MacDaddy

Here's a proposed solution. Walk away from the computer and stay away for the rest of the day, let your last post stand, and quit trying to have the last bloody word. Geez, you sound like my ex-wife... "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I'm up in Alaska, would love to hear it. Sorry to ask so late.. Thanks Criminal. Oh yeah, I just put out my first night cache, Over The River and Through the Dark Woods, inspired by one of yours. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

The person below me is still awake, thank goodness.. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

..because, uh, well, I dunno, but I DO know the person below me couldn't find both both cheeks with both hands... "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Well, my secret is out..how did you get my picture? Where's my Vista? "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

No, don't get me wrong, you will very likely have your GPS lead you right up to a geocache. A lot will depend on the accuracy of the GPS'r of the person placing the cache as well. The first time I found South Chatfield in Denver, it took me to within 5 feet of the cache, from there it was just a matter of looking for something that didn't look quite right. I really hope you have better luck next time. I really enjoy this thing some call a sport, I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's fun. Putting a cache out is fun as well, and then watching as folks discover it, and log it hopefully. Have fun, I hope it works out for you. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Depending on signal strength, you may get what some call erroneous readings. After you use it in different amounts of cover, or areas of reflection/deflection you'll get a feel for it's accuracy. Sometimes when you get down to 100 feet or slightly less, it's time to put the receiver in your pocket and start looking. And there are many folks who have logged many caches without a GPS'r. But, if you do feel like throwing it in the trash, give me a ring, I'll give you a good price for it. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I like Missionary, and I think I hear in his tone, "Let's keep this in perspective". Good luck in your missionary work, a tough field no matter which direction you go. Many missionaries end up in prison, or worse.. I hope you stay safe. My next bug (first bug, actually) is going to be a baaaad bug, headed your way.. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Garmin Etrex Vista User here x 6 months. I am frequently in the woods here, thick canopy in S.E. Alaska, and often very wet. If I acquire satellites prior to entering the canopy, I am much more successful in keeping my satellites. If I try to acquire once in the canopy, it still happens, but much slower. I am also almost always on on side of some steep ridge, which of course screws me for reception in that direction. But 95% of the time I set my pack down, and put the GPS'r on top of it and let it 'settle', and it acquires, and I'm off again. Hint: put bright tape on your GPS'r if you want to find it again after setting it down! Haven't tried holding my GPS'r over my head and walking in circles yet, afraid someone might see me... My two cents, and a money back gaurantee! "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

quote:Like most men, he likes to think that he's the master of any machine. I was out with a male friend, his kids and my kids this weekend. wHe likes having a GPS, and understands the basic concept, but became frustrated when it didn't go EXACTLY where he wanted to go. And zero patience for the GPS to settle down and get a good fix. He wanted it NOW!! "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I use paypal a lot, buying, selling items on ebay. But I am cautious with some overseas purchasers using PayPal. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I set mine down with the GPS, where's the GPS??? "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

A friend I work with just received his new Platinum, followed the directions for the firmware update that came with the enclosed CD, now the unit will not initialize, at all. Any similar experiences? Thanks. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Update on the micro-ballons: I tried it last night, and it didn't work. No reflective capabilities whatsoever. Process was as I described, so I believe the glass bead blasting media would still work. I'll get soime and try as well. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Micro beads, or sometimes called micro-balloons are commonly used to thicken two-part epoxy, the kind used to construct wooden boats, etc. It's usually sold in small containers, and resembles a very fine white dust/powder. So fine that it can be accidentally inhaled, which, I'm told, is not healthy! I've used it kayak building, and repairing my dory, whenever thickened epoxy is required. Hardware, or more specifically paint stores, maybe those catering to the marine industry (if that's common in your area)would have it. You would spray your cache container with the chosen color paint, and while it's still wet, sprinkle the micro-balloons on the wet paint, allow it to dry. Then brush off the excess after it dries, then test with a flashlight after dark. There is also a sand blasting substance, that is fine powdered glass, works well, same process. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

If this were a voting thing, my vote is to stay underground, for lack of a better term. When you organize these events around an activity, it seems to draw such a huge amount of commercial attention. This is already happening, with it being incorporated into corporate team building businesses, no offense to any such businesses. Garmin is using geocaching as an advertising tool. Magellan as well. Attention can have positive and negative affects. Why screw with an already good thing. And access to public lands for this activity is already being scrutinized, restricted, outlawed. But, we know the American way is to strive for bigger, better, more attention, etc. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Here's an idea. From my Coast Guard deckie days. We used to take bead blasting beads, which was actually finely ground glass, and sprinkle it on freshly painted yellow marking paint, and ouila, instant reflective surface. Worked pretty well. Same principal, maybe using clear lacquer or a glue. I've been toying with this idea, since seeing the picture in this thread of the handprint on the tree. I'm putting up my first night cache as well. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I live in a place like that. My kids play in the neighborhood, and I don't need to worry about them. Everyone knows them. They ride their bikes in the street and folks stop, and let them get out of the way. My son (10) spends the day riding his bike around town with his friends, exploring the nearest salmonifilled creek (summer time of course). The owner of the local paint store knows me by name, and has the colors of the paint memorized for my house AND my boat, and lets me charge it, no credit card, just good old fashioned creit. No one checks your I.D. when you use a credit card or write a check to pay fo anything, because they either know you or recognize you. You never have to walk very far if you don't want to. You can borrow a truck to move furniture or whatever from just about anyone. My kids eat salmon berries, and blueberries and huckleberries and raspberries from bushes all over town without worry of chemical poisoning. I can catch dungeness crab and halibut less than 1/2 mile from my desk at work. (I was out there last Friday.. There still are places like this! MacDaddy in Sitka, AK. (We even have about 8 caches!) "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

My favorite from a cache near Sedona Arizona. 'Under the nearest Rock'. Have you been to Sedona? It's all rocks. On the lighter side, I was leading a discussion for a group of Boy Scouts on Geocching, and one of the Troop Leaders asked if it was possible to have a cache that you didn't necessarily need a GPS for, I told him that there were several people who regularly find them without GPSr's. So I put one together that can be found with or without a GPS. The hint isn't too easy, but the decrypted code nails it. It's called Cetacean Station, which nails the location for my area, we have only one "Whale Park', it's a viewing area where humpbacks regulary cruise through on their way to a nearby fjord-like body of water to feed. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

OK, WBG (way before geocaching) I was living in Baton Rouge LA. We used to play near the river in the summer, and I was with my cousins, playing near the waters edge, and we saw a group of people gathered near the water, pulling something up. So being curious kids we boogied down to see what was going on. A baody of a man was at the waters edge, and a policeman was trying to enlist the help of some of the people standing around to pull the body out. I had never seen a real dead person, and although it freaked me out a bit, my curiosity pulled me closer to see. The cop saw my cousins and I, and yelled at us to get away, that we didn't need to see it. After they had the body covered, he came over to us and asked us if it scared us to see a dead man, I said yea. He looked me in the eye, and said, "Son, you will never forget what you've seen here today.." ...And I never have.. "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

Before I put this on EBay, a friend who knows I'm into GPS stuff, asked me to sell his GPSr. It's a like new Garmin 12XL, original box, manual and quick start manual, cigarette lighter power cable, and an external antenna (low profile) that has either the windshield suction cup mounts, or the magnet base for your car roof. I saw the antenna priced at 129.00. He wants 230.00 for the whole shooting match. If I don't get any serious responses I may advertise locally before dealing with the EBay... Thanks! (email me at geocache@alaska.com) "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I've had my Vista for two months now. I live at sea level, but the mountains and connecting trails ara at my back door,Sitka, Alaska) so there is ample opportunity to test the altimeter. It has been very accurate. I do recalibrate it when I turn it on, and watch the barometric changes, frequent here in S.E. Alaska. It took getting out and working with it for me, to see how it all worked, I'm not a great 'read the manual and understand' kind of guy. Good luck! "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

OK, so now I won't buy the PC, I'll just stay with the plans for the Powerbook and adapter cable.....i r "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I admit to being a Mac User, frustrated by the lack of software. But, I haven't looked enough to complain too much. I use a PC at work, and have been reviewing some PC/GPS software during my "breaks". (Hey, I'm a Federal employee, I have a reputation to uphold..) I'm actually looking for a cheap used PC laptop so I can just use what's already available. I can work on both platforms, and I use my Mac for most things, and can use a PC laptop for my GPS stuff. The added benefit being that when my kids want their "computer time",(always my Mac) the laptop wouldn't be tied up with a queue of kids waiting their turn... "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

I wasn't able to get a copy of the EASYGPS usr manual from the website (EASYGPS) Can someone e-mail me a copy? Thanks. geocache@alaska.com "There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."