M2

Out running an errand today and thought I'd pick up a local cache or two while I was out. I was walking down the trail in my normal attire when I was approached by someone who flashed a badge at me. I was able to get a photo of it. Being a good citizen of the geocaching community, I was polite and respectful toward authority and got off with only a warning this time. It probably helped a lot when I told him about Harmon's work increasing public awareness of sock crimes.

Always up for a truck trail! I'm in!

In the immortal words of Euall Gibbons: "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible." Actually, they were in time-out. [] What the rest of the world couldn't see ...

Unnnggh...must...restrain...myself...from...making...snarky...comment... (...just kidding...) Go for it James. I give you permission. r/ jodi It is much more fun to be Mr. Vice ... Jodi: I still have my detailed dining out instruction book of mess etiquette if you need to refresh your memory on the finer points . Remember, never pass your wine glass over your water glass or you're showing your secret allegiance to Cromwell ... and the Royalists will surely fine you M2: Is it true once you sit down you can't get up for anything..even to use the facilities? In that case I may be passing that wine glass UNDER the table. Like I said 50 miles on a bike seat in Mexico sounds so much more fun. Just got back from the Big Bear shindig. By now you know that you certainly can go to the ladies room, you just have to request permission of the Vice (and likely have it formally discussed by the rest of the group . Did they parade the beef? The event isn't until the end of September. It will be fun! This discussion needs some perspective. The last time I attended a dining-in one of the Navy pilots bit a waitress on her rump. Of course that lead to a lawsuit. Have fun but watch your backside girl. Very strange ... I was let off with only a warning. By the way, here is all you will ever want to know about the regulations of dining out. Good material for spirited debate with Mr. Vice or Madam Vice. Always useful to quote chapter and verse

Unnnggh...must...restrain...myself...from...making...snarky...comment... (...just kidding...) Go for it James. I give you permission. r/ jodi It is much more fun to be Mr. Vice ... Jodi: I still have my detailed dining out instruction book of mess etiquette if you need to refresh your memory on the finer points . Remember, never pass your wine glass over your water glass or you're showing your secret allegiance to Cromwell ... and the Royalists will surely fine you M2: Is it true once you sit down you can't get up for anything..even to use the facilities? In that case I may be passing that wine glass UNDER the table. Like I said 50 miles on a bike seat in Mexico sounds so much more fun. Just got back from the Big Bear shindig. By now you know that you certainly can go to the ladies room, you just have to request permission of the Vice (and likely have it formally discussed by the rest of the group . Did they parade the beef?

Unnnggh...must...restrain...myself...from...making...snarky...comment... (...just kidding...) Go for it James. I give you permission. r/ jodi It is much more fun to be Mr. Vice ... Jodi: I still have my detailed dining out instruction book of mess etiquette if you need to refresh your memory on the finer points . Remember, never pass your wine glass over your water glass or you're showing your secret allegiance to Cromwell ... and the Royalists will surely fine you

I've been out of email range for a week or so -- count me in with CS2!

Unfortunately I'm heading up to the Bay area this weekend -- or I'd have been in for sure. Keep me in mind for another time!

<snip> I agree with "lostguy". I may be a bit weird in this, but one of the things I really enjoy about geocaching is reading the logs of other players. I'll even keep track of players around the country who consistently write interesting logs or spin a good yarn about their adventures. Some logs are very interesting in their descriptions of a hike (e.g., Miragee's marathon hikes) and some reveal genuine emotion about the conquest or the memories invoked by a location (Slabymom at GCMHD8 comes to mind). It does get challenging on a 20-cache day to make individual remarks (or sometimes to even remember an individual cache in the series ) but even on a big cache run I try to write something unique about the best ones. It would be nice to think that a clever or challenging hide would generate a good story ... but there are very few rules about playing this game, so I'll keep trying to write good logs and hope everyone else has fun in their own way. There will always be those who work hard to miss out on some of the fun. I've spent my two cents for this week

Fortunately, I know when to stop. I also had an opportunity to plant a cache on the way out. I made it a traditional AND you can drive to it (well 4x4 anyway). TA Two days later and I'm just beginning to walk normally again. Gotta get in better shape -- or avoid caches like Elevation 3000. It seems we all had the same idea about planting caches on the way out -- hope they don't collide! I happened to notice that something popped up today called "Dependable Engines"

Wow, that's neat - what elevation exaggeration and terrain quality do you have Google Earth set to? Matching the photos with Google Earth is a great idea! Thanks for getting this expedition going -- it was a good time with a great group!

I'm 95% sure I'll be able to tag along. I'll meet you at the Lake Jennings P&R at 0545. Don't wait for me if I'm not there on time. Should be a great run!

Slight update, seems it is going to be the Bear Valley area. No challenge at either locale for your new wheels; my 2wd '88 Nissan p'up made it through both locales with no problems. At Bear Valley, I even drove in 3/4 of the way to Dream State. You want a challenge, lets drive up to Lawson 4; well, at least to the base, and then over to Gaskill - or over on In-Kah-Pah towards Paxton's Villa. Hymm, there is an FTF to be had there .... Let me try these two trails first and then we will see what it can handle. Hopefully I can afford a suspension lift in the future and some larger tires to get it into the good spots. Unfortunately, I can't make the weekday trip (the work thing) but I'll try to tag along on the next weekend trip. My Tacoma was nicely broken in (fortunately, not broken up) on the duganrm tour of Bear Valley a while back (aka Rommel Drives Deep Into Egypt). Nice off-road tour and lots of caches. Photos of the 7 vehicle expedition are here. I can probably dig up the Bear Valley track if you need it. If you want to ease your Blazer into the desert runs, Dos Cabezas is a nice 4WD day trip with some good primitive camp sites if you want to camp out (I suspect you may already know the area well!). I explored the area for the first time last weekend and wouldn't mind going back. Don't get talked into the Lawson 4 run -- I did it on foot and picked up enough jeep parts on the "road" to make it a CITO event

Any action in the desert planned for this weekend? If any brave soul needs a backup vehicle, count me in. If any intrepid soul needs to log Beyond Fonts without making the crazy climb down the cliff, I can be your spirit guide! Mother's Day is not a factor if 'mother' is encouraging the trip .... It may be a bit on the warm side (98/63) but it is, after all, the desert. So much desert, so little time ...

Welcome! You've just joined the most incredible family. There's always fun group events happening, so keep your eyes on the forums. I'm a fellow Geo-Jeeper, so I'll let you know when we head out to do either. I'm in the process of installing new fenders, so I'm itching to try them out! Robyn of Team Reid Are Geo-Toyoters allowed to come along??? Of course all are welcome. The more, the merrier! Looks like it's gonna be a Big Bear trip soon. Too hot for the desert. Let's all keep an eye on the weather and maybe, just maybe, we can squeeze another Anza Borrego trip in before summer. I know M2's in! He's been breaking in his new ride. Robyn Thanks to Rocketman's Slots of Fun, I now have a few 'beauty marks' on the Silver Taco, so the break-in is just about complete . I'm going out Saturday for an overnighter -- not sure where but maybe out Dos Cabezas way. The forecast is for 98/62 deg, a bit on the warm side but there aren't too many weekends left and I don't want to miss any. I'll watch this board for the next group run. By the way, I'm now KI6JFU as soon as I figure out how to use my new hand-held dual band radio. That thing is 10 times smarter than I am Whew! It was 102 deg at 8:30 p.m. last night at 17 Palms with about a 20 mph wind. Still beautiful though... the moon was so bright you didn't need a flashlight to walk along the trails. Very still this morning, with a beautiful sunrise.

No, no ... get together and build a parade float featuring rip-rap, lamp posts, ice plant, English ivy, poison ivy, Natal Plum, and storm drains. Our beauty queens can toss Altoid tins, film canisters, Bison tubes, and ammo cans into the crowd. Have FATTBOY pull the float with his tricked-out Ford Explorer, you know, unless there's an unpaved section of the parade route. I hereby nominate Splashette and $kimmer to be part of the beauty-queen team. ($kimmer has vast experience with parade floats and we need a couple of stout women to toss ammo cans.) How about a Precision GPS Marching Team, similar to the Precison Lawn Chair Marching Team in the Doo Dah Parade? Geocachers could move as a group along the route while staring down at their GPS and proceed to run into curbs, bounce off telephone poles, etc. At set times, they could all rush over and examine a sprinkler head or (shudder) a lamp post skirt. A periodic Group Compass Calibration could be held where they all stop and spin around twice (the "Newbie Maneuver"). Uh... I think the word you were looking for was staid ... staid (stād) pronunciation adj. 1. Characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober. See synonyms at serious. 2. Fixed; permanent: “There is nothing settled, nothing staid in this universe” (Virginia Woolf). Mercy bump .....

Probably too late for that... If a man-made island can become off-limits for our species because of inhabitation by this other species, no telling what other man-made property will be next... Anyway, can't fight city hall on this one, so I vote to archive it. Thought that statement would be an attention grabber. Voting is now closed, here are the results. Thanks to all who voted. Archive -- 321 votes Move to Fiesta Island - 103 votes Move it to the main land - 34 votes Do nothing, cachers should use their own judgement. --- 1 vote (Chuy!) Why not try ... 7 responses -- unable to publish due to Duncan!'s censorship reporting. Just got back to town ... make that 322 for archiving. Although I've also tried to preserve historic caches (Laura's Memorial), I don't think any one single cache is worth the bad rep we'd get from people assuming we're out there crushing baby birds -- especially endangered baby birds. Bad PR for GC. GoBolts! may not like iceplant, but don't even get me started on environmental compliance

Miragee, Yeah, f'r sure, maybe fifteen but it wouldn't hold still while I used my tape-erator so I just eyeballed it for size like any good Texan would do. It was hangin' around your Manzanita cache. You coulda been et girl. Harmon My scholarly research into the 27 recognized species of the genus Crotalus, tells me that these two impressive examples found by you and Miragee are communicating the classic "1/2 second before I bite you in the butt big time" warning (also known as the 1/2BYBBT behavior pattern). I think if I came across one of these fine specimens, poised as you show them, I'd probably hang up my GPS. With my occupational/Jethro Tull induced hearing loss, I'd be a goner fer shure

Welcome! You've just joined the most incredible family. There's always fun group events happening, so keep your eyes on the forums. I'm a fellow Geo-Jeeper, so I'll let you know when we head out to do either. I'm in the process of installing new fenders, so I'm itching to try them out! Robyn of Team Reid Are Geo-Toyoters allowed to come along??? Of course all are welcome. The more, the merrier! Looks like it's gonna be a Big Bear trip soon. Too hot for the desert. Let's all keep an eye on the weather and maybe, just maybe, we can squeeze another Anza Borrego trip in before summer. I know M2's in! He's been breaking in his new ride. Robyn Thanks to Rocketman's Slots of Fun, I now have a few 'beauty marks' on the Silver Taco, so the break-in is just about complete . I'm going out Saturday for an overnighter -- not sure where but maybe out Dos Cabezas way. The forecast is for 98/62 deg, a bit on the warm side but there aren't too many weekends left and I don't want to miss any. I'll watch this board for the next group run. By the way, I'm now KI6JFU as soon as I figure out how to use my new hand-held dual band radio. That thing is 10 times smarter than I am

Today, I found a cartoon that illustrates the concept...(guess which category I'm in...) {snip} (More of this brand of humor can be found at www.xkcd.com...) I would say you are in the scientist category. What about the smart scientist? He gets his buddy to try it the next time... No, he gets his graduate student to try it again. or a geocacher

Cool photo gallery M2! Nice work. Thanks! I'm having some fun with it. Former San Diego Geocachers are also welcome to use it

I have the route. It is a pretty nice ride with great views. I am planning to take the jeep, but almost any vehicle can do it. I will likely have the older kids along. Bring your camera. What time would you like to meet? I think last time I went, we met others by the TGIF in Rancho San Diego, then drove down. There is also a Dennies near there where we could meet for breakfast if you and others would like. The Otay Truck Trail starts at the GCHBKD: Mossy Oak and goes all the way to the other end by GCGCJ4: Dos Amigos Otay Mountain. That is about 26+ caches. There is also a Terracache in that path as well. Here is the tracks from my last drive. Otay Tracks (GPX) TA Thanks for the track! Meeting for breakfast at Denny's sounds good (the closest one I can see is 2642 Jamacha Rd,) is that the right one? 8:00? 9:00? Any time works for me, I only have to drive from La Mesa. I have zero caches from the route but I really don't need to hit them all this time and hold everyone up. I'll just go back and pick up what I miss later. If the weather is anything like today, the views should be awesome. Looking forward to the ride! Extra seat open ... Miragee? The ride up and over Otay Mountain was a great SDCET expedition! Thanks to Team Adelos for being our "Spirit Guide" and leading the way. Superdave's Suburban was as nimble as a jeep . Lots of great caches, especially Keep on Rollin' -- what a diabolical hide! Tough to find and it was well guarded by a wild bee hive at GZ and a Red Diamond Rattlesnake hidden in the grass nearby. Great run! Photos up at SD Geocachers photo gallery.

I flew from the east coast recently on an airline (Delta?) that allowed GPS use during flight. I've always wanted to know what I was seeing below me and it was fascinating following our flight path. Having the GPS track us across the country was awesome and my entire row enjoyed it . I was surprised to find that our pilot seemed to follow the interstates from New Mexico into San Diego (yes, the 'stay on roads' feature was turned off ). As for the elevation thingy, I'm not sure about the 60CS, but it seems a 'unique' feature of the 60CSx and the 76CSx is that they both use the barometric altimeter for the elevation data display and there apparently is no way to make it use the calculated altitude. That means that the cabin pressure "altitude" is likely what you were seeing displayed. You can see the calculated altitude by keying 'menu/GPS elevation" from the satellite page. That readout is useful for calibrating the altimeter if you don't know the correct altitude or pressure.

I visited the mud caves in Arroyo Tapiado today and saw a surprising number of vehicle parts and tire treads on the trails. In case you missed it, there was a recent San Diego Weekly Reader article about Anza-Borrego Desert State Park where Jerry Schad gave the author Geof Bouvier a tour of the mud caves and Carrizo Badlands. I don't know if it is related, but the park service appears to have recently graded the Vallecito Creek Road route into the badlands and the Arroyo Tapiado wash trail at least as far as Carey's Big Mud Cave. Combine those two items and I suspect that a lot of people read the article and have gone out to find the caves -- apparently driving their Hyundais, Saturns, and Kias by the looks of the pieces on the trail. I saw a Dodge Neon with a driver and 4 passengers heading into the arroyo as I left -- hope they didn't hit a bump. From the tracks and the tire carcass I found, it looks like someone drove home on the rim. I hauled out a load of stuff worthy of a CITO event . Know anyone who lost a complete metallic dark-green fender guard?