drat19

Heh, and remember when finding "that many" caches back in those days required LOTS of driving/mileage/time?? Congrats SMTC from another old-timer here who knows of you by reputation.

Sadly, the increasing proportion of smaller cache containers in the last few years has made it such that larger TBs are increasingly harder for TB carriers to place. In fact, when I attend events and there's a "TB table", like most folks I specifically target the smaller TBs to take and carry with me for upcoming placement. Rule of thumb for new TBs to be released, IMHO: Keep 'em small, and place them in a snack-size Ziploc baggie so that they're "big" enough not to be accidentally lost/misplaced, while still small enough to be folded up for placement in a smaller container. And I always put any small TBs that I find/grab into a snack-size Ziploc baggies before I place them again, as a public service.

My recollection of that TB was that the bug itself didn't have a goal tag. True, the TB page indicated its goal, but obviously I must admit that I didn't pay particular attention to that when I logged it, moved it, and then placed it and properly logged it again. In any case, "blaming" me for its disappearance simply for the fact that I moved it to a state off the "path" toward its goal was out of line and earned them my reply, IMHO. I do appreciate the alternative points of view here, though; that's why I posted this thread.

Perhaps. But it felt good. (heh!)

That category would exist but for the fact that its name would not be family-friendly...

Well, maybe about how some WI cachers choose to count Event Log finds (ooh, am I picking at another scabbed over sore on that?? ), but when it comes to single neglectful TB-takers-who-don't-log-'em-properly, I don't think any region has a monopoly on that.

To me, there's only one kind of "bad cacher" when it comes to TBs, and that's the cacher that fails to properly log the movement of a TB...any movement.

You may well be right about your last point, and I considered that before posting my experience in here. But I went ahead and did it anyway...I was in an "I just felt like it" mood today. Besides, my reputation as a jerk around here was well-established in previous years with my anti-Micro Spew tirades...

No question, just felt like posting the story and reading various takes on it, if offered. ("Discuss.")

OK, I'm sure this will spur the usual opposing opinions, where one camp says, "You should always help a TB toward its goal if it's been posted" vs. the other camp that says, "You release a TB, you take your chances". The common thread, of course, is the hope that those who pick up your TB log it properly, whether moving toward goal, or not. As you will see, obviously I'm in the second camp as stated above. Here's the TB in question: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=152460 As you can see, on March 9 I picked up this TB in Mississippi, and on March 24 I dropped it off in Wisconsin...lots of nice mileage. I properly logged it. As you can also see by the note they posted shortly after my drop, apparently the TB owner was none too happy that I diverted it, feeling that Mississippi is much closer to its Texas goal than Wisconsin. (Guess what, Mississippi isn't that close to Texas, either!). Well, apparently several moves (and proper logs by other TB carriers) later, the TB has gone missing. Also apparently, it's ALL MY FAULT...if it hadn't gone to Wisconsin, it surely would not have gone missing. HUH?? I received the following Email from them today, and then following that is my reply to them: - - - begin paste-in of Emails - - - Note from TB owner to me: --This message was sent through http://www.geocaching.com -- Just thought I would let you know, our TB is now gone. It never left WISCONSIN!!!! Thanks anyway! I do hope next time you will pay closer attention to where the bug is actually going before you take it! It is very frustrating to have it so close to home and then it get stolen! And then my reply to them: I don't appreciate your "sour grapes" Email. You release a TB, you take your chances. I placed the TB in a cache and properly logged it, and apparently so did others after me, and it eventually got lost/stolen. It happens. I've had TBs go lost/stolen...so has every other TB owner. As for it being "close to home" at one point, and then farther away, first of all there's no assurance that it wouldn't have gotten lost if it hadn't been taken north instead of west, and second of all part of releasing a TB is discovering the unusual path it may travel. You are unrealistic to expect anything else. Grow up. -Dave R. ('drat19') - - - end paste-in of Emails - - - There you have it. Discuss.

It only matters to those who would compare stats between one cacher and another as some sort of measure of "value" or "qualification". (Didja miss me, sbell?)

How cool is this!! I stop checking the GC forums for MONTHS (h*ll, I stopped CACHING for months and returned for an event this past week and found almost all the surrounding caches that I searched for in the area of said event to be micros...go figure!), and wander back in here today and find one of my more famous threads resurrected over a year later. Should I be honored or ashamed? Hey drat19, I bet if you come back in another year or so, we will still be talking about it. By then some people will have "attended" in excess of 3000 events. Heh, no doubt!

How cool is this!! I stop checking the GC forums for MONTHS (h*ll, I stopped CACHING for months and returned for an event this past week and found almost all the surrounding caches that I searched for in the area of said event to be micros...go figure!), and wander back in here today and find one of my more famous threads resurrected over a year later. Should I be honored or ashamed?

Lately, I haven't been searching for many caches nor hiding them. I love to go to meetings and gatherings whenever possible though! That's the best part of it now-- I'm tired of searching for caches only to find that they're micros or close to it. Class of '02 here. The above post nearly identically echoes my recent experience as well. In fact, just this past weekend I went to a FABULOUS event cache in Lower Alabama, but all but maybe one or two of the nearby caches that I searched during other parts of the day there were micros (although I must say that most of them did take me to reasonably nice locations), and it reminded me why I only cache maybe once or twice a year now. I set a 5-minute time limit on each of the micros, and in each case if I didn't make the find I decided it wasn't worth any more time out of my life to keep searching for yet another haystack needle. Don't need the stats that badly anymore.

I wish I could have made those up! And to think, they happened the very same week!

My logs for this cache: August 24, 2004 by drat19 In town on business. Well, this turned out to be a disturbing experience. First of all, I worked out the apparent coordinates beforehand, and they took me to an appropriately-named park, so I was feeling confident. I arrived at the park, and followed my arrow into wooded territory a bit tougher than the 1-star terrain rating, but I mounted a brief search anyway, and failed to find the clues nor the cache. At that point, 2 roughly-8-yr-old little boys entered the woods and came up to me, and I said a friendly hello, but otherwise tried to keep my distance, as at age 40 and 6'3" and 300 lbs, I probably fit the exact demographic profile of a child-stalker...and here I am, in a quiet neighborhood park, alone, wandering around doing 'something weird' in the woods. One of the boys seemed relieved that I was apparently friendly...he commented that his friend thought I was a 'bad guy'. All I could think was: That's PRECISELY how child-stalkers get their prey! The other boy then commented that he and his friend were on their way to their 'special hiding place', which he pointed to as being a couple hundred feet further into the woods. Again I'm thinking to myself, 'Oh my God, this kid trusts this big stranger alone in the woods and tells him where their 'special hiding place' is?? This is a news story and amber alert waiting to happen, and I don't want to see a composite sketch of me on the TV News as a suspect!' I decided to get as far away from these kids as possible, otherwise I'd probably be writing this from a jail cell after having been mistakenly arrested for child-stalking! (The bright red car that Avis rented me this week wouldn't help matters any!) I retreated back to the main area of the park and re-read the cache page and some previous logs, and realized I must have goofed up one or more of the coord puzzles. I started visually scouting around for the correct location, and at that point a Mom came running into the park and into the woods to retrieve her little boy. At that point I elected to let this cache pass, and I jumped into my car and got the heck outta there. As I was driving off I saw the Mom walking her little boy back to their house. I don't know what became of the other boy. I'm always uncomfortable as a solo cacher with my physical and demographic characteristics when I drive up to a location and discover it's a park where small kids like to play. This one here is as close as I've come to where it could have been a real problem. I'm just glad I was able to recognize how the circumstantial evidence might have looked if something worse had happened (by someone else), and got outta there. I also hope that Mom has a long talk with her kid about 'friendly strangers in the woods'. -Dave R., Biloxi, MS August 26, 2004 by drat19 I made a drive-by attempt on this one again this evening, after my debacle on Aug 24. No kids visible this time around, but a couple (adults) sitting at the nearby picnic table, with no plans to move along. I tried the ol' 'wait out the muggles and WILL them to get the h*ll outta there' technique from my car, but they didn't catch the vibe. Had to drive away. I MAY make another attempt at this next week in order to get a payoff for working the puzzle, but I fear this may be one of those 'cursed caches' for this cacher (we all have 'em!). -Dave R., Biloxi, MS August 30, 2004 by drat19 Back in town on business. If you haven't read my adventures on this cache from last week, please scroll down to my logs all the way back to Aug 24, first. (And note well that in the middle of all this, another cacher came along and found this cache with no problem and no incident.) The saga continues. Armed with further scouting reports that apparently the coords might be a little off on this one (depending on sat conditions), I returned to this cache yet again hoping for (finally!) a quick grab. I made this my first stop of the evening after work in Union Cross. It would turn out to be my last stop of the evening. A torrential downpour started while I was driving here, about halfway to this location. I drove through it, figuring it would probably let up by the time I got here. Upon my arrival, it was still pouring down rain, and would you believe there was a geomuggle in place. However, luckily, he was merely taking shelter from the rain under the picnic table canopy. As the rain started to subside a few minutes later, he indeed walked off. OK, so now I've got the park to myself, there are no geomuggles or kids or anything to keep me from finally getting this cache off my list...or so I thought. I approached the apparent hide area, scoping out a couple of possible hide spots near the road, and didn't spot it. However, I spotted a likely hide spot just down the hill from street level and across the trail below. There was a bit of flooding on the trail, but it appeared I had a spot where I could cross. I scooted down the hill and stepped onto the "dirt" crossing. Well, the "dirt" crossing turned out to be a layer of brown dirt/dust all right...ON TOP OF WAIST DEEP WATER!! Let me repeat that: WAIST DEEP WATER!!! Now I've been to this park 3 times already...I don't remember a 3-foot-deep low point at this spot...what the heck is up with THIS?? So anyway, I'm waist deep in this muck, in utter stunned disbelief. (Luckily, I did think to change to my caching pants and boots before leaving the office...at least I haven't destroyed a pair of work slacks.) I managed to push off on a nearby tree and scoot back up onto the hill, propping myself up with said tree. So now I'm standing there trying to figure out how to get up the rest of this rather steep hill without falling back down into the WAIST DEEP WATER!! (Needless to say, on this 1-star terrain cache, I elected to leave my hike/pokey stick in my rental car.) I studied my options and decided to try to push off with the tree and hope to reach a nearby hanging tree branch, and hope it'll hold my 300 lbs long enough and strongly enough to allow me to pull myself up. Thankfully, I reached it on the push-off, and somehow it held. I pulled myself up, finished scaling the hill back up to the street, and walked (sloshed!) my way back to my rental car, just shaking my head and muttering to myself over and over again, 'OH. MY. GOD. OH. MY. GOD. ... ...'. Now I've gotta figure out how to drive back to my hotel without soaking my car seat, because I don't want to drive around in this rental car all week on a wet seat. I study my belongings (haven't checked into my hotel for the week yet at this point) and decide to empty out my knapsack and use it as a seat cushion. I arrive at my hotel and have to wait behind 4 of the SLOWEST PEOPLE in the WHOLE EFF'ING WORLD, evidently trying to negotiate a mortgage while checking in to the hotel...so that wet wedgie I have is just feeling ever more delightful every minute. I also have to stand amidst this throng of people, holding my head up high, with all pride and no shame, with my wet pants slapped up against my body, and my shirt all grimy, and no doubt smelling just delightful as well. I finally check in, grab a shower, change clothes, and bring my pants to the hotel's clothes dryer (thank goodness they have one!), and call it a night. AAAAAUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH!!! -Dave R., Biloxi, MS August 31, 2004 by drat19 Re my Aug 30 log below: I have since been informed/reminded by the locals about the CREEK at that low spot, which I conveniently forgot about!! -Dave R., Biloxi, MS August 31, 2004 by drat19 Still in town on business. If you have not read all the logs leading up to this triumph, I URGE you to scroll down, and use the 'View All Logs' link if needed, all the way back to Aug 24. Victory at last!! Y'all didn't think this compulsive traveling cacher was ready to give up yet, didja? I got off work a bit late this evening, so I didn't even plan to do any caching today...except for a stop here. I didn't even change into my now-dry (see logs below) caching pants and boots. I got additional intel from the cache hider as well as several local helpers who evidently realized from my previous logs what a pathetic excuse for a cacher I've been on this one. Upon my arrival at the site for the 4th time, yesterday's flooding had indeed subsided, and the creek which I had forgotten about was indeed right where I now remembered it from my first visit. Furthermore, the cache was also indeed right where I had overlooked it on my first visit, and right where I intended to look again for it on yesterday's visit. With no onlookers this time, I retrieved the cache, brought it over to the nearby picnic area for processing (TNLNSL, and by the way the cache was still damp and could probably use an owner maint visit), and returned it to its hide spot. Thanks for yet another adventure on a 1-star 'gimme'. -Dave R., Biloxi, MS The very same week, I had the following experiences on this cache: August 24, 2004 by drat19 (PART 1 of 2.) In town on business. So the question on everyone's mind is: How does a 1500+ Find cacher come up with a DNF on a 2-star ammo can (a rare non-micro!) that everyone else has reported was a 'quick find'? 3 words: OH. MY. GOD. It started innocently enough. I had just finished off Honeychile's nearby puzzle Letterbox, 'Prosperity' (which also took me longer than expeced...because I'm a DIPSH*T...but that's another story!). Well, I peek down at my GPS and discover I'm less than 0.1 mile from this alleged 'Walk in the Park'. Well, it's getting to be around 8PM with darkness rapidly falling, but it's right within walking distance of my current location (my car is parked 0.25 mi away, of course!), and I'm feeling Prosperous after the just-completed cache find, and it's an ammo can everyone else has reported was a 'quick grab'...no problem, right? OK, now's a good time for the key visual elements: I'm 6'3" and 300 lbs, and I'm carrying my hike/pokey stick, and my brand-new Garmin GPSMAP 60CS around my neck on my handy-dandy neck lanyard. The lanyard attaches onto the hook on the back of the 60CS, which in turn is attached to the battery door on the back of the unit. I follow my GPS arrow, and for some reason it puts me in a bunch of ivy covered ground within 25 ft of the target. It's around 100 ft off the main trail so I'm out of sight of muggles, but it's also under a bit of tree canopy, so the darkness that's falling is even more dark at this spot. I start stepping through the ivy and poking around, and run into a couple of spider webs I of course couldn't see. I flail them out of my face with my hand and pokey stick and press on. Within 30 seconds I feel a sting/bite on the back of my neck...ouch! Then another on my arm, and then one THROUGH MY SHIRT on my back! Holy cr*p, have I stepped on a bee hive?? I start flailing through the overgrowth and overhanging tree and bush limbs out to the nearby clearing (15 ft away), slapping myself every which way to get whatever insects are biting me off me. At the clearing, I look down and there's A SNAKE slithering by at my feet! Now, I'm a city kid, so I dunno if it's the 'bad' kind of snake, or not...and I dunno if it has just slithered by, or if it was on my pants legs, shoes, or back (!), and I've knocked it off me. All I know is that I've been getting bitten by SOMETHING(s), and now here's a SNAKE!! So, I've got a complete case of the willies at this point, and I decide to forget about this alleged 'easy grab' cache and just cut my losses and call it an evening. (CONTINUED IN ABOVE LOG ENTRY...PART 2 of 2!) August 24, 2004 by drat19 (PART 2 of 2. IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ PART 1 of 2, the log entry below, FIRST!) At that point I look down at my neck lanyard. You guessed it...my brand new $500+ GPS got its battery door unhooked during all the flailing in the ivy, and I'm standing there holding a lanyard with a battery door hanging off it. Darkness is falling, and my adrenaline is already running miles per second from the stinging bites and snake sighting, and now I realize my brand new GPS is somewhere in that ivy where this fiasco began...so I've gotta get back in there and find it! Oh, I'm a prepared traveling cacher...I travel with a high-power lithium/xenon pocket flashlight. Yep, it's sitting in my backpack in my car, parked 0.25 mi away. So, with what little ambient light is left, I dive back into the ivy. I assess my situation and realize that if I don't make this 'Find' within 5 or 10 more minutes, I'm going to completely run out of ambient light and I'll have no choice but to retreat to my car for the flashlight for a full-darkness search. By this point, I also start feeling more of those apparent insect bites on my body...I still had never determined if I had uncovered a bee hive in there. Yep, the potential loss of my new and expensive GPS, plus the bug bites, plus the snake I had possibly pushed off my body...I don't even want to think about my pulse rate at this point. And being in the wonderful physical shape I'm in (reminder: my height/weight!), I hope I don't have a coronary at this point. Somehow, I hear a faint 'beep' that I surmise is the 'weak sat signal' beep of my GPS, so I focus my search on that area. However, it was a single beep, and I have No Joy. All the while, I'm flailing the bugs/bites, and jumping around while poking the area with my hike/pokey stick. Finally, after about 7 minutes, SOMEHOW I spot the shiny edge of one of the batteries, luckily still in the GPS. I found it! So, I calm down considerably. I exit the ivy and the woods back out to the walking track. I still feel stinging/biting on me, and at that point I spot some kind of spider on my arm. Now, city kid Dave doesn't know the 'good' spiders from the 'bad' ones...all I know is that I'm getting stung and bitten and there's a spider on me. I flail again (this time with witnesses, back on the walking trail), and I THINK I've gotten it off me...but I never saw it fall off...it could have gotten tucked into my shirt sleeve, I dunno. I flail and gyrate my way all the way back out to my car, barely calming down during this walk/run. Back in the car, I don't SEEM to have any more creatures on me person, but the bites I've already sustained are stinging at various levels of discomfort. And I can already see the welts/hives starting to form around them on my arms. I call it a night and drive back to my hotel. Thanks for the 'easy grab'. -Dave R., Biloxi, MS August 25, 2004 by drat19 Referencing my Aug 24 logs below: I have been informed that there's a different (read: correct) hook location for the neck lanyard on the back of the 60CS that I wasn't using (and didn't notice...evidently the back of that GPS is so darned big (about 6 inches-by-3-inches) that I overlooked it). I have corrected that problem. -Mr. Dipsh*t, er, Dave R., Biloxi, MS August 26, 2004 by drat19 Well, I returned to the scene of the fiasco this evening, after my Aug 24 debacle (see logs below). Learning from last time, I made this one a drive-up this time, and during my search I kept a firm grip on my GPS, despite the fact that I corrected my lanyard hook problem. Tree canopy still an issue here, but I was able to make the find within around 7 minutes. TNLNSL. Glad to conquer this one after all I went through for it! -Dave R., Biloxi, MS

I would strongly suggest you register for and post in the foums of mngca.org, the local Geocaching group. Great group of folks and you'll get all the info you could ever want about caching the Twin Cities.

I'm Biloxi-based but I'm afraid I'm not of much help as to the recent "caching scene" in our area since Katrina - I work out of state and seldom cache during my weekends back home. However, I've dropped another local caching buddy of mine a note with the link to this forum entry; if he has cached our area recently, perhaps he'll chime in with some scouting reports. Doin' what I can.... -Dave R. in Biloxi (but mostly in Minnesota!)

Ask King Boreas!

Being one of the foremost Micro Spew haters on these forums, I must admit that a. I was stumped by the first LPM that I attempted, and b. when I finally found one, I, like most others who have posted on this thread, thought it was a creative, fascinating hide. Alas, a. so have literally thousands of other cachers since then, and b. you know what they say about "too much of a good thing..."

Am I the only one who finds it interesting how prescient this thread turned out to be...opened up on Sat 1/27 before all this stuff occurred?

Well said, thank you!!

And here I was hoping to pin it on Ronbo again . MSGA appears to still be down, the LA one still looks fine to me. Use this for MSGA: http://www.msgeocacher.org/ Just tried it before this post and it's up and running.

Winter caching rocks....when the temp is between around 15 and 30. Swampy/marshy areas are frozen, no skeeters, no overgrowth. Colder than 15 degrees can be a little tough to take (in my opinion...some other cachers have no problem going down to 0 or 5 degrees). It's been below 0 here in the Twin Cities since Friday...a bit too cold for most cachers' taste even up here.

More irony: The next line in that song - "They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot!"