TetrAmigos

What type of case would you recommend for a larger GPSr? Did that case have a clear plastic window?

Our team uses a GPSr + PDA combo with Mapopolis, BeeLineGPS, and Cachemate. It's a small combo to carry with the PDA in an aluminum hardcase and the GPSr resting on the open side of the case--however it can be tricky to maneuver around. We aren't going to purchase a dedicated unit anytime soon, so I began brainstorming on ways to make caching easier. We use a Holux GR-230 bluetooth GPSr, and it's size and construction make a great caching fit. Here's a screenshot: Now if I could find a hat that could fit this little unit inside so we don't have to physically carry it anymore, that would be IDEAL. Does a hat like this exist? How about a lanyard designed to hold it?

So I'm intolerant--doesn't even make me flinch.

See, the interesting thing is that I am a Christian and so is the rest of our caching team. Do we beleive in Christ? Sure. Do we minister to beleivers and non-beleivers? Sure. But we don't "cram" religion down anyone's throats, and we try to respect the atmosphere of caching by keeping it fun and enjoyable for everyone without compromising our own beliefs. We enjoy caching. We had just gotten our feet wet when the little one was born and just now, almost a year later, got back into it. When I cache, I enjoy getting out and hunting down cache locations. Some are fun while others are a complete waste of time (or are damp and smelling like german cheese) . While I don't get easily offended by cache material, I can easily see why others can and I keep that in mind while caching. I heard somewhere that 90% or more of the world's population beleives in something, and as such religious material tends to be much more sensetive than that of mystical fictitious beings such as trolls and fairies. It's generally a good idea to stick to the subject matter when caching--hide interesting and creative caches that are fun to find and log. We, as a family of cachers, would find it difficult to log a find at a "buddist" cache or a "hari krishna" cache, so it's equally easy to understand why others might find this cache difficult to visit and log. Keep it light and respect the rules--it keeps the playing field equal for all of us.

Make sure you are confident in what you are doing before you log that first cache. I waited until I had at least 15 finds before I even considered it.

My wife was bitten in the foot by a BR spider and boy, you aren't kidding. That's a hell I wish on nobody.

Worst cache I ever visited was one of my first (GCH9YQ) and is not archived. It took a short while to find it because it looked like... trash. When I picked it up, I realized it was covered in soot and I ended up getting it all over my clothes. Everything inside smelled like cheese. Bleh.

Hey all, it's been almost a year since our geocaching team (formerly known as "acPilot") shipped the last batch of trackable wooden nickels. How are they working out for you all that received them? Myself and the rest of team Trace Amigos wanted to see how you all were doing with them. Is there a demand for more trackable wooden nickels?

On my Dell Axim, I carry everything I need to go caching. I use mamopolis for driving directions, BeeLineGPS for the foot trek, and I keep all of the cache details in my PDA as well. All I do is switch on the bluetooth receiver and off we go! It's a much better way to cache.

Alrighty then..

So far we've got drives running in Pennsylvania, Long Beach CA, Westlake Village CA, and possibly Ventura CA. We need more help. All we need right now is warm blankets to spread a little hope to the displaced vicitms who've lost their homes (and for many, the primary house breadwinner too). Please call or shoot us an email if you can help out.

Can anyone else volunteer to gather blankets? We need all the help we can get, and so do they. Boy scouts, girl scouts, anyone. We need blankets, and I need help getting them. We are only one voice. So many need warmth, and it's a long winter ahead for those thousands without homes.

Fellow Southwestern Geocachers ~ We are sending out this email to support the displaced victims of the Pakistan earthquake. We'll be very busy over the next 2 weeks, so if you'd like to reach me please use the contact info at the bottom of this post. _________________________________________ In the aviation business, we're in touch with people all over the world daily and when I heard about the earthquake in Pakistan I fired off emails to people I knew in the area. Frankly, I didn't expect a reply but one of them who is stationed at Karachi Airport in Pakistan was able to send out a message when electricity and telephone service was restored to the airport. In my message to him, I'd asked how (if anything) we could help them out. At this time, we've coordinated with a few of the countries nearby to provide airborne services to ferry in aid. The two items they need the most are water and blankets. Water is not effective to ship from here, as (1) gallon weights just over 8 pounds--it'd be better to just send money in that case. However, Dana and I decided that we could figure out a way to run a blanket drive for the Pakistani earthquake victims. They need all the help they can get, and frankly this seems like the best option for us to send. If you have any serviceable blankets that you can spare for this effort, it would be a great cause and a reliable way to provide aid. I'm working on the logistics of getting the blankets to Pakistan, but I'm not to worried about that right now. We need blankets first. We've already secured space available on Pakistan International Airlines and Southwest Airlines to get the blankets to where they need to go. Please reply to this email or give me a call if you have clean, serviceable blankets to spare. I don't want this to turn into a mass email, because they look fraudulent and get deleted. Please tell anyone you know and give them my email address or phone number. We'll coordinate from there. -- Blue Skies, Mark McCoy President & CEO McCoy Aviation, Inc. 805.338.5970 / tel 206.350.6279 / fax McCoyAviation / skype ID Mark.McCoy@McCoyAviation.com http://www.McCoyAviation.com McCoy Aviation, Inc. | 2820 Townsgate Road, Suite #204 | Westlake Village, CA 91361

We posted in the wrong forum yesterday afternoon, and weren't too pleased to see the thread closed.. especially in times like these. At the request of a few Batch I & II wooden nickel owners, I've re-linked the thread below: Chlick here: Geocaching Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Just to re-cover the isssue, this is entirely a non-profit venture to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. My wife and I have facilitated and delivered over 5000 wooden nickels so far using the first tracakable California Geocaching wooden nickel, and thought it might be a great opportunity to raise money for our fellow Americans who were unfortunate to be stuck in the path of Katrina. Every dollar above cost to order and ship these nickels will go directly to the Red Cross for the victims of hurricane Katrina. If you have questions, please don't hesitiate to reach us at <removed by moderator by request of the poster>. We'll be happy to chat with you on the phone or meet with you in person. These folks need all the help they can get.

Geocachers, My wife and I were sitting in front of the television watching the news unfold like the rest of you, horrified at the events, but even more distressed about the victims left behind. We thought long and hard how we could support the victims beyond our own cash contribution, and suddenly it hit us: Geocache for Disaster Relief My wife and I recently finished up with the second batch of Wooden Nickels for track-able Geocaching in California, and we thought this might be an excellent opportunity to use as a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. You can view the previous wooden nickel post here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...opic=100944&hl= At the last order, we were charging $.31 cents per wooden nickel (with a minimum order of 15 nickels) to California geocachers. These nickels can be tracked just like a geocoin or travel bug, using the site posted on the nickels. The $.31 cents included PayPal fees, shipping, and print costs (which went up dramatically after the first order and caused us to just barely be able to afford running the second order). All elements factored, these wooden nickels cost about $.43 cents now to manufacture and ship, and we decided that we are going to be offering a fundraiser event using these wooden nickels (see link above). Each Katrina Disaster Relief Wooden Nickel will have a Red Cross symbol on the front-center of the nickel with the words "Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief" front outer-circle. (We'll try and have it printed in Red, but if it's more cost effective to do in black we'll do that as it'll put more fundraiser money in the hands of the Red Cross.) The wording of the back will read: "Remember the Victims of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster & Donate to RedCross.org" with the same wording in the outer circle as shown in the link above. We will be selling these wooden nickels at $1.00 each, with every possible cent going directly to the Red Cross for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We estimate that roughly $.57 cents per nickel will go directly to the Red Cross, but we are working now to make that much higher through concessions with the printer. To place an order for these Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Track-able Wooden Nickels, please complete the form below and email it to the address listed at the bottom. __________________________________________________________ Last Name: First Name: Shipping Address: Contact Ph # (optional): Contact Email: # of Nickels I'd Like ($1.00 each): Batch: Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Email or Fax this completed form to: markrmccoy@gmail.com with the phrase "Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief" in the subject line, or fax it to us at 206-350-6279.

The wooden nickels are finally here, and they look GREAT. I was told to expect minor minor minor flaws in a handful of these primarily of the fact because they are printed on wood, but when they came in I couldn't find one that didn't look great. Here's links to two photographs I took of 2 nickels front and back from two angles. (The tracking numbers have been blurred out for obvious reasons) You can't see it in the photo, but the tracking numbers are laser etched into the wood and are there to stay. They look great. For those who ordered nickels in the first batch, we'll begin shipping them tommorrow. If you didn't get a chance to grab a few nickels before Batch 1 went to press, don't panic! A second batch is already in the preliminary stages, and we still need about 700 more nickels to be sold before it goes to press. If you are interested in grabbing your share of the Batch 2 nickels, email my wife and I at: markrmccoy@gmail.com Happy caching!

Tap, tap..

The California geocoin thread was pushing into it's 9th page, so I've decided to split off that thread into this new one. Batch I for the first set of Trackable Wooden Nickels has gone to press. I have been informed of an approx. turnaround time of 15 days or so. The text we put on the back of the nickel was too wordy to fit legibly, so we've trimmed it to read "California Gold Rush 1848-1864" and then below it, Geocaching is the latest gold rush. Join the crowd and find some treasure!" The tracking number will likely be moved to the middle of the nickel so that lengthy numbers can fit. The front of the nickel will not change. At any rate, I have already begun taking orders on Batch II for wooden nickels, for everyone who missed out on the first set. I took so many orders that the entire process lasted less than 3 days for the first batch! To place an order for the second batch of Trackable California Wooden Nickels, please complete the form below and email it to the address listed at the bottom. __________________________________________________________ Last Name: First Name: Shipping Address: Contact Ph # (optional): Contact Email: # of Nickels I'd Like ($.31 cents each): Batch: 2 Email or Fax this completed form to:<<removed by moderator>> with the phrase "Wooden Nickel Order Batch 2" in the subject line, or fax it to me at 206-350-6279.

Ok folks, this is a last chance opportunity to place an order for California Trackable Wooden Nickels. If you are interested and didn't get a chance to place an order, please send me an email to: markrmccoy@gmail.com Otherwise you'll have to wait until BAtch II is processed, and at the moment I am unsure as to when that will exactly be. Thanks!

Ok folks, invoices have gone out to everyone who wanted a Wooden Nickel. Orders are still being taken, so if you are interested in placing your order before Batch I goes to press, please follow the instructions in my post above. If you placed and order and did not receive a confirmation or invoice email, please get with me ASAP as your order will not be processed unless it has been confirmed. Thanks!

Ok folks, I've received a plethora of orders ranging from 10 nickels to 500. Thankfully we are able to process this order faster than originally thought at the $ .31 price. Your order includes shipping. I'll be taking preliminary orders until 9:30am tommorrow PST for batch I. After 9:30am tommorrow I will switch from "preliminary" to "payment," and you'll each be receiving an email with an invoice and instructions to process payment for your order of wooden nickels. EDIT: Yes, I will be accepting PayPal and Cashier's Checks or Money Orders. No personal checks, and please no hard cash unless you are comfortable waiving the liability of actually sending hard cash through the mail system. I will begin accepting payments tommorrow.

Just a quick aside, if you DID NOT receive a reply from me after emailing me your preliminary order request, then I did not receive it! I will respond to EACH order email with a confirmation.

Only orders sent to my email address using the form above will be accepted, becuase I can't keep track of it otherwise. Glad to see such a large order, Marky. It definitely helps.

Orders are rolling in almost as fast as I can count them! Don't wait too long to place your order or you may have to wait until Batch II is produced.