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Cracker in the Hat

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Everything posted by Cracker in the Hat

  1. Ya know, I understand the whole tresspassing thing (Hey Sherm!), but I'd be lyin' and I wouldn't be alone if I said that I haven't found myself in a state park after closing time by...accident!?! FWIW, I have no FTF's and don't give a hoot. It's about the journey for me, there is no competition. I cache at night because I need the clarity it provides me. I cache at night because that's the only time I have...I may have cached after hours in a state park at one time or another... because...well...Try it at night and you'll see why. {Quietly stepping down off his soap box} -Cracker in the Hat
  2. Thanks so much...Thie mileage is wayyyyyy cool to a 10 year old! -Cracker in the Hat
  3. I have launched a travel bug that someone has carried to a foreign land for me...I didn't check it into a cache near home, so the first part of the journey was not looged (With regard to distance travelled) Is there a way to fix this? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks a million in advance, -Cracker in the Hat
  4. Yep...Richmond it is, and roughly at the intersection of North Allen and Park. -Cracker in the Hat
  5. My brother in law grew up in Manhattan and lived his entire life in the 'concrete jungle'...When he started dating my sister, he spent some quality time with my family due west of Philadelphia. We slept at night with open windows (no bars) unlocked doors and open cars. We slept very peacefully while he lay awake in his bed uncomfortable from the sounds of nature (Owls fox etc...) He couldn't wait to get back to the city sounds to lul him to sleep. It is important to remember that what one finds comforting, another may find unnerving. People live in the 'bad' part of town, just the same as they do in your part of town. The zip code doesn't denote peace vs. danger, the residents do, that's why your neighborhood has police too... Let's all get off of our soapboxes and be kind to our neighbors. RBENNITT, cache a little more, and see if you want a 'challenge' if not, walk away. -Cracker in the hat
  6. My screen name...It was 'given' to me by a clerk in a 7-11 late one night while I was setting out for a hunt (I usually don't leave home until 10:00 PM or so)...It was a good spirited jab at my attire, as I was wearing a kangaroo leather hat fresh from Australia, and JimInPotomac and Sherman T. Potter (two close friends and caching pals)quickly picked up the name. It has now become a sort of reward to me. It's always cool to be knighted with a nick name, and in this case, a true honor for me because of what it represents. -Cracker in the Hat
  7. "Because there are very few night caches in this area I found only two." Actually, and I'm confident that JimInPotomac will agree, the vast majority of night time caches I (We) have done have been traditional daylight caches just attempted at night. The darkness increases the difficulty to every cache. Even the most boring and mundane caches can be brought to life after dark. The solitude is also inspiring and rather cathartic at times as well. Try a cache at night, you'll love it. As an aside, we are now almost solely doing night time deep woods/hiking caches. We just sort of progressed there...The woods are great, I'll take a wooded cache over an urban micro any day!
  8. My work schedule is such that I rarely find time to cache during daylight hours, so I find myself in the woods quite often after 10:00PM. In fact almost all of my finds (Not many but the number is slowly climbing, and I really don't give a hoot about find count etc...)were done at night after midnight. I find that night time caches add an element of difficulty, and are a lot more fun than daylight caches. Even the most mundane caches can become a ton of fun. I've met with LEO's, Park Rangers and just plain ol' weirdos in the middle of the night, and lemme tell you, that can be interesting as well. I'm wondering how many of us cache at night. I would classify myself as a night cacher almost exclusively... Anybody wanna chime in? -Cracker in the Hat
  9. I am by no means an 'Old Timer' when it comes to GeoCaching. In fact, I have only been participating in this therapy for 6 months (give or take) I have been using a GPS to find 'stuff' for years though, and what I have found is that while we all pine for yesterday, no matter how or what yesterday represents to the individual, today is the yesterday of tomorrow. I know this sounds absurd, but what I really mean by this twisted ramble is represented by my screen name...It was 'given' to me by a clerk in a 7-11 late one night while I was setting out for a hunt (I usually don't leave home until 10:00 PM or so)...It was a good spirited jab at my attire, and JimInPotomac and Sherman T. Potter quickly picked up the name. It has now become a reward to me. It's an honor to have another nic-name, and a true honor for me because of what it represents. Jim, Sherm and I had a regular Thursday night cache outing and it became therapy for the three of us. Life is stressful. Life gets in the way of life. For the three of us, hiking in the woods in the middle of the night, often until 1:00 or later, was the greatest therapy we could ask for. We had great conversations and almost solved the ills of the world, sometimes we barely spoke at all. The hunt is the reward. Signing the log is merely a way to say "I was here" and to thank the owner for placing a cache that took us out of our comfort zone. It is the Journey folks, not the destination. While I understand that the majority of the caches out there are filled with broken McToys and range balls, I challenge you to find the reward in the hunt, not in the trinket you trade for. Some of the trails have brough me to places I would never have found, and I've discovered a lot more about me as a person than I had ever thought would happen while simply enjoying a sport. The micro burnout you describe is normal. Micros can suck. So can anything else in this world. Enjoy the hunt for the micro, not the find. Take an alternate route to a cache....If the best approach is from the north, approach from the south. Make it interesting, make it harder. Try it at night, darkness adds a whole new dimension to otherwise boring caches. There are some caches that aren't woth the paper you sign, the journey to the cache is the real reward. Feel free to flame (I'll probably just ignore it anyway)... I wish I had started as long ago as you, I just didn't know all of this (including this great community) existed. I hate the thought of someone getting frustrated with GeoCaching because someone is too cheap to use quality trade items. Discover the fun in the hunt and your faith may be renewed. Just my $.02 -Cracker in the Hat
  10. In the world of suckdom, that truly is King. I'm sorry to see that some knucklehead(s) took out his aggression on your car. I know how you feel...violated. It's nice to see that you still have a positive outlook regarding hiking/caching. Did you have any luck with the authorities catching the hooligan(s)? -Cracker
  11. Yeah, I'm one of those idiots that will risk being blown up, being bitten by a West China Rattle Bird Flu Pneumonia infected snake, or seeing an obese person wearing a thong, but I won't risk my PC's health by putting a thumb drive into the USB port and allowing who knows what to affect my computer. Sorry, but while I like the idea, I'm out. Cracker Edited because I'm a non typing fool.
  12. I do a fair amount of caching late at night (terrible work schedule ya know) and as such, we've had a few run ins with the local constabulatory. Here is a log from one such occasion; So, here we are, three friends on their way home from nabbing Coffin Rock, Cam 2004 and I decided to show JimInPotomac and Sherman T. Potter the geodetic disc that is close to those two... After we found the disc with little issue, we were on our way home when I realized that we would pass right by this cache that I had done earlier in the week. JimInPotomac had never done this one, and it was a great opportunity to put a pen in the cache (See my prior log). I handed my GPS to JimInPotomac and let him lead the way...This one can be a little dicey at night, and JimInPotomac had a light, Sherman and I left ours in the car for good planning. As we were signing the log, we noticed some lights in the distance. They were a litle brighter than normal, and it was pretty late...Hmmmm.... After a couple of minutes, we were approached (50 ft away) by one of the Park Polices' finest. he directed us out of the woods, cache still open and through the stickers and up to his cruiser. He wasn't familiar with geocaching, and wasn't too thrilled about seeing three idiots in the woods after midnight on a 6 degree evening (before windchill). We made our way up to the cruiser (parked right behind my car) and he proceeded to ask us for our identification. This was only a slight problem as Sherman and I couldn't find our wallets...It just keeps on getting better... He took our vitals and instructed us to wait in front of his cruiser while he checked 'wants and warrants' and the morgue for these three wanted idiots. after we froze for 20 minutes, he returned to us from his warm car and proceeded to laugh it off with us after someone at dispatch let him know that we were in fact only a little nuts, not quite larcenous, and certainly cold as all get out. We decided to leave the cache until the morning, as it was super cold and after standing still for a while waiting to be arrested, we were all chilled to the bone. FWIW, the person who signed the log directly before me (on the prior visit) was from the Park Police, so even they enjoy the caches here. The officer (sorry I missed his name) was quite cool given the circumstances, and certainly a badass for approaching three grown men (up for debate) in the woods after midnight with very little moonlight. All things considered, I wouldn't be surprised if he catches the geocaching bug as well. All things considered, the three of us had a blast and we were back at it the next day. -Cracker in the Hat
  13. Simply put, please use accurate coordinates. The vast majority of GPSr's will leave you a short distance away no matter what. The point of geocaching is actually _______________(fill in the blak with whatever trips your trigger). It isn't, at least in my opinion to 'trick' a cacher by providing false information. Take some time and put some thought into a clever hide, and not a hide whose difficulty level is artificially raised by lack of spot on coordinates. There is a local cacher who placed a cache with erroneous coordinates (albeit by accident) that fall under the descriptions listed in the replies above, Check out the log to it. It's clear how people react to incorrect coordinates. Little Kahuna The owner was really upset as well, as he wanted his cache to be fun for all, not a royal pain in the asparagus. If you are going to use incorrect coordinates...Have the decency to let people know it BEFORE they hike into the brush to find your cache. Just my $.02 -Cracker Edited because I suck.
  14. In essence, if you've ever cached with another person, one of you had to find the cache first. Assuming that's the case (and that you didn't both see it at exactly the same time) then technically, one person has logged a cache that they haven't found. To me, this is silly. Feel free to log any and all caches that you want. Log a million if you want to. I really don't care. I have but a few caches logged, as I am unfortunate enough to have to work for a living. I keep my logged caches 100% accurate, as I want to track my personal progress. It's a personal thing, but I prefer it that way. It should be noted however that I see a huge difference between a team member logging a cache that another member found versus someone sitting in front of their computer and logging a cache that they haven't physically touched. It has been my experience that most teams will log their visits my noting which team member actually found the cache. I believe this should be enough. There was one cache that I found and there was no pencil/pen or other writing implement to be found in either the cache itself or in my stash of pens I usually carry with me. I used a muddy thumb smudge to prove my visit. I later returned to the cache and signed it correclty, but in a pinch, by noting the log in front of mine and the smudge, I could, if necessary, verify my visit. If somoene wants to cheat, let 'em...who cares. It's not a contest without two people competing. If you don't compare your find count with theirs, there is no contest, and it doesn't matter. Just my early morning rant. -Cracker
  15. Why Jim, I never knew...but seriously, co-starring in an adult movie... OKee Dokee, I would've assumed you'd demand to be on top (billing ya knucklehead) -Cracker
  16. The positivity that exists here is really second to none. Kudos to everyone who has taken up this sport for health reasons. I have both Diabetes and a spinal cord injury (though I can walk thankfully) and I took this sport up because I though that the hiking might be good fairly low impact exercise for me. What I have found is that I have lost weight, sharpenend my mind, built confidence in my physical abilities that has been lacking lately, and most important of all, it's just plain fun. If you can push yourself, you may just find that you discover things about you that you never knew. Keep up the good work (Especially the young dudes out there) and hopefully you'll find it a rewarding experience. -Cracker
  17. "Cell phones are no good out in the middle of the mountains unless you're on the top and have a good view of a tower. " I totally agree, I just haven't expanded my searches to very mountainous regions. When I do, the cell won't be my main form of communication. I totally agree with you. -Cracker
  18. I'll search until the cows come home if it is worth it (purely subjective I know). I have never given up without coming back another day to search aain. I have one that I will have to look for again, as I missed it the first time. Weather and daylight have no bearing on how long I spend. I am kind of sick that way. -Cracker
  19. Initially, I always carried an FRS whenever I was on a hunt. After a while I came to understand the limitations of these radios. The range is extremely short when in a wooded or mountainous area, and you have to be on the same channel as the other person or you'll never hear them. A cell phone and a good whistle are the best ideas... See this post for a little more info.FRS Just my $.02 -Cracker
  20. Cyclometh, My father has a compass just like the one your father left you. It's great to see someone with similar memories from childhood. Having said that, I carry a compass (not that one) with me at all times in the woods, no matter how long or short a hike it is. Some things in life are constant; Death, Taxes, Getting stuck at every light on the one morning you absolutley had to be on time and.......A trusty magnetic compass. It's cheap insurance that you'll find your way out. Just my $.02, -Cracker
  21. It's an addiction and you'll enjoy the daylights out of it ! -E
  22. How can you tease us like that? Spill it! Okee dokee, and just to clarify things, I changed my ID a minute ago... I walked into a 7-11 late at night last week to buy a bottle of water sporting my brand new from Australia Kangaroo hat... and as soon as I crossed the threshold of the door, the woman behind the counter shouted out " Hey! Cracker in the hat, you gonna let me drive that fancy truck while you cover the store for me or not?" My fellow geocachers, JimInPotomac and Sherman T. Potter thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard, and as such I am now officially... Cracker in the Hat !
  23. OK, here I go.... Poor & Proud, First and foremost, thank you for your service to this country. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for fighting in that hell hole to preserve the right for chstress53 to name her cache whatever she feels like. You of all people should understand the value of freedom of speech. I won't even begin to speculate weather or not you are made of cotton. All I will do is to take a moment to tell you that the choice is yours, either enjoy the sport, or don't. Sell your GPS on eBay, Craigslist or right here in the forums (appropriate board of course) and walk away. If you are so offended by a single term that you can't find the humor in it, just walk away. All you will do by arguing is to empower chstress53 to name another cache 'Poor&Proud'. While it would be an obvious affront to you, it isn't against the rules. It isn't immoral, and it isn't silly. What is the moral here? Be proud of who you are, and don't sweat the small stuff. You could wake up tomorrow and find out that you didn't wake up at all. If you are poor and proud, please act like you are. Don't drag your insecurities out into the open in the forums...It's just bad form. BTW, do you really think that chstress53 was talking about you? Most of the trailer parks I've seen have more than one family living in them...Why do you feel that you were singled out? Could it be that you are inflammatory by nature? If so, please feel free to cache all you want, just don't post a topic like this again...I have a terrible time typing...because I suck at it, so how do you think I feel when someone clearly has it out for me with the title to this cache On a related matter, I was called a derogatory name in a 7-11 last week while on my way to a cache...I found it rather funny (and so did my fellow cachers) so it has kind of stuck... I thought of changing my ID to it, but was afraid of offending someone. I just might have to do it now...Hmmmmmmm.... Let's all move on. Peace, -E
  24. First of all, welcome to the sport from a fellow newb... After reading the posts above, I would throw my $.02 in this way... Shop on eBay Craigslist etc and buy yourself a base (read inexpensive) model and familiarize yourself with the sport before you go hog wild on a top of the line model. My Garmin 12 served me quite well, and never let me down, it was a workhorse and though it's vintage 1997 +/- it still holds its own. There is no comparison though, to the new Sirf3 chipsets available, but opting for the high end models at this point is like getting your learners permit to drive and buying a Ferrari right off the bat... It makes more sense to get your feet wet, make sre you like the sport and then get what you really want. If you opt to buy one of the inexpensive models from the sources listed above (And shop hard, there are bargains to be found) when you buy the GPSr of your dreams, you can keep the low end model as a backup, or simply resell it. The depreciation has already been taken, you more than likley won't lose any (much) money. Dip your foot in the pool before you buy it... JMHO, take it or leave it. Best, -E McDegga
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