Akhenaten

NWPA, Meadville specifically.

My brother loves to buy gadgets. One day he was showing me his GPS and he started telling me about Geocaching. I told him that he had to take me along one time. We hiked into a gorge near his college to find a cache. It was rough going, but I loved every minute of it. I did a few more caches with him that summer and at Christmas my wife bought me my own GPS. It has turned out to be one of the most used gifts I have ever received.

I'm a self-employed web developer and usually cache alone during the weekdays, when I need a break from staring at the monitor. Sometimes on weekends I will cache with my brother, my wife and/or a friend.

I can relate to BeeGees. I haven't even seen a tick in all my years of running around the woods, but after reading the thread I am perhaps too acutely aware of them. In addition, I am a little boggled why I have not witnessed any of these marauders. In my area, the only place I have heard mention of tick danger is Presque Isle in Erie. That doesn't mean they are not all around me, but I have not heard a great deal of discussion on them. Like Brian, I also seem to make an unattractive target for mosquitoes and insect pests. While everyone around me gets bit up by mosquitoes, fleas and other blood suckers, I go unscathed. However, I have heard this attributed to a certain biochemistry rather than a diet. While I enjoy garlic, I don't eat it regularly. Additionally, my father is regarded by insects in the same manner as I, while my mother and three brothers are constantly harassed. I guess I must be either lucky or ignorant, as I have been tick-free thus far in all my years of camping, hiking and other outdoor activity. Now watch me get ambushed by the little bloodsuckers the next time I go caching.

The oddest look we received was from a group of National Guard troops doing practice maneuvers in a State park we were caching in. They were surprised to see three people out in the middle of nowhere huddled around a hollow log. They didn't say a word to us, but their faces said it all. At least we were not taken prisoner, like my brother's archeological dig team was this summer. Apparently the Guard unit was told there would be "enemies" dressed like civilians, and mistook the students for the targets in their war game.

I have to think of a way I can incorporate Geocaching into a paper sometime. In the mean time, here is some data for yours. 1. How did you find out/start geocaching? My brother introduced me to it. He loves gadgets, adventure racing and the ilk. I tagged along on a few geocaches and became hooked. 2. Who/what got you started geocaching? It appealed to my love of the outdoors and my obsessive nature. In addition, I found it a low cost activity for me to do with my brother and now my wife, who I introduced to Geocaching. Now when we can't figure out something to do on a Saturday, we can hop in the car and find a cache. 3. How often you do it? As often as time allows, I don't have any consistent patterns. Since I got my own GPS, I have averaged about 1 a week. 4. How long have you been doing it? I found my first cache with my brother in August of 2002. 5. Spending amounts: a. Price of GPS It was a Christmas gift from my wife, but I saw the bill and know she paid $140 for it. b. Placing a cache My cache cost about $10 to place, but I already had some of the trade items I included. c. other equipment and prices (lights, ropes, etc) I haven't really bought any additional equipment... yet.

This is a test. This is only a test. In the event of an actual emergency, this message would be accompanied by an annoying high pitch beep.

I am looking forward to the cache series. I would have tried my hand at the Fellowship of the Ring cache already, but I have it earmarked for a weekend one of my college buddies comes out to visit from Indiana. He wants to try his hand at Geocaching, and since we are both big Tolkien fans, your cache offers an ideal opportunity. Also, if you are still looking for a location for the Two Towers, you may want to consider scouting Crawford county.