jollybgood

City Select seems to be heavy on POIs which aren't really something I need. I notice it skimps on water features. MetroGuide isn't perfect but it tends to show most of the small streams and rivers. On on particular cache in Chicago the cache was hidden along a river bank. Metroguide showed it correctly on the north side of the river. City Select didn't show the river at all. I guess it makes sense -- City Select is designed for routing from a vehicle. But it is annoying. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I bought a 12 volt AC adapter at Radio Shack for 11 bucks. Basically it's a cigarette lighter socket that plugs into the wall. It allows me to use my auto power cable that came with my GPSV to maintain a good steady power supply while uploading maps. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I never thought I'd tell this story but since it's been almost a year since it happened the pain has dulled a bit so I feel like I can tell it now. On my very first cache I chose one located in a local park centered around a marsh. After arriving and finding a parking spot I turned on my etrex and determined the cache was .3 miles to the west. So off I went. I came to a well paved trail but the arrow pointed straight across a field of tall reeds and grass so I decided to trust the unit. About a tenth of a mile later I found myself in ankle deep water surrounded by cattails. Now it occured to me I should probably return to the trail and walk AROUND the marsh but I decided I was already wet so why not continue on? So I trudged onward. Little by little the water got deeper and the muck underneath began to pull at my shoes. At one point I lost a shoe completely in the muck. As I bent over trying to find it I got my other foot stuck and down I went in the brackish smelly water. After finally retrieving my shoes I got a reading again and found I was still .10 miles away from the cache. I figured it couldn't get any worse so I pushed on. Then things got really bad. The muck beneath suddenly dropped away. I was now up to my belly button in water pushing through the cat tails. I was miserable, exhausted and covered with mud head to toe. By the time I hit shore I collapsed and tried to catch my breath. Unfortunately that nice 'trail' I chose not to take before apparently followed the edge of the marsh and ended up being only ten feet or so from where I lay. I heard some noise and looked up to see a family of four walking their dog and looking at me as though I had fallen from the sky. "Are you okay?" asked the mother as she herded her children behind her for protection. I don't recall my answer. After they had departed the area I found the cache and then hit the trail to head back to the parking lot. I must have passed a half dozen people who were obviously startled to see a large muddy man covered with cat tail spores, wet grass an reeds heading toward them. I learned several lessons that day. Sometimes the shortcut isn't always the best route. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I never thought I'd tell this story but since it's been almost a year since it happened the pain has dulled a bit so I feel like I can tell it now. On my very first cache I chose one located in a local park centered around a marsh. After arriving and finding a parking spot I turned on my etrex and determined the cache was .3 miles to the west. So off I went. I came to a well paved trail but the arrow pointed straight across a field of tall reeds and grass so I decided to trust the unit. About a tenth of a mile later I found myself in ankle deep water surrounded by cattails. Now it occured to me I should probably return to the trail and walk AROUND the marsh but I decided I was already wet so why not continue on? So I trudged onward. Little by little the water got deeper and the muck underneath began to pull at my shoes. At one point I lost a shoe completely in the muck. As I bent over trying to find it I got my other foot stuck and down I went in the brackish smelly water. After finally retrieving my shoes I got a reading again and found I was still .10 miles away from the cache. I figured it couldn't get any worse so I pushed on. Then things got really bad. The muck beneath suddenly dropped away. I was now up to my belly button in water pushing through the cat tails. I was miserable, exhausted and covered with mud head to toe. By the time I hit shore I collapsed and tried to catch my breath. Unfortunately that nice 'trail' I chose not to take before apparently followed the edge of the marsh and ended up being only ten feet or so from where I lay. I heard some noise and looked up to see a family of four walking their dog and looking at me as though I had fallen from the sky. "Are you okay?" asked the mother as she herded her children behind her for protection. I don't recall my answer. After they had departed the area I found the cache and then hit the trail to head back to the parking lot. I must have passed a half dozen people who were obviously startled to see a large muddy man covered with cat tail spores, wet grass an reeds heading toward them. I learned several lessons that day. Sometimes the shortcut isn't always the best route. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I was pretty sure they were using Garmin Vistas. The rubber boot and side buttons all seemed to fit as well as the color. It looked as though they had put blacktape over the Garmin logo. But now that I think about it the MAP76S looks a lot like the Vista only bigger. Last week there was a show on Discovery about the Escape from Alcatraz and they were using a Garmin GPSV to track the movement of floating debris from the bay. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I was pretty sure they were using Garmin Vistas. The rubber boot and side buttons all seemed to fit as well as the color. It looked as though they had put blacktape over the Garmin logo. But now that I think about it the MAP76S looks a lot like the Vista only bigger. Last week there was a show on Discovery about the Escape from Alcatraz and they were using a Garmin GPSV to track the movement of floating debris from the bay. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

The iogear adapter was a godsend. I wasted so much time trying to get the keyspan adapter to work. <> I haven't had this problem but I do find I have to do things in a certain order to get everything to work properly. I usually start VPC5 first (without the iogear adapter being plugged in). Once it's up and running for at leat 2 minutes (connectgix reports it takes as long as 2 minutes for VPC5 and Windows 2000/98 to be reponsive to the adapter) I plug in the adapter. Next I check the PC List to make sure the USB adapter is selected. Finally I turn on the GPS. This works 99 percent of the time. If for some reason the unit isn't recognized I unplug the adapter and plug it back in quickly, Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

Dump the keyspan adapter. It will drive you nuts. The iogear adapter works for me flawlessly on my tibook 550 and VPC5. I routinely upload 19 megs worth of mapsource maps to my GarminV. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I've logged over 80 caches with my GPSV. Recently I've been doing a lot of caches in Deep woods/forests. No complaints. In fact, I've been surprised that I've been able to hold a lock on some of my recent finds. The only time I've lost my signal lock has been in tight ravines with dense cover -- but then I expected as much and brought my compass with me to guide me to my target. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

That's what I was looking for. I bought my Dad a GPS V for Father's day and I was looking for a way to transfer waypoints between units without a computer when I visit him. One question -- how would you initiate a waypoint transfer via the units without a computer? Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

Maybe I'm nuts but several months ago I thought I recalled a post about a special cable that allowed two GARMIN GPS units to be connected so you could exchange waypoints and routes. I can't seem to find it now. Is this actually possible or was am I losing it? Jolly Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

<> Exactly the same problem everyone else has been having. I was reading the forums on Connectix last night and apparently others are having great success with the iogear adapter as well. Good luck. And remember -- don't install the driver on the mac side. Install the Windows driver via VPC5. That seems to be the trick. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

The unit I ordered for my dad from AdvancedGPS arrived 48 hours later. No complaints and a darn good price. Maybe they got their act together. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

Go to iogear.com and order an iogear USB Serial Adapter (model GUC232A). I've tried several other brands (including the keyspan highspeed adapter) but they all had their own set of problems. The Iogear adapter is fairly transparent and turns your USB port into a COMM 4 serial port. It's the only adapter I've been able to use to upload 19 meg of maps to my GPSV. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I had to share this. For about six months I've struggled with using my G4 Titanium Laptop with Virtual PC to upload maps to my GPSV. Using a Keyspan USB to Serial adapter I've been able to transfer waypoints and upgrade the firmware on my GPSV but uploading more than 3 megs of maps was virtually impossible. Well, I finally solved the problem. A friend told me to toss my Keyspan Adapter in the trash and buy an IOGEAR USB to Serial Adapter (model GUC232A). Finally, FINALLY I was able to upload 19 megs of maps to my GPSV using my Macintosh (took 52 minutes and 38 seconds). Works flawlessly. No lock ups or sudden loss of signals. The trick is to NOT install the Mac drivers. Rather you should install the Windows Drivers through VPC. I knew there were enough people struggling with Macs, VPC and thier GPS units that this would be welcome news. The IOGEAR adapter transferred at a hefty 115,200. I can't recommend this adapter enough. My Kepspan High Speed adapter is going up for sale. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

<http://www.advancedgps.com/receivers/gpsv.asp $379 with overnight delivery>> Well I hope you get it because I just ordered one for my Dad. ($354 bucks for a GPSV? not bad). He fell in love with mine and I decided to get him one for Father's Day. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

Weirdest thing I found was in a cache I logged in Vermont recently. The cache container was a large 1 gallon pickle jar. It was empty (except for a log book and a pencil) and filled to the brim with swamp water and the lid tightly screwed on. Apparently some prankster found the cache and thought he'd be funny. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

<> Okay. I can accept that. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

<> Okay. I can accept that. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

Thanks for the quick reply. <> Fair enough. But MANY of the locationless caches approved are commerical in nature (The Drive In Theatre, Diner Club and Promotional Bugs locationless caches come to mind. All of them feature posting the cooridnates for places of business and are actually what inspired Game Store Cache). I did the Game Store cache because when traveling most gamers seek out local gameshops because they are like the "Y". They are places where you can sit down an play games, grab a soda and hang out with other gaming enthusiasts. But I respect your decision to archive it. I was just curious why it's okay for Drive Inn Theaters, computer stores or restaurants. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com [This message was edited by Jolly B Good on June 02, 2002 at 10:01 AM.]

Thanks for the quick reply. <> Fair enough. But MANY of the locationless caches approved are commerical in nature (The Drive In Theatre, Diner Club and Promotional Bugs locationless caches come to mind. All of them feature posting the cooridnates for places of business and are actually what inspired Game Store Cache). I did the Game Store cache because when traveling most gamers seek out local gameshops because they are like the "Y". They are places where you can sit down an play games, grab a soda and hang out with other gaming enthusiasts. But I respect your decision to archive it. I was just curious why it's okay for Drive Inn Theaters, computer stores or restaurants. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com [This message was edited by Jolly B Good on June 02, 2002 at 10:01 AM.]

What do you folks think? I created a virutal cache which involves posting pictures and coordinates for Game Stores.(I'm the editor of a games magazine and some of our recent coverage of geocaching has brought a LOT of new cachers into the sport). Is it appropriate to post/log my own cache? There are several local gamestores I'd like to log but I'm wasn't sure if it's considered tacky to log your own virtual cache. I'm a gamer so I want to play by the rules. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

What do you folks think? I created a virutal cache which involves posting pictures and coordinates for Game Stores.(I'm the editor of a games magazine and some of our recent coverage of geocaching has brought a LOT of new cachers into the sport). Is it appropriate to post/log my own cache? There are several local gamestores I'd like to log but I'm wasn't sure if it's considered tacky to log your own virtual cache. I'm a gamer so I want to play by the rules. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I'm surprised no one has mentioned a product called IVY DRY. My mother turned me on to it last summer when I got into some poision ivy while clearing out some brush for her. the stuff is amazing. Neutralizes the poison and dries it up. Stops the itching too. You can also put it on BEFORE you go into the woods like suntan lotion (I put it on my legs. Helps to keep Nettles from stinging as well. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com

I had a cache turn up missing (Hoard of Many Things) so I archived it so folks wouldn't waste their time looking for it. My intent was to replace it in a few days and then put it back up. Problem is I don't see a way to undo an Archived Cache. It was only then that I noticed the 'disable this cache temporarily' button. Did I goof? Anyway to reactivate the cache so I don't lose it's log history? Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com