oscar478

I think cache contents are like a mini yard sale, with about the same percentage chance of good finds. Some yard sales I go to, I can't believe people spent the time to spread such garbage on a table and expect to sell it... but strangely enough, you almost always see someone there buying, or at least interested. While I love to stumble across a yard sale with nothing but power tools and electronics, that might be just as bad for someone who likes something else. I guess it goes back the old addage about how many people you can please at once. It didn't take but the first 2 caches with my 3 year old to realize this... I opened the cache, and she was as giddy as Christmas day about some stuff I'd call junk and never pick up... but she still carries them around and still remembers where she got them "Treasure Hunting with Daddy" she says... and that's all that matters. So McToys are ok.. Golf balls are ok. I rather dislike duplicates, broken items, or just plain trash. I also get a bit annoyed when a single item completely stuffs a cache and limits other items... i.e. please don't stuff that teddy bear into an ammo can. I think religious stuff is ok, and think it's a shame someone would decide to remove it (and presumably throw it away) because they don't like it. I'm a diehard Steelers fan, but that doesn't make it right for me to dispose of any Cleveland Browns stuff that I find. Caches in a way are like free speech, we all have the right to put anything in there that we see fit, and it's not really anyones right to remove it unless it's inappropriate. You never know who the next cacher is and what they may think is cool.

As a rookie, I'm learning quickly that in order to ready to cache at a moments notice, that keeping my geocaching supplies in a small backpack in my car is the best plan for me. Assuming others are doing similar things, I'm curious as to what things others may carry, with the assumption that you could be tracking or placing caches. My list is simple thus far... gps, batteries, a cheap rain coat, and a flashlight... ok, call me a girly man, but I've looked for some cache's in holes that I'd rather look in first before reaching I also carry some trading trinkets and some supplies for starting new caches... rubbermaids, ziplocs, pencils, etc.

I've only been Geocaching for a few weeks now, and I've looked thru the forums to see if this was answered already, but I was trying to determine if there is any formula/equation to convert difference in coordinates to distance on the ground... I know some GPSr's will do this anyway, and software can... but I was trying to see if there is a basic formula like 0.100 diff in coordinates equals 300 feet or something like that. I'm getting more used to how the numbers change as I move, but I just wanted to see what the formula was, and if it's even possible to do quick calculations in your head. TFYH!

Just a curious question from a newbie... what's the biggest cache anyone has seen? I think it'd be an interesting challenge to find a spot for something really large... like a trunk, or a duffle bag. Or maybe using something else even bigger? I thought it would be neat to have a junker car on a farm or something. Keep the car locked, but hide the key in a micro nearby. Or maybe one of the GC friendly parks would allow use of an old storage shed or something? Oscar -Curious Newbie.