Ron Streeter

....On Friday, April 5. What a day...after meeting with George and his daughter and LuvOzzy and Pat at the site of Squirrels Stash in Stockton we all had a real good time ! Well, I did anyway as I watched them look for the cache in all the wrong places. I told LO and Pat (before George got there) that I wasn't going to look for the cache because I had found it in its original place some time ago. They bought it ! After LO and Pat had looked for it for 30 minutes, George arrived and another 30 minute search ensued. George it seems had been here a few times before so he had a special interest in getting this thing found. When they all gave up (and I had taken many pics of them searching near and far) I pulled envelopes from my pocket...contents: my post of 9:15 this morning showing I had found it the Midnight before ! Sorry guys...I hope no one was offended by my practical joke. Everyone seemed to be smiling, so I think it was OK, and I narrowed the search down twice for them before Pat found it, then George. After some commisserating about how difficult the cache was, George and daughter went on to Lodi and LO and Pat and I went to Sacto where they found 5 caches with me in tow. I had been to four of the 5, so AGAIN I got to watch them stumble around. We all found the 5th one at the same time as it was pretty well evident. A fun day...again, all in fun and if I hurt anyone's feelings I sincerely apologize...please guys don't pay me back with some microcache hidden in a clamshell at the bottom of a river ! Ron Now LO it's your turn ! (If you dare after your now embarassingly obvious faux paus regarding MY finding abilities compared to yours !) I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost. [This message was edited by Ron Streeter on April 05, 2002 at 07:54 PM.]

....the comedian school here in Stockton is having a special for comedically impaired cache hunters who have a fear of all three-leafed plants sprouting from rocky places! This special program teaches this kind of individual how to "laugh at your own limitations" and has a special section available at no extra cost on how to survive when....."Ron has the last laugh." Looking forward to seeing all the southern cachers stumble around the campus here in Stockton....your fate is only two hours away ! All in fun.....Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

....you'd better roll those eyeballs ! Horsefly indeed....fess up girl....you couldn't find it ! And what's this "...lighten up on the old guy !" Hey, I resemble that remark ! Did I mention that there is poison oak around the Dragonfly. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

....you'd better roll those eyeballs ! Horsefly indeed....fess up girl....you couldn't find it ! And what's this "...lighten up on the old guy !" Hey, I resemble that remark ! Did I mention that there is poison oak around the Dragonfly. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

....are dead meat with George, LO, Pat and Ron on the case ! And now some special notes for the Oz fan..... Well, looks like Mike Morris knows how to look for a dragonfly ! Thanks Mike for saving me the trip out there ..... Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Of course you all realize that if even the first finder puts it back a little differently, the whole thing is questionable. Then if the 2nd finder moves it a bit....well, it can go on and on. To those who say they put it back exactly as they found it, congrats.....but if you are 6th in line, who knows how it was originally placed. The exact replacement idea works IF you are the first to find and IF everyone else follows suit...which they dont. Ron (55 hidden/183 found) I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Ok LO.... As I mentioned the other day when we were caching, when I placed this I could hardly find it myself 10 minutes later ! No clue was provided at the time and the reason for that was I didn't take the time to really look at good "sightlines" for features that one might be able to line up with...there really aren't that many as the cache is in a wide-open area. Objects at a great distance wouldn't give much help IMO and the angles at which they can be viewed would get in the way as well. Just be patient on this one and you might find it, or wait until I can go in there and see if I can figure out a way to provide a clue. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Hey LO.... I ALREADY told you......it's in the rocks ! Jeez...you can't do enough for some people. Ron (hee, hee) I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Hey LO.... I ALREADY told you......it's in the rocks ! Jeez...you can't do enough for some people. Ron (hee, hee) I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Got home about 9:30 Thursday night and didn't log on, so some catching up to do on forum news. Pat.... Thanks for pushing the record button on Amazing Race. My VCR did time it properly and I got a copy...thanks for your effort though. Hiding a video in a cache is an interesting idea, and I have one that cachers would enjoy watching. LuvOzzy..... The Dragonfly will haunt you 'till the day you "cache" in your chips. George..... Friday sounds good EXCEPT I have to hear today from a teacher I am tutoring....she may want to get together Friday at 2:30. Of course, we could get together in the A.M. I'll touch base with you here later today. The idea of having 10 to 12 locations is good. That's the way it worked in the events I have been to. We still bumped into each other, but it was OK most of the time. Sometimes you could SEE where people found a cache as you were still some distance away, but that might be unavoidable and not a real problem anyway...the socializing part of it is after all what we're looking for too. The idea that the further away ones would be easier is a good one. Closer ones to be harder. I'll help place them with you. It almost has to be done the day before so that coordinates can be printed out for people to pursue, but I have a laptop, and with my 110 volt dc/ac converter and a printer, we COULD print them the morning of the event after placing them that morning. Don't know if that would be too much for one day or not. *********** OK all, caching continues to hold our interest...let's get out there ! Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

....yes, Pat you and your lovely wife LuvOzzy get to tape Amazing Race for me just in case my VCR craps out. Then place it in a cache for me to find ! Thanks.....Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

....just because I found the Clear As Day cache before you did, don't get all uppity! Also, LO (and others) see if you can find something different in this message from me to all of you. Be a 5-star cache hunter...look carefully. Who will be the first one to post here that they found something different? What is it? Posting this 15 minutes before Amazing Race (which I'm hoping will videotape at home !) Ready....go ! Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Georgie...you laid out that bad boy to grab old Downhiller for his What Lies Beneath....admit it (4 Jeff). Anyway, it's as clear as day if you have good (excellent) vision. I was glad to find it though and of course to beat out the Ozzy fan. Games at picnic.... You and I should get together maybe before the event to coordinate a bit....your washers idea sounds good. At the events I've been too, I've been a little disenchanted with the cache seeking...seemed a little to "pressured" for me...zooming from one cache to another, bumping into people, etc. Don't know exactly how to get around that. Anyway, it's coming up fast, so lets get together during your time off. Ron ADDENDUM...George I forgot to tell you that LuvOzzy and I couldn't find Ripon Cache after about 30 minutes...that's 1 hour between two people. She and Pat went out again this afternoon so maybe they got it. I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost. [This message was edited by Ron Streeter on April 03, 2002 at 07:29 PM.]

Ron has left the forest ! (had a great time LuvOzzy....fun caching with you...as long as we balance out the find ratio !) Ron (going for 200 before May 1st) I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Hi Jaimee... Other than the 3 leaves being an identifier, the leaves have a smooth surface and the "lobes" are quite rounded. The surface isn't oily, but shiny. If something with three leafs has a rough surface or serrated edges, it's not poison oak. The three-leafed plants at the Ripon cache (site) weren't poison oak...at least not where I was looking. There is a ton of poison oak at Last Rapids if you want to get a good view of some...not 10 feet from the cache itself. Because the colors change from green to red (I think depending on soil and light conditions) it's hard to use that as an identifier alone. It can also be a bush or a vine. Once you've seen it you'll know it from then on. And my "s.o." is very susceptible to this stuff so I know about its effects too...not pretty. I seem to be immune..or lucky. Right now i think I have a spot about 1/4 inch by 1/2 inch, but it might be something else. I just use a Cortaid type product on any skin irritations I get. You probably are all right...in a wild area like La Grange there would be concentrations that would be noticeable....that you could avoid. I was there and don't remember seeing any, but I could be wrong. Stay safe..... Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

LuvOzzy... I do most of my caching alone, but then I am a guy and therefore can ward off all those nasty bad guys by flailing my walking stick at them ! I have done some cache hunting with others but early on for me (and maybe now) I had an issue with the other person finding it before I did ! Gee I'm a creep. When I did cache hunts with my "significant other" (we're not married) we decided that the first person who found it (if we were separated by some distance..20 feet say...) would put down a personal item....like sunglasses or keys and would then wander off. That way when the SECOND person found it, it would be a tipoff, but would STILL give the second person a chance to REALLY find it. Sounds infantile right? That's me ! Anyway, she has lost interest and now I do them on my own for the most part. Don't know how you or Pat would feel about it, but if you want to team up for a morning, I'd be happy to give it a shot..I could use the companionship and the caching input for Modesto searching ! I don't go to work until 5 pm on Monday and Wednesday and I have Friday off completely. If you're interested, just email me at rjsmovie@aol.com. Hey bring Pat along too ! Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Hi Georockers (George isn't it?) Welcome to the Stockton/Modesto forum ! I guess I have been frustrated of late by some of the caches I have gone for....a combination of accuracy (I think), tall grasses and clues (?). George (of George&Mary fame) started me thinking about the clues we give, and now I am going to look carefully at what I provide to people. LuvOzzy has said several times how subjective the clues are, and she is right about that. Some of the clues aren't clues at all, but comments on some other aspect of the hunt. LuvOzzy is right that what the PLACER feels is a clue is not considered (or interpreted by) the finder. As far as the accuracy goes, George (of Georockers) you are preaching to the choir! Even when I used the Mag 315 (before they patched the software)I had good results as I adapted to walking past the cache and then back...I found a ton of caches in Sac in the old days....I don't know if the hiders were doing a better job of taking readings if the clues were better or maybe I just spent more time looking. When I bought the yellow Etrex I was amazed by how much better it was at getting me on target compared to the Mag 315. Today I find I'm not much interested in spending more than 30 (maybe 45) minutes looking for a cache unless I drove an hour to find just the one. It just isn't worth it. So maybe my interest has waned a bit. I was in Sac on Easter Sunday doing an Easter egg hunt and found all 11 I went for. Looking back at them I see they were all "1"s or 1.5s for the most part. They were fun hunts and the accuracy seemed pretty good...I think I was within 8 feet on all of them....this is why I think the 40 to 50 foot range I have been experiencing on some Modesto hunts is frustrating....I got spoiled ! Anyway, more than anyone wants to know about my hunts.....thanks George (of Georockers) for joining our discussion. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

George.... Sorry to hear about your geocaching injury ! I know how painful that can be. I once "threw my back out" trying to move a trailer tongue..my back moved...it didn't. Excruciating ! Double whammy since it comes at a time when you hoped to knock down some serious caches. Maybe after a few days or so you'll feel like going for some. If you want a slight clue on the Single, barbless, fish-hook cache, email me. It was quite off from the coords if I remember correctly. Thanks for your email George on the two of yours I couldn't find. You labeled them both as Slithering, but one was the Egret..I'll sort them out. Hints seemed like they would help me find them. Probably get down that way when a new one or two pop up. I spent Easter on an egg hunt in Sac ! Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

LuvOzzy.... Yep, that was me in the Teal Explorer ! It was so much easier this time. Last time I had an umbrella in one hand, gps in the other and rain pouring down. That day I looked for about 5 minutes and decided there was no way....I'm assuming your original water tower "clue" was an indicator that you lived in that direction. Must be fun to look out the window and see us stumbling around ! I see you have a new one just a few miles from where I was today....I'll wait until a few more end up down there and then go back in and look for the two I couldn't find today...slithering and Egrets No Regrets. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost. [This message was edited by Ron Streeter on March 30, 2002 at 10:53 PM.]

LuvOzzy.... Yep, that was me in the Teal Explorer ! It was so much easier this time. Last time I had an umbrella in one hand, gps in the other and rain pouring down. That day I looked for about 5 minutes and decided there was no way....I'm assuming your original water tower "clue" was an indicator that you lived in that direction. Must be fun to look out the window and see us stumbling around ! I see you have a new one just a few miles from where I was today....I'll wait until a few more end up down there and then go back in and look for the two I couldn't find today...slithering and Egrets No Regrets. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost. [This message was edited by Ron Streeter on March 30, 2002 at 10:53 PM.]

Well George, the Morris family MUST have been out early this morning. I was at the sidewalk at 8:20 and they had already been there. I appreciated the FOUND message they wrote in the dirt though. Saved me from looking for nothing ! I went prepared with an envelope that said HAPPY EASTER in 36 point letters. I was going to leave it (and the note inside) in case I found it first. That way the other folks who came along would find something to let them know it had been found. If not for the note in the dirt I would have looked longer, so I DID appreciate that. I put in an 11 hour, 220 mile day and for that found 6 caches, didn't find 2 caches and saw lots of wildlife. Have to take a break and then will start posting ! LuvOzzy.... Like George, I joined the charter membership mostly to support the site. I had bought a few things over the last year and did some work for Jeremy for about 3 months (cache approvals) but thought it was time to kick in a bit more. I don't know how I feel about placing member-only cache hunts.....seems a bit exclusive, but maybe will do one. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Hi Dirt Hawker.... My original gps (Magellan 315 in Feb, 2001)had a disturbing habit of taking me 20 or more feet beyond a cache and then I had to double back. This was because when my walking speed fell below 2 mph, it started "averaging" the SAT signals. Geocachers moaned and groaned about this for a long time. I bought the yellow Etrex to get around this. Now my Magellan 315 (the original) has had a software upgrade and it lets me walk as slowly as I want and it doesn't average until I stop walking. This makes it much better than it used to be, but the yellow Etrex still has it beat I think. The Etrex will often let me walk right down to 3.00 feet from the coordinates, and sometimes right down to zero. Then of course you look around, but CONSIDER THIS...the person who placed the cache had a different gps device AND the positon of the SATS in the sky at the two different times affects things too. This is why I would like to conduct the test I described above. So, Magellan 315....better than it used to be, and good for placing because sitting on top of a PLACED cache, it is averaging all the SAT signals and THEORETICALLY, would give some good coords for people to come after. I sometimes use both my gps's to get the coords for a cache I am placing. Hope this rambling note answers some of what you were asking about. FILTERING.... As far as I know, there is no way you can filter these out. You'll have to live with it I think..at least for now. There is a virtual cache which I don't want to go for that is cluttering up one of my pages too, but until I go for it, it's just going to hang there. Ron P.S. Your Wallace traveler seems like it is going to be quite a "high maintenance" item ! I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

....you can't be in two spots at once. While he was working on a cache in the Kesterson Preserve I was going for your two caches further north. Mike.... You started a new thread (which is OK), but if you want more of the Modesto area folks to see your note, you might want to think about posting it in the Stockton and Modesto thread in which you earlier responded. Once you've read my posts on your Big Tree and other park cache, feel free to email me if you want more details. rjsmovie@aol.com Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

Well, at least the GeoEvent of April, 2002 in the Modesto area ! Here's an idea I would like to work on if it is of any interest to the folks who will attend. I would like to pick a space completely open to the sky, place a pastic box there...or a pole or whatever...and have each of us take readings on our gps receivers. Then naturally, we go away and come back later, each person stopping at his/her "zero" point (or 5 feet or whatever). Then we all look at each other (and the pole) and get an idea of how accurate or inaccurate these darn things are ! No clues need to be posted for this one. What do you think? Wouldn't take long and a 2nd trip back to the spot an hour or two later should give a new set of SATs in the sky to read from. I just think it would be interesting. I see us looking at each other from 20 to 50 feet apart, and MAYBE the cache will be in the middle of our circle. Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

I'll let the Modesto area folks decide where it's going to be...you know the area better than I do...and I'll be happy to help George with setting up some of his games. Count me out on the Poker though...I'm not a card player...I don't know a flush from a full-house. I think it's a great idea to just let everyone bring their own lunch. That way you can make your own, bring KFC, pizza or do whatever you want. Looking forward to meeting those folks I have only been corresponding with ! Ron I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.