Lemon Fresh Dog

I'm a big fan of caching and philately -- I LOVE this idea. Here's my new type of Travel Bug that "sort of" fits this theme. Cancellation Travel Bug

There is an interesting campus (not sure where - sorry) where the architect left the landscaping for a year. He allowed the people moving from building to building to use whatever pathway they wanted. Then, after these "social" trails had been created, they did the landscaping and paved the walkways between buildings. I would disagree that social trails are completely a "bad" thing. Often, they offer the clear way to walk or hike through an area and prevent damage to other sensitive areas. However, the formation of many NEW social trails can indeed be a cause for concern. As cache placers, we need to be aware of the sensitivity of areas where we place our caches and the routes that are likely to be followed to these caches. In my area -- there would be about 50 visits to cache over a 1-3 month period and then it would die down to about 5-10 visits per year. Not enough for the formation of much of a trail (due to growth, rain, etc). Each area would be different.

Here you are: Activating a Geocoin

You know, you could just take her to the places you've hidden all the other bodies....

What's that old rule? "For each and every action there is an equal and opposite criticism." I have never had an issue with a reviewer. Mind you, I've only published 36 caches myself. Have they all been approved right out of the gate? Nope. Has the reviewer ever come back and said "that's a little close to the factory that makes giant whirling blades that could cut heads off"? Well...no, but they did say one was too close to the railroad tracks -- then when I explained the fencing in the area they were quick to approve. Work WITH your reviewer. They may be miles away from where you placed the cache, they may not have the same access to information you have. Give them the facts, anticipate their concerns.....magic will happen.

Hello there, I made three little movies for you. They are QuickTime and somewhat larger files (so you have to let them buffer a little - sorry), but they show the following. Activating a Geocoin Finding a Geocoin Dropping a Coin into a cache I hope the third one helps you with your coin (it's even a red-handed coin!)

Thanks for the support -- I will definately be rebuilding a like cache (or the same one). My new trick is that I plan to have the coins encased in a plastic block (sort of a flat deal). So at the very least they would be cumbersome to take, own, etc. As it is, all the coins were activated, had a little scratch, and are otherwise useless other than as a private item that can never be shown, shared, traded or sold -- so bwaaa-ha-ha back that the thief. What is odd is that the thief left all the wooden nickels in the cache. AND they left a few of the metal coins! They left: Geobone (should I be offended?) CAC Token (2 of them, one engraved, one not) Calgary Regular edition coin GAS Coin This is pretty suspect actually....it strikes me that they left the coin(s) that they already had in their collection. Which further points to a local. Anyhow .... I had a deer camera at the site and have given them until July 14th before their smiling face is posted to the world -- film at 11.

I'll post again once the "Feeps" are ready to roll.

In a strange way -- I'm okay with it. I expected them to be gone at some point. Just becuase. What makes me very, very happy is the number of people that did visit the cache and either made it better or just admired it for what it was. We complain in the forums a lot about missing coins, poor trading, etc. I know it annoys me too. In this case, I want to look at the upside. There was a great deal of happiness around this cache. I do wish it would have lasted one tourist season though.

Well, it finally happened. My Coin Cache was raided by a Geo-thief. Not Muggled, the cache is still there, but rather raided by one of our own. Coin Cache Page - personal GC Listing It was a wonderful cache while it lasted! Many, many nice comments and compliments were given for this cache and I would like to thank all of you that had allowed one of your coins to be placed in the cache. I truely beleive that more people saw your coin this way than if you had just let it travel from cache to cache. Do I know who did this? Probably. However, I think it's just best to let it go. They definately know who they are and they will have to live with it. Also, all the coins have a nice scratch on them -- and are activated as a Coin Cache Coin. So they will never be able to log them, sell them, trade them, or otherwise really do much except look at them and realize the error they made. Thanks to all for your support on this cache! I'm going to check to see what remains and take it from there.

Good lord no! I never take offense at folks asking on this coin.. I just wish I could be more accomondating, but these are scarce for me too! I imagine that almost everyone with an older coin gets a few e-mails a month asking about them. For example, I plan to e-mail Moun10Bike every day until I get a ver1 --- haha! Just kidding -- that would be pretty UN-cool.

Plant your OWN cache. (don't publish it) -- have her find tickets to a show, dinner or maybe even a picnic. It really depends on her personality and how well you know her, but geocaching *may* not come across as the most romantic way to spend the day..... -- but don't take my word for it, I only date super-models. Please don't tell my wife I wrote that....

Oh ... I guess you just do the opposite to pull waypoints FROM your GPSe to the VM. I have to test that yet.

I have two Intel Mac's -- an iMac running Boot Camp and a MacBook Pro running Parallels. iMac Running Boot Camp There are no problems whatsoever with MapSource Maps and GSAK communicating via USB to my Garmin 60CS...works nice, but I have to boot to XP. MacBook Pro 17" running Windows XP Pro in Parallels VM The MacBook Pro is another story -- all works well, but I cannot get the USB to send or receive waypoints out of the Virtual Machine I created in Parallels. Here's what I am doing: 1) Run Parallels and have GSAK running. 2) Download my .GPS file from Groundspeak (I have it run Pocket Query and just grab the .zip file) 3) Pull all the waypoints into GSAK, play with them etc. 4) EXPORT the GSAK waypoints (File, Export, GPX/LOC File) to the SHARED Parallels folder (you need to activate this in Parallels and it allows you to share files between the Virtual Machine and OSX) Then...... in OSX 1) Have GPSBabel+ for OSX installed (free download: donationware) - I have the latest version 2) Set the INPUT to FILE and point it to the shared folder and the file you created above 3) Set the OUTPUT to my Device: Garmin and Port: usb (I am using a Garmin 60CS) Click send GPS and it works perfectly! Whoo -- Hooo.... It seems a lot more complex than it is. After you have done it once (and, more importantly ...downloaded and installed all the software) -- it is really just the extra steps of Export to share, move from share to GPSr. In fact, I export anyways to put the waypoints into MapSource TOPO. Now to look at what other cool digital maps are available --- after all -- OSX is just UNIX at the core and I am willing to bet there are a lot more free government maps for UNIX than for any other OS.

Well....no plans to travel there anytime soon (but you never know, if I get a contract). There is one as a Travel Bug that has been in the UK and may still be there. Anyhow. I would like to formally apologize to any place on the planet that is missing out! There are at least many travel bug ones out there (Finland, Spain, France, Germany, US, Canada). psst....Austrailia --- this is your turn. The next version will be out in August and I'll be looking for some folks to "seed the planet" with the Travel Bugs -- which ussually comes with a freebie. Anyone that PM's me now will NOT be eligilble

Anything pre-September 2005 is probably pretty hard to find now. In my recollecton, that seems to be when the big waves of coins started hitting.

I traded some of my coins back in Sept 2005, but they are now only signature items for caches (and I only have 6 or so left anyhow -- all earmarked for specific cache milestones). Whenever possible, I get my Geo-nick engraved on all commercial coins I buy (UK, CAC come to mind) and then use them as cache-only drops. While it was fun to trade some of my coins at first (and amass a big collection of early geocoins) -- there are just too many coins out there now. So face-to-face trades and into caches only. ...actually, I lie. I *would* still trade some of my new coins for personal coins of other cachers in some cases where we are unlikely to meet face-to-face and we have some history (fought in the forums, worked on some sort of event together, the design is cool, etc). I think I'll do my 2006 coins in August again.

Here you are. I am ordering some for a FEEP (see TB Forum) contest from here: JEEPS for those that must have one

I thought I would have some fun and create a contest for fellow cachers around the globe that cannot play the official Jeep contest. First off -- I really respect and appreciate the Jeep company making such a year-after-year commitment to our obsessive hobby. So this is NOT a contest to annoy anyone. It's for FUN. The "FEEP" is a fake-Jeep Travel Bug. I will release a few dozen and anyone logging one into a cache before a 30-day holding time will be entered into a completely unofficial draw to win something. -- probably an assortment of geocoins and goodies. However, I do need some help initially. Does anyone know the scale of the various official Jeep Travel Bugs? I know that the white ones are huge compared to the little yellow ones -- and the Green ones also look smaller. My plan is to buy a dozen or two of each of the toys and then launch the FEEP's by mid-August. At that time, I will also likely ask some cachers in different parts of the world (including Alaska and Hawaii) to recieve some via post and launch them in their areas. PLEASE take this for what it is --- just some fun. AGAIN.... I appreciate the real JEEP contest and this is just a way to piggy-back on a fun idea.

Actually --- yes. However, you'll probably see a version 2 or 3 by the time I make it. (next summer we want to drive all the east coast provinces)

I like to collect geocoins -- so I only post "Needs Maintenance" if there are no coins in the cache. Okay -- joking! joking! As a cache owner, I always appreciate an intelligent "Needs Maintenance" log -- IF it has good text. Same with all logs though. Sometimes people are lazy and don't indicate WHY it needs maintenance.

I do not like the cache by appointment idea. I find caches as convenient to my travels and movements and do not wish to place it in my schedule at a fixed time. I also do not like caches on private property (even the property of the hider) -- it makes me feel like I'm being watched. Like an animal in a zoo! Plus, I suspect there are liability issues. I also dislike when cache placers allow people to find the cache prior to the lising getting published (your group of 20). Some call it BETA testing -- I call it favourtism. Imagine if you enjoyed FTF hunts, saw a listing appear and then saw that you were the 21st finder? So, sorry, but I really do not find this cache interesting. If the idea is that an appointment is required in order for the cache to be "ready" then it isn't a cache -- it's GPS performance art.

I appreciate cache listings that forewarn me of specific known dangers -- such as drug dealing/use, higher crime rates, etc. -- especially when I am not familiar with an area. Normally, when travelling, I will ask a police office, hotel clerk, etc where the more dangerous parts of town are -- then avoid them. Historical interest aside The truth is - I ALWAYS get a "don't go there" answer. Or....more commonly "Don't go there after 5pm". When placing a cache, I always assume that it will be visited by a tourist with children. It isn't always the case, but it serves as my little "test" of whether I want to place a cache in an area or not.

I do not have this unit (yet), but would ask: have you upgraded the unit software via the web update at the Garmin site? I recall reading that certain batteries (E3's?) push too much power to the units and cause the type of problem you describe. The latest software for the 60CS just came out, and I suspect that your unit also has new software available. As a note though - you must first download the WEB UPDATE software and install it. THEN, run it and the new unit software will install (if there is any). This is a bit different than the olden days when you downloaded the update itself. Good luck and let us know if this works.

I enjoy the parts of the Premium Membership that I CHOOSE to participate in. The operative word being CHOOSE. There is a link called "Member Features" under the My Account page. It is clear and explains your benefits very well (and how to use them) -- features such as instant notification. Just because you paid for something, doesn't mean that you are excused from having to do a little work to enjoy it. Buy a new car -- you have to fill it with gas, buy a new computer -- you have to read about the software it has. Your reaction to the fact that instant-notifications requires the feature to be activated seems odd to me. Especially as you indicate that you will not renew your premium membership. If you purchased your membership just for these notifications, then why didn't you research the features prior to buying? It makes me wonder if you expect the waiters in restaurants to chew your food for you. That said, I understand that feeling of "Doh! -- I didn't know I could do THAT!" very well. Hopefully, you will research (read) about all the many other cool things you can do with your incredibly inexpensive premium membership.