databit

Let me know when you have available. Looking forward to it.

That sounds like a terrific idea. I never did get anyone to go with me and then ended up with a bunch of other things on my plate. I am available Saturday morning on April 30 if you are interested.

Radiation would be a factor, near the reactor zone. There is a bit more of Japan though. That does bring up aanother concern though, should caches within a certain radius of the reactors be temporarily disabled?

This reply is quite late, I am sure, but I thought worth mentioning. We have quite a few great caching locations in Houston. On of the most prolific is George Bush Park on the west side of town. The reason I think this is worth mentioning is because this is the original location for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The whole place is just littered with geocaches and there are a couple of large geocache challenges here including a smiley face 3.14 miles around and the word TEXAS spelled out with geocaches.

Recent events, you know the ones, have caused a section of Japan to move east about 13 feet. Since GPS satellites do not change with the shifting surface, that means that many caches will now have different GZ's. I know there are far more important things to worry about right now, but what kind of project will it be to check coordinates on caches that may or may have not moved, and at 13 feet, is it worth is to worry about?

I am still building up stuff. LED flashlight (had for years on same batteries and kids have left it on all night on multiple occasions) 4 bottles of water 2 packages of pretzels the occasional medicine bottle a box full of golf pencils assorted swag items The nifty thing is that my bag (backpack) folds out into a stool so I can sit down while logging a cache.

Everyone with caches in Hawaii that are below 12 above sea level be sure to check to see if they are still there. Seriously though, hope everyone is okay out there on the Islands!

I have found Crayons in Houston. in _HOUSTON_. I do find a bit of junk around too. An unwrapped bandaid though might be something necessary if the cache is like many around my place which are closely guarded by thorns. I do think children's toys are nice swag, but if it is something grabbed off the party isle at WalMart (ie 5 plastic whistles (not the hard plastic that work but those flimsy ones from China coated with lead and extra helpings of BPA, you know the ones)) I am disappointed to see them. What I like to find are army men, or little figures such as that. Marbles would probably be nice as well. Or anything nastalgic like that. Bendy bands are cool for some people, I just find them annoying (Hey look! I am wearing a rubber band on my wrist! WHen I take it off it looks like a start!!!!). I took my neice and nephew out geocaching and they got really into it ans excited. We got to one and there was something in there i kinda liked but told them I could not take it because I did not have anything to trade with me. My Neice whips out her wallet and pulls out.... you ready for this? A receipt from Steak and Shake. Yes you read that right. She thought it would be a good trade to put a reciept in instead of something tangible. "Why would you leave a reciept?" "Well it is a souvenier from my going there." "And why would someone else want that?" "They can share in my experience!" "Gah !" Needless to say, I did not let her leave it and we left the swag I liked. I _HOPE_ it was a good lesson to her about what is good trade and what is not and that you should not just take something if you don't have something good to trade for. Another bad trade item (in my opinion) is cash. I am not just talking the 3 pennies and the nickel you found last week in an ammo can, I am also talking about the foldable kind. Except for a FTF prize, I would not leave money in a cache because as people start finding out there maybe cash in cache, theft will increase. Besides, what you leave in the cache really ought to mean something or have some value, even if it is something valueless like a plastic toy soldier. It should be something you actually have to consider to yourself, "Hmm, is this new item worth enough to me to outweight my item I am leaving?" I KNOW food does not make a good addition to a cache. I have once though found a can of soup in a cache. I chuckled about that one. It was food but was fairly animal proof. On a related note though, I would probably not consider a bottle of water a bad item. But what does leaving a bottle of water in a cache tell you about the cache? It's a _NICE_ sized cache and most likely (because the person was carrying bottles of water in the first place) a bit of a hike and if you forgot water or ran out, that bottle will be most attractive. Of course there is the threat of leakage, but I think that is fairly minimal. If the seal is still intact... blah blah blah...

It was one of those rare times that it was freezing cold in Texas. In Katy it wa sin the mid twenties and I saw a cache had been published and noone had tried for it. The decription said it would be a good nighttime cache. I decided to take the challenge myself and set out in the cold weather and in the dark. Further, I decided to let the cache know I was coming and started taunting it the whole way there until I found it: (read from bottom to top as directly from the cache log). February 9 by databit (101 found) I found you, laid your insides across the ground, and had my trophy. FTF February 9 by databit (101 found) I smell you. And you smell of empty logbook and fear. Hide if you must, but I will find you. February 9 by databit (101 found) That crunching? That's frozen grass under my feet. I'm getting closer! February 9 by databit (101 found) I'm in the park now. Can you hear me? February 9 by databit (101 found) It is 745 pm. It is dark out. The tempature is in the mid twenties. The wind is blowing hard. I'm coming to get you now. What was pretty cool was that after I arrived at the cache and started going through it, the OC showed up. They (It was a pair of guys)had been monitoring the log and they said they had caught my taunting and kept waiting for the "Next note" after each one I posted.

This weekend... Doing the Texas Series... Anyone up for it?

I wish I knew that areas better. I used to travel through there (texarkana) about once a month but did not stop there to eat much. The place I do know of with great food is a place in Marshall, TX which is south of Texarkana and I don't know the name of the place nor if there are any caches nearby. The place though specialized in home cooking and had some of the best breakfast I had ever eaten and I only ordered eggs, bacon, and toast. It is right on 59 and has a large candle factory/store in the same shopping strip. Those are the only two stores there that I can recall. Other shops I think were empty. Sorry, that is the best I can do, and it is out of your way, and no caches listed... but at least it is a response. Databit.

Get a grabby hand. I am a bit round in the middle which prevents me from bending over really easily and I find using grabby hands a great tool. Now think of it from a Geocaching perspective. _NO_ _MORE_ _THORNS_! That film canister at the back of some bramble is now easily accessible and that aiplane aluminum does not care about the inch long DNA collectors that are keeping you from your prize. Now think of it from a CITO perspective. _YOU_ _DON'T_ _HAVE_ _TO_ _TOUCH_ _DISCARDED_ _UNDERWEAR_! Grabby hands go by the term "reacher" and can be found at many drug stores such as Walgreens or CVS. In any case, they are not heavy, fit in your bag (Many models fold up) and your days of thorn sores and panty germs are over.

A giant Smiley face in Goerge Bush Park in Houston, TX GC1NW7P The word TEXAS spelled out in Goearge Bush Park in Houston, TX GC2K0CD A series of puzzle caches that form, appropriately enough, a question mark GC2KDJ1 All the spaces on the Monopoly board GC1MNC4

When I am traipsing through Goerge Bush Park, I see lots of trash. I see empty bottles, wrappers, and lots of tennis balls. I have even seen a toilet and a rusted out car in the middle of George Bush Park. These things are sometimes left by hikers and are often carried in as floating garbage when the park floods. Whan I can, I drag some of this out with me. What I do not see very often are cigarette butts. I might not be paying enough attention or something, or maybe they are so small they get lost in the grass. Maybe hikers don't smoke much. I don't know and cannot guess. But when out completing the One Huge Smiley in George Bush Park this weekend I was astounded to find a fresh (was very obviously from that day) cigarette butt. Why is this so astonishing? I found it right beneath a cache. The only way it could have gotten there was from a fellow cacher. Worse still was how crunchy the grass was beneath my feet. The potential for wild fire is immense out there that would only take a single spark to start. Please people and be considerate and keep your butts off of the ground. Practice CITO at least to the point that you are not leaving more trash than was there already. Thanks for your time, Databit </rant>

I will take up the first offering to setup a time. If I can get another couple of people interested, I am planning to try it this weekend on either March 5 or 6. If you are interested, reply back or send email to me through Geocaching.com. Thanks, Databit

I have recently beat the smiley after two days of work. I am now ready to take on Texas. I would like to use this thread to organize groups to get together go out after the Texas series. It is a huge undertaking and should not be done alone, so if you are wanting to get together on it, post here and try to arrang a meet up in Goerge Bush Park. Thanks, Databit