Nerves

If I want to laugh and have a good time I'd pick John Cleese (when he was younger and thinner). If I want to have a good time I'd have Ray Liotta tag along for the romp and maybe we'd look for the cache...or, maybe not...

nada

Here's my 2 cents: I got left lying in the woods suffering in excruciating pain and unable to move by a *bad* samaritan when I broke my leg. To this day, it still bothers me that someone could do that. Luckily, the EMTs found me but it took them a long time. Just help the person who's injured. It's good karma.

My biggest fears are: Running into weirdos of the human sort. Injuring myself again. I've already broken my leg and laid in the dirt for what seemed like an eternity until the EMTs found me. Worst part - the recovery is still ongoing and it's been 6 months already. One slip and your life is changed.

Wow. I never noticed that until you pointed it out.

Found a crack pipe once. Syringes too. Also, found a homeless fella who confiscated the huge cache container and used it to store his food in.

Broke my leg in four places on a 1.5 terrain, by golly! Wheelchair for two months, three different casts, crutches and now, 6 months later with physical therapy twice a week I can walk with a cane.

I've found caches hidden on signs or poles in the middle of busy intersections, real estate offices, private homes and yards (with the owner's permission but still weird to poke around), trailer parks, in the middle of subdivisions, around stores, malls, playgrounds, park benches, in abandoned cars, even amusement parks, old military sites, a cow farm, bed and breakfast, herb farm, ice cream shop, you name it. I usually fabricate some bizarre tale to fit the situation and most of the time people believe the mallarkey I tell them. I've been a fake reporter, botanist, engineer, photographer, radon inspector, bridge inspector, bolt inspector, naturalist. I did get chased by the environmental police once. One cache was outside a former railroad station, now a liquor store and the owner came out to ask what I was doing. Told him I was writing an article so he brought me inside and showed me old photographs and the historic ceiling which was really nice. I cache with someone who is convinced we'll be rewarded with a night in jail some day. Right now I'm temporarily using a cane to walk so most people just think I'm an odd crippled person and walk the other way.

That's correct according to an attorney friend of mine. Despite the disclaimer they share some responsibility because they APPROVE the caches before publishing them.

You know those loud kids that run around restaurants? I'm gonna offer to take them geocaching.

I haven't had a joint replacement but I'm "all screwed up" in the right leg. I'm only doing one terrain caches so far but I'm just 5 months post surgery and still in P.T.. By the way, the screws were for a geoaccident.

Geez. Some of these stories are really bad! I hope Archerino has fully recovered. Gawd. I didn't nearly die but I did manage to shatter my right leg on a 1.5 terrain hike to find a geocache about 1/2 to 1 mile in the woods. If I could find the guy who didn't help me he might be near death however.

Yep, I'm going to have to get one of these since I did the Washington state APE cache last October.

I'd like to know if there are any geocachers currently working in the foreign services. Where are you and what is your profession? What is it like to work for the Foreign Services?

Very nice of you to consider our less ambulatory cachers. I was in a wheelchair (and now on crutches) last fall due to a broken leg from a geocaching accident so I'll put in my two cents worth I guess. If you can easily roll up to the bench - meaning, no curbs or other obstacles to negotiate from the car to the cache - and if one can park a wheelchair alongside the bench then bend and reach from a sitting position then it's probably wheelchair accessible. I would say this applies to "crutch accessible" as well. I also had a "reacher" with pincers and a magnet on the end that was helpful in reaching items out of range although I doubt many would carry this around with them outside of the house. It would be nice if you could do a few of these in the surrounding areas so handicachers can rack up some smilies. It's a real hassle taking a wheelchair in and out of a car so being able to do a bunch in one area would be fun.

This was a terrible tragedy. I offer my deepest sympathy to his family. Just a suggestion - someone could start a travel bug book where people write their condolences. You can bring this to different geomeets for people to sign then present it to his family once it has made the rounds.

Heck, I'm not sure what I feel. Guess I should get in touch with my feelings huh? Best way I can describe what I feel when I'm lurking around caches located near private homes or stores is DISCOMFORT. I start thinking someone's gonna come out with a shotgun and start yelling. That actually happened to me once when I wasn't geocaching but that's another story. So, now I usually have some sort of ridiculous story prepared. One of them is that I'm a botanist or scientist looking for a mutant frog or some sort of new flora and fauna. Another, depending on who asks me, is that I'm checking radon levels.

Interesting. Now, how about a study on the behavioral and personality traits of geocachers?

I understand some of your frustration svekke. I am temporarily wheelchair bound having broken my leg in four places. This has certainly changed my perspective on many things including geocaching which I haven't done in two months. There are some wheelchair accessible caches in the New England area and I've had geocachers offer to bring me to them. I guess I'm still too fearful of breaking another limb while traversing the snow and ice so I haven't gone. I think that once you have more finds you will get a better sense of which caches are appropriate for someone in a wheelchair. Some of the caches might be easy to roll up to but difficult to reach as The Alabama Rambler mentioned. Does your son have a "reacher"? Mine is a 36 inch long lightweight pole with pincers and a magnet on the end useful for grabbing things out of reach while seated in a wheelchair. You might also eventually think about starting a "handicache" series or teaming up with a local disability group and other geocachers to hold a wheelchair accessible event in your area. We have had an event here that simulates finding caches if you're blind which really opened people's eyes so to speak. Lastly, you can check out this website: Handicaches Good luck, enjoy, and don't give up!

Oh yeah, I know about that. It's been two months for me and two more months to go! Reveritt ~ it sounds like all your limbs are intact and nothing flesh-like was lacerated so that's a good thing. When I get back out on the trails I hope to see some of that wood made into a travel bug or maybe a mini chainsaw or toolshed and dropped into one of your great caches. Then again, this might be reason enough for a new "Toolshed Trashed" or "Chainsaw Cache"

What??! No chainsaw pics?

Yes. Pics. Lotsa pics. We need pics. Some of the toolshed. Some of you with the chainsaw.

Bump Pass this around.

Bummer. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Glad it wasn't your house or you'd be doing some major renovations I'm sure. Watch that chainsaw - they bite big!

Here's the before pic: On second thought, I'd better resize it!