infiniteMPG

Yeah, I can imagine that as I have a nice little gadget bag I keep my old Z3 and related gear in. Was in a rush to get out the door and when I slung it on my shoulder I felt something hit my foot. I looked down to see my micro USB cable on the ground. At the same instant it registered that my pack wasn't zipped, my Z3 tumbled out onto the carpet (but on concrete) and pieces went flying. As I have said before, it's literally held together with superglue, JB Weld, and a couple of cut pieces of bicycle inner tubes.... and it still works even after going to the bottom of the Little Manatee River once. Just don't want my A100 to end up in the same shape. Uhhhh, Elle, I'm about 40 miles north of you down there in No' Po'..... mountains? hehehehehe Guess I need to work out a system. Right now I'm trying to find a new strap or a way to sling my camera over my shoulder, have it readily accessible, but mount a strap so it's not sitting at a 45-degree angle on my side. The lens is too heavy for it to face straight out, but not heavy enough to face straight down.... Been there, done that... many times. And when no camera is in hand, a cell phone works well.

Hey, aren't wire junctions supposed to be inside a closed box? I don't think you could get a cover on that thing! Yikes... Cover?????? Then how would anyone get to the 35mm geocanister hiding in there? Hmmm, maybe I could hide a nano up inside a yellow wire nut and screw it on some dead wires!!!! WooWoo.... all kinds of ideas that would fit with GCALL911..... <jk> Seriously, we did a group hunt a few weeks ago and one set of coords took us to an antique street lamp post with nothing else around it. The cast iron cover at the base was gone and there were several heavy gage wires hanging partially out but the lamp seemed functional. We just looked at it, exchanged looks at each other and said "Next!" and left. No way....

For a second there I thought you were going to say Groundspeak should outlaw Altoids tin hides and I was readying my pen to sign the petition....

So I should rethink ZAP, I GOT YOU - GCALL911???

My introduction came from my GF who had found 1 cache as someone introduced her to it just before we met. She had a Garmin eTrex Vista and we didn't have a clue as to how to use the dang thing (didn't think to RTFM). I can still remember the first cache we found together, we didn't even know how to do the "go to" function so we just walked thru the woods and watched how the numbers changed until we stumbled across it. Then we went to find the next one but had no clue how far away it was and wandered for hours until we gave up. Later we found it was miles away and across a river but at the time we were totally puzzled at how people did this

Actually I'm really hooked on macro shots and sometimes wish I had a better macro lens but the 18-250 was a good all-purpose lens. It's pretty compact when closed (even though I totally HATE the zoom slide lock on the Tamron). I liked the Super Macro setting on my old Z3 as the focal distance was down to less then 1/2" and you could still use the digital zoom. As far as the bags, are they weather proof? If I had my camera gear in there and it poured, would they keep the contents dry? Also, what I was looking at was a Pentax Optio W60. It's a 10.1MP PAS with a 5X optical zoom, can operate to 14-degrees F and can work at depths down to 13-feet in water for 2-hours. It's around $300 but if it saves me from destroying my A100 then it's a good insurance policy and no bother about the weather or hauling it 'yaking without a case.

.... I have had locals do a FTF on one of my caches and then inform me that something was amise. Quickly corrected but all done in good fun. If I spend three hours seeking a FTF it better have a 4-pack of cold Boddington's inside.... or it would have to be after a 4-pack of Boddingtons had already hit the recycling bin. And by then the log wouldn't have enough proper grammar to identify it was in English....

I can relate to that. I raised my kids on my own since '91 and my daughter is now 26 and my son 20 and somehow I found geocaching to be a creative outlet for my imagination and for my genetic disposition to entertain others which has been hungry for an outlet since my kids have grown up. Filled so many voids in my life not sure what I would of been doing without it!

I have a Tamron AF 18-250/3.5-6.3 DI II Macro Lens along with my A100 and it's a good all purpose lens. I have a problem with the way it hangs from the strap as the lens is heavy enough to hang down from the tourist level position about half way down. Wish it would hang all the way down as it just bounces around half down and half not as I walk. I prefer the wrist straps but I would imaging that gets in the way when signing a log or opening an ammo can. I have started using a mono-pod for my camera as some focusing issues I have been having seem to get fixed when I have it on the mono-pod rather then just hanging on to it. I was thinking of using that for my hiking stick rather then my nice GC stick I picked up in the Blueridge Mountains. One other thing I have issue with is when I bring my better camera gear my GF wants to keep moving, on foot or in the 'yaks, and I want to snap shots, so we end up with me hiking or paddling way in front so when I stop to shoot our speed balances out.

The hook that snagged me into geocaching was my first experience with a TB. In doing family name searches for my parents I found a distant cousin living in Christchurch, New Zealand (we're in Florida). We communicated often and being an odd surname there's not a lot of us around. He has had his adventures and actually got married via a radio station contest down there. It's not as strange as it first sounds and their full story is online in case anyone wants the details as it's a cool story. I have two kids and when their son was born they named their son the same name as my son Mitch (who is now 20), so now there were two with the same name on opposite sides of the world. Since I was fairly new to GC at the time I took my son's old bike license tag with his name on it and attached it to a TB tag and sent it off to get delivered to my cousin's son M2M New Zealand Bound. I didn't expect miracles but a businessman picked it up and it quickly hopped to Colorado and then down under and after a few emails, it got hand delivered to my cousin's son in NZ. Not perfectly logged but it racked up over 9,300 miles really quick. Totally got me hooked on geocaching.... so what got you hooked?

Yeah, that's the problem here in west central Florida this time of year. Beautiful weather when you head out, not a cloud in the sky. 30 minutes later this one black cloud rolls over and dumps 3" of rain on you before you can get half-way back to the Jeep and blasts lightning strikes all around. And I often take my old Z3 but it's held together with JB Weld and inner tube tire cuttings but when I have it out and the sun is out, I get the overheating message on the display and have to pack it for a while as the sun will bake the camera, too. Don't you get heat issues with your camera as I believe most manuals state "DO NOT EXPOSE TO DIRECT SUN"?

I'd put that right up there with "I'm going to do a caching run next week and expect +500 finds. Anyone wanting me to sign their name to the log sheets just email me and let me know". Definitely crossing the line. There is a local puzzle cache Phone Music, a 4/1.5 and after about 5 months in the wild I have the only find on it. I have had a few people email me fishing for the answer but I politely just say if the owner wants to pass along an additional clue to them that they could contact them as it's not my place to bypass their hard work devising the hide.

Having stepped over into the world of DSLR cameras I have been extremely reluctant to haul my new Sony A100 into the brush or on the water in the 'yak with me. Unfortunately the times I don't haul it, I regret it as we see beautiful sights while caching. Does anyone out there haul a full-sized camera (not a mini-digital) with them as they geocache and if so, how do you protect your investment from getting banged up while keeping it at the ready to shoot while hiking in sometimes rough terrain or hot or wet weather conditions? I'm already usually hauling a pack (full or waist) with supplies, GSPr, PDA, cell phone, batteries, hiking stick and the usual. Don't know how to safely do this but hate missing a photo opportunity. Been debating picking up a weather-proof/water-proof PAS for just trips but don't like the limitations.

Definitely! Have some difficult puzzle caches in the area and on one of them, the FTF said that he and his wife had been working on it for a long time when their 5-year old son walked up, looked at the screen and pointed out what they'd been missing for hours. Some puzzle caches should be 5's and are not, like Phoney Music here, it's only a 4 and I got the FTF on it and in about 5 months that's the only find.... and that was as much luck as skill

Lost my nice Gerber pocket knife and in searching for a replacement found a Gerber Clutch, a totally cool miniature multi-tool. One of the things I absolutely love about this sturdy little tool is the fact it has a micro miniature pair of tweezers in it. It's also smaller and lighter then my pocket knife was, and a 1,000 times more handy (especially with nanos). Nothing worse then sitting in a kayak on the middle of a river paddle, trying to construct a mount for a paddle only cache and needing to cut a piece of strong bailing wire and nothing but a pocket knife... did the old bend-back-and-forth-until-it-breaks routine and burned my fingers from the heat, slipped and dropped the whole wire into the drink. Not anymore

Well..... that depends on just how remote the location is where we've been hiking....

My nephew in NC also contracted Ehrlichiosis from a tick bite while geocaching and his wife was paranoid about him caching but handling it with care and understanding they got past it. Another prevention is to wear hiking pants that are comfortable and have closures around the leg bottoms to tighten around your ankles to keep critters from invading. And having good socks and comfortable hiking shoes. Here's a suggestion, take your wife shopping for tick preventive gear to wear for her and the kids. Might get her excited to get into the wild and try it out and make her feel more safe. It's also a good bonding moment after hiking and before getting into the car, that ritual of checking each other from head to foot for ticks and spiders... probably more fun without the kids around

My GF is totally freaked out the second lightning strikes anywhere within hearing distance. The first rumble of thunder and we're gone. I like to be safe but not too extreme about it. But I compromise and understand so I give in to keep it fun all the way around. I got my nephew in NC addicted and he was out of the house every second he had free. His wife and his young daughter didn't latch on like he did and it started causing family issues as he felt they were keeping him from his fun. It took some serious talks and compromises to get it in his head that family is first and geocaching isn't even close behind. Have some friends in the area who had newborns and have been out of the game for years but their kids are only young once and geocaching isn't going anywhere. Best bet would be to maybe compromise by picking caching locations less tick-friendly, maybe a little more urban, and then slowly work your way into more rural caching. And protect yourself from ticks with all the preventative things you can do. Someone fearful of something, especially when they've experienced it first hand, can't be expected to just let it go. They're probably not "nagging", they're truly fearful of it. Time and understanding will get them past it quicker then getting upset at them.

I get it bad, too, and have gotten into the habit of wearing long light weight hiking pants when ever I head out (most of the time). The urushiol oil is what does it to you and if it gets on clothing or hiking sticks or boots it can stay active for up to a year. If I have accidentally trekked thru some poison ivy when I return I immediately put everything in the wash including my boots and also wash the end of my hiking stick with a solvent like paint thinner. Cortaid makes some GREAT poison ivy wipes. If you've come in contact with some then just rip one of these open and wipe off everything, skin first then clothing. Since we started using them we've never gotten it but also handle the used wipes with care. Ivy Shield works good, too, but you can sweat it off. And keep in mind that the urushiol oil binds with skin cells and that's the break out. Once it binds with the skin it's no longer spreadable. Depending on the severity it can take from 24-72 hours to show signs, the higher concentrations first, then later the lower. So not all your contact points break out at the same time so people "think" it's spreading when it's not. It's just taking up to 2 days longer for lesser contacted areas to start showing. Once you break out just treating it as a skin injury is all you need to do. For a bad breakout I recommend Aveno baths and calamine. Good luck!

Assuming you're referring to log entries online, for many geocachers (including us) the depth and length of the log is directly proportional to the enjoyment of the hide. The thing all owners need to understand is everyone has a different perspective on "enjoyment", so while one cacher might enjoy the hide and write you a book, the next cacher to come along might totally hate it and log "TFTH". You can't put a rule on how much a person will enjoy the cache, and if I approached a hide with some requirement even remotely implying my log entry would be deleted if not entered correctly.... <<click>> IGNORE. Next.....

I have several case boxes of vinyl records at home I have been nervous about opening (got packed around 1982). The warping is caused by stresses in the plastic taking over when heat is applied and this can exert some pretty strong forces so if you restrict it from warping when it tries to it's liable to just shatter into pieces or form into some pretty cool shapes... I like the themed caches and have several out and one in the works. When I was placing one in the woods I stumbled across a large 8mm movie spool reel and was thinking about A REEL COOL CACHE but have yet to figure out how to turn a movie reel into a cache container.

Personally I think we can also raise the bar on armchair logging from your living room as long as the term is taken literally.

I think a good measure of cache quality can be found by reading the logs. Since not everyone has the same taste in what they like to seek, seeing an occasional log come thru that's a well written adventure tale shows that the hide really made an impression on someone. Can't expect it to have that impression on everyone, but no hide will ever be that since there are so many different people in the GC world. That occasional adventure story in a log, or sincere appreciation, are what keeps some of us striving to better each hide we place and work to maintaining as many hides as we can. And personally, my favorite logs are ones from people who raise their expectations of challenge or evilness when they notice who hid the hide they're after, or people who found their very first cache on one and say they're totally hooked on geocaching. Those make an owner smile

Feels good to do that and so many people don't realize how such a small act like that can really brighten your day. Was checking some caches a week ago and called in an order to Papa John's, was wanting to try a new pizza they were advertising. Got there early so ran next door to fill up the Jeepster. A couple teen kids in black goth-wear were pushing a small car into the station. I pulled around and while I was pumping, one came and politely asked if I could spare some change as they were heading to a friend's house a block away and ran out of gas. I had $4 beside my 'za money so I gave it to him and told him I enjoyed the show watching them push. They got gas and drove off, all waving and saying thanks to me. I went to get my pizza feeling good helping them out and when I went to get my pizza they messed up the order but quickly remade it leaving off onions which I didn't want (and didn't know came on it) and also refunded me half the cost. So helping the kids out I ended up with more money back and a better pizza.... what goes around comes around.

Some people have small stickers and there is a spot for the date to be written in, too, and they stick it in the log book. But we have been to caches where the log book was too wet so they signed a slip of paper and stuck it in the cache. Or scratched a signature in with a charred stick when no pen was around. Or left their geocaching business card inside. While I agree it has the potential to be misplaced it's still a find any way you slice it. And I kind of like the idea of open the cache, toss in a card, reseal it and run. Sometimes we have vicious saber-toothed skeeters eating us alive while we sit there struggling to find the last signature to sign after, messing with a pen that doesn't want to write or wrestling with a baggie that doesn't want to zip shut...