TimInOhio and Brittany

A friend of mine (Butchie) called me up one day and says, "How accurate are those GPS receivers?" I tell him, "I guess to within a few feet. Why?" The rest, as they say, is history. Butchie's involvement has somewhat waned in the last 2+ years, and mine isn't anything to write home about, but it is still something I enjoy.

Not THIS weekend, you won't. According to Jeremy's original post, the story will run next weekend, on Sunday, November 7.

Since I became a Premium Member a few months ago, I have used the PQs a number of times and they are well worth the investment! Makes a world of difference if you prefer one (or more) type of cache over another.

I Googled "Terrorism Quick Reference Card" and found this.

<APPLAUDE> That's a heck of an offer, El Diablo. One more way Gecachers are a great group of people. I've only met a handful of fellow Geocachers so far, and for the most part, they are generous and caring people. Way to go, El Diablo! </APPLAUDE>

After learning that Tprints ran a silkscreen shop in Erie, where I spend my weekends anyway, I bought a NWPA Geocachers sweatshirt and T shirt from him.

I LOVE that movie! Back on topic, I have traded and purchased a couple different variations of the match tubes and they all seem to be weathertight - after all, that is their purpose. I even found some of the nickel plated brass type at one of those travelling truckload tool sales for $1. I never thought about placing one around here as a micro; maybe I should

Especially since the two of them are side by side, causing trouble! LOL

Have any of the winners received their Mystery Prize pack yet???

The way that was explained to me was: Sapphire crystal IS really hard, but once it is scratched, it is ruined. Acrylic, or some sort of plastic is softer, but can usually be repaired or replaced cheaply, though. Spend a lot now for a tough crystal on a nice watch and hope you don't scratch it, or spend a little and repair/replace as needed.

Last year, as I was doing research for the first Pittsburgh cache of the Magellan Treasure Hunt, I spend a few mornings in the park (not mentioning which park, in case it's situation has changed, or I am totally off base) that the cache was in, and there were what I considered to be a large number of single guys, sitting in cars, reading newspapers and generally "watching" the other people in the park. I traveled all over that park and there were guys all over the park as well. On more than one occasion I had a guy get out of a car and follow me into the woods as I researched. Like has been mentioned above numerous times, this type of activity takes place at all hours of the day and night and in parks all over. I saw at least two different jurisdiction's police cruisers go through the park while I was there, but I guess the men that were watching and waiting in the park were unaffected. Just keep your eyes open and pay attention to what you are doing out there. And listen to your gut. If something makes you uneasy, get out of there.

Wow, farts, that's a heck of a FTF prize! Keeping on topic, I've been caching for a little over 2 years and I have just hit 35 finds. I find that if I go caching "once in a while" or whenever I want to get away for a few hours, it keeps things interesting for me. But, on the other hand, I do like to be FTF, so if a cache pops up near me, I'll try to make every effort to hit it. Tim edited due to my inability to type

Congrats, village-idiot, on getting some of that "stuff." As someone that recently moved to a desk job, I too am looking forward to making more time to Geocache and "stuff." Sitting at a desk in front of a couple of PC's for 8 hours is like anti-exercise!

Like Stunod and others, I use the Ultimate GPS Case. I picked one up almost as soon as I started Geocaching, upon the advice of a local cacher that got me into it. I was using a Garmin 12 at the time. When I won a Magellan SporTrak Color last year, it quickly took up residence in the Ultimate case and the Garmin was relegated to a Garmin case that I picked up at Gander Mountain on clearance. It's not as roomy, but serves it's purpose to carry the backup GPS 12. Even when I am wearing my CamelBak, I still use the Ultimate Case and just drop the SporTrak in there when it looks like I'll need both hands or when it is straight and flat and I don't need the navigation help.

My favorite site for seamless textures is Infinite Fish.

You might try asking in (or reading) the logs from this year's contest - there have been a few postings with info from last year. If I can find any of it, I will post a link.

Just another thing to consider: Garmin was a sponsor at the 2002 GPS Goldrush in Killington, VT, and Magellan is currently running their second annual contest; this year it's called "Cache Her If You Can." Both companies have donated/given away many things to Geocaching organizations and events. Maybe a couple of well placed emails or letters could get you a donation of a (or a few) GPSr units? I'd think that they'd love to support education! You might try the local sporting goods stores, too. They get a write-off, and your class gets something useful.

Congrats, Trippy! Hope to run into you guys again this year for the Magellan hunt... TimInohio

After LOTS of online research, I drove, in the middle of the night, from Warren, OH to Detroit, MI area for the cache that was in Rouge River Park last year, in anticipation of the final coords being released. After driving up and down the park, I finally settled on a place to park and waited. Turns out, that once the coords were released, I was parked 400 feet from the cache and I still got beat out by Trippy and someone else from MiGO. But it was a blast to watch people coming into the park, obviously looking for the treasure. If you can eliminate some parks from an area, make an educated guess and go look! Like it has been mentioned before, a lot of caches last year were found before the coords were released. Then there was the first Pittsburgh cache. Final coords put it right smack in the middle of some poor old couple's garage. A few of us tore out of Settler's Cabin Park (where, it turns out, the cache was all along) and went to look at it before we realized the coords were grossly out of whack. The police even got involved, citing some people for trespassing. But Magellan got things straightened out, thanks to the Leprechauns. Magellan even put together a second cache for the Pittsburgh area to make up for the boo-boo. Keep your fingers crossed, study the clues (but not too hard) and go look!

The Brainbuster took me at least 3 trips of 140 miles roundtrip and at least 8 hrs, spread out over those trips, but it was well worth it!

This cache had two DNF's. I emailed the owner and since he had yet to confirm the cache's whereabouts, I felt it would be that much more "interesting" to try to find. As my log says, it was right where it should have been, but it required a LOT of looking. I guess since there were DNF's, I was spurred on that much more to find it. One more way a DNF helps.

These exact boxes can be had here, for only slightly more than the Home Depot version. Or, of course eBay has a couple here and here.

In the fall of 2002, I attended the GPS Goldrush, held at Killington ski resort in Vermont. Shortly after the event ended, the website (www.GPSGoldrush.com) stated that they were planning for the 2003 Goldrush. But that never happened. Has anyone seen or heard about any other large scale "organized Geocaching" events?

Where exactly am I going to be? I have to be in Toledo on Thursday, 11/13 at noon, and then back there at noon on Sunday 11/16. In between those times/dates is completely open. So, Toledo, Detroit and Windsor is where I will be, but I don't have any specifics! Thanks, umc, for the suggestions! Tim

I will be in the Detroit area, from 11/13 to 11/16 and am looking for recommendations for a few Geocaches to look for. I prefer a multi with some puzzling involved, like The Brainbuster. It's rated a 4.5 difficulty and a 2 terrain. I will have my girlfriend (she's only been on 3 hunts with me so far) and I hope to meet up with a friend and his wife (also newbies). Thanks in advance!!! TimInOhio