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rdw

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Posts posted by rdw

    Southern Illinois Geocaches Up For Adoption

    in Midwest

    Posted · Edited by rdw

    I have graduated from SIU and will be moving soon. I hope someone will take over the responsibility for the cahces so that they may remain active.

     

    The first is Fountain Bluff #1 in southwestern Jackson county. On Fountain Bluff, obviously. This cache is very low maintenance because of its location and difficulty. It gets few visitors for this reason. The chance of accidental finds is about as low as possible. Before transferring ownership, I will retrieve the camera, get the pictures developed, and post them. I will also move the linked images from my personal website to the geocaching site and update the page accordingly. Before you accept responsibilty for this cache, please be sure you can make the hike to the cache. 30-45 minutes each way with lots of hills.

     

    The second is The BIG Confluence Cache at Fort Defiance State Park south of Cairo. This one is more maintenance heavy. As the cache page notes, this is a flood prone area. Though the current setup should keep it in place, there is a chance the cache could be washed away by the river. It may need to survive weeks underwater. If it wasn't sealed well by the last cacher, that means replacing the contents. Having said that, I haven't had to fix it very often.

     

    Before transfering these caches, or shortly after, I will check them both one last time to make sure they are in good condition. Change out old pens and pencils, restock them so they're full of goodies, etc.

     

    Please post a reply here in the forums if you are interested.

     

    rdw

    Decatur, IL area cachers

    in Midwest

    Posted

    It's a good thing I checked in on the forums this week. As Jeepster mentioned, I have special knowledge with regard to Illinois geography. I shall now enlighten everyone.

     

    The geographic center of Illinois is a wee li'l bit south of Lincoln. If you are south of it, you can't say you're in Northern Illinois. If you're north of it, you can't say you're in southern Illinois. Same deal for east vs west. But four quadrants (NE, NW, SE, and SW) are not enough for so large a state so we have centrals latitudinalllllllly and longitudinallllllllly. This significantly complexificates things. But I got it all figured out for you.

     

    If you are north of I-80, you are in northern Illinois.

    If you are south of I-70, you are in southern Illinois.

    If you are between them, you are in latitudinal central Illinois.

    If you are east of about 88.5° longitude, you are in eastern Illinois.

    If you are west of Springfield and Peoria, you are in western Illinois.

    If neither, you are in longitudinal central Illinois.

     

    Now to simpificate these lines, you may refer to Illinois areas as follows:

    1. If you are north of 80 and west of 90, you may say "Northwestern Illinois".

    2. If you are north of 80 and east of 88.5, you hail from "Chicagoland".

    3. If you are north of 80 and in the longitudinal central zone, you are in "Northern Illinois".

    4. If you are in the St. Louis area (E. St. Louis, Alton, Grafton, Edwardsville, etc.), you may say you are from "the St. Louis area".

    5. If you are south of 70 but not from "the St. Louis area", you are from "southern Illinois". South encompasses southwestern, southeastern, and south central Illinois.

    6. If you are latitudinal central, west of 90, but not near St. Louis, you are in "western Illinois".

    7. If you are latitudinal central and east of 88.5, you are in "east-central Illinois".

    8. If you are central-central, you are, of course, in "central Illinois".

     

    Simple enough. Right?

     

    Actually, there is a kind of pitiful debate going on in "southern Illinois" right now regarding whether or not the *s* in southern Illinois should be capitalized. People writing letters to the editor are more worked up about it than I would have thought possible.

     

    rdw

    How do I . . .

    in How do I...?

    Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by crr003:

     

    On the 3+ you can delete (it's in the manual):

    a) individual WP

    :) by symbol

    c) all WP

     

    I would think the V has at least the same options?

     

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

     

    It does all three.

     

    Find... Waypoints... By Name... OK (on popup keyboard thing)... Menu

     

    Finding by nearest does not have the same menu.

     

    rdw

    Uh, really?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by Renegade Knight:

    They are a game of their own. It's called locationless caches. They are called that because they are different from Traditional caches etc. etc. etc. ad nausium.

     

    The point is that they are different, but they are not counted differently. If they were counted differently, 99% of the opposition to them would disappear immediately.

     

    rdw

    Problems with beta 2.09 for Garmin GPS V

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    How long does it take you to download Mapsource maps to the GPS? I faintly remember it taking something like 20-30 minutes to download just under 19MB of maps. Since loading the 2.09Beta, it's now taking over an hour!! It's been a while since I've loaded in a map set so I might be wrong. And I'm also not sure that it is the 2.09 version because I'm using a new computer. I was walking out the door when I realized the maps I had in the GPS did not cover where I was planning to go, so now I'm sitting here typing away waiting for the dadgum GPS. 26% complete, 46 mins to go. icon_mad.gificon_mad.gificon_mad.gif

     

    BTW, Metroguide to GPS V 2.09 Beta

     

    rdw

    NEWBIE

    in Midwest

    Posted

    geoace,

     

    You are in very good place to start caching. SLAGA (St. Louis Area Geocaching Association, I think) is a large and very active group. They place group caches, they go on group hunts, they do it all. Check out the website at http://www.GeostL.com

     

    I'm sure you can find somebody willing to help you get started.

     

    rdw

    Need some feedback on a locationless

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Perhaps you are missing one of the points in your original post. "They said that there are enough train related ones..." Maybe this has something to do with it. Last time I looked there was a "find a caboose" cache, a "find an engine" cache, and who knows what else. At some point the admins need to say enough is enough before we get to the point where you take pictures of everything you see then come home to find the locationless cache that it fits. And I say this as the owner of a now archived locationless cache, "Don't Know Much About History" (GC402F).

     

    Even the pro-locationless faction must admit that there are some really crappy locationless caches out there. I applaud the approval crew's high standards for new locationless caches and think they could stand to be even more strict. The locationless boom is just like the dot com boom. Lots of excited people making new companies, many of which were of questionable quality. The dot-coms crashed, taking out the weak companies and leaving only the strong. The same thing should happen to locationless caches. Weed some of them out and leave only the best. New caches should only be approved if they meet strict standards.

     

    rdw

    Using a Benchmark as a virtual cache identifier.

    in Benchmarking

    Posted

    It sounds like Web-ling has the idea. What is there besides the marker? Just because national parks don't allow traditional caches doesn't mean we have to "place" benchmark caches just to have something there. If there is nothing at the coordinates special enough for a virtual cache, the benchmark is not going to make it any better. There is an entire portion of the website dedicated to finding benchmarks and there is a longstanding locationless cache along the same lines. I can understand the approvers denying yet another virtual based on a benchmark.

     

    If there is something truly unique at the coordinates, make your case to the approvers.

     

    rdw

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