ravenbrk

Received a letter from Bear Advertising on Monday and a call from their travel agency today. My wife has finally stopped saying it is all a scam. Now to decide when to hit the beach at Waikiki......

Thanks! I'm really excited. and SOOOO ready for that vacation. I still haven't received any letter, and never did receive delivery confirmation (although after I reported that to the post office the post office called me back and said they had contacted the recipient and they said they had received it), so was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see a prize. Sandy beaches, here we come. Ravenbrk Springfield, MO quote:Originally posted by cachecrazies:Just saw the list - and Ravenbrk,a member of the Ozark Mountain Geocachers, won the 3 day trip to Hawaii! Way to go, Ravenbrk!! Congratulations from the group!

I took my grand prize coupon down to the post office on the day I found it (July 5) and asked them what I needed to do to get delivery confirmation. They gave me two choices, both over $4. I picked priority mail and tacked on the 45 cents for Delivery Confirmation. Well, just like on the last ebay package I mailed, Delivery Confirmation was useless. It was scanned leaving my post office, and scanned again 3 days later in California two miles from the destination post office, and has not been seen (by the usps computers at least) since. And I've not heard back from Magellan with any kind of confirmation, either. ravenbrk quote:Originally posted by Dru Morgan:I've heard that some people have gotten their hats from the second place coupons. But, has anyone gotten their grand prize yet? I mailed in my ticket, certified mail, but haven't heard back yet. I'm wondering if they will wait to get them all and then do the drawing, or if they just pick a prize as the tickets come in.

Ok, I think it is really cool that Magellan is doing this, but is anyone else reallyannoyed that they are not following their own rules -- rules that we had to agree to in order to "play the game"? They said that there would be one grand prize winner per treasure chest followed by 25 hat coupons, and they said that the grand prize coupon would state clearly what prize was won, (but then they turn around and also say that they will be assigned at random). I drove 500+ miles in the middle of the night for a 1 in 31 chance at a really cool prize, not a 1 in 155 chance (although those aren't bad odds either). quote:Each Magellan "lost treasures" cache will contain one Prize Coupon which will describe the specific prize which the participant first discovering the cache has won and provide complete prize claim details. Prizes include, for example, SporTrak Color GPS handheld receivers, Coleman outdoor equipment, a Las Vegas Neon Lights weekend trip (including airfare from anywhere in the United States), among others, and will be assigned at random at sponsor's sole discretion. There is one prize per Prize Coupon. In addition, there will be toy treasure trinkets and 25 claim coupons each good for a Magellan Color GPS Cap placed in other caches for any discovering participant. quote:Originally posted by Uplink:ravenbrk: The Thieves Isle cache was exactly the same. The Grand Prize Coupons were underneath the hat coupons in the lid. Maybe they ALL have one GP on top of the stack, and 4 more on the bottom (hidden prizes)!

Uplink: No, I didn't notice if that was the case. What I found was a treasure chest with a lot of "gold coins" and "pearls" in the bottom, and stuck to the inside of the lid was a stack of prize coupons. The top one said "Congratulations! you're the grand prize winner." and the ones under neath were the Everyone's a winner hat coupons. I didn't look all the way through the stack of coupons or under the "jewels" though. ravenbrk quote:Originally posted by Uplink:When Pepper and I found the Thieves Isle cache earlier today, there were 4 Grand Prize coupons left in the cache, with 20 Everyone's a Winner coupons on top!(one person was there before us) Has anyone seen this in the other caches? You need to look closely because they look very similar.

BeachBuddies: Here is the link.

I was first to find the Gold of Good Signs cache near St. Louis. I saw the coordinates online at about 2:30 a.m. and in a moment of insanity jumped in my truck and raced to St. Louis (3 hours). I found the cache at 6:24, just a couple of minutes before the first two local geocachers showed up. I was impressed with the "treasure chest" and hiding location, but there were some problems. The area chosen had some really heavy tree cover so it was extremly hard to keep a gps lock. The cache name and hints seemed to have nothing at all to do with where it was hidden. And finally, the rules said that the grand prize coupon would state which prize was won, and it does not. So now I have to sit here in suspense for them to confirm the prize by mail in "6-8 weeks". All said, though, it is a neat idea, and I'm glad I took the time to "play".

In the cases I was referring to, there was no record in the logs of anyone taking (but improperly logging) the bugs. Instead the Travel Bugs simply "disappear" and are never logged.

yes, it is happening a lot in the midwest, and in discussions with several other geocachers lately it seems like the trend is nation-wide. My first bug disappeared from it's first stopping point a little over 7 months ago. It was launched on our daughter's 3rd birthday and we had planned to go catch up with it on her 4th birthday. I had given up all hope until today when I learned of a nearby prison for travel bugs. Initial reports say that it was not in the prison at the time of the first jail-break this week, but who knows maybe other ornery characters have done as this geocacher and piled up TBs for 18 MONTHS only to finally release them in some obscure cache where someone might possibly stumble on to them and viola! there will be Aliyah's Birthday Bug out on the road again when she turns 5.... (read more about the prison in the general forumn "My travel bug is in prison! No really!"

If anyone wants to read the article YOSA-2 mentioned, it is currently available on the Springfield News-Leader web site here: News-Leader: Some uses of conservation areas banned Personally, I was outraged when I read this article. I agree with YOSA-2 that if hunters are allowed to go anywhere on the site and often don't care for the land, then they shouldn't be telling us who do clean up the place that we are "hiding things where they shouldn’t be". I can't find the acutal list of banned activities on the MDC web site, but they did mention in the article that geocaching has been banned in some MDC areas. I'm very concerned by this policy of restricting the land use to only hunters & fishermen. The MDC is supposed to preserve the land not only for those groups but also to "to develop and maintain public land that invites public use" and "enhance public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of all natural resources" (from their own website). They could best do this by encouraging geocaching and other environmentally friendly activities. So far I've written to my state representative about this issue, but can't think of whom else to contact. Anyone have ideas on who else we should write to? quote:Originally posted by YOSA-2:In our local paper yesterday, there was an article about the Missouri Dept of Conservation and it discussed all the newly banned activities in the state parks. Geocaching was not one of the ones banned, but ....

I recently purchased a new Magellan Map 410 at the Bass Pro Outlet so I could get started in geocaching. Because the model has been closed-out, I got a really good deal (about half of list price) but now after using it for a few days and looking at some other models online I'm not sure if I should keep it or get something else. I have about $230 in the new unit, a dc adapter/pc adapter cable, and the mapsend Land CD (points and route details). The things I like about the unit are 1. Moving map display, 2. detachable/external antenna capability, 3. 9 different navigation screens ranging from the moving map to large print numeric (great in the car) to a variety of "compass-like" displays. Things I don't like are 1. It is weather resistant but not waterproof and it doesn't float. 2. It takes what seems to me to be a very long time to get a 3D fix on my position, especially if I'm in a vehicle. Sometimes it will sit on the dash for 10-15 minutes before it gets a fix. If I'm outside it has taken up to 5 minutes to lock on. 3. Troubles in forested areas -- my first geocache find ( http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=13521 ) was really hard because it was hidden in winter and now that it is summer there was a lot of canopy interference and the 410 just couldn't keep a fix on my position. 4. I really seem to have to be moving at a pretty good pace for the 410 to do a very good job of determining my heading (yes, I've read everyone's comments about carrying a compass, but getting my wife to read a GPS has been hard enough, I don't want to have to teach her how to use both at the same time). 5. I can only seem to get it to display my distance from the geocache in 1/100ths of a mile -- I'd like to see # feet from target. 6. Topographic maps are supposedly available for the 410 (the 330 topos aren't compatible) but I can't find them anywhere. 7. It doesn't have WAAS. All that said, my questions are: 1. Are the difficulties I'm experiencing & the things I don't like about the unit going to also be found on other units I could get for around $200? 2. Have any of you used the 410 and models from other manufacturers (or another Magellan model and also a Garmin model) that could give me some input on how they compare on their ability to get (and keep) a fix on your position a. in a vehicle , b. outside, c. in forested settings. 3. Should I count myself lucky to have a really nice GPS, dc adapter , pc adapter, and some extra POI/route info on a CD for just $230, or should I take it all back and get a Magellan 330 or a Garmin ________? Thanks for your help, Anthony ( http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?ul=ravenbrk )