infosponge

Hope everyone in harm's way stayed safe...we were prepared to be flooded out yesterday and then were glad to be spared but seeing the aftermath in other parts of the state is heartwrenching.

I was going to do this a while back, but then along came the rule about no moving caches. I still did two travel bugs like this though, there's just no on-line cache associated with them. They are M&M Mini's containers with some (small) items to trade along the way. http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=769 http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1283

Actually, it looks like '4shades2' traded around several items with that number on them around the end of January, so you might ask them.

There are some local cachers by the name of MiniCooper & HDRider, I believe...you might try asking them. MiniCooper items seem to be fairly common though, so it could belong to anyone. Since it's not a travel bug number (in the Groundspeak.com sense), I wonder... ? Let us know what you find out.

Some of these might be north of where you're looking, but it's a start. waypoint | highway | direction ----------+---------+----------- GCH2FN | I-75 | N GCH2FR | I-75 | S GCHADE | I-75 | N/S GCHCB2 | I-75 | S GCHHRQ | I-75 | N GCHP3G | I-75 | N/S GCHQKY | I-75 | S

I have left behind a cache card, personalized with my geocaching stamp or with my name written on it, when the log has been too wet to sign.

I saw a billboard for XM Radio on a rather empty stretch of I-75 one time that pops into mind many times when I'm out caching and I get to some amazing place with the help of this little handheld toy we're so fond of: "How do we deliver 100 channels of crystal-clear digital radio way out here? Satellites.... Big freakin' satellites..." That's all I need to know.

That's odd! I remember doing a cache in JAX and having a guy come up and just about pee on me while I was searching for a cache there. It must be a regional custom.

Amen. If a log is part of the cache and you did not sign it, you did not completely find it. When I got started caching, my peers would have kicked my a** (figuratively, not literally) for not signing the log.

I don't have specific experience with quad vs. patch in those conditions, as I've mainly used a quad-helix (several Magellan models). One thing I have found that's handy in those conditions is an inexpensive compass. Things rarely got so bad that I couln't get a lock, even when deep in a a rocky area with steep vertical sides, or under tree cover, but...I did find the GPS would become confused about my direction of travel. Using the compass to orient the GPS has worked quite well for me.

Looking at things in retrospect, I'll admit to sharing some portion of the blame for not lassoing things in when they got increasingly negative. I kind of assumed things would work themselves out without getting to the point that they did, and also that one of the other moderators would have jumped in if they felt things were out of hand. I think that the "debate" that was taking place in general was an important one (i.e. some behaviors that reflected negatively on the hobby, imho) but the manner in which it was transpiring was definitely not productive anymore.

This cache looks pretty "cool"...I can see I'm going to have to take my snow-deprived son to go visit that one soon. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...d6-a3b9a220765d

I'm a North-Up fan. If I'm doing a lot of turns on the way to a destination, it's easier to keep of the map features if they're not constantly rotating. I've gotten used to doing the right-is-left/left-is-right flip when the position indicator is pointing down. Either that, or I always hunt caches in a south-to-north order.

You shouldn't need a driver for the GPSR, although you might need a driver for the USB-Serial adapter which should have come with it or can be downloaded from the manufacturer's web site. My USB-Serial adapter (Belkin) required a driver under Windows 2000 and XP. It's been a while since I've used Win98, but I think you can tell it to not install the erroneous driver when that pop-up comes up, or go into the control panel and delete the device so it can be re-detected properly. My memory is fading here...I'm trying to recall if it was Win95 or Win98 that had "issues" with USB support.

Glad to see it. I have a domain name "miamigeocaching.com" I'm getting rid of if you have a group that is interested in it.

Yeah, I wonder why. When I was fed up with TampaBayGeocaching.com last year I already had cacheflorida.com 80% of the way programmed and enough people convinced me to keep going with it that I did. In retrospect I should have just quietly cut my losses then and moved on. I'm not cut out for running a so-called "community" site like that. I'll be glad to contribute whatever pieces of the site to a new project or projects that I'm able to, but I suspect there is not much there that can be re-used.

It shouldn't be hard to replace it...just install postnuke.org on a server somewhere and have at it. As someone from NEFGA so lovingly told me, "you can host a web site FOR FREE".

I appreciate all the nice thoughts, but let's all move on. I'm sure someone else is probably already working on an alternative that will be even better.

...and ExpertGPS as well.

I've gone through security at Disney (MK, AK & Epcot) many times with no problems. Even took it on a front-seat ride on the monorail and the operator thought it was pretty neat. I recently went through security at the Kennedy Space Center and they were very strict about electronics, inspecting everything carefully, but they didn't have a problem with my GPS after giving it a once-over.

That's probably good advice for all involved. If you're taking the game so seriously that someone expressing a different opinion is percieved as some kind of punishable offense, then you need to spend less time talking/thinking and more time enjoying geocaching. I've gained a lot more respect for Jeremy and his armadillo-like ability to continue to do geocaching.com despite what must be some pretty persistent reasons not to.

Does anyone have a copy of BMGPX (source preferrably) that they could send me?

Just say "no". Dressing up pages with animations and color and backgrounds usually just makes them craptastic. If you feel the need to go all-out, do it on another web page and post a link to it on your cache page.

I got an awesome deal on my Plat, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd consider the Gold. 1. The compass is so cranky that I don't use it. Every time you change batteries, you need to recalibrate it. I use rechargable batteries, so I'm generally swapping batteries each time I head out for a day's geocaching. The basic calibration is not too bad, but sometimes it asks for an advanced calibration and you almost need to carry along the manual to figure out the sequence of steps that are required. The on-screen prompts for this sequence are useless. I carry my $2 wal-mart compass instead, and don't use the one on the GPS. 2. the barometer and thermometer are neat to look at once in a while, but...

I always make a habit of going and reading Oregone's logs from time to time, just because they're so amusing. I noticed this morning he hasn't logged anything in a while...anybody know what's up?