QuiltinNana

I tried the macro, and I was able to get my GSAK file into the GPS. Thank you so much.

I have loaded POI Loader on my computer, however when I try to locate the file from GSAK, I cannot find it. I can see it on my computer but when using the Browse button, I can not navigate to the file.

I have downloaded pocket queries to GSAK and then sent the waypoints to our old Nuvi for years. It finally died and I purchased a Garmin Drivesmart 51 as a replacement. I downloaded a pocket query to GSAK as usual, and selected the Drivesmart to send the waypoints, and it seems to have worked correctly as I did not get any errors. My problem is that for the life of me, I cannot find where the coordinates are located on the Drivesmart unit. On the old Nuvi, then were loaded into My Favorites and very easy to find. I have checked every thing I can think of to find them, but am not having any luck. I greatly appreciate any and all help.

We did a cruise last June from Seattle to Alaska and Canada. I did searches of each port and found caches that I thought I might want to visit. Then I created a bookmark list and downloaded that to my GPS before we left. Not knowing how much time we would have in each port and actual distances involved, I overdid the number of caches I wanted to get to in each port. We rented a car in Skagway and drove up to Emerald Lake caching the way up and back ending up at a gold rush cemetery. The winter before, we went to the Bahamas, staying on Paradise Island just across the bridge from Nassau. One day we spent the day in Nassau, so we had already preloaded caches and there are 5 or 6 (at least then) that were all in walking distance of the piers where the big boats dock. The Queen's Staircase was a good one.

We have done a few of the geoart in PA. One involves 63 questions all about the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were quite interesting and took quite awhile to get all the correct answers. This one gives you the shape of the Pirates "P". The second was all about the Jeep, which was originally developed in Butler, PA. I think it was 93 or 94 caches and all the questions were interesting and again were something that took time to solve. This one made the shape of a Jeep. The actual hides were varied. We also did the PA state star and what I enjoyed about this series, was that the hides were extremely varied, in size and style.

This sounds exactly like my husband and I. We've used a Etrex Venture HC for 4 years now along with the Nuvi in the car (which we used for the first summer for everything). I just upgraded to the 20 this week. Mainly because the Venture is starting to act a little crazy at times, like powering off for no reason. We used the Venture in Aruba and didn't have too many problems. We found 28 of the 29 that were there at the time. What I like about the 20 is the description and some information about the cache which you didn't see on the Venture and also the ability to load more than 500 or so caches. We'll be taking the 20 out for the first time this weekend. We want to get used to using it before our big vacation road trip from PA to Maine and into Canada.

We did a cruise to Alaska last June. We had stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria. So somewhat different stops that you will have, but I found a few bookmark lists that I used to help me cull down the caches I wanted to stop at. In Skagway, we rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake and back. So if you're in port for quite a bit of time, that's an option.

We'll do the every other cache on a long walk through the gamelands too here in PA. That way the walk back out isn't just drudgery. It sure helps keep you motivated.

Yep!! Done that quite a few times. I usually buy the 100 count assortment and then a few extra dozen of special ones. Just to get the shipping discount you know.

I used to carry a binder with a printout of each cache, but that went by the wayside after the first few months. Then I got a spiral bound "fatbook" from Staples. I wrote each date at the top of a page each trip out and then listed each cache we went to by GC code and any notes about it, whether it needed maintenance, great area, something special about the cache itself, answers to mystery or multi's, etc. I had about 3 years history in it and was down to the last couple of pages when we went on a cruise last summer. I think the notebook got left in a store in Skagway Alaska. I didn't notice it was missing until we got home and I couldn't find it. I was bummed as I wanted to keep the book just for our own amusement. The pages were sometimes muddy and stained, but what a history the book had! I did start a new book when we got home, but I still miss being able to look back through the old one.

10,999

Papa and I had some friends that had started caching in 2010 with other friends of theirs. They told us once or twice that they thought we would enjoy it. Then one night we went to dinner with them, my daughter and granddaughter and after dinner, they took us to our first cache. It was a multi. They showed us the first part, then how to enter the 2nd parts coordinates into the GPS they had. Off to the second location we went where we found the actual cache. After making up names, we signed the cache, went back to our house where they showed us how to enter the log. We went back out the next day to do another multi. This one had 15 steps where you collect a bit of data at each step. We had a great time. Now we were good and truly hooked. Daughter and I went out the next week and bought a different car GPS because we couldn't enter coordinates in the one we had. We still that Nuvi 1450 for getting to the cache area, then use a Etrex Venture HC to find the actual cache. Our friends have since moved to OK from PA and I think they are still about 300 or so caches found. Papa and I are soon to get our 1500th on our cruise in Alaska. We do geocaching on every trip we take. Sometimes it's the point of the trip, sometimes it's an added bonus.

We occasionally run into other cachers, though not very often. When we were in Aruba we went to the Animal Sanctuary and met a couple coming out with GPS in hand. Turns out they were also from Pennsylvania and had just gotten the cache. Talked for quite a while, then went in and found it ourselves. Last summer, we had just pulled off the road just off an I-79 exit and a car pulled up behind us. Hmmm, I said to my husband, do you think???? Just as we got out of our car, he exited and started walking quickly to the cache. We followed and I don't think he even knew we were right behind him until he had the cache in hand. We all laughed and chatted for a few minutes. He was finishing up his PA Delorme and had to be back in State College for dinner. It's a lot of fun to run into other cachers out in the wild. Especially people whose names you've read a million times, and now you have a face to put to the name.

We almost lost a TB once. My husband had taken it out of the container and laid it off to the side as he went through the swag in the container. I signed the logbook, gave it back to him and he closed everything up. It wasn't until later that evening when I was logging in my finds for the day that I remembered to ask about the TB. We usually just log all TB's and coins through my account, it keeps things simpler that way. Well we searched the bag and car but couldn't find it. The next morning we went back to the cache and there it was still laying on the ground where he had left it. Whew, I was happy! Ever since then, we are very careful to make sure the TB or coin goes immediately into the bag. And we carefully check the area to be sure that nothing is left laying around.

We had only been caching about 2 months before finding our first. "After a bit of searching, my daughter had a "bright idea" and found it." - If I remember correctly the hint said something about "bright idea". We've found a few since then - not as many as magnetic keyboxes hidden in the guardrails though.

In western PA, we also have the Pirate Geoart series in a gamelands section and the Pennsylvania 50 State Star. Both are ? caches where you have to solve questions to get the real coordinates. The Pirate geoart caches are all the same container and require about 6 miles of hiking (although some are accessable from the road) through PA gamelands 130. The PA State Star has quite the variety of hides and containers. They were all easily accessable with short hikes alongside the road. I really enjoyed doing both of them even if they were ? and not "real" geoart.

Best Day 9 caches in one day on 06/28/2005

Since the weather has finally warmed up a bit in NW PA, we've gotten out the past three weekends to do some serious caching. The first two weekends we spent doing the newest geoart in NW PA. The Pirate Geoart series. Then this past weekend, we were able to knock out the PA State Star geoart.

When the log is wet and unsignable, we will usually put in a new logsheet in a new baggy if the container is still good. But if the container itself is compromised with cracks, holes, etc. we will put in a new logsheet in a new baggy and then marked the cache with a NM when we get home. I don't usually check back to see if the maintenance has been performed. I guess I leave that to the reviewer and subsequent cachers to keep logging NM's if the problem is not rectified.

There is a Mars, PA about an hour and a half from Venus, PA

I have a TB that I take on vacation with a goal of coming back home. I left it in Aruba and 2 weeks later it was in a neighboring state. Then it moved to a town about 45 minutes away. But before I could get there, it moved again halfway across PA. On our way home from VA, we stopped and grabbed it. This year I took it to the Bahamas, but couldn't get to a cache large enough to leave him. This year we are going to Alaska, and I hope to leave him there to find his way home.

Add me to the list of cachers who love to visit cemeteries. I find the sculptures of the older cemeteries fascinating. And some of the artwork that is lasered into the newer stones is just amazing. It's also very interesting to find how customs can vary not only in different states, but in different parts of the same state and in different times. While caching in at an old abandoned rural church, we found a very old cemetery at the rear. Quite a few headstones had the same last name as my husband. Upon doing some further research, we found these stones were his great-great-grandparents along with a few aunts and uncles and cousins. Also add me to the list of cachers who want my stone to be used for a data gathering point for a cache. I love the idea of visitors who are enjoying themselves.

We are coming to Alaska on a cruise June 28 - July 5th. We will be on the Norwegian Jewel and making stops at Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria, Canada. I've been mulling over the idea of renting a car at each port to catch some caches. Is this a good idea or not necessary? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Shirley

My geoname still fits - I still quilt and have 2 granddaughters that call me Nana.

We've seen the usual chipmunks, squirrels, deer etc when in the woods, but what never fails to scare the beejeesus out of me is a grouse taking flight.