Neos2

I'm with Muirwoody on this one...Being fairly new at this, I am still a bit thrilled to feel that I am "in on the secret" ---I tend to write longish on-line logs that usually end with "TFTC"--I guess I feel that after all that chatter, it is a nice celan way to wrap it all up.. I do understand the lament, though--It is disappointing to open a log and read only a string of "TFTC" Perhaps part of the reason is that many folks don't have confidence in themselves as writers, and stick to safe standbys (said the teacher, who grades papers that read like that all too often in the first part of the year, before the kids learn to open up).

Congrats, CyBret.

Wow! I would be very pleased to run across one of those in a cache. I leave the biner/compasses often, but I collect knives and multi-tools. Neat, neat trademark item!

If I had any sense, I would say that Stinging Nettle would keep me from looking for a cache, but I did wade through about an acre of the stuff last month for one. Rough neighborhoods would make me think twice--maybe in daylight with a group--for a really neat cache. Schools would not deter me at all. There are many many adults around schools all day long--parents, volunteers, social service personnel, delivery drivers, former students dropping in to say hello to favorite teachers, guest speakers. Our school offers to let the adult community use the hallways for a safe and comfortable temperature walking area after school hours and lots of people use the track for their workout all day long. I do think that the school personnel should be told about the cache locations and perhaps elementary schools aren't the best choice. But you wouldn't want to cache when the students were out and about anyway, to avoid giving the location away, so proximity to the kiddos isn't really an issue.

Way to go!

I live in a small town that borders a large river, so 14 of my "nearest 20" are actually at least a mile across the mighty Ohio as the crow flies --and therefore at least 5 or 6 actual driving miles away. Since it is a metro area, there are literally dozens of other caches along the driving route before the "nearest" from my home. Of the others: 1) there are a cluster we are saving for an evening that we feel like running down a few caches but don't feel up to a long drive 2) there is a virtual that I already know what it is, but haven't visited in so many years that I would enjoy it again--and plan to get it sometime when I have to drive that way anyway 3) there is one that I actually looked for once --without finding it--while showing a teacher buddy how to use the GPSr. It tends to disappear from time to time when found by children playing nearby, so I am just going to have to find it one of those times when it is there. 4) one is in a busy skate park where most of the kids know me because my youngest is one of the local boarders who hang there--so I need to go there when the kiddies aren't there if I don't want to attract attention to myself (Hey Alex, why is your Mom looking around in those bushes with her cell phone?)

Interesting diversity of answers. In my area folks tend to leave sig items or cards (usually laminated) and sign the logbook. Quite a few of us locals tend to collect both the sig items and the cards, so they get picked up fairly regularly by anyone who happens along. General trend is that cool sig items are traded for, and laminated cards are just picked up by collectors. If someone intends the item to be left for the cache owner and they say so in the log their wishes are usually respected, otherwise its up to the next few finders to pick them up if they like them and don't already have one from that cacher. We have a lot of prolific writers in the area who log great stories on-line, also.

Could you mail him a copy of the brochure? Perhaps it would alleviate his worries about all those mysterious visitors that he has no doubt noticed before in the lot. The brochure would explain things well, and you wouldn't be placed in the uncomfortable situtation of having to face him again I doubt that I would have reacted the way the owner did in that situation, but perhaps he has an employee who has been harassed by an ex that he felt the need to protect; perhaps he thought you were scoping out the place in advance for a robbery, etc.

Yesss, I can see that working. Neat idea!

Zack, If you are up for a little game of poker, why not set out your own caches and start them off as a poker game?--like this series here that my husband and I recently enjoyed. Ante Cache The Turn The River Since the three caches remain after the poker game is over, they are 'real' caches and not an event. I am not sure how game you had in mind was supposed to work--(What is to keep some ONE person from going out immediately and getting the ultimate hand, making it pointless for anyone else to play?)--but this set-up worked very well. Only the dealer knew who had what hand....the trash-talking was great fun. And the caches are still terrific places to visit--worthwhile in their own right, even if you weren't playing the game.

Since I am a science teacher and a rockhound, I leave a mineral --pyrite or fluorite or lace agate etc. I carry other things with me to trade out also (like cars and biners and flashlights etc) but I leave the mineral too, as my trademark item.

And what, if anything, can be done if a TB that you had placed in a cache-- but not logged yet-- has been grabbed by someone? I picked up a nice little TB that had a mission to travel, especially riding in cars. It went for a ride in a semi and we took it with us to drop my daughter off at college and on two day-long caching adventures. Then I dropped it off in a cache and planned to come home and log it in and out of a few of the places it had been along with pictures of the adventure. All in all it would probably have added 500-600 miles to the TB....but the person who picked it up "grabbed" it from the cache before I could log it into the cache. Can I 'back-log" the travels it made with me still, or will its mileage be off if I do that? PS I met the person who grabbed it on his way into the cache site--He is a very nice, very young cacher, and I am sure that he would not have adversely affected the bug's travels for anything in the world.

Updating as promised--Just heard from my father & stepmother, who are fine and only have damage to the exterior portions of their home. They fled to a hotel (near the Denny's--they love that Denny's!) and apparently had quite an adventure. The windows began bowing in on the hotel, and it leaked like a seive. The hotel lost telephone service, then power, and finally water. That's when they came home to find that they have no lanai now, only half a carport and no longer have a Florida room--but the main seciton of the trailer is fine. Hope everyone else fared as well, if not better. Thanks to all who offered help--especially Lehigh Mafia!

I am enjoying hearing these answers. I expected to hear that the idea of the 'official capacity' and being able to provide 'public service' would be among the answers I received. I was suprised, however, by how poetic and passionate your answers have been--I can't explain why that surprises me though, benchmark hunting is obviously a task not taken lightly. Thanks for the responses so far, feel free to continue.

Me too! They usually run for cover at the local Denny's (a designated storm shelter) but wiht him being so ill, I am hoping that he was still in the hospital. I will let you know. Thanks.

Glad that you are safe...Seems that there is an amazingly small amount of damage for so powerful a storm. I live in Indiana, and am waiting to hear how my father and step-mother fared. They live in a trailer park in North Fort Myers...I haven't heard from them in several days now. Last I talked to them (last Tuesday), Dad was in the hospital with pneumonia (but he should be out by now). There is no answer at the hospital number, their home, or their cell phone, so I am assuming that telephone service is pretty limited. You can just bet that I am worried!

Hope everyone living in that area is OK, and that at least a few caches made it through that storm--and if you are going out caching near North Fort Meyers will ya go check on my father for me, please? (No telephone working???)

From another thread, came the comment from someone who likes to benchmark hunt that they did not like to geocache....and that leads me to this question..just curious, because I like them both--for different reasons. ...What is it about geocaching that doesn't interest you? To me, geocaching is much like benchmark hunting: There are coordinates, a description, and something to find (or not) at the end of the hunt. You have the opportunity to record the results of your hunt in either case. The hunted items were placed by humans in both instances. Either type can "go missing" There are variations in what you will find in both types of hunt, and obstacles, challenges, and misinformation to be had in either sort. The differences: Benchmarks have (usually) been there much longer than the oldest geocache Benchmarks serve a legal purpose (locating a specific place on Earth) Geocaches are put there "just for fun" Benchmarks were meant to be found easily Geocaches are meant to be a challenge to find (in theory). Edited for spelling errors, poor grammar (teacher in me, I guess).

female 29, no, wait that won't work any more, my daughter will be 21 this year, dang! Husband has been my best friend since I was 15. We have two boys also 19 & 14 --none of the kids have been caching yet. Bought my truck-driver husband a GPSr for his birthday (for the maps) and found out about geocaching when I was reading about the GPS online--immediately knew that geocaching was for me...because... Science teacher--above average intelligence (tested). Right-brain/left-brain person (Biology Education major with every science minor my college offered, as well as a 56 credit hour Art History minor (Baffled my profs, who could not figure out what those things had to do with each other). Gotta see what's around that next corner... Love maps--always--i was a 'burn the edges to make 'em look old' map maker, too Like to hunt rocks and wanted to be an archaeologist when I was a kid... Former Girl Scout and GS leader too... Gadgets, tools, and computers are fun--Whoever dies with the most toys WINS!

If I could figure out how to get my avatar onto the page, I would submit it for consideration. I did it! I am so proud of me! (Figured out how to add an avatar that is) And it only took me half a dozen tries...Anyway, this is the avatar. Husband's is the same as mine, except his has "I" in the center instead of "II"

But, hey we found the cache! FTF, and it was no walk in the park either. Quit caching? We just got into it, and I was starting to think that my husband didn't like it much--and then he 'made' me buy my very own GPSr today. (so he didn't have to share his toy). He said yesterday that he thinks he really wants to benchmark hunt more than he wants to geocache, but I like both. Any excuse to wander out and about.

Quote (SecretSpy711 @ Jul 20 2004, 01:22 PM) Just curious why you didn't try your experiment a little longer or why you didn't try to get permission to change the nature of the cache and leave it there for other kinds of trading? Your last log says something about minimum distance...Too close to your other cache? I had a jeep ready to go into your cache and was just waiting for my husband's vacation to start to go visit your cache. Lo and behold, we got ready to go out yesterday and the cache had already been disabled. Travel Bug Truck Stop I admit that I wasn't really fond of the idea of having to drop off a TB in order to be able to drop off a TB, but I am fond of that location, and wanted to check out your hiding spot.

Definitely a newbie goof. Recently I was doing some geocaching waaaay out in the boonies. We were looking for a geocache on a ridge, and had gotten a bit off track using a MapQuest map. We stopped along some railroad tracks to orient ourselves and figure out which way to go to get to the geocache. We were about a half a mile below the cache at that point. We eventually found the geocache. Today I looked at the log and out of curiousity sake I looked at the "nearby benchmarks"--Turns out we had probably been parked within a few feet of the benchmark when we stopped to reorient ourselves. It has not been checked since 1934. Moral of the story---Always look up the nearby benchmarks when geocaching.

My husband has observed that "Woo hoo" is the most common phrase from geocachers in our area who have found the cache, reached a milestone, etc. My question: Is it a local thing, regional, or bigger?

I realize that I am pretty new at geocaching, but when I look at Terraserver Maps of the two caches, they both seem to be just (barely) outside the edge of the Wildlife Preserve, and in legitimate spots to place a cache. Of course, you live near there and those maps I pulled up might be old and not show the full extent of the refuge, so I could be wrong. URLs to the caches up close: http://www.yvanovich.com/geocaching/index....=500&height=500 http://www.yvanovich.com/geocaching/index....=500&height=500 Could your cache be placed in a similar area? It looks like there is a lot of nice ground near there that would be suitable for placement, yet outside the banned areas.