Clan Delaney

Oh, I have. That one probably sparked me thinking about something similar. Only, with a slightly smaller price tag.

Something I've been tossing around for too long in my cranium has been a "Choose Your Own Adventure" cache. Remember those books from the 80's? You would read a page or so then have to make a choice about where you want the story to go, and turn to that page. The cache would be similar. All the stages would be listed and loggable as separate caches but only the initial cache would be listed as a traditioinal. All other "stages" in the story would appear as mystery/puzzle caches, with the only way to find them being to go to first and then choose which of 2 coords to go to next, then choose fro another 2, and another 2. Really it's no more than a collection of caches (and they wouldn't even have to be owned by the same person, though that makes maintenace much easier, of course) that are linked by a story. However, finding all the caches in the story would require eventually travelling every possible path. I've done some preliminary work scoping out interresting areas that are fairly equally spaced. I envision each of the stages being far enough apart to warrant (nay, require) driving between them. You could hunt it piece by piece, or attempt an entire story line in one day (I'd like to make it so this is possible). A lot of work? Oh yeah. Maybe more than I have time for right now, even. But that's for me to worry about. For now, I'd like to get some feedback. Has anyone seen or done a cache like this before? Not a straight line series of caches, but one that braches. Does anyone forsee any possible problems with building/maintaining such a cache series (well, other than the time and dedication...)? Sound off!

I've shaken hands with WH, and I'd just like to say that I found them to be neither overly warm, or excessively moist.

I've only done one dedicated night cache (the kind that involves following fire tacks) and that was with a group. Other than that, one of my friends and I have gone looking for a few caches long after dark, but only because an FTF was at stake. I've had 2 ideas for night caches, and I might as well share them since it'll be a LONG time before I have the $$$ and free time to make them happen. One would involve following the traditional reflective tacks, but then the final cache site would be marked by an owl decoy in a tree, complete with glowing orange LED lights for eyes. The guts from a solar walkway lamp could make that happen. I'd call it the Great Horned Cache. The other idea would involve making a trail of solar powered boxes with blinking LEDs, except the kind that are found in TV remotes. You can't see them... but your digital camera or camcorder can! Possible name: For Your Eyes Only. Hey WH, interested in trying any of these out?

HC, It's almost like NECTF all over again, isn't it? I think contest TB's might just be cursed! I was thinking that exact same thing as I was typing that stuff I guess the bottom line is that you can't have a perfectly "fair" game or contest in this kind of arena when there's no way to actively enforce rules. In the end, it's your choice to play, and if you play to accept the situation as is. I know it's said over and over and over so I'll just turn on the cliche here (*click*, there we go...) If you don't like it, then don't play. If you do play, you have to agree to take it as it comes. If you want to take part in a geocaching contest with prizes and rules that have people out to enforce them for the length of the game, come on up to North Central MA for the Great Northern Tier Geocaching Tournament. You'll forget all about the WJTB's by the end of the weekend! Heck, you might just get one while you're out here.

They're not real Jeeps either, but we still call them Jeeps.... If I just raced an unknown number of other cachers out to a cahce that had a WJTB, and got there first, you bet yer sweet bippy I'm calling it a prize. Why would that automatically mean I'm keeping it? Besides, I hardly believe any geocacher, experienced or otherwise, would write in a logbook that they took a WJTB if they intended to keep it.

HC, It's almost like NECTF all over again, isn't it? I think contest TB's might just be cursed!

It's like reading a train wreck. Is that staff writer from the Court TV forums? Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go call every treacher who taught me how to write correctly, say "Thank You", and hang up.

I won't suggest that there are not those who are keeping Jeeps as tokens, or are planning to. Like WH, I have talked to those who have stated as much, and they know what I think about it. What I am suggesting is that there are those of us who are taking part in this contest legitimately and are being lumped together with those who are not. Pick a travel bug, any travel bug and look at its movements, specifically the times between pickup and dropoff. You consistently see bugs that are held for 2 or 3 weeks before being placed again. Were they being hoarded? No. They moved. They moved like travel bugs move: sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but almost certainly in fits and starts. This issue with most of these Jeeps is just that: they're moving like travel bugs move. What makes it seem so out of the ordinary is the timeframe of the contest. When any other TB moves twice in a month, it's typical, but apparently when a Jeep does the same, all of the sudden it's being "hoarded". Heck, the last WJTB I found I had for 2 days before dropping it into a new cache (an FTF, if you will), and it only took 3 more days to get a concerned email that the cache hadn't been activated yet! I only know of 3 reasons that finding a Jeep is such a big deal: 1) You want a chance to win a GPSr, or a Rubicon. You don't need to find a Jeep to win a Jeep, you just need to register on the Jeep website. As for winning a GPSr, you don't need to find a Jeep in a cache to enter that part of the contest either. 2) You want to add the Jeep icon to your stats page If this is the case, I would personally be more than happy to share the tag # so you could do that. Or you could attend an event where there are Jeeps and find someone else who is willing to share the same. 3) You simply want to personally find one waiting for you in a cache. You have as much chance of that as anyone else looking for a TB in a cache. Better, in fact. How many other TBs have 4999 identical brothers and sisters? You can't reasonably expect for them to be dropped close to you, or for others to wait till you have the time or means to go get them. Maybe next year Jeep should just mail a Jeep TB to every cacher, except there would still be those who wouldn't be satisfied.

Maxi Caches? That would almost be a micro, wouldn't it?

Right! But whatever you do, don't send the cache or bug owner an email letting them know, becuase that's none of your business. Or so I've read. I agree. I've never had to use it, but I wouldn't even have known about it if I hadn't read about it here in the forums. On the topic of making all cachers as aware as possible of what the website is able to do... has anyone ever put together a tutorial of sorts? Maybe something like those Video Professor discs? Ooo! Even better, all new account applicants should have to view it before their account is activated! (...runs and ducks for cover)

I'll start...

For those of you who cache with/for the kiddies... what is it that they LOVE to find in a cache? Some popular items I've discovered as of late: Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and Mighty Beanz. The girls got their hands on their first packets of those Beanz today. Now I'm afraid to bring them to another cache that doesn't have them!

I've found the FTF race has become more of a friendly competition between cachers than a race for any kind of prize. FTF prizes seem to have become a dwindling commodity. But, I consider things like geocoins (and the now infamous WJTB) to be FTF prizes of sorts... they aren't meant to keep, but they are a "rare" item that makes the possibility of being FTF worth the trip. You do have a better chance of being FTF on more difficult caches, or puzzle caches. They are less likely to have an initial wave of finders right after the listing. When I check the new caches in the state, and see one that's close, it becomes a weighing of variables: How close is it? How long has the listing been up (when did I last check?) Do I know any other cachers that live closer? Are they retired? What time is it?.... Sometimes I let them be, and other times I'm grabbing my (almost) always ready caching bag and hitting the road, thinking again about buying a radar detector.

DON'T. MOVE. They can't see you if you don't move.

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh god. can't. stop. laughing.

It would seem that the criteria for having your coin listed individually has not as much to do with the size of your group or event, but the depth of their pockets. Not a judgement, just an observation. I too recall reading about the one clam fifity, 1 grand minimum for listing coins, but that doesn't make it true. (Are TPTB able to comment?) So sure, a large group or attendees of an event might be able to muster the needed purchasing power, but so could a well-to-do individual. Is there any word yet about whether personal coins are going to be included in this explosion of listed coins, or is it being limited to state coins only? Just curious. It's not like I even have my own coin, or a grand and a half. I wouldn't mind seeing a separate unique icon for each new coin, but I also agree that there would need to be a solution to the oncoming clutter of new icons. One of my suggestions would look something like this State coins could be initially listed by region, with a count of how many states in each region for which you have found coins. Like now, you wouldn't even see a region until you had found a coin from a state in that region. Clicking on a region would show an expanded view, like a TB search, of all the coins you've found in that region. All items that aren't included in your total cache count would be highlighted in a differnet color, or could be given a separate column.

I try to do this when I take the Cache Rats out with me. They each have little bags with toys (usually thier older ones. Not broken, just not interesting anymore) At the cache they have to decide what to trade, and I get the final say if I think it's not fair. And Birdsong and Bud, I understand your situation. Since putting out my first cache I've had to handle a situation where I asked a finder to change or encrypt a log that I thought was a little too descriptive, for example. The wording of those kids of emails for me takes forever, especially when the cacher is new. I know when I started it was an uphill learing curve... I didn't sit down and read the entire GC site before I started. I learned as I went, and I don't expect that the new cachers I contact are doing much different. I've found that a kindly worded email works just fine. Avoid sounding superior, or admonishing and things should go fine. Most people will even reply with a thank you, as much for a simple heads-up as for a personal message from another established cacher.

If Jeremy makes an IPA, I'd love to try some. Mmmmmm. Homebrew.

As to questions of why, I can offer you no help. I've found the PQ to be a fickle beastie myself... having created ones that simply didn't return the caches I expected it to. Fiddle with it is all I can suggest. Also, as mentioned, don't wait for it to be mailed to you. Click on that "Preview" option to get a snapshot of caches that's fairly current. The one I run to follow the Jeeps and geocoins selects all types and all containers that contain travel bugs. Select Texas as your state, enter your zipcode and off you go! (That's how I found the caches I listed anyway, and I only had it set out to 100 miles, not 500)

Actually, right now there are WJTB's here, here, apparently here, and most likely here. (You did say Houston, right?) Now go Go GO!

I've been using a black Krylon Fusion on my Lock & Lock's. Then, while they're still wet, dust them with sawdust (plenty of it on the floor in the garage.) It helps to cut down on "the shiny" and makes the container just a little less obvious in the woods.

If that's a cache, I'd to be the one acting nonchallant while finding it!

When I said that you couldn't save waypoints, I meant Google Maps, not Google Earth. Still, for a free web service, I'd sure be using it if I didn't already have Google Earth installed. One thing Google Maps has over Google Earth: You can just cut and paste coords from the cache page directly to Google Maps and it correctly marks the location. Nice.

Exactly! And ALL the info on this website about how it works and how we conduct ourselves is freely available for ANYONE to view ANYTIME. It's like an open book, but they still get it wrong. Let's hope none of them are land managers....