250%.

Mine arrived in my grubby little hands this morning. Very nice coin. I can't wait until the CITO event this Saturday. This coin requires harassing fellow cachers a bit if they happen to carry an inferior product. ;p

I've done it and will continue to do so if I feel the situation warrants, but more so about cacher activity than anything else. We've had a rash of finds recently that were clearly after hours when parks are closed, 2 of them being recent FTFs and the cachers who broke the rules were somewhat chastised over the decision because it gives a black eye to caching for all of us if gubmint officials are monitoring regional cache activity. I commented privately to both FTFs about it, with one taking it kind of as a joke and the other explaining he didn't see any posted hours when he went in. A few days after the FTF my family and I went for the other where the FTF was well after park hours. Coincidentally, I had been speaking with the guys at Radio Shack the day before and we were talking about how some local NFS officials were very upset with caching in general, because they still had the perception that we physically bury caches or that all these massive spider trails were forming all over the place because of it. Many of the caches around here are within a few feet of foot paths and some within 100-150' of an open field or trail and the caches receive maybe a couple dozen hits/year if they're hiking caches (there are so many spider trails from deer/antelope that there is no way they could point the finger at any one group). So when I posted my find, I commented about my conversation the previous day and tied it into the fact that we all need to police ourselves in the common sense arena, also posting a picture of the clearly marked park hours. The couple in question hadn't been caching all that long, but new cacher or one such as myself that has been around for 5 years should be able to abide by such rules without having to be given a caching etiquette lesson. Perhaps if someone drilled a hole in a headstone for a bison capsule, but not for something like park hours. Another cacher up here put out a cache under the guise of it being patriotic in nature, but when I made my find on it, I discovered that was exactly the guise he was going for. In the description was something about a 'list of patriot websites' and an eBook. I wrote down all the websites and took the CD home to look at. Once I made it through the list of sites and the CD, I went back and took the list of websites, destroying them shortly after. Why? The list of 'patriot' websites wasn't anything you would tie to patriotism except the extremist kind. Several of the sites had links off the main pages to neo-nazi groups, and all were fringe militant in nature. The ebook looked like a well documented book on federal/state gun laws, until you got to the last 12 pages. At that point, it becomes a call to arms and going to war with the government and a host of other off the wall militia war cries. Because of that information, I posted to the local group message board and posted my dilemma to the masses about how to address it. It just so happened that the cache owner was part of the same group but that didn't matter. Shortly after posting, I was contacted by a federal investigator who happened to be a part of the local group as well, and was currently researching hate/militia groups. During that dialogue I was provided with some information and learned that the cacher in question was the Chairman of the Patriot Party for the state. My initial post to the group was of concern for the overt political nature of the items in the cache, and the expectation that political/religious neutrality exist with regard to the contents in a cache. There have been a few other situations I've addressed in the past, both public and private, and wouldn't have done any of them differently. Generally I'm around for advice when people ask it of me, threats of bodily harm due to frustration induced by looking for my caches, and continued hiding/finding of caches. It's not often that someone who really shouldn't be caching comes along, something I think is fortunate for all of us. It's been awhile since cache pirates have appeared and it will hopefully be a long time before a cache is neutralized by a bomb squad robot.

Now that the weather is warming up, I've been out doing a lot more caching as of late, but gas is still ~$2.32-2.39/gal around here and it hasn't impacted me all that much. Besides caching and my 7 mile drive to work, my only other personal gas expenses are the monthly 4x4 trail rides that take me to various parts of the state. On a good tank, my wife can go 3 weeks in her '01 Impala so it isn't horrible. Compare that to the $250/month in gas for me just to get to work/back in my old Nissan pickup when I lived in AZ, and what we spend now ($124 last month for me) or an average of $104/month so far this year. Anymore, the caches I would prefer to find involve decent drives (4x4 specifically) and I want to do some sort of power-trail type cache series on a 4x4 only trail system somewhere nearby that requires travelling the entire length to find if I can get the ok for it. But as the prices creep ever higher, I am aware of that and will adjust my driving to travel smarter and combine trips to reduce overall expenses.

On that note, what are the physical dimensions?

I can't wait until mine comes in. Cache event interrogations of those in possession of a Magellan/Lowrance/Trimble will be a must.

More information coming in about 7 days or so.

I'm not so much concerned with the sun triggering the LED flashing during the day, since it would be all but invisible, but would still like something to activate it at night, such as a flashlight beam. A secondary cell would be in place to draw charge from sunlight to keep the thing functional indefinitely. However, I could simply drop a 9V into a waterproof casing and change it out every 5 years or so.

So, is there something out there that will activate by say, flashlight beam? I figure whatever it is will probably flash during the day but will be invisible to the anyone except at night. When a flashlight beam hits the sensor, it would start flashing and stop when a light source was removed. The other option would be to plant a photocell somewhere to charge the batteries that will run the LED, so that it can exist indefinitely, but I would really like it to remain the ultimate stealth device until the beam hits just the right place.

Dunno, but I'm checking my PQ right now.

Wow. I didn't realize it was such a short time ago that the new version was released. Last night I was over at another cacher's place setting everything up on his new iPaq and it's definitely more feature filled than my PalmOS version. Nice job!

I placed a cache in Arizona with another cacher and spoke with the reviewer prior to to guarantee that I would still have that spot when conditions were good enough to go make the trek. It happened to be CO_Admin, and everything was fine when it came time to place the cache. Given the area, the likelihood was very minimal that the .1 mile would would apply, and the theme required the area, and wasn't open to relocation. If you're wondering, it was the geographic center of the state as verified by the state. It's in the middle of a wilderness area, so we constructed a rock cairn with a stone etched with values required to figure out where the actual container was, which was just outside the wilderness area.

If I could have found any remains whatsoever from my End of the Road (renamed Blaze of Glory) cache, I'd post them here. But the fire that went through the area completely obliterated it. Now there's a new version of the cache about 10x larger and 100x heavier that should remain for awhile, since the entire area has been torched, so there isn't any fuel left to burn with...for now.

I'd like something different than my Nemo Seagulls, but perhaps something along the lines of what I have now with the highway sign. An idea grounds would be here, but I'm just out of ideas right now. My teammate Jake is living in AZ, and I moved to Montana 21 months ago.

I've heard this, too. I had to deal with a baby rattler (about 1' in length) because it trapped itself near a sidewalk and was harassing passerbys. When I tried to move it with a stick (about 5' long), it sprayed a LOT of venom everywhere on its first strike. So maybe it is true. Another warning about baby rattlers - some of them can't rattle yet, even though the tail is shaking like a happy dog. I wish I had a camera the night I discovered the nocturnal nature of the Mojave Rattler. After completing the afternoon I refer to as Mission: RRTW, we went out caching for several hours in the darkness of the AZ desert. A mere 12' from the Red Rock Spring cache, I stopped to kneel down and survey under a large rock to see if that was where the cache was. Underneath, I was surprised by a set of beady eyes that went with the young Mojave Rattler. I studied it from a distance and as soon as the rattle started I took my cue to leave. It was then that we discovered they travel in pairs. On the jog out, my foot landed probably a foot from the other one hiding in a nearby bush. From the research I did to learn which species it was, I learned that typically the first strike is a 'dry bite', but when they do strike and inject venom, it is usually 3x the lethal dosage for a human being. Given that we were miles from even a paved road, that's bad news.

I hate to be a thread crapper, but I see a potential trademark infringment issue over the use of the Roadrunner.