Cape Cod Cacher

See if your bank card has a one-time purchase plan. You can make a card from your "regular" credit card or bank account with just enough $ to make a buy and the card is valid for 1 month. I set my MOM up with that option and she actually uses it! As far as a Geocaching store... I think it would be next to Ned Flander's Leftorium.

No, I use a 9 year old GPS 48, works fine. I still use it on my small boat and have never been lost in the fog. Learn how to use it (play with it) and you'll be fine. Don't expect instant gratification either.

TG, I'm not a Benchmark 'Animal', but benchmarks other than USGS aren't claimable here. State, county and town BMs are FYEO (For Your Entertainment Only). Some local governments appriciate you telling them that a BM was found, some don't care. My little town was happy to give me the info I needed @ 20 cents per photocopied page, after I found a bunch and gave the info to the engineering departments, they gave me the $2.00 back . Small town America.

Remember When: cache logs were 2-3 excited paragraphs long? Now it's TNLN, TFTC and some people debate whether "it's worth their time" to even sign on-line. Mapping software was a road atlas? The thought of leaving a 35mm film canister in a parking lot and calling it a cache was unfathomable? Downloading information meant you actually read the cache description. And yes, J approved a couple of my caches.

Keep away from airports and such, not really worth the potentials. Use your head for more than a hat-raq...

Amazin Race or Get Lost or whatever is on now. I've never seen it, I'm watching it because team John & Scott went to my High School. I knew Scott, no idea who the John fella is/was. Scott was a nice quiet kid, family is well known around the village. John seems like a bit of a drama.....guy. Hmmmmm..... what to say, I guess that closet got blown wide open... First round losers..... Edit: they lost BIG!, Sorry Scott....

BBC has the video on it's site. Hmmmmm...... the 6th find in Russia?

Please please please clean up your mess! Pahzalusta to Zhanna

USE A RELEASE AGENT !!!!!!! Butcher's Wax works pretty well to seal up the little cracks & crevices in the concrete, go heavy. Use a toothbrush to apply it on the disks after a light steel/bronze wool to clean it off, and then buff it out. A bit of modeling clay is a good tool as well, keeps casting goo from finding under-cuts. I'm not too sure how well any casting will be recieved, it's a pretty messy process. I've been making molds for 20 years (some of you may be walking on some of my past efforts), and it does get nasty. 98% of casting materials have SOME shrink, even chocolate. Temperature is a major factor too. Too cold/hot can make for a nightmare. A quick and dirty cast can be made using thin Bondo and an acid brush. Pattern wax would work in the right environs. Practice before you go out in the field, a few benchmarks with globs of blue silly-cone or plaster perma-attached to them won't make us look too cool. I use "industrial", "professional" stuff ( read : pricey, I get it a couple years past date for free from clients), I'm curious how crafty shop or hobby stuff works. I know of some things used in Model Railroading that can take casts of rocks. Hmmm. Good luck, too cold in New England to play with this too much now.

No

Read the manual a few times... Turn off the computer, TV, kids, cell-phone etc... Practice, practice, practice. Read the manual again. Play, play, play. Read the manual again. After you get past the initial learing curve, you'll get it. It's not an instant gratification thing. I sold GPS units Xmas of '97, people called up or stopped by the store afterward asking "How does it work?", most hadn't read the manual more than once. You'll get it. Then you have to figure out the caching part.

Good Luck... I used to work for a Garmin seller, I needed a couple 'chip-clips' for an older product. Woman I spoke with was real cool, sent them right out (to my house so I knew where they were), when I asked if there were any promo items like shirts, hats etc., she said SHE couldn't get any. This was back in '97, check their site for any thing the might sell. Or attend a convention and buy a few thousand units

Paper, not plastic PDAs are the anti-KISS

geoqnerd, The USGS topo map of my area doesn't have my neighborhood on it. About 25 years old. A bit of chartography and I know where I live... Maps / charts etc. are works in progress. As soon as one is made, it's out-dated. Kinda like computers, you know the old joke? "At the end of the checkout line, there should be a recycling bin". Everyone else: Some old stuff works, I was using an off shore chart (Cape Sable to Cape Hatteras #13003) WAY after it was out dated, it has Nantucket Lightship on it and Loran A markings. Also a ton of scribbling from Loran C and GPS. It is diplayed proudly on a wall now. I have a new chart #13003 and charts for where I go. I use Loran C and GPS, I also use a sextant and compass depending on the boat I move. Long story short: learn to use technology, don't depend upon it... But you might have missed that while you were on your cell-phone.

They're HANDHELDS fer God's sake ! I hate to say it, but we're the "bottom-feeders" of GPS users... High-end users ( commercial aviation, marine, civil engineering and military), get all the bells and whistles. They also pay through the nose for it. EG; local ferry service gets a new C-Map chip (not cheap) every year for every one of their $10,000 Raytheon GPS / Chartplotter. I'd imagine there is a similar situation for aviation. Considering it's a 10 year old market, I think they work just peachy! My 1998 GPS 48 works great, but I buy new marine charts every year. I also shell out 10 whole bucks a year for a new Rand McNally highway atlas, get free city maps from AAA and have yet to get lost. Then again, I don't remember my cell-phone number. To quote every marine chart: "WARNING The prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single aid to navigation, particularly on floating aids" . Replace floating aids with road construction etc., and you're on land.

A simple cache I have to clean up alot, lots of Non-cachers aka "muggles" and locals that think it's funny watching people look for it is a HOOT ! It's been swined a few times, I ask that NO TB's are left, it was approved by Jeremy (que God sound ) Himself It's a nice place ! People have vacationed here for years and STILL this is new... Muggles take care of if ( sometimes badly), so I go by alot to keep an eye on it The Big "W" http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...y&log=&numlogs=

Zero finds before first hide.... There just WEREN'T any around in 01 !!!! It was painfully simple and I was ecstatic when it was found , granted, I had been using my GPS since 1997 and I knew how to use it. I used to sell them at the time and still get upset when people expect instant gratification in learning their GPS units. I think I'll re-activate my first find as a multi again, and use obscure Datums for part 2 & 3, see if people really read their manuals and practice. I had fun with the last time it was multi, BUT..... BTW, few finds on this account, I keep my hides and forum posts here, OTHER account has my finds. CCC

Do the best you can and "find" your own site later. For some real fun, use an obscure datum for the second place of a multi, like "Sapper Hill '43" (Sapper Hill, 1943 - Falkland Islands), THAT will separate the real GPS gurus from the snatch & grabbers

Arrowheads.... no, seriously, some newly made units. If someone wants to put in the time and effort of fashioning a 'weapon' out of one, more power to them... Silly topic, been beaten to death.

I swore off posting to General Topica long ago, but I have to agree this isn't really the best place to drop a cache. Near work, big planes, cool. Near major airport, not too cool. Why don't you put one where you go fishing, hiking, camping, or baseballing instead?

Art, Check out trains.com, lots of railfan hints and a good forum. Some yards/roads will set you up with a guide, usually a retired employee. I got a nice tour of Boston's MBTA yard a few years back (pre-geo/benching), guy talked my ear off, but had some cool info and knew everyone there. A volunteer thingy, only cost me a couple beers at South Station to thank him.

alohadave! Cool site, the zoom is a little clunky, but that's what get from an area that produces some great minds but will only pay for community college drop-outs... God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts! Here is another site you fellow MA people might like, Mass GIS site: http://www.mass.gov/mgis/massgis.htm Not to big on Benchmarks, but a neat waste of time none the less. I've been threatening myself with going to town hall to ask about the town survey marks, perhaps after summer (I said that last year too).

AO, you've been here 2 weeks, settle down, you ain't seen nothin' yet... This is the most repetative area in the forums, give it a couple years...

MYST ?

NO WAY ! college texts are expensive ? I'll scope out the local used bookstore, I think it's pretty cool, creaky old wood floors, old guy that knows most of the titles.....