brad.32

The "Bay Area and Beyond Picnic #2" is coming up and a number of TBs are already in it, but some don't have any associated pictures. If I see these bugs I might take a picture of them and add notes to their pages, but not list it as a find, because I didn't find them. Can one add just a note or will it register as a find even if listed as a note? I guess it doesn't matter too much, but... Geocachers can't have too many gadgets. Along with GPS units and travel bugs, we NEED digital cameras. Tell your spouses.

What the hell is pretain, is that like pertain? -- Bradl

I like the geocache daddy's idea of geobugs.com for coins or other bugs. I haven't done any geocoins, but at $4-5 a pop, travel bugs (tags) and geocoins are a pricy way to pay for a tracking service. The TB instructions on the tag are ... incomplete ... so we "have to" add an instruction tag, which includes the number, with the bugs anyway. The metal tag, much of the cost, becomes redundant and potentially confusing. All we need is a web server for tracking numbers assigned to the particular owner's bugs, then we make the instruction tag. This tag might include a (downloaded) standard icon on it to place with the url for brand recognition, like the Groundspeak-bar-code bug on the current metal tags. I'm going to be sending out a couple replacement travel bugs for lost bugs to continue their quests :-( I only have the COPY tags (and plan to keep them), so I'm going to make new instruction tags like were sent with the lost bugs. I might add the Groundspeak-bar-code bug on these for brand recognition, but not sure if that will ruffle copyright feathers. I plan to send the replacements (same or similar hitchhiker) to the last person who placed the lost bug, the cache owner of the last cache, or someone like that.

I thought about attaching something, but after contacting the owner, I knew that was not their intention, so I just placed it as it was like owennnn is planning to do.

I did a search for recreating TBs in the forums before posting this, but it didn't come up with anything... I own 5 TBs, one of which is actively traveling (http://www.geocaching.com/track/track_detail.asp?ID=27463), two are being held "prisoner", and two are MIA. Has anyone recreated travel bugs? I'm thinking of getting a replacement hitchhiker (same object or similar), making up a new tag with the TB number on it, and asking the last person who placed the original TB to receive the new TB in the mail and place it again. Either that or the graveyard. I won't send the COPY tag because I write the bug's name on the tag for my reference. I always send an instruction tag with the TBs, so the official tag is redundant anyway.

I ran into a TB without a hitchhiker in the spring, http://www.geocaching.com/track/track_detail.asp?ID=24221. Its purpose was to travel. It's apparently stuck now.

I have found pairs of AAs in caches that were either loose or attached together with rubber bands. All of them rusty and/or leaky due to the damp nature of caches. Ziplocs like you are planning would help.

The batteries I've found in caches have been pairs attached together with rubberbands or just loose and all of them rusty or leaking due to the damp nature of caches. Ziploc bags like you are planning would help.

I like the purple lizard, maybe not screen after screen of them.

I have five out that are all relatively new, but before I released them I read through the threads here and saw that the addition of an instruction tag (seems to?, definitely?) improves their survival chances.

People do that. I have done it a few times. Just log a note, not a "found it".

That's more of the intent of my question: is the adventure of the hunt dependent on the getting there? The actual hiding locations are similar: under a bush or rock. A walk in the woods is better than a walk in yet another park I didn't know about, but the only woods walking we have done is in the big YAPIDAs.

I can ask this troll because I'm a newbie... In the Getting Started forum there is a thread about motivation, where people wrote about hiking, "the hunt", trading (wyoduckhunter: "It's not a sport unless there is something dead in the back of the truck when you get home"), and travel bugs. There is another Getting Started thread about what gear to take when geocaching, where people wrote that they take a GPS unit, trading items, geocaching.com printouts, maps, a knive ("tool"), water, snacks, a first aid kit, flashlights, matches, lockpick (I'm not a Criminal), etc. Here around the SF Bay Area there are a lot of caches, including many micros. Some of these are in open space preserves and require a 1-2-mile hike each way, but most are in marginal spaces, disused corners of parks, etc, that are readily accessible by car (leaving a short walk). Different people prefer different types of caches and levels of difficulty, so your mileage will vary, but what makes it geocaching, the activity itself or the time investment? What's the true spirit of geocaching? Are we city mice missing out because we don't have to trek 5 miles uphill both ways (through the snow) to reach a cache, regular, micro, or virtual?

A compass is useful if where you want to go is 20 paces east of dead man's tree, or from one set of known coordinates to another (assuming you have determined the direction and distance). If you want to get TO one set of coordinates, then you need a GPS to tell you where it is relative to where you currently are located. When in GOTO mode, a GPS constantly determines the new direction and distance. [This message was edited by brad.32 on April 02, 2003 at 06:56 AM.]

There are no mysterious forces, silly

Please don't shout, the baby's trying to sleep. ... not really.

Of course.

quote:Originally posted by Kodak's4:In the end, you can't control other people's behavior, only your own. Focus on the part you control, and set expectations for yourself, but not others. That's really the bottom line. ... but then again can we influence what people think they might leave through education? Preaching to the choir. ... and "do unto others" comes to mind too.

We just question your spelling and grammar. FAQ's argh GPS's argh! Those "your", "you're" and "they're", "their", "there" things ... ARGHHH!!! Learn some grammar. Though the quotes bring up another point. When using British English, people will write the punctuation outside the quotes and American English inside: "your", instead of "your," etc. People will probably argue about this one, but the word "data" is plural, as in "these data are" NOT "this data is". The latter should be "this datum is", but not to be confused with a geographic datum, which is overloaded. "Datums" is valid for that. Not that I have thought about these things or they BOTHER me

I don't think I've ever found a cache with something I would WANT to trade for (signature items, etc). Our daughter, who is 4, is happy with McToys and similar, so when we find one with some "treasure" in it she's encouraged to continue caching. Most caches have trash in them that even she's not interested in, and she gets discouraged. I'll usually leave something anyway even if we don't take. Trash is rusty batteries and other items that aren't designed for outdoor storage (this includes a lot of things, caches get hot and damp), dice, spare change (not collector coins)... [This message was edited by brad.32 on April 01, 2003 at 07:10 AM.]

I guess that's kind of my point: if you want to track a thing, get a geocoin, Where's George, etc. The tag isn't the important thing, it's the ability to track the bug. That's why a tagless bug makes sense. A (Groundspeak) tag CAN have a hitchhiker and a story and that gives it more possibilites and interest, and that's why I like them. ... of course it's my opinion.

The forums are where we can learn about the details of geocaching, so they are useful, but there is some flaming in here and comparison. "He's a loser geocacher because all he goes after are 1/1s" and people aren't taken serious until they find 1000 caches. The GPS units we use ($100-500 or so) are like music CD players. They all play, some just have more features.

Don't try to go after a micro on the first couple trips. They can be much harder to find. Once the GPS shows you have arrived, a 5-m error is typical, so follow what BrianSnat said in that radius. There are threads in these forums about the type of trinkets are good to leave. Signature items are cool. I could do without the rusty, crusty batteries leaking on everything else. Read about travel bugs and what to do with them before you find one.

I posted a lame picture of it and placed it over the weekend. I thought about taking a picture of it with something like my PDA or a GPS (my little friends), but figured someone might assume that was the hitchhiker with the tag. I have no TBs in my possession now ... need to buy some more tags

Has anybody read Umberto Eco's "Island of the Day Before"? The date line is the anti-longitude of Greenwich (plus and minus)... One of the ... concepts ... in the book is that when the ship is anchored off an island that is on the other side of the date line, if they leave the ship to go to the island the crew on the ship wouldn't know they arrived until the next day. Bizarre.