Lasagna

Actually ... I'd suggest looking for the Vista C (picks up the electronic compass function which comes in handy). Shouldn't run you much more. I just sold my Vista C. I have a Vista Cx and a GPSMAP 60Csx. Haven't decided if I'm going to sell the Cx yet or keep it as a backup unit.

Common problem on aging units ... evidently there is a connector inside that works it way loose. Depending on the age of the unit, if you take the right tone when contacting with Garmin, they'll usually offer to replace it "under warranty" for free or for older units a fairly low cost. Legends and the original Vistas seemed to suffer the most from this issue. ... and yes, a well placed "smack" on the back of the unit seems to in many instances jostle things back into position.

Interesting stroies ... but I HAD quite the opposite experience. I had this problem on my Vista C after about 6 months of use and I emailed them asking if it was a known issue with the unit. They said it wasn't (but we all now know that it's quite common) ... however the tech support person simply gave me an RMA number and had me return it to them where they promptly replaced the unit at no charge (except for shipping from my home). So, fo those of you with relatively new units (like the Vista Cx person), I'd ask about getting this fixed under warranty first. After they repaired my unit, I had no probles whatsoever with it since.

Are you a premium member? There's a "find caches along a route" capability. You map the route out in Google Earth, upload the KML to GC, and run a PQ on the route with parameters of how far from the route you want included.

Sure ... banging up a PDA gets him all upset, but losing a $300 camera? Nah ... he doesn't sweat that! (Sorry, inside story there -- TheProper's camera was I believe last seen floating down the Susquehanna somewhere). In all seriousness, I don't think there's any true all in one setup. I have found that the 60Csx with it's point of interest capability will allow me to download all the cache parameters AND the hint (see the GSAK site and check out the macro section), but there's really no way to get the description portion. For that, ThePropers is right ... a cheap PDA is the best way to go (unless your work happens to be buying you your PDA or Blackberry).

Think both spellings are appropriate depending on which Bible you have ... I have a King James with it spelled Jermiah and a NRSV with it spelled Jeremiah. No expert here, but I thinking both spellings may be correct. As for CCCA, she is a caching machine ... living nearby her, I've had the opportunity to cache with her a few times and the women never stops! She has lots of help from the teams at home (some of which have their own ID's) as well and even an occasional find by them on her behalf. However, I'd say by and large she does most all of the field work and the finds are made by her or the group she's with at the time. There's an interview with her on Podcachers a few months back you might want to give a listen to some time.

By all means ... go ... It's great to be able to put faces with caching names (you see the names in the logs or as the owners of caches, but sometimes it takes meeting a person to get a feel for who they really are). Take your caching questions as well ... they'll be great ice breakers as you'll find just about every "experienced" cacher would love to help you with an answer. Also ask about some of the group's favorite caches in your area ... I guarentee you'll get some interesting stories and opinions.

At the top of a hill, you take a quick drink of water before continuing on your journey ... at the top of a mountain, you sit yourself down on the nearest rock, catch your breath, drink your water, and wish you were in better shape ....

As an "owner" of a cache, I never log a find on it (what sense does that make?). Likewise, anyone who helps in the hiding generally can't claim the find if they participated in and know the final hide location from the outset (at that point you're a co-owner) -- although if you're along for the hide but not able to see where it was hidden because you stayed in the car, etc., you can still find it later. I also use some folks to "test drive" a find before it's released -- but ask that they not claim it until it's been out for a week or at least three people have found it.

My EZPASS is mounted on my windshield right behind the rear view mirror and my Garmin eTrex Vista C sits in it's auto-mount directly below it ... absolutely no problems whatsoever. Easy enough to prove ... remove the GPS from the car and go for a drive.

I got the impression it was kind of a mix of "The Amazing Race" with an intellectual component thrown in (if you're an Amazing Race fan, you know that you don't necessarily have to be too smart to win -- but you will have to be able to take on some serious physical challenges if you want to get to the finish line). Supposedly this keeps the physical component but adds some hard core puzzle solving as well.

I was thinking more like they'd run out and sign the log for them ....

For an "urban" run, I'd say a group of no more than 4 is ideal (essentially, one car load). That's enough that you can fan out at a location, but not so many that individuals don't all have the opportunity to participate. More than one car load often results in the second car just "tagging along" and not having the fun of doing the search. Hikes in the woods, etc. can be fine for larger groups since the experience is more in "getting there" than actually finding the cache. I've gone alone, in a small group of 3-5, and in groups as large as 30 or 40 people. I must say, I like the small group best.

We have a Solar System series here that's sort of like what you describe ... 9 individual unrelated caches (or than that they are named after each of the planets) which each contain a number and a log sheet. After retrieving all 9 caches, you use the numbers to calculate the coordinates for a 10th cache listed as a "puzzle" cache. I would think you'd have a better chance of succeeding if you had some kind of theme tying them all together vs just putting out six micros for the sake of completely covering an area. In the case of the planets cache, the hider actually used relative distances between the planets in determining placement ... which made fetching Pluto a two hour drive from the Sun!

Maybe they're describing the location of the cache?? Ding Ding Ding Ding ... sounds like we have a winner!

How about putting the "log" for your event cache in the truck? When we have events locally, we still have a "log" that everyone has to sign at the event. Sometimes the log is simply a sheet of paper on a table, other times it's a micro hidden somewhere in the location where we are meeting. Just put a note out that reminds all attendees that they need to "find" and "sign" the log. The log would exist only for the day of the event. This could be an excellent way to have some fun to see who would be FTF ... perhaps you could even use FTF (and/or a random drawing of all those who "found" the log and signed it) as the basis for giving away a free ice cream bar or something.

Nothing nearby archived that seems to match that description ... only stuff archived within a couple miles were: GC5C23, GCNXP6, and GC261A

You find a nearby active cache and then click on the map near the top the description. It'll bring up another map where you can select to include "archived" caches in the view. This might however be a "members" only feature ... thus the request for the coords.

It's possible the cache was archived ... if you can post the coordinates, perhaps someone from the area may recall (or have logged) it. For that matter, did the cache have a "log book" or an identifying sticker on it? If so, that should have the GC number (or cache title) on it which you can then look up online. If there's no number, if there's a log book, you can possibly chase it down through a cacher's profile by noting the date a particular cacher found it and then checking what caches that person found on that date in their profile.

Eeeww ... may have a different problem then. To answer your first question, go into Cachemate and make sure your view is set to "All" Record Types. Then delete all visable records. Basically, you should see no records in Cachemate when you're done. Now, regarding your other problem ... you definitely need the GPX file version, not the LOC version. The LOC file doesn't have description, difficulty, terrain, etc. in it. If you imported a LOC into GSAK, you may have overwritten the cache descriptions and need to reload them into GSAK again. Check your PQ to make sure you have the right option checked and then check the contents of the ZIP file you receive before importing it into GSAK. GSAK will export all the information it has in the current filter view when you do the export. So, if you've got old data in there, you're going to get that as well. You have two choices depending on how you use GSAK. 1. Import into GSAK and check the option to delete all data in GSAK before importing. This will drop all the old records. 2. Set a filter so that only the caches you want are shown. A "quick" filter can be set by double-clicking on the "white" box in the lower right corner which will have GSAK show only those caches you haven't found yet. Then export (and make sure you are picking up the right file when transferring it to your PDA). Lastly, another option, if you like the "mobi" kind of format better than Cachemate would be to use Plucker. You can get the reader for your PDA (it's free). Also load SunriseXP on your PC. Then, export from GSAK using "Export as HTML" and point SunriseXP at the "index.html" file in the directory which gets created. The resulting file can then be sent to your PDA and read with Plucker.

There's always the "having a phone conversation on your GPSr" trick as well ... people think you're having a chat with someone and otherwise dismiss your "pacing about" as nervous energy while engaged in conversation. Of course ... that only works as long as your "real" cell phone doesn't ring while your "talking" on your GPSr!

Done properly, I think they can be very appropriate ... particularly if the cemetary is a "historical" location or has individuals buried there that are of historical significance. There are a couple locally that I like, one takes you to the gravestone of a local historical figure (virtual part of a multi), one that is an offset cache which takes you to the grave of the individual who was one of the first documented cases of what is believed to be "spontaneous combustion", and another which is at a civil war freed slave memorial cemetary in the middle of a cornfield (an otherwise "lost" location which had it not been for geocaching, I would have never known to visit). All have the tidbits of information surrounding the reasoning for placing the cache and are quite fascinating to learn about in the process. The cache is just a "bonus".

Reviewers are not notified when a "needs maintenance" log is entered. Nor should they be. That's true ... but it alerts other cachers to issues with the cache ... and certain reviewers do occasionally look for forlorn caches with old needs maintenance logs and post a "what's up with this cache" note. It also doesn't hurt when you do eventually post an SBA to see an old "Need Maintenance" out there.

How about here .... GCGE7D - Our Hideaway (formerly Spencer's) Would seem that one is in the very campground you are mentioning ....

The easy way of sorting out inactive owners is to simply report the cache as "Needs Maintenance". That will alert others to the fact that the cache is in poor condition, will force the owner to perform some maintenance (or at least logon to the site and clear the maintenance flag), and will put it where a reviewer will eventually question the owner as to why the maintenance flag has not been addressed. If the flag remains set, the review may archive the cache -or- if you set it and it's been that way for a good period of time without at least some commentary from the owner, you can post a "Should be Archived" log which will eventually result in the cache being pulled as well. As for the ratio, it's hard to say ... older caches do tend to be in poorer condition ... so if you're doing a lot of those, perhaps you need to just mix up the "age" of the caches you search for a bit.