LETaylor

My first car was a 1971 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 Got you beat there. . . My first car was a 1960 Toyota LandCruiser. (The model designator was FJ-25 as opposed to the ubiquitous FJ40 even though they looked the same.) It was the second year that they were imported into the US. It had a Chevy 235 straight-six that was reworked to metrics and the Chevy 4-speed tranny with a granny gear first. There was no high-low range. I had a PTO winch on the front and found in the few years I owned it that it could go places I didn't want to be in. Move forward a few years and I had another LandCruiser, this time a wagon with a Chevy 350 transplanted into it. With 4.11 gears front and back and high-low range it was a serious off road machine and the high altitudes of Colorado didn't bother it. With my family on board I towed a camping trailer over Monarch Pass (just over 14,000 feet elevation) without downshifting from high gear. Alas, when I moved to Texas I didn't need 4WD nearly as much as air-conditioning so I sold it and moved into a sedan. My current ride is a 2000 Honda Accord. I find it goes most places I want to go.

I'm putting together a travel bug to go to the United Kingdom and back to California. In order to incentivize it's movement I was going to offer several $5.00 payments at various stops along the way. Payments would be done via PayPal. Any problem with this?

The real problem with solar is that the power output is really quite small. If you need more than 2 watts you'll have to daisy-chain their products together. You'd very quickly turn into a walking hardware store. They're at their best when used to keep a "maintenance charge" on a battery. So, unless you've got some serious square footage of solar cells, don't bother. You'll spend a small fortune and have little to show for it. It wouldn't be so bad if you were spending a large amount of time charging your battery and then just a short duty cycle, i.e. an emergency phone that would get used infrequently, but something like a laptop that you plan on using for extended periods would quickly outpace your charging system. No, I'll hang my hat on nuclear. A bit of plutonium in my pocket and within a few hours I won't have to worry about power ever again. . .

I have a buddy stationed at Shemya, Alaska (second island from the far end of the Aleutian Island chain) It's a small island where a good day's weather is 38 degrees with a 35 mph wind gusting to 55 mph. Perhaps I should get him to join and hide a cache on the island. Actually that might be difficult because much of the island is still unsafe to walk becuase there's a bunch of unexploded ordinance from World War II all over the place. He's a civilian contractor, working for Boeing Corporation. They have a contract to run a facility for the US Government there. I can safely say that very few people would be able to log a cache there.

Well said.

As a kid, I don't remember rankings being a part of our Hide & Seek games and we all had a good time. I look to the cache rating as an indicator, i.e. a clue on on the cache. When I see that anther member has found XXX caches, it's only an idicator that he does it more than me. I'm against a totem ranking because it adds nothing to the "game".

Why is the rock kissing an ugly man?

Under the "build a badge" option choose badges, not medalions. You don't want the shield that goes on the front of a fire helmet (then again, maybe you do. . .) It's pretty straight forward after that

I used to just ask the captain as I boarded. Never was denied. Had to sit next to a window to get a decent signal though. I used to fly between Dallas and Chicago twice weekly and brought the GPS along on several flights.

The image is from an online tool to design your own badge. Smith & Warren is a badge company that makes badges for the law enforcement/fire community. I went ahead and "designed" the badge but instead of purchasing it (about $85 as pictured) I just saved the image. Needless to say you would need to be very careful that you didn't use something like this to impersonate a law officer. The laws have always been strict, but in today's environment they'd just throw away the key to your cell. Having said that, I think it is entirely plausible that you could design a badge that obviously is not meant to mislead the public. I don't think you'd have to much trouble with one identifying yourself as a geocacher. It would be interesting to get a center medallion with the GC logo on it. (grin) The company website that I went to is The Fire Store. Click on the "Badges/Medalions" option on the left and build your own!

I found a place that will actually make these for you. A bit pricey, but the nerd factor goes right off the scale!

Click on my profile to see what happens when you have too much time on your hands on a Sunday evening. A geocaching badge, no less!

this is a test

I figure the etrex vista was designed just for me.

The following was recieved earlier today from Garmin. Thank you for contacting Garmin International. This is normal for your unit. All Vistas come equipped with that type of coil The internal battery compartment was designed that way in order to mitigate the amount of vibration to the batteries when using the unit in any type of outdoor application. This is normal for your unit. Best Regards, Jim Feikert Dealer / Marine Support Specialist Garmin International

I keep several sets of rechargeable batteries in my pack. I've found the easiest way to keep them sorted is how I keep them in their holders. Fully charged batteries are inserted with their positive poles at the same end. Spent batteries are put in with them mismatched. I can tell at a glance if I'm holding a good set as the battery holders are translucent.

I came across this one awhile back. It isn't case iron, but the story on it was quite poignant. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the name. . . This marker is for Leonidas Taylor, my name is Leon Taylor - shocked me at first. "Far distant from those who loved him, the waters of the Sacramento will roll over him till that day when the sea shall give up its dead."

I had thought of creating a phony mailbox along a country road but decided that I didn't want the Feds looking me up. It's too bad because there would be some great opportunities for interesting hides.

I can relate to the poster. I made three visits to one cache and even had a couple of extra hints before I found it (Putt's Button Cache). It was very well done, I just didn't have enough experience with this "game" to know what to look for. It's fun to see how you look at things just a little differently after you've done a few searches . . . why is there a pine cone hanging in an oak tree? Many of the cachers have developed their hides into a high art. That's the fun of it. Good luck with your searches. Don't be afraid to send an email to the cacher and ask for an additional hint if you need it. Putt practically had to put my hands on his. (I really hate being stupid)

I've grown a new appreciation for the "dollar stores" in the area. Recently found a whole bunch of laser pointers with replaceable tips for only a dollar each. They fit nicely in a regular cache and are fun to play with. Silly as it sounds, one of my favorite finds has been a Miller Lite key chain. Don't know why, I don't even drink beer.

It might help to take a larger look at the question. Consider the effects of people looking for a "buried" cache as they dig. Not a pretty concept in most areas. We'd all get a bad name by the messes that would be left behing as lots of little holes in the ground are dug in an area. Now I'm the first to admit that sandy beaches would usually not be harmed by a little digging, but there are some sand-dune areas where the flora is really quite sensitive. I think I'd opt for the conservative side and recommend a different kind of hide. We're already fighting a public perception problem. Let's not add fuel to their fire.

The real answer is to take one photo at a much lower resolution. Just take two shots of each item, changing the resolution between shots. It will take a minute but you won't have to do any post-processing.

Yeah, it'll be like the assembly lines shown in old cartoons with each worker doing just one part as the items fly by. Unfortunately we got the Friday, 3:30 pm units when the regular guy had already taken off for the weekend. The springs were meant to be used in an automobile suspension. . .

Same thing, I push up against the spring first. I've sent a note to Garming asking if the "configuration" was done on purpose. I have had the unit turn off 3 or 4 times from the batteries losing contact. I've contemplated opening up the metal contacts a little to make it a tighter fit. Anyway, thanks for the response. Nice to know that my unit isn't a complete accident. Take care. Lenny Taylor Sacramento, CA