dave5339

While out caching yesterday we came across a young king snake out sunning itself. My three and a half year old daughter thought it was real cool till she saw it move. She watched it from a distance, (just the type of behavior I want to encourage). Semper Fi

I was out on my bicycle hunting a local cache. Finally found it only to realize that I had no writing utensil. Rummaged through my tool kit and stuck a park glueless tube patch on the log and called it good. Semper Fi

Throw my name in the hat! Thanks, Dave

I've got a cache out in a local area where I spent several hours over the course of a couple weeks grooming the local plantlife so I would have a great place to hide an ammo can. I did a maintenance visit the other day and find this large piece of appliance trash laying where my cache should be. I picked up the piece of trash and there was my cache just laying there, not rehidden at all, other than the piece of trash that was covering it. I moved the trash to the local "trash pile" and spent some time re-weaving some new vines into the hide area. It's understandable that not everyone is going to replace it just as I hid it. I just wish they would at least think about hiding it before they leave. Semper Fi

Both my wife and I use the Zire 31 while caching. We mainly use the memo feature to read the cache pages and any logs that may help. We've also used the photo log to download spoiler photos if a cache is proving to be very difficult. In bright sunlight you will need to play with the contrast setting to be able to read the screen. Most of the time I just find a shady spot and everything is fine. Semper Fi

I put a screen protector from my PDA on my MAP60C. I had to trim it to fit but it works well. I also use a neoprene case for my GPSr. It's protected it already from a fall or two. Semper Fi

If that is their reply I can see why I'm not a subscriber to Backpacker and won't be till they start using correct english. Semper Fi

Fry's will print thr rebate form for you at purchase. Semper Fi!

My wife and I did some night caching last night after a date out. We went in carrying plenty of gear, headlights, 3 Surefire Litthium flashlights, two 6 watt bike headlights, and a 12 watt bike headlight. The night only cache and the 3 graveyard caches went fine, saw lots of local wildlife, rabbits, possums, heard a couple of the local coyotes. However, when we were back onto the paved trail heading for some regular caches we started hearing larger things crunching though the undergrowth. At one point my wife was thinking it was two legged, (I wasn't sure though). At another point as my wife was finding the second stage of a devious multi-cache I started hearing something trying to be stealthy coming toward us, (it sounded bigger than the local critters). The sound was enough to ratchet up my situational awareness to a high level. I had enough light power that the surrounding brush was well lit up but the noises kept approaching. That was enough that my wife had her can of OC spray out and I had my hand on my legally carried 45. Nothing ever did show up though, Thank God. Probably nothing more than a bunny rabbit but as this is an urban park we would rather be prepared for all scenarios. We ended up completing the cache and left the area via a different route rather that walking back through the park. Semper Fii

Probably a possum! They will hiss at you if disturbed. Semper Fi

Around my area we have our regular FTF cacher. He's a great guy. When I showed up at a newly listed cache and he was already there he insisted we list it as co-FTF. Last Saturday night after logging a couple of new hides that my wife and I did we saw a new cache pop up. Since the kids were already in bed and asleep my wife looked at me and said go grab your flashlight and go get it! I grabbed it, but it wasn't for the prestige of being FTF, it was for the fun of poking around a cemetary, in the rain, at night, (all for a rubber duck)! Semper Fi

I've ran into several different cachers here in the DFW metroplex area. The first batch was from up from Austin, I was out for a bike ride and saw three folks staring at the trees while carrying GPSrs, I knew they had to be cachers. Went out after a FTF one early, cold Sunday morning. Drove by, no one there, looped down the block and flipped around, there stood Padre at the cache! In fact, I saw him out driving around earlier today as I was coming back from a lunch time cache trip, (there must be something new out there that he's chasing!). My wife and I have a multi stage cache near our house, I was out doing some maintenance on stage 4. As I was walking back I saw a dad with three boys just leaving the area of stage 3. As I walked by I noticed the boys were carrying Rino GPSrs. I stopped and talked to them for a bit and gave them a small hint for stage 4. I guess here in the DFW area there are enough of use that running across another cacher isn't that uncommon. Semper Fi

Just testing to see if mine's working now.

Looks like some of the turkey tracks that I've seen! Semper Fi

Thanks for the link! Semper Fi

We are not in Denton but are in McKinney just to the east. Either me or my wife, (Vic303) would be willing to help if your looking for a McKinney area for your bug. Might you be willing to take a bug or to back to Vermont? Semper Fi

Having a GPSMAP 60C with CitySelect newly installed and living in a high growth area there is one feature that I would really like to see. City Select seems to get very confused if you are driving a new road that is not in it's database. What I'd like to see CitySelect have the ability to learn new roads as you drive them. When you plug your GPS back into your computer, it would ask you about the road, (name it). You could then update your copy of CitySelect at that point with the new road. I'd also like to see the ability to upload this information to Garmin for future versions of City Select. Semper Fi

We just got our order of stuff yesterday! Great Service! Semper Fi

When I am hiding stuff I try and bring along a can of spray adhesive. Spray the container with the adhesive and stick whatever local "color" is lying around onto it. Semper Fi

My wife and I have had a Dagger Magellan and the Dagger Apostle. Both were wonderful expedition boats, (they carried a lot of stuff). We'd both love to get back into kayaking but with a smaller house and three kids that are three and under, it's not going to happen for awhile. Since what I've had has been Dagger thats where my preference lies. I'd also really suggest looking at boats with more than the basic features, buy something you are going to grow into feature wise rather than something you are going to grow out of. Semper Fi

Some form of memory card support for the 60 series. It would be great to be able to pop a 1 GB secure digital card in and load tons of stuff. Semper Fi

My wife and I were out the other weekend for a belated anniversary caching outing. As we were trying to get to some different caches than our immediate area we were in a different part of town. As we came heading towards the park where the cache was, we noticed a couple of young "business men" hanging out. From their behavior and attire it was rather evident as to their line of "business" was. We get to the park and are eyeballing the probable cache locations from the car when the same two "business men" come riding by on their BMX bicycles, we both noticed the "hard eyes" from both individuals. As the park was loaded with other kids, (mostly teenagers) and looked like it could use a good CITO, we decided that this was maybe a good cache to pass up. We both felt that it was better to have passed the cache up than to have gotten into a potential encounter with the locals. After all, a conflict avoided is the best option when possible. Semper Fi

One of the caches I logged today had a note on the log from one of local SAR, (search and rescue) dog groups. They had been out working their dogs and the dogs had found the cache. Semper Fi

Both my wife and I recently added Zire 31's to our arsenal. We've found that if we cut and paste the cache description and logs into the memo on the Zire it really cuts down on our instances of "phone a friend" while out there cache hunting. Have also thought about loading a gallery picture or two over at times also. Cachemate looks interesting, will have to check it out. Semper Fi

My wife, (Vic303) and I have three kids, 3 yrs, 19 months, 6 months old. Our three year old who is a hard charger by nature loves Geocaching! Our middle child is just happy getting out and about. Our 6 month old is thinking about whether or not she is having fun. Caching with kids can be a trying experience, don't put your 18 month old in a backpack and attempt to go bushwhacking, (especially chasing after something that wasn't even there)! Caching can be fun with them though, it often takes us to new parks and recreation areas that offer all sorts of play opportunities for them. Semper Fi