RGS

Just want to remind everyone that it's 15 days until MOGA blastoff. It's been raining on and off all week so that means perfect weather for the event on March 8-10. If you're on the fence and still thinking about coming or not, go for it. Last year was a blast, everyone made new friends, and some of the participants were talking about the next event before they even left. And remember, it's not all about competition. For those that just want to take it easy over Friday-Sunday and find nearly 50 ammo boxes in a 7000 acre park, and another 4-6 permanent caches in nearby Sullivan, this is the PLACE!!! For those that want to "motel it" in the park, and save that long 4 mile drive to Sullivan when you're tired and worn out, they are offering ALL rooms for a flate rate of $60/night, with no limit on occupants. Shoot, plan this trip right and it might only cost $1 a night per person vist http://moga.geostl.com for more details. Rich (RGS) MOGA/SLAGA

We (MOGA) have no control over the meals or cost. They are provided by the concessionaire in the park, and we MUST use them for the meals purchased there. However, Sullivan is about 4 miles North of the park and the town has many fast food and nice restaurants available along with hotels that have given MOGA participants special rates. See moga.geostl.com (menu on lower right) for details. The park motel has also reserved 15 rooms at a special rate of $60 with no limit on the number of occupants per room. Call 1-888-MERAMEC for reservations after Feb. 14, 2005. Last year was a blast and this year it will be even better. Bass Pro Shops have already donated 2 GPSr's for the event. Sign up and get set for a great time. RGS MOGA Team St. Louis Area Geocachers Assn www.geostl.com moga.geostl.com

Yep, I was there with A&W. Didn't realize it was a milestone for the cache. So.......where do we pick up the new car? Rich (RGS)

Discount code is at Target.com. Good for 10% off. Brought my total price (shipping and tax) to $165.88. Will be a great deal if they honor it. The code is TCTENFREE4U2 and good through Oct. 15th. There is another for 10% off too but I used the one above. Rich

What kind of a question is that???? Of course We'll meet you for supper on the 14th, and alway glad to have another cacher stop by and visit us. Let us know more details as the date gets closer and we'll have a good time. Rich (RGS) SLAGA

I'm not from Wisconsin, but I think I can answer your question. Human caches, or pocket caches, are great ice breakers for an event where there are a lot of people that don't know each other. Several people (or 4, or 6, or ?) will have a micro with a log sheet, such as a 35MM file canister, in their pocket. The idea is for everyone to introduce themselves to the other cachers and ask if they have a cache. If yes, they can sign the log and score a smiley face. This forces everyone, old and new, to get a chance to introduce themselves to the rest of the group. We've done that at our last 2 or 3 picnics in St. louis and again at our Midwest Invitational Geocaching competition (MIGC) 2 weeks ago at Hawn State Park. Everyone seems to like the idea and it gets everyone to join in. Rich (RGS) St. Louis

Joe, I just did a geocaching presentation for the Missouri Park and Recreation Expo on March 4th in Columbia, MO. One of the gentlemen attended an earlier session on "Technology within the parks" (GPS's and PDA's) and geocaching was mentioned in reference to the Whitecliff cache course in St. Louis. He attended my session to learn about geocaching and was very interested in setting up the same type of permanent cache in the new park they are developing in Blue Springs (suburb of Kansas City). It's great that geocaching is being recognized as a legitimate sport/hobby and we're being asked to participate in their programs and included in their plans. Keep up the good work! Rich (RGS)

Below are several containers I used in the St. Louis area. The top pictures consists of a 1/2" x 1 1/4" bolt attached to a handicap parking sign. I cut off the end of ther bolt and welded it to the nut. Then drilled out the center of the bolt and put in a small pencil point and small scroll log. Most of the threads in the nut are there so I can screw it back on the bolt and it doesn't look out of place The next row consists of a Chapstick container with a scroll log and a small pencil. Turning the bottom of the chapstick pushes up the log and pencil. It is laying in the top cross brace of a large highway sign and held with Velcro in case of wind. The signs (one on each side) are attached to a walkway over the highway so you can't be seen retrieving the container. The last consists of a 3 1/2 diskette that is a cache called "Some Disassembly Required". Sliding the aluminum shutter up allows the plastic diskette to be opened up and contains a log sheet. It is placed between 2 rocks (of which there are many) in an old springhouse so is protected from the weather. Rich

When I installed Mapsource Metroguide(4.3) to my laptop, I elected to install all the areas (except Alaska and Hawaii), and everything got copied to the HD. It doesn't prompt me for the CD whether I want NY, CA, or anywhere in between. Rich

I think you have routing turned on in the preferences screen of mapsource. Since the Legend doesn't support routing in the GPS, you can turn it off and the size of the map segements will be smaller. I selected 9 segments in the Chicago area, and came up with 7.9 meg, which will fit in the Legend's 8 meg. With routing turned on, my 6th segement put the size well over 8 meg. RGS

Great story about Queeny! It looks like our hard work paid off for you. Every month I send a Word doc to the St. Louis County Parks dept. with all the current and new caches located in the county parks, along with a description on the actual cache location. (Queeny is a STL County Park). That info is given to the park rangers and personnel at the individual parks in case a question about the cache comes up. Looks like the system is working! You walked from Manchester and 141 in the rain? That's dedication! Rich

Sounds like Sunday will be your best shot. There are several good locations in the Kirkwood/I-270/I-44 area. Emmeneger park (I-270/I44 at the Meramec river) has 5 caches. It is a hilly and wooded park with some paved trails but mostly dirt paths. Getting to the park is harder than finding the caches. Take Cragwold (off Geyer) till it ends at the river and park there. Laumeier Sculpture park has 3 caches and is located off Lindbergh and Rott rd. Greentree Park along Marshall rd. (between Big Bend and HW 141) has 4 caches and a 5th but the final is across the river. Lone Elk County Park (service rd along No. side of I-44-take HW 141) contains 5 caches and it's a neat park to drive through with all the wild animals. Kirkwood rec center and park (on Guyer road between Manchester and big Bend) has 2 caches There are also several on both sides of I-270 odd the service roads as you head So. towards Kirkwood. Do some zip code searches on 63126, 63122, 63131 and you should find quite a few caches. I'll think about the ones you can do after dark and let you know. Rich

When are you planning to be in St. Louis? I live in the Kirkwood area so can recommend quite a few caches but most are in County and local parks. The County parks all close 1/2 hr. after sunset, so about 5:30 this time of year. Some of the local parks around here have longer hours, like 10PM, which would give you enough time. However, many are pretty dense and hilly so using a flashlight might be a rough walk. Let me know your timeframe and I'll try to come up with some open areas that you can go into at night. Rich (RGS)

Gosh, I didn't think the Missouri caching policy was THAT bad. Here is the Link for Missouri.

WAY TO GO SOUTHPAW!!! Looks like you've done a good job teaching your brother Joe. Rich - St. Louis

There are quite a few of us in St. Louis that would be glad to help you get started. Normally it's best to get a few finds (say 50) under your belt before you start hiding caches. This will give you a feel for locations, contents, difficulty/terrain ratings, and what to expect. Quite a few of us are retired so we can work with you during the day or on weekends. Check out our local St. Louis geocaching group at www.geostl.com for local information. We are also putting on a geocaching seminar for the St. louis County parks on Nov. 1st at Greensfelder Park (behind Six Flags). You might want to look at attending that as we'll have a slide presentation and then an afternoon outdoor session with spare GPS's to work with and members to help you out. Rich (RGS)

Joe; Congrats on 2000! It takes a while for the info to get up here to St. Louis, but eventually we find out these things. It's been fun talking and caching with you the past year, so remember us up here on your quest for 3000. Rich (RGS)

It looks like you guys are headed in the right direction. Just remember that you can't please everyone, and you'll have complainers and a lot of non-volunteers, but someone has to get the ball rolling. I was lucky enough to talk with a very interested ranger with the St. Louis County Parks who put me in touch with the person in charge of events, which includes geocaching, even though it may be a one person event. That led to the policy of caching in the parks, of which there is no policy. We are free to do as we have been and police ourselves. His only request was no ammo boxes, and once a month I send him a Word doc with the new or changed caches in the parks so the local park manager knows the where-abouts in case it is found. I am the only contact with the County Parks, and that is how he wants it, instead of every cacher contacting him. Something you may want to think about is having a liaison person between your group and the parks personel. This relationship has evolved into putting on six training seminars for the County Parks rangers and operations people on using GPS's, map reading, and geocaching. From there they asked us to put on a public course on geocaching as part of the Parks outdoor series (which was sold out), and have asked for another one in Oct/Nov. I've also talked with 2 different rangers with the kirkwood Police and they welcome geocachers in their parks because it gives them extra eyes to cut down on parties and vandelism. The city of Crestwood has a permanent "Geocache Course" in Whitecliff park and I've given two public GPS seminars for Crestwood. This may help you with some ammunition if the question of "what are some of the other areas doing"? Rich (RGS) St. Louis - SLAGA

quote:Originally posted by fideaux:I'll be starting from downtown, and want to return there. You're making this difficult on me About 10 minutes West from downtown on I-64 (or HW 40) is forest Park and the zoo. There are several good caches there along with some LB/micros in the zoo. About 20 minutes West from downtown out I-44 to I-270 there are several areas that have a nice choice of caches and a few hills. Powder Valley, Emmenneger Park, and Laumeier Sculpture park are all within 5 minutes of each other. Another 5 minutes west of I-270 on I-44 is Lone Elk Park which has 5 caches and another 10 minutes West is W. Tyson (at the Meramec River) and Greensfelder (behind 6 Flags), which have enough caches to spend a day or two. Let me know if you want some specifics and I'll give you some cache ID's. Rich (RGS)

What area are you going to be staying in, or passing through from where to where. We have lot's of quality and entertaining caches but the city (St. Louis, St. Louis county, and St. Charles County) are spread out enough that 1/2 hour isn't enough time to go from one end to the other. Give us an idea of the area and well give you some caches. Rich (RGS) St. Louis Area Geocachers Assn. website.

quote: Is there one version that's better for roads and hiking trails? I'm thinking Metroguide, but I don't really care about detailed maps outside of Arkansas... I've got a Legend and Metroguide and love it. It covers the whole US down to street level. I live in St. louis and have gone caching twice down by Mountain Home area and Harrison/Ponca. The maps are great for even the back roads. You also have the option of buying the topo maps but I have trouble using those on the small screen. I also have a laptop that I use while driving in an unknown area which make navigation much easier while using the GPS through the serial port. Rich

See my reply here for Mapsource maps in the 8meg Legend: Forum topic

I've got a Legend and live in St. Louis. St. Louis/St. Louis County is divided into 4 sections. In my Legend (8 Meg) I have the maps for the St. louis area and St. charles and Alton, West to about Fulton, So. through Rolla to about Cape and over to the Carbondale area in IL. covers all my normal caching and driving areas. Rich

You'll be staying in Clayton which is a very nice area. You're safe there. There aren't really any caches in the City proper except for Forest Park, and you'll be OK there and there are micros in the Zoo in Forest Park. The only two I would not do later at night is Hammertime in Welston and Urban Wall (virtual) along the floodwall downtown. There are lots of caches South and West of Clayton where you will be fine. Across the river in E. St. Louis I'd stay away from, but Alton, Belleville, Collinsville, are OK areas. Lot's of the caches are in city and County parks, and most have hours of sunrise to sunset. HW 40 and I-70 across the MO river has a ton of caches, and all are safe to do at night. If you want more info or any specifics, see our website at http://www.geostl.com and send an email and we'll help you out. Rich (RGS) St. Louis