TriCityGuy

Amazing the HHGTTG themes found through life. Last year I made my race car #42, put the logo on the grill so people could see me coming in their rearview mirror, and a big "DON'T PANIC" on the steering wheel. Funny thing is the typical NASCAR type crowd didn't get it. Only one person asked about the #42. God, I'm a nerd who geocaches.

Having caved and geocached I can attest that the caving community is similarly focused on being a responsible sport as geocachers. Caves are so much more easy to damage than the surface world and they very much want to protect them from harm--from deliberate harm, unintented harm, and general dummies. GPS has caused some serious consternation because there's a bit of an unwritten rule that newbie cavers go to the trashed, easy caves first. And as they prove their mettle (could be the same day) cavers will take you to their most secret and undisturbed caves. Ones where you deliberately walk in previously made foot prints and don't even touch the walls. It would be far healthier for our two sports to get to know each other and build some trust. And, if you still consider making a geocache cave at least do it for only the most trashed, graffiti ridden, obvious caves.

No PINGs, but I do have the occasional PANG of guilt.

Pure urban rumor. Unless somebody points to a scanned copy of the memo or it's validated in a mainstream news source don't believe it. By the way, adjusted for inflation gas prices are still far from being the most expensive. A neat graphic on the history of gas price I found is at NARP - Are Gas Prices Too High?

The business connnection between France and Iraq becomes more profound every day. I even understand that Iraq may have some spare French made Mirage fighters that Iraq could use as terrorist drones and fly chemical/biological weapons to neighboring countries. If one of those drones uses GPS maybe instead of shooting it down or jamming it--certain 3 letter agencies might confuse it into flying towards France. I wonder then how the cheese eaters would respond?

I like it when they write, "I'm cute, horny, and am at the following coordinates for whoever gets here first."

My solution was to make it a wet cache. Everything in the cache is waterproof or doesn't mind getting wet. I included laminated cards, metal and plastic things, etc. They're all enclosed in a plastic case that I actually cut holes in to make sure it wouldn't float away. At 110' there's no chance a swimmer is going to get it--and any I've detailed risks and options to scuba divers. Chelan SCUBA Cache Still no finders yet.....but one day.

Chelan SCUBA Cache has yet to have been found. A diver from PDX has considered. I'll even dive as a buddy if somebody comes out of the woodwork to try.

I too have caved some and know enough about the principles of caving that I'd never post cave coordinates anywhere. When I first started caving I was invited to a Speliocamp where cavers camped together and in essence supervised and guided the newbies into the sport. It was great because they started us out in damaged caves to see what happens when coordinates get out and then to a pristine cave that as far as I knew only a few dozen knew about. Perhaps if cavers have a similar event in the future you'd want to invite geocachers to participate. Give them the GPS coordinates to camp and the list of suggested supplies. It's called an "event cache". The ethos of the two sports is also fairly similar. Cache In, Trash Out and Take Only Photos, Leave Only Footprints, Pack In, Pack Out spawn from the same philosophy of preserving the environment.

Given my one list that contains "extreme folks" like bass boat owners, NASCAR patrons that fly flags of their favorite driver, citizen militias, followers of the Bagwhan, and certain people with mullets....I put SCA folks on my other list. I just think SCA folks are "quirky". Right there on the list with treker/trekies, Dutch oven cookers, cloggers, Greco-Roman wrestlers, Rocky Horror Picture show patrons, roller hocky players, and.....wait for it.......geocachers. And, they would have used GPS in the middle ages if they could have gotten a big enough trebuchet to launch a satellite and the local alchemist to figure out how to build an integrated circuit. Is it possible I could be Markwelled?

You could go to school for 4 years, work for a surveyor for 4 years, become licensed with you state, buy a $30,000 total station theodolite, a few thou in tripods and optical targets, traverse loops from survey monuments or shoot a reading off a star, crunch numbers in a good survey software package for a few thou more, and then get down to sub-inch accuracy level. Well, maybe that's overkill. You could hire a surveyor and they might charge a few hundred perh cache.

Since the sattelites are 24,000 km from Earth I find it likely that they have directional antennas. The degree of coverage at that distance is like (and forgive my estimate) 35 degrees or something. That way they use a lot less juice than transmitting 360 degrees. Good question. I'm going to have to do some homework myself!

A snowmobile cache in Northern Idaho uses a hollowed out log that tends to stay above snowline as a solution at Snowmobile Cache #1 - Fire! Another possibility I've considered is attaching a rope to the handle of an ammo can and nailing it to a tree to stay above the snow. Of course, pick a not-so-obvious color rope or V of a tree.

Oops. I suppose I should read more closely. Sissy-n-CR in SC.....your state does show that you need to notify when carrying. Again, from the same site.

Ohio shows as an "Unk" on whether you "Must notify officer when carrying". The best and most comprehensive website I've found so far for all things related to concealed carry, issues, opinion, and organization is at http://www.packing.org/. Ooh, I'm glad I don't live in Ohio. Wait, actually the draconian carry laws are a reason I wouldn't live in Ohio!

My experience has been that NiMh capacity remains fairly constant regardless of temperature. I snowmobile and the GPS tends to run for 8 to 9 hours--the same as when I'm driving around in my truck in the summer. Taking a warm set of used NiMh out snowmobiling didn't juice them back up any. The GPS still said low battery and turned off. I tend to only get 4 to 5 hours with alkalines (Duracells) while snowmobiling while I get 6 to 8 hours in the warm summer truck. And, I seem to get the opposite effect of warm, dead batteries don't come back to life when I take them out in the cold. Hmm... I haven't measured NiMh charge rates yet warm or cold, but suspect they're similar. Bottom line is that NiMh were a no brainer for me. Other than slowly losing charge over a month or so I can't see a reason to go back to alkaline. I also bought computer controlled charger that quick charges 4 batteries (about 2 hours) independently and automatically turns off when each battery is charged. It came with a home transformer for 110 and cigarette adpater. About $30 and far superior to the generic ones that slow charge for a specified time, don't measure charge, and charge in pairs. PowerQwest brand.

I got my first actual e-mail from Jeremy saying that they linked to a local newspaper article on the site. Unfortunately, there was a typo the link so I replied with a suitably reverent opening, 'Wow! An e-mail from one of the real Geocaching Elders.....' He replied quite dryly, 'Link fixed. Elder? Hmmm. I'm not Mormon, but whatever.'. How about? Ammo Can Apostles or Those Who Gave GPSr's a Recreational Use

I'm not sure if Oregone has written something profound and interesting (as he usually does) or his cheese slid of his cracker. Admittedly, I'm from Washington and not as up on Oregon politics as I should, but I isn't the legistature out of session until early 2003? And their last special session was over in September. The Oregonian link doesn't bring up any article for me either. Checking the original text of HB2341 there's not mention of geocaching or ammo boxes. It was about the governor appointing a chair to Fish and Wildlife Commission. http://www.leg.state.or.us/01reg/measures/hb2300.dir/hb2341.intro.html Looking at the root of the web site I don't see anything else. Now, Washington did pass a law in 2002 outlawing avatars where you're framing your face with your hand in the shape of an L. It's on appeal with the Supreme Court as Jeremy claimed it was somebody else's hand--therefore not subject to the law.

In my corner of Washington (which happens to be dessert with a lot of sun) I notice the tupperware lids degrade under the barrage of heat or UV. I thought about coating a tupperware in SPF 45, but then it would look like a chemical weapon. Trigger happy SWAT team or alien looking HazMat team? And, buying RayBans for tupperware just seems silly and expensive. Until they start selling surplus Star Trek photon torpedo casings I'm going to stick with ammo cans and spend the $2 on a big green geocaching sticker.

How about using a forumula where you figure out where the geographical center of all hidden caches within the continental United States and then pick the nearest feasible place. Whether that's based off hidden caches or home coordinates of geocachers--I would suspect they are similarly located? I would also suspect it might be biased a bit west since the sport started in Oregon. Now for the math and a map.....

Pssst. Yeah you. Wanna buy a curie of cesium? I've got picocuries, curies, or you can buy my whole stash of 0.7 Megacuries. Some of it's in capsule form, but some pellet and powder too. This is good stuff. It's not stepped on with too much strontium. Sorry, no iodine. I just can't keep it around. It seems like I sell half every 8 days. I can get some Pu-239, but it will cost. Laced with some tritium--the stuff will blow you away. Just call me Johnny Transuranic.

.......in times of sickness and in health, in times of only 3 sattelite lock or finding a 5/5 cache, until selective availability do us part.

Interesting concept of having two caches. A summer home and winter home for a cache. Inactivate for the season where it's not at. That way you also keep track of which location they found it. Conceivably, if you trust your fellow geocachers you could add the extra challenge of asking them to move it at a certain date. Once they moved it they'd have to e-mail you to do the active/inactive flip and follow-up with a double-log, but that adds to the flavor of what I've come to appreciate from Jeremy's system. Flexibility in the system, use it in new ways never conceived, sort out the details as you go via discussion. Hmmmm. Me thinks I have an idea for a snowbird cache.

Since Saint Sluggo put together this little gathering, I'll definitely be there. And, I've got a single geocaching label pin or patch that I'll give away in a random drawing to whoever shows up. See you all there!

It's like saying I find my GPS 3 mph faster than my Flinstonemobile and 2 mph faster than my Conestoga wagon. GPSr's are way more accurate than automobile speedos. Auto speedos not only are usually off a mph or two, but also off differently over their range. I have a Sonoma that's about 1 mph under at 30 mph, over 2 at 60 mph, and over 4 at 100mph. I confirmed this with airplane markers, a stopwatch, and some dusted off algrebra. Garmin specs say 0.1 mph presumably with full signal. I would guess that it's not more than a factor or two off for lesser signal strength and personally figure it's easily within 1/2 a mile an hour.