brad.32

Yes, when you're done with the bugs is a better time to post. I either add pictures to the retrieved log entry or add a note with the bug's adventure and put the pictures in the note. It's nice that the procedure is streamlined to drop off (multiple) bugs, but that mechanism makes it difficult to log notes and pictures for the bugs when dropped, so we have to do it manually. From a procedure writing perspective, it seems awkward the way we would like it. If we can come up with a better solution, then we could post it in the GC.com forum.

The actions of cachers (and muggles) along the way is a lot of random interference already Directed interference by friends and enemies of racers is an issue, but, as you wrote, it would be very hard to track. It's part of any TB race. Personally, it's not something I want to encourage, but there's nothing that can be done to prevent it. I hope people won't do (too much) "unsportsmanlike conduct", but everyone should have fun with the race. There are too many rules already.

Well, I left interference out of the draft rules, because I figured there wasn't much to be done about it either way. Added a new rule: "After the start, no TB racer owners can handle ANY of the racers. The actions of third parties are not under the owners' control."

Hello TBers. In geojed's anyone for a race thread, we have been talking about a race for a long time, so I finally put some ideas together: The First CircumConUS Travel Bug Race Travel bugs will follow a counter-clockwise route around the US. The required stops are visits to the following states: California (starting state and cache), Texas, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Washington, and back to the starting cache IN THAT ORDER. The bugs must trace the states in this order so any skipping of these goal states means backtracking. All other states and countries can be skipped. The details can be found on the web page: http://users.rcn.com/brad.32/geocaching/tbrace.htm ... maybe it should be hosted on geocities or something in the future. I think it is sufficiently different in intent and timing from the Great Cannonball Run and won't interfere with participation in that race, if it starts in the spring. There isn't a date in the Cannonball Run thread for the 2nd, but there is mention that it would be later in the spring (after March). I don't know how long it will take bugs to complete the route.

I've worked up a strawman, bare-bones web page for the race I've proposed: http://users.rcn.com/brad.32/geocaching/tbrace.htm ... maybe it should be hosted on geocities or something. Is it sufficiently different in intent and timing from the Great Cannonball Run, SomewhereInND's, geojed's, etc race to be worth doing and not interfere with participation in those races? People have sensitive feet sometimes. It will be a greater-part-of-a-year race, yes. Other suggestions? If this thing actually gets off the ground, I'll start a new announcement TB thread, but the clock is ticking, but, then again, the 1ST ANNUAL TRAVELBUG CANNONBALL RUN thread doesn't have a mention of a when or if for the 2nd.

I've seen a number of bugs with that goal, but not any that are racing.

This subject comes up frequently. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=59108

Do you mean "stand pipe"? A sand pipe is a rock formation. A stand pipe is a (metal) pipe for setting water pressure. Probably not a good location like Eric wrote.

I've been hearing about racing for months now since geojed mentioned he was interested in forming one up there. Not much has happened and I'm assuming the Cannonball Run might start up in the spring around the time SomewhereInND starts his race too. I like SomewhereInND's round-the-clock idea, then the start and finish are in one place. His web map for the race status is what I had in mind for a race web page. Nothing fancy like the Cannonball Run. I don't have the web design skills to do that. If the race runs to Florida from here in California or counter-clockwise-around-the-US race from here, that should avoid the snow (this winter). Someone in Florida would have to retreive the bugs there though for the former. Any volunteers? Otherwise I'll do the latter (SomewhereInND's circle idea if it's okay with him). I'M GOING TO DO THIS, if some other people join in. I'm thinking the race would start about 1-4 Jan 2004, which should give people time to mail their bugs to me and for people to agree on rules, etc. I'm not running a moose for this race. Any one ready to go by New Years Day?

I post mostly in the travel bug forum and only read the "geocaching topics" and other forums. There is a core group that is all over those threads and there is little point in adding to that, so I stick to the quiet back water of TBs.

It seems no one is interested in either of these races. (This is a bump.)

... but there is the problem that any bugs that go there probably have to be found and brought back by vacationing cachers. That would be a reason to get stuck in Hawai'i. The caches there would end up being like TB hotels and bugs get stuck in those everywhere.

I'll seen a number of bugs that have left Hawai'i. Bugs get stuck and go missing everywhere.

I wasn't going to say what they said, but they are right: you could take the hat on YOUR REAL travels.

Many bugs go missing. If it's important to you, then don't make it a bug, however... What you're proposing isn't a normal TB, but something that gets mailed to people who are willing to help the hat travel. This would include, I assume, checking it temporarily into a cache before mailing it to someone else. If it's not checked into and retreived from a cache, then it's not part of geocaching. This mode of traveling would be much safer than through the TB network.

This is the silliest thread I've seen in a while and fail to see how it encourages people to geocache. Some people need to lighten up, yes. Shouldn't this thread be under the "Abject Silliness" thread?

The subject of an icon for microcaches has come up before, several times by me, and the discussion belongs in the Geocaching.com Discussion forum. I too would like to see an indication in the cache list of the final cache size. It's in the cache description page, but I don't want to look through them all to see the size. A separate category for micros wouldn't help because of the final cache for a multi or a puzzle cache could be any size. A separate icon with the final cache size makes more sense. Third-party software like Watcher can show the cache size in the listing or can be used to filter caches by size (and type, etc), but we are talking about the capabilities of geocaching.com.

Shouldn't this thread be under GPS units and software?

Jeremy did not call some members freeloaders above. He wrote As for me, I contribute money because gc.com is a service I use. I pay for the service. I'm only a tadpole and haven't placed any caches, but there are nearly 3000 in this area already. I decided I could contribute by making TBs, which is another way to contribute to Groundspeak too.

Making the tags is not really a problem. Many people make additional instruction tags for their bugs that may or may not include the tracking number. The Groundspeak tracking number tags are very sturdy and I suppose the price reflects that, but the big thing is the tracking of the number by a tracking service, which geocaching/Groundspeak provides. To get them locally, you would have to get Groundspeak to ship to Germany, which seems to be the problem, or get a geocacher to ship them to you.

Don't worry about it. How much traffic does that cache get? In a couple months, then you might be more interested.

That is not a problem. People do it "all the time". Just log the cache visit as a note, instead of a find, and log the TB placement through the travel bug tracking page. The cache you mention sounds like a TB hotel. Some people use those as transfer points for TBs. They are sometimes located near highway crossings or near airports for people on the move to come pick up a bug they could help. I would rather just see bugs move from cache to cache and not sit waiting for the right person to come along.

Nope. It's just an interesting one. An abomination, but interesting, and not a problem.

Ziploc bags last only a few cache placements. Kind geocachers may replace them, but lamination lasts longer. Like briansnat, my double-sided instruction tags are about business-card size and are laminated.

Because of what you described, the bugs I plan have MIA in mind. I try to get two of the hitchhiker, so I can reissue the bug with the duplicate when the original goes missing. A one-of-a-kind item will be history. I don't know how many times I will re-issue, but it's something to try. I re-issue them to a previous finder, so the chain is not broken too badly. Bugs go missing and people don't reply to emails. I re-issued a bug to a guy who said he would place the replacement for me. He held it for almost two months before placing and stopped replying to my emails long before that.