kleetus

I have a 60csx that I bought used when my E-Trex Legend got water in it and died. I usually don't have cache descriptions. I have a regular cell phone. I load my caches from GC.com with GPX. It's not to save money it's just how I do it. There are things I use with the premium membership so I do have that. I have done some whereigos with a borrowed GPSr. Most of my caching I do alone but I have to admit when I'm with friends with the gadgets I ask for hints if we can't find it.

By then Wal Mart will have discovered caching. They will put their own caches in their parking lots. Inside the store will be whole shelves of ready made Chinese caches. They will be camouflaged, packed with swag, have a log, and a pen that doesn't work. There will also be a wide variety of GPSr's for sale. You can get your new GPSr and make your first find in the front of the store. It will be an easy find since the accuracy by then will be much better. If for some reason you can't find it the security guy will be there to help. There will be a special lamp post cache that was installed during construction. Inside the cache will be coupons that will entice you to go back inside the store and do more shopping. Each Wal Mart will have their own special cache. This will inspire you to go from store to store to collect them all.

I camouflaged a fake pumpkin and hid it near a cemetery. In my description I called it a redneck pumpkin. I had some fake spiders, bugs, and a fake dead rat by the cache.

Is this that bushwhackers paradise multi that you've hidden? No this isn't Bushwhackers Delight. The name of this cache is Sputnik 13. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=522a2b13-ea54-49de-9561-032ca9dfb5f8

I wanted to write it in Russian but I had no idea where to find the stencils for it. The way it's hidden you don't see it anyways. On the top it says CCCP. The antennas aren't on it now either. I took this picture before it was a cache. We had used it on April Fools day in my neighbor's back yard. We had the parachute draped over her shed. She came home from work and when she saw it she said she was going to call NASA.

This is Sputnik 13. I hid it three years ago and it's still there. It had to be hidden where it's a tough bushwhack to get to it. Otherwise it would be found by non-cachers. It's actually the old sand filter from an above ground pool that we took out.

I like this idea.

My first encounter with the police while caching was along the same lines as this. I was on a paved trail with my twelve year old son. There was no one there but us. The cache was about 150 feet from the trail into the woods. We found the cache and when we came out of the woods two officers were standing there. My first thought was that we were on private property in the woods. They asked what we were doing and I tried to explain geocaching. This was five years ago so not as many police had heard of it. Then one of them said he had heard something about it. I asked why they were there. They said they had seen an older guy and a kid walking into the woods. I was 48 at the time. My first thought was revulsion. It made me feel like scum. I explained that it was my son I was with. They believed it because we do look alike. Then I thanked them for being vigilant because if someone was walking into the woods with my son I would be glad they saw it. It's too bad people have to think like this but the pervs are out there. As scummy as it makes you feel be glad someone cares enough to have it checked out.

what quote?? I had a quote but it wasn't right. I just edited my post and left the quote out. I see my mistake now.

OK. What did I do wrong with the quote? and how can I edit it?

I love your post Earthdog Angus. I wish we had advertised the state this way fifty years ago instead of calling it The Sunshine State. Maybe we'd have about ten million less people. To answer the original question: I think chiggers are the worst thing about caching in Florida. Make sure to put skeeter repellent on your legs and on your feet. Take off your shoes and socks to do this. If you just spray the bottoms of your legs it will keep them from going up so instead they go down, through your socks, and drive you crazy with the itching. Ticks can be a problem. They ignore bug spray. Good thing is Lyme disease isn't very common here. I guess it's too hot. They do carry other diseases. Along with caching I do a lot of trail work on hiking trails. I've found at least 50 ticks on me this year. I've heard all the official ways to remove them but I just scrape them off with my fingernail and flush them. As for snakes I wear snake gaiters to protect my lower legs when I'm alone or if I do any serious bushwhacking, which is about anytime I'm with Clan Riffster. Just keep your eyes open when you're hiking and watch those great cache hiding spots where you have to reach in and grab the container. Use a stick, if you can, to remove it. The worst snake is pygmy rattlers. They are everywhere. Great camouflage. They don't rattle and they hold their ground. Moccasins are bad too because they don't warn you with a convenient rattle like a diamond back will. Coral snakes are the most deadly but they are always trying to get away from you. They're fast and it's hard to get a picture of them. Bears, pigs, and alligators, are usually trying to get away from you. They all know that humans are the most dangerous thing you will encounter in the woods. I've been wondering around the Florida woods for over 50 years. It's still a treat to see any critter. Even the lowly armadillo. I always carry a camera. As far as I'm concerned the drive to the woods is the most dangerous part. Now that I posted this I hope I don't get eaten tomorrow.

The picture was taken on the Econ River in Florida. Near this cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c7832ce0-8ff8-41de-94a3-0d24a82e873e

Cached in 40 states 14 countries: Thailand Japan Ireland Bulgaria Hungary Germany Canada Mexico Belize Dominican Republic The Bahamas Turks and Caicos Antigua 445,000 miles last time I checked. I was in Kyrgyzstan one trip. It was really cold,-16F. I saw there was a cache about a quarter of a mile away. I walked to it but came to a fence that said, Do not Enter Use of Deadly Force Authorized. The cache was a short distance on the other side. I've been in all 50 states and 65 countries.

I replaced a peanut butter jar this year that had been a cache for five years. The lid broke. It was in a shady spot but had no camouflage on it and was completely exposed to the elements where it sat (on top of an old rail road piling). Prior to the lid breaking it was never wet inside. Peanut butter jars are my favorite recycled cache container. This year I've found tried and true containers of all types that are wet inside. Including ammo cans, decon containers, and lock-n-locks. Every cache need to be maintained.

I got a water proof match container.

I have 130 plus caches and I've just come to accept cache migration is a fact of life. The only way to keep it where you want it is to tether it. As for TFTC or "I logged from my phone" I hate them. There's other threads on this by the way. Good luck finding them. I feel if a cache owner takes the time to give you an adventure can't you appreciate them with at least a few sentences. I have caches where I know you really have to work or take a good hike to get there. I have more than one in the area and all I get is "logged from my phone" on five different caches? However I hide my caches for everyone so I accept it. I do send a note to people who make good logs to let them know I appreciate it. The people who make good logs are also the ones I remember when I meet them at events.

I found a big cockroach. There was a hole in the cache where a bear had bit it. It was a small hole so the roach must have gone in when it was small and then grew up in the cache. A wet log must be good food. As for condoms in a cache: I went caching with one of the women cachers in my area. She had her son along. He opened the cache and she took it from him because there were condoms inside. She started handing them to me and I put them in my jacket pocket. I forgot about them and my wife found them. What do you say? Another cacher gave them to me? I told enough of the truth to not get in trouble, "I found them in a cache".

Mine is attached to me with a tether. It's long and usually clipped to a belt loop with a caribiner. It can also go around my neck but not when I'm getting a cache in a tree. I'm afraid I'll fall and hang myself. I have stood up from caches and left the GPSr there but it usually hits me in the leg.

I was at a reserve with a nice parking lot. I pulled up in the Jeep and there was a car nearby with their pit bull that had just got off the leash. I stayed in the Jeep until they were gone. Then I got out and was putting on my pack and stuff and a bike rode up. He started asking why I was there. Then he said he saw me sitting in the Jeep. He also said he had seen my Jeep there before. Then he told me he was the unofficial patrol of the area. I was ready to get back in the Jeep but he said there was a lot of hanky panky going on there and he was trying to chase them off. He wanted to make sure I wasn't one of them. I talked for a bit and when I was convinced he wasn't hitting on me I took him to the nearest cache. He thought it was pretty cool. He mentioned people backing in was a signal to others so I never back in to a spot. I had been in this same area a couple of time getting caches. One time I was returning to the Jeep and two guys came out of the woods near me. I think they were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. I knew something was going on. They were behind me so as soon as I could I took a little side trail to let them pass.

I saw a movie and the guy's name was Cleatus. I thought it was a funny sounding name. I was a flight engineer at a freight airline in the 80's. I'd call friends that when they messed up. Such as a harder than usual landing, "Dang , Cleatus, you knocked my back teeth out with that one". Many years later, about the time I got into geocaching, one of those guys got hold of me and called me Cleatus. I tried to use the name on GC.com but it said it was taken. I tried several other spellings until I found one that took.

I would have to say sort of. Before I was caching I found a cache on a bridge in the woods. It was called A Bridge Too Far. When I got a GPSr I went back to "officially" find it. It was there but it was a mess. A lot of people were finding it because it was not a good hiding spot. The owner didn't want to maintain it so I adopted it. There wasn't a good spot for it in it's original spot but a hundred feet or so away there was a great spot. I archived it but re-hid the same container with a new name, The Bridge at Arnhem. That was in '05 and I just replaced the original peanut butter jar with a lock n lock because the top started leaking. However I have a new top and I plan on bringing the original container back.

We had a Life Scout in our troop working on his Eagle. For his Eagle Project he got some small flag stock and folded them like you would fold a regular sized American flag. Then he put them in a small plastic baggies and sent them to the troops overseas. Something they could have in their pocket. I liked the idea and started folding my own and using them in my caches. People always say something about them in their found it post. Other good stuff is just to go to the dollar store and buy what ever will fit in the cache you are making or trading from. One sad fact of caching life is that the good swag you put in will be replaced with not so good stuff. People rarely trade up. Whenever I do cache maintenance I try to keep new swag on hand. I don't see it as much anymore but people used to leave a dollar bill in the cache when they had no other trade items but they wanted something in the cache. This is great as a cache owner because I use those dollars to buy new good swag.

I like the miles between finds. I have 445,000. It's probably more than that now but the It's Not About the Numbers site shut down. I sent an e-mail to My Caching Stats and they said they will be doing it on their site sometime in the future.

I already forgot. I was supposed to get a cache on Oct 15 and missed it. Those looking for Feb 29 will probably have it before I remember Oct 15.

I cached that day but it wasn't planned. I recently got on a stat page that showed all the days I've cached. I have 335 days. I've gone caching on a few more to fill in the year but I'm sure I'll forget some days.