rxzephyr

Welcome Welcome Welcome! Head on over to the Frappr! site and sign on up using the big "Add Yourself" button on the right hand side! RXZ

Shameless Plug to drum up volunteers. In a nutshell, the League is an informal organization of geocachers who are willing to try and track down TB's that have disappeared in their area or (re)visit an infrequently visited geocache to rescue a stranded bug. This is actively being discussed here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=114740 If this sounds like something you might be interested in, sign up at: http://www.frappr.com/internationaltravelbugrescueleague so we know which area you're in and watch the TB forum for "open cases". If you belong to a GC Association, make sure you note which one when you post your location. (My entry is a good example.) Hope to see you soon! RXZephyr

Shameless Plug to drum up volunteers. In a nutshell, the League is an informal organization of geocachers who are willing to try and track down TB's that have disappeared in their area or (re)visit an infrequently visited geocache to rescue a stranded bug. This is actively being discussed here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=114740 If this sounds like something you might be interested in, sign up at: http://www.frappr.com/internationaltravelbugrescueleague so we know which area you're in and watch the TB forum for "open cases". If you belong to a GC Association, make sure you note which one when you post your location. (My entry is a good example.) Hope to see you soon! RXZephyr

I think it's great to see 3 Australian's already signed up for this - so immediately we have representation in 3 different countries making us truely an International Effort! Now we just need to spread the word and get our first success story! RXZ

I have tried putting myself on the map, but it did nor work. Maybe it's because I declined to create an account. Shouldn't have to. I didn't at first and it added me to the list, however I went back and changed that. Looks like only people who are members of Frappr! are able to get the "Message" option - and that would be kinda important in getting people in contact with you. RXZ

If anyone has a TB that they need looking for or wants help in moving it along, try posting it in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=114740 or looking at the map http://www.frappr.com/internationaltravelbugrescueleague to find a cacher close to where you believe the TB to be and send them a note. Even better - volunteer to be a ITBRL member in your area. RXZ

This was such a cool idea, I just have to comment on it. Kudos to GEO JOE for setting this baby up. If you sign up and belong to a Geocaching Association, make note of it in the "Shout Out" box. Hopefully someone from South Carolina will join up and go on the hunt for the first reported MIA's. RXZ

Rescuing stranded bugs is one thing that this group certainly can do, however I really do believe that there's more that could be done. Most people are introduced to geocaching by a friend or relative, so my plan is to try and put Travel Bug owners in contact with that friend....or a friend of the friend.... Let's say that someone has a travel bug of yours for going on 6 months. Repeated emails to that individual have gone unanswered. Through some investigation, you're pretty sure that the person holding the TB is in Nova Scotia, Canada. So, you head on over to the Rescue League and provide them with this information. Turns out that there's a Geocaching Association which covers that location - the Maritime Geocaching Association (www.maritimegeocaching.com) - so this investigation is passed to their representative. The MGA Rep does some digging and finds a friend of the TB holder who will then head out and see if they can retrieve the bug...... In that case, it's just about giving people an EASY way to get in touch with people willing to help out in different locations around the world..... It's not always clear which areas have GC Associations.....and as we can see from previous posters, sometimes there are INDIVIDUALS who are willing to help out as well! Make sense? And, as was said before, this group does not condone violence in any way, shape or form. It's not about punishing the abductors - it's about saving travel bugs. RXZ

I started to discuss this idea in one of my other threads, but it probably deserves it's own topic..... I'm thinking about setting up the "International Travel Bug Rescue League". Basically, the premice would be to link TB owners with local Geocachers/GC Associations who might be able to rescue a TB which has been stranded in an infrequently visited/high terrain cache. As well, this group might even be able to help locate a bug which has been "abducted" by someone - the rescuer might know the abducter in question (heck, you may have been the person who introduced them to the sport!) and can get the TB from them and put it back into circulation. I like the name International Travel Bug Rescue League because it sounds formal and impressive - think International Rescue (aka Thunderbirds), League of Extrodinary Gentlemen, Justice League. I guess I'm just a closet super hero/comic book fanatic or something. However, people have already suggested some names built to build a "cool" acronym, like Travelbug Rescue International Posse or TRIP. Personally, if people think the concept is good & sound, and isn't already being done someplace, I'm looking for some technical help in setting this up. RXZ International Travel Bug Rescue League Reuniting Bugs with Cachers

What a great set of suggestions for tracking people down! I had never thought to check things like their logs - or even forum posts, for that matter - to see if they mention any ties or the like. And the comment about using "peer pressure" to keep us all honest is 110% legit. I mean that is pretty much how this whole sport works, right? [] I'm also going to start a separate trip for the Rescue project, whatever cool acronym we come up for it, so the idea stands out a little more. RXZ

While I agree with that suggestion (pretty darn good one at that) and I think it would keep some travel bugs moving quicker, I still think that there are a good number of travel bugs that will still go awol. That's because most of the people who are abducting them never come back to geocaching or are such infrequent geocachers that the stats don't matter to them anyway..... On a separate note, I'm thinking about setting up the "International Travel Bug Rescue League". Basically, the premice - if it doesn't already exist - is to link TB owners with local Geocahers/GC Associations who might be able to rescue a TB which has been stranded in an infrequently visited cache or someone local might know the abducter in question (heck, you may have been the person who introduced them to the sport!) and can get the TB from them. What do people think of that idea/concept? RXZ

Makes me wonder why these people even bother taking a travel bug. Most, if not all, of mine have instructions attatched so it's not like they don't understand and ANYONE who's in the geocaching game for any amount of time knows the deal with travel bugs. Anyone who "gives up" on the hobby and abandons a travel bug is just a disgrace. They obviously think that people have money to burn..... Frustrated doesn't begin to describe it.

Wondering what people out there have done when someone picks up a travel bug and then hangs on to it "forever". I have 3 travel bugs out there that have been in people's hands for everywhere from 1 month to going on 4 months. Emails to the "geocachers" have gone unanswered. What have people done to prod infrequent or inactive geocachers to relinquish their travel bug..... Thoughts? RXZ

Thanks for all the posts so far! Great feedback. Look forward to reading more people's experiences..... Fortunately for me, my wife is as addicted to the whole geocaching thing as I am so I won't have to worry about the traction thing. I'm just not sure whether I should plan to go on shore excursions vs. just throwing caution to the wind and not caring. Aw heck, it's a vacation - no real need for me to get all worked up about it, right? We're doing a Southern Caribbean Cruise that hits some Eastern Islands as well, We'll be going to Curacao, Isla de Margarita, Barbados, Dominica, and...St. Thomas. So, as long as we're docking close to where JohnnyVegas did, we'll likely go in search of that Micro if it's still around.

Wondering if anyone out there has tried to geocache while on shore during a cruise. My wife and I will be doing a Southern Caribbean Cruise next spring and would really like to be able to nab some caches while on shore.... However, lacking our Geocaching Mobile Command Center (read: CAR), I'm feeling a little less mobile than I'm used to. Do people rent cars or some other form of mobility for the day? Are they afraid of getting back to the cruise ship on time? Wondering if anyone else out there has tried to encorporate geocaching into their cruising activities, how they got around the lack of mobility, and how successful they were. RXZ

Likewise, I got all the caches! The weekend is saved thanks to the guys at Groundspeak! Yahoo! RXZ

I ran 2 PQ's last night around 9:00pm Atlantic Time and another 1 this morning at 6:00am Atlantic Time, all have valid search results as verified by the 'preview' command. These should have been delivered to my gmail account. A co-worker of mine also ran a pocket query this morning (10am Atlantic) and had it destined to his work address. None of these worked! I emailed Groundspeak through the website this morning - but my fear is that if emailing the queries is broken, what's to say that email from the website isn't broken as well! Perhaps, unless someone from Groundspeak is reading this thread, they don't know that there's a problem. Like everyone, I'm trying to get ready for a Geocaching Daytrip this coming weekend - this really puts a monkeywrench into the plans. Kinda frustrating that there hasn't been an official statement from Groundspeak - but like I said, maybe they don't know! RXZephyr

I'd never thought of using a "real" travel bug to implement this idea.....not a bad idea. This will be the 4th bug that I have planned - now I just have to order a wack of them. What I'm going to do is attach the TB to film container and stuff the grocery bags inside (no, a full sized garbage bag won't fit. I tried. ) I'll then put a CITO logo, likely by computer printout & tape to protect it, on the container. Once I get it built, I'll photograph the prototype. And who knows, if the "idea" catches on, maybe the Groundspeak people will create a special type of "CITO Bug", like was previously suggested, and have it log separately. And then think - those of us who make the TB based ones will be pioneers. *grins* Gung Ho, friends! RXZ

Well lookie there - great minds think alike (or fools seldom differ!). I guess I was looking for something that could be done within the bounds of the existing system without having to look for some kind of code change to the way things are done. In the 'perfect world', I think what had been proposed in the other thread is perfect - simply track CITO activities the same way we do travel bugs. However, it's been over a year since that was proposed and nothing (?) has happened. Is there any way we can do this within the bounds of the existing site? Do we even want to go that route?

I had a brainstorm the other day..... I think we all know that - to some extent - Geocaching has become a game of stats. Travel Bugs/Geocoins are also treasured when found in the cache....people just seem to like to move these things from cache to cache. So I had an idea. What if you could combine these things into a CITO activity? My idea is to take a film canister and fill it with as many grocery store bags as one can cram into it. Label this canister with a CITO logo and some sort of tracking number. When the canister is found in a cache, and removed, the person uses the bags in it to CITO. Then, they move the CITO Canister on to the next location they think could use a little work. Heck, include a log sheet in the CITO Canister as well so it's known who has it and where it's been. To get people motivated to acutally clean up using the bags in the CITO Canister, then we introduce the 'stats'. Setup a CITO Event Cache (or something) that could be used for people to claim after they have used the CITO Canister in a given geographic area. I know the idea is a little rough around the edges, but what does everyone think? Is this something that could be further developed into something useful?