boda
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Everything posted by boda
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and when nobody's bleeding from the caching day, you hit them till they do? I'll gladly prick a finger before taking a hit. I need to be able to get out there the next day. No hitting necessary. We just attract things that make you bleed. Recently I was reacting to a new medication. It caused me to bruise and bleed easily. We were on a trip caching in Northern Arizona during that time. In the woods, I ran into branches; in the desert it was cacti. Either way: take a few steps - shake off the blood; take a few steps - shake off the blood. The next day - do it all over again. Geocaching is fun!
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Absolutely! We do not count a caching day as successful unless someone is bleeding. Sometimes it is a little, sometime it is not.
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We went for a ballon ride with our caching partners a few years ago. As we were floating over the orange and grapefruit groves, the balloon pilot took out his older model GPS and pushed a few buttons. We asked if he was checking our altitude and he said that he was just playing with it because the altitude is not accurate. Our caching partner pulled out his GPS and said, "Let's see how close we are." The two were about 100 feet off. I then pulled my identical GPS out and found that I was in between their readings. We are consistentlly off, even when we sometimes calibrate at the same location.
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I took my son out caching for the first time when he was 35. He needed some help, but otherwise did OK. Our daughter-in-law was pregnant at the time, and when we went to Colorado Springs to visit the new addition to our family, they took me to a few caches where I even had trouble with the terrain. They then showed me pics of the 3 week old baby in the backpack carrier - at the cache site. Best of luck with your new adventure in life!
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Very early in my caching experience we were out in the California desert with our caching partners. We found a TB that had a goal of returning to Nashville, Tennesee. Our partners were going there in two weeks to visit their son and family in Nashville. I picked up the travel bug (my first) and they picked up from me at another cache. A bit of a coincidence; but - there's more. For complicated reasons I chose to email the TB owner. They responded back with a thank you. A few hours later, I got another email from them: They had noticed my name from the email return address and were wondering if I had been stationed in Central Illinois in 1967-69. I had. Turns out we had know each other quite well 38 years earlier.
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This has happened to us several times. Once my wife and I found the same guardrail cache at the same time, in the same place. We each reached in and pulled out two different caches. Another time the cache owner replaced a missing cache. We found the original as we were returning the replacement cache to it's hiding spot. The strangest one was when another cacher and I were way out in the desert. There were many rock piles 10 to 20 feet high. I climbed one while my partner searched around the base. After awhile we switched places. We yelled "got it" at the same time and each of us pulled out a cache. In all cases we signed them both and let the cache owner know the situation.
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I've used this several times. I have had a PQ for a particular area loaded into my GPS and our caching partners have not. When we run across a cache, this allows me to send it to their GPS, and vice versa. Not a common occurance, but it happens and saves fumble-finger coordinate entry. There are a couple other reasons we have "beamed" data between two units. It's just a nice-to-have feature.
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What do you do if a cache becomes out of reach?
boda replied to quizzical_quack's topic in How do I...?
Had the same problem as the OP. This was an FTF that went wrong. The cache went sailing down a 4 foot pipe. I immediately went home, logged the problem and emailed the CO. He was on his computer at the time so he answered. Soon after, we were on the phone where I apologized porfusely. I really felt bad. He seemed to be a bit miffed and wanted me to get that thing out soon. I devised a couple of tools that might do the job, went out to the cache and tried to get it out, but no luck. Then I noticed that the problem was not my fault but a poor glue-job. The CO was a lot friendlier after that; and together failed to recover the cache. -
Give me a couple of weeks You are missing the obvious here. All these caches were placed by aliens. All cachers have been taken to the mothership and probed, then made to forget their experience. Happens all the time.
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I had a run-in with with eight bees one day; but no major injuries. We do not, however, count any caching day as successful unless someone is bleeding. There must be blood.!
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Note Taking in the Field. Best Approaches?
boda replied to Fraverco's topic in General geocaching topics
I've always liked a paper map to visualize the area where we will be caching. Just another tool, I guess. I print the map in from Mapsource. The page had a blank area at the bottom so I would write notes in that area. One piece of paper - quick access to notes. Now I use aan Oregon and Field Notes. -
Whether you get your "desk speed" immediately will depend upon how far away your test area is and how long it's been since you last had the unit turned on. If you fire it up in the car a few minutes ahead of GZ to grab current data, I think you'll be pleased with the results. Anything unique about the area that was causing trouble before? Topography? Structures? Trees? Nope - it is just an urban area that gives me trouble; sometimes 10 minutes acquistion time. Was going to go caching in the mountains today, but had to replan that to urban and parkland caches. I would have liked to have tested WAAS with all the obstacles there. edited to add: everything
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It certainly seems to have improved that some as well ... once you've got the regular almanac the first time. On the whole, I'm really pleased with the improvement in performance in this area. I just wish it had come much sooner. It's been a known problem for quite a long time, and it appeared that the DeLorme folks got a handle on it with STMicro far sooner than Garmin did. While this kind of performance in a consumer handheld isn't important to a lot of users, we're a pretty fussy bunch about wanting decent coordinates in short order. Looks like we've finally got that. I wasn't too fussy before, although there were moments where slow acquistion was irritating. I suspect that I just didn't know the difference it could make. I'll know more in a couple of hours when my GPS gets a "field test" in an area where I have had problems before.
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I know this upgrade improved WAAS acquisition, but does it also affect acquisiton speed for all satellites? It seems that, sitting at my desk, I get almost instant full green bars when I turn on my 400t.
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Just to clarify an earlier point. The two files you find in the ZIP folder, as you stated, have a number for the filename. One of them has -wpts included in the name. That file contains the coordinates for any child waypoints, such as parking spots or other info you may need, that the owner may have included on the cache page. I often don't load that file to my GPS when caching in the local area; I already know where to park. The other file contains all the cache info.
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I've seen them at REI and Sports Chalet. I would imagine most outdoor style retailers have them. As Briansnat says - premium prices.
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I generally just add the GPX files from my PQs to the Oregon. No problem if you don't have more than 2000 caches or 200 GPX files. You just need to be sure that the files have different file names. I assume that would be the case if the PQs are from different areas. If you are combining the two PQs in GSAK: Load the first PQ ZIP file into a GSAK database. For the second PQ, select "File." Then "Load GPX/LOC/ZIP." When the box comes up, look on the left side of the box about 1/2 way down. (Sorry, don't have time to do a screen shot.) There is a section called "Clear database before loading." Make sure that the box next to "Warning: This will replace old data! is NOT checked. This allows you to add as many PQs to a database as you want. Not sure of that's what you are looking for, but hope it helps.
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If I understand your question, you do not need to to have more than one premium account. I am currently logged in on my computer and iphone - one account.
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We use a mixture of the above methods. First, keeping notes: We used to use a PDA, but now with the Oregon, Field Notes are the only way to go. Not only are they easy to use; they also greatly improve the online logging process. We usually set a starting cache. For instance, we will go to LA this weekend and will cache while there. We will pick a cache near our destination. Once found we then use the Find Another feature of the Oregon. We review the cache writeup. We have two Oregons and two iphones, so we can review several nearby caches at once and then pick one. We often change our direction, depending on where the nearest acceptable cache is located. To help this process, we have a map printed from Mapsource to put the whole area in perspective. It allows us look at the whole area with a macro view.
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If I'm alone, I always let my wife know where I plan to be. If I can get cell coverage, I'll update her periodically with current coordinates and the next cache or two I will be visiting. When we both go, we are usually with our caching partners and their neighbor is the dedicated safety net.
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We were on vacation in Panama. We looked for one cache that had one DNF and a couple notes on the cache page. When we finally found the cache we were suprised by the empty log book. An FTF surprise.
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I don't often do series caches. What I will do, however, is find the individual caches. If, for some reason, I get all the intermediate caches; then I will do the final. If I don't get them all - no big deal. You can also get any of the caches at any time. A multi requires you to go step by step - in order. I just find the series more convenient. Not knocking multis. We did one last Christmas. There were 34 intermediate caches. Using those, you solved two puzzle caches which then gave you coordinates for the final. I had no desire to do this series; yet, after getting a few of the stages on normal caching days, we decided to pick up the rest. All in all, it was a fun, challenging experience.