The Divine Ones

Ironic that The Cow Spots mentioned SuDoku as being overused. If I do a search using Keyword "SuDoku" I only see six of them in four states in the entire USA (Texas, California, Wisconsin, Michigan). Maybe people are using SuDoku as a puzzle for a cache without making it a keyword? I was thinking it would be a good puzzle for my first cache hide.

HOW WICKED!! Having not read the whole thread, I just went and tried the puzzle. I was SO CLOSE when the timer expired! AAarrgghh!!

Seems to me about a year or a year and a half ago there was someplace on the web you could sign up for e-mail notifications of new caches placed within like 100 miles of your home. You'd get an e-mail within minutes when a new cache was added. I know I signed up for it and was getting new notifications, but then at some point they stopped and I can't find any info online about it now. I know GC.com is planning this service to members eventually. Anyone have any info about this and what happened to it?

Thanks for the replies and ideas. I tried Thumper's idea and it didn't work either. So, I borrowed an "el cheapo" cable from my lab tech and installed new drivers for it. It worked on the first try, with no reboots or anything required. Turns out the $30 IOGear cable I bought isn't guaranteed to work in Windows XP, but the $10 generic cable from NewEgg works fine. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-107-108&depa=1 Thanks for the help.

I've mostly used one machine with regular serial ports to transfer waypoints into and out of my eTrex Legend using Delorme Topo USA and EasyGPS, so I know it works and I know how to do it. However, I recently purchased a new laptop from Dell. The laptop has no serial ports, so I bought a IOGear Serial-to-USB cable that (using a driver installed in XP) allows the cable plugged into the USB port to show up in the OS as a serial port (shows up as COM4 or COM5 in my case depending on which USB port is used). I configured Topo to use the same port and told it to transfer the Waypoints out of the GPS and onto my map, but they can't communicate. Has anyone been able to get a connection to an eTrex Legend using a USB cable acting as a serial port? Any hints?

Well, there are 1427 within 100 miles of my home. Assuming they are all still active, and excluding the single one I found that is outside the 100 mile radius, my FTA is 1.75%. Man, I need to get out of the house more.

Refers to what I do for a living.

What an excellent article. Thanks for posting it here.

The February 3, 2004 issue of PC Magazine (just arrived in the mail today) has a 1/2 column article on "What's Geocaching?". Here's the online version for those interested in a very short read. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1434135,00.asp

I'm a Software Engineer and she's an Office Manager. We cache on weekend afternoons mostly, and occasionally I go out during my lunch hour.

Lots of questions, to which I have very few answers and maybe a few more questions: First: Are you willing to drive 100 miles to get to a cache? If not, I would lower your radius. (Unless, of course, you live in an area where 100 miles is necessary to find many caches). Second: If you received 300 caches within 100 miles, you definitely need to lower your radius, unless you're ready to find all those right away. For instance, I set my pocket query to send me a list once a week of caches I haven't already found within 50 miles of my home, and I still got a list of 100 caches to find. And I CAN'T log 100 finds in a week! Third: From my limited experience, the sorting is up to you, based on whatever program you chose to view the pocket query. I use a program called "Watcher" that lets me sort based on any field I want. I can sort by distance, title, cache number, difficulty, etc.

I think I would agree with Laserman. If conditions prevented me from signing the log, I would post a note on the website (and maybe a digital photo) to indicate the find, then return later to "log" it.

Maybe it's just me, but I have a different reason for and perspective on Geocaching than MOCKBA seems to have with this particular cache. For me, Geocaching is purely a game that is not at all about being directed to a site to receive an historical or political lesson (be it right-wing, left-wing, or wax-wing). To me, Geocaching is not about an "end" but about a "search". If I want to direct a searcher to something in particular, I would just post a regular cache at a nearby site, and say in the posting "since you've discovered the cache, please stop by a nearby site and see why I feel so strongly about the XYZ event that occurred here in American history". I've found several caches that intended nothing more than a fun hunt, but had me pause and look around once I got there. I have been frequently awed by the sights I've seen. But, I would never design a cache with the intent that the cache itself "teach" the cache-hunter something. To me, that's just not the intent of Geocaching. Of course, maybe I'm missing something.

I don't think I would hunt for a cache in neighborhood if I determined that the cache was on private property, even if it was the cache owner's property. I've hunted for a few in neighborhood areas, but they've been in parks or "greenways". I get very paranoid of neighbors or home-owners watching me prowling through an area, so I wouldn't go hunting for a cache in someone's yard.

OK, short of traveling to Antarctica to find one of the hidden Antarctica caches there, which cache within your reasonable travel area, would you most like to find and log? Considering that we live in the Northwest US, a friend and I would most like to log this one but considering that neither of us are in good enough cardio shape (and I’m not a certified diver), we’re saving this one for “another day”. ---- EDIT: to correct typo.

So far, it seems I haven't read anything that I couldn't get in my current Garmin eTrex Legend and a comparably-priced Pocket PC. Maybe I'll wait and see until Summer.

A friend and I are looking at the new Garmin GPS coming out this quarter (http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap60cs/). With a 256 color screen, and "Special geocaching navigation mode" it looks awesome. Does anyone know anything more about the Geocaching features other than: 1.) The Compass page becomes tailored to geocaching while the user is navigating toward a geocache. 2.) During navigation toward a geocache, a note or hint about the cache is readily accessible (if the cache waypoint contains such information in its comment field). 3.) When a geocache is found, the unit will mark the cache found, log an entry into the outdoor calendar, and provide an option that—with one button press—will show the next-closest cache. ???? It's more expensive than many pocket-PC units available that will store GPS info and Geocache info, in addition to other "regular" PC stuff, but it still looks cool.

I've been a member for 491 days (as of January 7th) and have 23 finds, so that amounts to 0.0468 finds per day, or probably easier to understand, it's about one find every three weeks. To me caching isn't about the numbers, or competing, it's a hobby. I go in spurts of 2-4 finds a week then may not go out again for several weeks depending on job and family commitments. But, the numbers are fun to look at, I just don't use them as a score or a "meaning" of anything.

So far, most are very close by. I live in a suburban area outside Portland, Oregon. At last count there were 43 more caches to find within 5 miles of my house. I would definitely say if you live in a remote area it's likely you'll have to drive farther and farther from home to keep your find count climbing. As for how far I'd drive: If it was reasonable, I'd drive 50 miles to find a cache, maybe even a hundred if I really felt it was worth the trip (or if I happened to be making the trip anyway).

I'm curious to know how to find out as early as possible when a new cache near my home is posted. I've never been a FTF and don't really aspire to be a frequent FTF, but I'm curious to know how people find out IMMEDIATELY when a new cache is posted. When I select the "My Cache Page" it shows which ones are CLOSEST to me, but I'd like to see which ones are NEWEST posted.

Well, this is my sixth post in this forum, so I guess I qualify as a lurker. I do like to post as frequently as I feel appropriate as I feel welcome in a forum. I've been posting in one discussion group or another since about 1991. I've had my posts both ignored (oh well) or massively flamed (ouch), so I'm used to both. Been Geocaching since September 2002, although my first official find wasn't until March of 2003. The family enjoys it and we hope to expand our finds into more of the world.

I wear a pair of Wolverine Boots. They are not much heavier than a pair of tennis shoes, warm, waterproof and comfortable. I wear them in Summer on backpacking hikes, Fall hunting, Winter snow, and love them. They are perfect for Geocaching as they store in my truck easily and are very easy to get on and off.

I was a Cub Scout more than 30 years ago, and I figure it has nothing to do with my current interest in Geocaching. Most of my interest today is based on technology (I love the whole idea of GPS) and an incident of being nearly lost in the wilderness a couple of years ago.

We have a cacher in our area (Pacific NW) who has a dog named "Jeeps" (GPS). I thought that was pretty clever.