JennM

In my little bubble, it wasn't random chance. It was time for the family to learn what happened, and you were the vehicle to do that. The odds of you finding it, let alone having the presence of mind to mark a waypoint is not a coincidence to me. For whatever reason - what happened was meant to happen. Just as you've stated it was a life-changing experience - so it was meant to be. I believe all things happen for a reason. I can surely understand how "thanks" would seem odd under the circumstances - but in another way I can totally understand how the family would be grateful because 10 years of unanswered questions can finally be put to rest, along with their dearly departed. There is another thread going on unusual things found in caches (or near them) - this one I think might just qualify as one of the most significant. Jenn

Wow... that's amazing. I hate the cliche... but you gave a family "closure"... that's a pretty awesome gift, even if the outcome wasn't a happy one. Better to know for once and for all, than not to know. Jenn

Taoiseach, how's Ottawa these days? I hail from there... was there last December and got some caches with some locals - you should check out the local group - they are some awesome people... I have the same old blue and I stole a usb/serial adaptor off another device I had lying around and it works just great with the cable I bought for the GPS. You can download straight from the site, as mentioned. I use GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to open my pocket queries (if you're a premium member), and I also use a PDA with Cachemate. If you've got just the basic membership I think you can still download the coordinates straight to your GPS by using the "Send to GPS" feature on the cache listings. Here's a link to the local gang: http://www.ottawageocaching.com/ I think they have weekly outings. I didn't get to their outing, but when I was home, a trio of local cachers picked me up to go out and play - Bluelamb03, Model12 and Mr. Packrat. They don't come any finer than those gentlemen! Jenn

Caribiners, small first aid kits (I get them at the dollar store) - I keep one with me too - comes in handy! Small packs of wet wipes, Kleenex packets (in a baggie), batteries (in a baggie), we've left a few ready-to-go micros inside regular caches. I recently traded for a small compass on a caribiner - the compass I had was defective - had a big bubble in it and wouldn't point true... that came in handy. Trading pins - I collect 'em so I trade them too. I've retrieved a couple of McDonald's gift cards as FTF prizes ($5) - they can be "reloaded" and left in other caches. I had a gift card for a movie rental that I knew I wouldn't use so I traded that (had a good deal of time left before it expired). Every time I go to the dollar store, I surf around for interesting swag Never know what I might come out with. Jenn

You know you're addicted when you live in a city that has NO GAS currently, and you venture out on your last 1/4 tank to get a few on a Sunday morning, ride back on fumes, and hope you have enough gas left to make it home. We did this last Sunday morning... no gas in the 20 or so miles we traveled home. Finally found gas later in the day and got it before it was all gone - it's all gone from the stations now I resisted the urge to go back out Monday afternoon (my afternoon off)... I am traveling to FL on business on Friday and plan to get some caching in during that trip - I just hope I have enough gas left to get out of the ATL! Jenn

Well it's official. My 3rd of 4 bugs is MIA. One turned up within a month, but the other 3 have just disappeared. One was picked up and never dropped off, (ie logged by the picker-upper), and the other 2 just vanished out of the caches they were in. Stinks. Jenn

I don't believe that a cache in a bus station would meet the current guidelines. I'm originally from Ottawa. I'm acquainted with a few of the locals up there as I was there in December (I live in Georgia now)... and did some caching with them - nice bunch! That cache was placed on a bridge for a transitway station - a highway just for buses. Being the nation's capital, placing that on a major transportation thoroughfare, and if I remember correctly, not terribly far from the Department of National Defense Headquarters.... it was NOT the most sensible place for a cache. IMO it should have never been approved.... as it defied most of the published guidelines, not to mention good old common sense. I've been asked ONCE what I was up to - actually Nuggs saw the officer as I was too focused on the lamp skirt I was investigating. It was at a bank parking lot on a Sunday afternoon. We handed the officer a brochure, he bid us good luck and that was that. That was my only encounter with law enforcement (and he was probably looking more at Nuggs than me ) The first time I cached ever, the first cache I found ever... the next person to come along shortly after us was busted. Cache had been there for a few years - at a municipal courthouse under the flagpole skirt. We found it on a Labor Day - nobody around. The next finder a short while later, had his vehicle searched as the police thought it was a drug drop or something. Made them keep the cache and it was archived later that night. Scared the heck out of me - what kind of hobby am I starting, that people get into trouble with police?! I do think what you look like and how you address the officers questioning you, might have a lot to do with the eventual outcome. Same with land-owners and such. Be a jerk, they'll be one back. Be honest, friendly and straightforward and it's less likely to end up badly. Jenn

We carry some repair stuff, log sheets and such. I've replaced the occasional 35mm container or similar, but I don't think I'd replace a larger lock n lock or anything like that. Simple fixes are appreciated by cache owners - and I appreciate it if somebody replaces a full log or whatever, but I certainly wouldn't expect somebody to refurbish an entire cache for me, nor would I presume to do the same. The few times that we've done a bit more than add a new log sheet or whatnot, we usually get a hearty thanks from the cache owner, whom we've saved a trip for some simple fix-ups. I've picked up geo-litter from archived caches for other locals. One cache not too far from me, the last finder noted that the container lid was broken, contents a mess - they did nothing to help repair it or anything but noted it in the log. The CO lives a fair distance from here, she archived the cache (which was on my watch list because it's one that interested me) so when I saw she did that, I contacted her and offered to pick up the remains, which she appreciated. I think it's good caching etiquette to leave things better than you found them - if that means cleaning out some geo-trash out of a cache and putting in a piece or two of decent swag, putting in a new log, repairing a container, we should all do our little part, within common sense limits. It kind of makes me crazy that somebody would take the time to hunt a cache, log that it's in deplorable condition, and not do at least a little something like empty the water out of it, give it a tidy-up, or stick it in a baggie, to try and at least keep it somewhat viable until the owner can maintain it... yet I see logs like that all the time. As for travelers... don't get me started. I had one turn up today only missing for a month... but I have one that's disappeared for over a year with no sign of returning - new cacher picked it up, logged it and then never bothered to move it. I have another that vanished out of the last cache it was logged into ... ironically it was my daughter's "odd sock" travel bug. I guess the dryer monster found the cache and sucked the sock into the void! And I have another one that may be MIA in Washington State... it logged into a fairly busy cache a few months ago and hasn't been logged, moved or discovered since, so it may not even be there anymore. I hate when stuff goes missing Jenn

Heh you never know! They moved it 111 miles too I'd still like to know where the other 2 are, and if the one still in inventory in a given cache, is actually there. Moving bugs are happy bugs! Jenn

One problem with hoarders, is that they usually take the traveler without logging it. I was feeling a bit paranoid for a while as bugs I'd dropped off, disappeared right after I dropped them - and I was the last person to log them. One even disappeared when I went out of state and dropped it! If a hoarder's inventory is posted publicly, they'll just stop logging the bugs as picked up. They'll likely just take them (as I'm sure some do already), keep them, and nobody really knows what happened to them but the last person known to have dropped it off. Unfortunately this is a part of the game. You release your bug, you take your chances. It's frustrating, to be sure - I've got a few MIA bugs out there - but that's a risk we know when we send them out there. Jenn

I am going to Orlando on Sept. 27. I'll be staying in a Disney Resort for one night, then nearby for 2 more. I go every year and there's a great travel bug motel near the Orange County Convention Center (about 5 miles or so from Disney) and I have exchanged travelers there before. I could take a pic of it at the resort, and log it if that will do - and it will likely end up in the bug motel http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...96-bc97d97b5dcb or another nearby Orlando cache as we'll definitely do some caching while we're there. I am in the southeast... if you'd like me to lend a hand, drop me a PM. Jenn

Well right after I typed that last note, a log was posted for one of my missing bugs - the latest to go 'missing' ... the cacher had not replied to my polite email - but they did drop the bug in another cache One found - 2 still lost, one might be lost but unconfirmed... Jenn

Harry - I can only speak for myself here, but when I posted about my bugs being "held hostage" too... I certainly didn't take that tone when I contacted the parties last known to hold my bug(s). You're right - you can catch more flies with honey. I've been nothing but polite, and have given the benefit of the doubt in my notes that I'm sure that the holder has no ill will, and offered a way out - to mail the item to me if they are willing. The first one passed the buck to their child's other parent, the second one has not replied to my note. Some folks just don't care I don't put coins out there, because they seem to disappear much more readily than bugs do. I can see the appeal of keeping a pretty collectible coin, but a metal tag with an old sock or a dollar-store keychain? I'm still hoping that my bugs turn up one day... it's just frustrating when they disappear for no apparent reason (like the sock - in a cache at one point, vanished the next). It's one thing when a cache gets muggled and a traveler is an unfortunate victim of same... but it's another when somebody picks it up, logs it and then just never bothers to follow through. Jenn

Re-release... as in set out a duplicate? I have the duplicate tags someplace...I've thought about that. Then I just read another thread where bugs that were AWOL for years, have resurfaced. On my first day of caching 2 years ago, I had intended to pick up bugs that were listed in caches that I visited, but when I got to the caches, they weren't there. They actually turned up in another local cache on Jan. 1 of this year. It appears that the cachers that had picked up said bugs (there were 2, listed in the inventories of 2 local caches), hung onto them for about 2 years. They literally placed a cache in their own front yard... I picked the bugs up when I FTF'd it, and moved them along. A few more bugs came and went through their front yard cache, and a couple of months later they archived the cache. I think rather than go and place the bugs in the wild, they deposited them in their front yard to get rid of them.... but at least they got back out there. Relative to some of the long-time disappearances of bugs, mine have been gone just a short time...so they might resurface. It just stinks when a bug has a specific mission (2 of ours have specific destinations posted) and they just vanish. One has a mission to go to Australia. It got all the way to Hawaii, then somebody brought it all the way back to Seattle. It's been stuck in the same area for 9 months now...urgh... I know half of the fun is watching it take the "scenic route"... but that bug hasn't been moved since June, and about 10 cachers have found the cache since the bug was dropped, and nobody has picked it up or discovered it, which leads me to believe it might be gone too. Jenn

Hope yours gets back into circulation again soon. I think there's a conspiracy out against my bugs. One has been held hostage for over a year now - when I politely contacted the picker-upper (who also has other bugs and coins), I was told last year (after they had the bug(s) for a few months) that their son took the bugs back to another state to be dropped off with/by the other parent. So that one is gone likely forever I've got one that logged into a cache and several months later I posted a note on the cache page for the next visitor to please see if my bug was there and feel free to move it - and I found out it's not there anymore. Oddly - it was an odd sock - I guess the dryer monster found it in a cache... I have another picked up over a month ago by another newer cacher, along with others... they cached twice, picked up a handful of travelers and haven't logged onto the site since. I sent a polite email asking if they could place the bug in a cache, or if they were willing to mail it to me, I'd provide them with the address - but I have not had a reply. Out of my 4 bugs, one is confirmed "unknown", one is still listed in a cache that's had a ton of visitors lately, nobody has mentioned it or picked it up (missing perhaps?), and 2 are being held prisoner by cachers who'd picked them up after only an outing or two of caching and then seemingly have quit. I picked up travelers on my first day caching - and knew what I had to do with them, and moved them along, so being a newbie is not a reason to slam somebody or assume they are uninformed... if they knew to log it, they should know that they need to move them. I just find it frustrating that my bugs are just "disappearing" like that. Heck I feel guilty if I hold a traveler for more than a week or so - and if it's longer than that I will let the owner know the circumstances and get it moving as soon as I can. But hey, that's just me Jenn

A little over a year ago, James released a travel bug in Georgia - called "Fishy". http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=667367 In December, I released another travel bug, this time, at my childhood home in Chelsea, Quebec, Canada, called Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home. http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1250516 James' bug has been to Hawaii and back to the west coast - Seattle. My bug hung around my hometown for a while, and one of the cachers I met back home, took my bug to... Seattle. I wondered if the bugs would "meet up". Well yesterday they both turned up at the same event cache! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...8c-b3573b5b001f What are the odds of that happening?! Jenn

I've shared FTF bragging rights - sometimes a cache owner will declare that there can be only ONE FTF. Makes no matter to me. If Nuggs and I are together, we share the FTF, and if the owner sees fit and updates his/her page with the name of the FTF, we've both been put on it. I'm looking for one now that specifies no "co-FTF" so whoever makes the actual first find will get the credit. We were 5 looking for it this morning and didn't find it... that's a whole other post I've been looking for a new one and another cacher came along (someone I know - many of us around here know each other) - and he spotted it first but I was there first so he *graciously* offered to share FTF bragging rights and it was duly noted in the logs and updated on the cache page. It really doesn't matter one iota at the end of the day. Courtesy is nice though. Jenn

I've seen a themed cache of McToys - I left some still in the wrappers (some of those are or will be worth $$ one day as collectors' items). By and large I don't like McToys but I can appreciate that kids like them - so if they are clean, that's fair, IMO - just they should be traded evenly or traded up. I've cleaned a lot of moldy junk out of caches too. Sometimes I think the item may have been in good condition when placed there, but leaky containers ruin them etc. My kids (teens) have seen stuff they've wanted in caches, and if they didn't bring things to trade, they have to leave it there. We usually carry decent swag - I hit the dollar store and other places regularly for good stuff, and I get promotional items from my vendors (tshirts and things) that I've left for swag too. I don't always trade - like others, for me it's about the hunt - but I do carry swag because every now and then I see something in a cache that I'd like to have so I'm prepared to barter for it. Jenn

I live in GA but I was back home in Canada in December. That's how deep it was at the beginning of winter. I had no snowshoes. I found 15 caches while home, only a couple of urban micros. I had to dig through about 3 feet of snow for one of them, but many "winter friendly" caches are up off the ground, where snow accumulation won't be much hindrance. The cachers I met up with in Ottawa are hard-core. Snowshoes, headlamps - they night cache on snowshoe trails. Gotta love it! Jenn

This one was a DNF for about 27 of us or thereabouts...and then it had to be archived without a single find. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6b-20b2c44084b6 Jenn

I've only had one encounter with LEO. Nuggs and I were on a Sunday caching run and we pulled up to what I thought would be a LP cache in a bank parking lot. While I was lifting the skirt, an officer pulled up and asked Nuggs what we were doing - I was so focused I didn't see the officer He explained what we were doing, then I saw the officer and I came up and showed him my PDA and GPS. He'd heard of Geocaching - we gave him a brochure also. He smiled and told us to carry on and a few minutes later I found the cache on the electrical box nearby. Every so often a thread like this one starts up and it's interesting to see that some people seem to get stopped more often than others - could it be because of our appearances? I'm a 40-year old woman - I look pretty harmless and the only time I got questioned was when I was with my boyfriend - who doesn't look terribly threatening either - but he's a man. I've never been stopped when I was with my teenaged kids or when I've been alone. A couple of people have mentioned in other threads that their own appearance may have been the catalyst for an officer asking them what they're up to - I daresay that there's some "profiling" going on, whether we admit it or not. My policy is to just be truthful and non-threatening and most certainly not be ignorant towards any LEO. They have a job to do, and they should be recognized in a positive way for doing it. If we're just having good wholesome fun, there's nothing to fear in just being honest about our activities, and providing the officer with "evidence" of what we're doing. If we go on the assumption that caches are placed with permission (which they all should be), then wherever we are, it should be OK to hunt the cache. Recently I was looking for a new cache that a popular local had placed... and it had 27 or so DNFs - evil hide... all the other locals were trying to find it. It was behind a cemetery and we assumed that the hider had permission to place it - but even he didn't realize how much traffic that cache would receive. After 10 days it still had not been found and as many as 9 cachers were there at a time looking for the *$#*& thing... and when a clue was posted, I rushed down to the site to hunt it with Nuggs and another cacher who had both spent a few hours looking. After I'd been there about 5 minutes (and we were sure we'd find it this time!), we were approached by 2 of the caretakers of the cemetery, who asked us what we were doing. We explained, and told him we thought the cache was placed with permission. It wasn't. So we apologized and left and notified the cache owner - no problems. The owner contacted the caretakers who declined to give permission so the cache was removed and archived. I did tell the caretaker that if it was any comfort, we'd CITO'd out several bags of trash That didn't impress him enough to grant permission for the cache though. So even though we were technically trespassing (without intent or malice) - no harm came from it. Once we were asked to go, we went - and had we come back, the caretaker would have had every right to call the law and have us removed - nobody wanted that - this is supposed to be good clean fun. Bottom line - for those who "hate" LEO - you may need their help one day so don't be so quick to judge. If you keep getting pulled over/questioned - take a look in the mirror - are *your* actions or appearance the cause? I'd much rather be asked questions and have to explain my actions than have somebody else commit a crime because the officer didn't see a need to stop them and ask what they were doing. It's all in how you look at it, IMO. If you aren't doing anything wrong, a simple explanation should have you on your way. Behave like a butthead - get treated like one. It's really that simple. Jenn

When I first started caching, I was nervous about muggles. I asked a veteran cacher how he deals with it and he just said he just goes for it and acts like he's *supposed* to be doing whatever he's doing. I adopted this technique and it works quite well. If you look like you're doing what you ought to, nobody really pays attention. It's if you are skulking around trying not to look conspicuous that you'll draw attention to yourself. Kind of ironic - yes. But it works. If I think that I am being observed and that somebody will come and check out the cache and muggle it, I'll wait a bit before I move in for it - but more often than not nobody pays attention to what I'm doing. Once or twice I've been asked, and I tell them about geocaching and give them a brochure. Brought a few folks into the game that way. There's a cache outside my place of business, placed by the player who got me into the game (a friend/client of mine) and I have a blast busting people who are out there looking for it I had more fun watching people trying to be stealthy than anything! Jenn

Thanks! I just might do that. That's why a group event is fun - meet other cachers and make some new caching buddies. My boyfriend is now 60 caches ahead of me... I'm going to have to do some serious caching to try to narrow the gap! I'm trying to decipher a puzzle cache right now so I'll know where to look... you folks are big on puzzle caches - my head hurts already! I've got my daughter working to solve one now - want to be ready! Jenn

Thanks so much for the info - I just signed up and posted to the forum. Baking Bread, eh? *g*... looked at that one - right in the good ole Byward Market. Dunno if Mom will be game to go down there, but I'll keep it in mind if she's adventurous. My first "real" job was in the Rideau Centre... ummm 22 years ago... gawd I feel old now... This one is going to be a MUST: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...7c-697f73890e58 since it's so close to home I can probably sneak out before breakfast and get it and not be missed There's a few in that area in the parks I used to hang in when I was a teenager and such. I must remember that I'm there to visit family... not *just* geocache... So many caches, so little time... Jenn

I'm scoping out a few now It's amazing there's a ton of them right near my old homestead. First one I'm going to get is accessible and it's less than .3 km (that's maybe 700 ft!) from home. There's bunches more nearby too - some have the winter icon, some don't. Knowing the area (or at least I used to!) I can probably eyeball from the location whether it's good to look for or not. Darn it I'm excited... first time home in 8 years and I have a mission! Jenn