Car54

I probably shouldn't wade into this issue, but here goes. For those of you blasting the CO for "ignoring" his cache and letting it trash up the area, I think you're being a little harsh. He/she adopted it in November. From what I have read, this cache requires you to cross a spillway and it is definitely *not* winter-friendly. Add to that the fact that IN had a fairly harsh winter and I think it's reasonable for the new owner to wait until spring to replace the cache. Perhaps the whoop-de-doo here is the fact that this cache is a required find for a certain challenge. We have been actively working on this particular challenge for a couple of years now, working at it when we're in the various areas, so the cache has been on my watchlist for some time. I kept reading the logs in which folks were finding cache remnants instead of the cache. I am making no judgement on how others determine the validity of a find, but our own policy is "sign the log = find the cache". So I was getting pretty impatient that this disabled cache was sitting in the way of our meeting the challenge. Actually, there were 2 disabled caches that we still needed to find. Knowing how folks get emotional over these older caches, and since we hadn't actively tried to find either one, I didn't post either a NM or NA note to the cache page. But I did e-mail the reviewer about the issue. I got a nice note from the reviewer thanking me for bringing the matter to his/her attention and assuring me that he/she would deal with it. Happily, both caches were adopted out - to different new owners. Cache #1 was just re-enabled about a month ago, right before an event held at the park. Csaw's cache is cache #2 and I was figuring he/she would get around to fixing it up sometime this spring. I had enough confidence in the new owner, whom I've never met or contacted, that we made camping reservations in the area this summer to pick up this cache and a few others for other challenges we are working on. I am in the camp of letting the cache owner decide which logs should stay. Personally, I would probably only concern myself with logs after my adoption of a cache, but I do think it's tacky for one of the disgruntled cachers to retaliate by slapping a NA log on the cache.

The Purdue police/fire have evacuated two buildings on campus, including Hovde Hall - the home of the President's Office - due to a suspicious package. According to the media, the bomb squad is on the way. It appears to be this cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d97af97f-b84b-402a-a7a0-da98f643f88d Mrs. Car54

And I am 17 years older than the average cacher. Mrs. Car54

Uh..... Doug might have other things to say about that, Mrs. Car54. OK, how bad is it for me to admit that it took me several minutes to understand your reply. Danged clumsy fingers! No point in editing it now.

I think your strategy sounds cool and I am envious! If you ever find yourself in the USA state of Indiana, let us know and we will treat you to the coffee.....AND a dougnut! Mrs. Car54

Yeah, right. It's kind of like proudly posting "I drowned a sack full of puppies this morning. Should I have burned them instead? Let's keep this discussion friendly, please." Your behavior was inexcusable. It deserves condemnation. It was completely uncalled-for. I think it is entirely appropriate for people to post their opinions about the behavior (as opposed to the person). I can't remember the last time I felt this disgusted by something another cacher did. Agree wholeheartedly. Mrs. Car54

Made our camping reservation last night - we'll be in site 118 in the full hook-up area. Looking forward to this! And believe the cache page when it says not to follow your GPS to get to the park. In many cases, your GPS will try to take you across a narrow, one-lane bridge over the Wabash River. If you make it past there, you'll have a very hard left turn - almost a u-turn - in the small town of Battleground. Much better to take the SR 43 exit off I-65 and follow directions. We live only a mile from that one lane bridge and while it's fine for a car, no way would we try to tow anything on that route. We'll be taking our camper on the interstate route to get there. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Welcome! There's an event this Saturday, Nov 27, in West Lafayette. Kokomo isn't that far away, if you could make a day trip out of it. You'd have a chance to meet several cachers as well as find some good caches. Check out GC2FPDD. Also, the spring picnic is going to be at Prophetstown State Park in Lafayette in May. Another great time to meet some folks, cache, camp and generally have a good time. That listing is GC2JAW9. Again - welcome!! Mrs. Car54

What a beautiful tribute to a beautiful dog! I feel your heartache - we no longer have the two beautiful dogs that accompanied us on our first find. We lost our beautiful border collie, Maggie, shortly after that 1st find to a sudden illness and 2 years later, our wonderful golden retriever, Rusty, joined her. It takes time, but eventually the pain gives way to the joy of happy memories. There is a beautiful poem about the Rainbow Bridge - one version can be found at http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm We also put out a tribute cache for each of them. We now have Carly, a black lab mix, and Sadie, a pointer/hound mix, to cache with us. No, they do not replace Maggie & Rusty, but they do bring their own brand of joy to our lives. Our sympathies on your loss. Mrs. Car54

Oh my goodness! Right in our backyard! Even though we live only a few miles from the park, we'll definitely be camping! Yippee!!

Got it marked on the calendar!

Assuming you have registered all your products, then Garmin has records of both your map purchase and the GPS you own. They should be able to email the key to you. I had to do this one time for my GPSMAP 60C and the maps for it. The process is pretty painless and can be done by email. joe

Well, we've been sidelined since right before Memorial Day weekend, when I (Mrs. Car54) tripped over a gas hose while filling up the truck. I dislocated my shoulder and chipped a chunk off the rounded upper part of the humerus (sp?) bone. When they fixed the dislocation, the bone chip floated back into place, but I have to keep my shoulder virtually immobilized till it heals so I can avoid having a plate & screws. I should get the all clear - on the bone, anyway - tendons/muscle outcome still unknown - next week, 2 days befire we fly out west on vacation. I'll still be in a sling, but I'll be able to move my shoulder and cache! Now - aren't you sorry you asked?

True, so true!

We've been paying monthly through Paypal since 2004 and so far, no sneezes or glitches. This would really honk us off if it happened while we were out of state on vacation! Maybe we ought to just change to quarterly, but I hate to mess with it if it ain't broke, ya' know?

I hope you get this sorted out soon. We're some of your neighbors to the west and we're getting ready to schedule a week-long camping trip with our RV this fall. We're waffling between OH and MI and this could help sway our opinion. When we vacation, we love to do some caching, but we also spend tourist dollars for camping fees, area attractions, gas, food, etc. I appreciate your concerns - just wanted you to know it affects more than local folks. Mrs. Car54

Thank you, officer, for the trouble you have taken to avoid throwing away this cache. More importantly, thank you for doing a job that could require a lot more of you than an interrupted dinner! Mrs. Car54

We are SO looking forward to this! It'll be our first camping trip of the year and I am more than ready! I am currently surfing the forum here at work while I wait for a job to finish and wait for noon when I leave and we hit the road! Mrs. Car54

I will be there We can hardly wait!

Hmmm, we've been on a $3/month recurring plan since 2004. We've not been told we need to change it and I know it's still happening because I just reconciled our credit card account last week.

Ummm.. A member of that older generation built and launched the satellites that that your hand held unit is using, or did you think some 30 something did the research and launched the satellites in the 70s? joe

Times 2.

Thank you for those suggestions! Mrs. Car54

Hello from Indiana! I spent about 10 years of my childhood in Walla Walla and my hubby & I will be visiting at the end of June. While the main focus of our limited day and a half visit will be to show him some places I remember and to visit some family graves, we'd love to pick up a cache or two. I've been searching by zipcode (will never forget that as my late grandfather was the postmaster for many years), but WW is so cache-rich that I'm a bit overwhelmed. Would some locals mind recommending a handful of caches that you think a visitor would like? We'll be at Mountain View Cemetery and Pioneer Park (unless it's now not a good part of town - I haven't been back in decades, so what do I know?) as part of our visit, so if there are any there, we might as well pick them up just 'cause. We're not overly fond of micros and we probably won't have time for many long hikes, so that will limit us some. Thanks so much for the help! Mrs. Car54

My POV is a bit different. When I join any group or organization that wants me to agree to a set of rules, I either agree to the rules or go elsewhere. And if I agree to the rules, my own personal integrity insists that I honor my word, which I freely gave, to follow those rules. Now if I believe the rules are faulty, I can either go elsewhere, or I can work from the inside, as a member, to lobby for a change to the rules. But until and unless the rules are changed, I think more highly of my word than to ignore the portion of the rules with which I disagree. YMMV Mrs. Car54