JennM

I voted too. Interesting the demographics - but given the people I've met while caching (fellow cachers) I'm not surprised. My kids come with me -they are teenagers. I did not vote for them, as we operate as a "team". Jenn

I sent a note to the owner of that new one I was looking for. If I'm correct, it's right on the underside of the deck of the restaurant - there's no way to be inconspicuous finding it at any time of day because cars whiz right past it. Ones in lamp posts in the far reaches of a parking lot don't bother me so much because usually you can get in and out without too much fuss - but if I'm right about the location of the one I'm referring to - it's impossible to get without being seen by somebody, and rummaging around on the underside of a deck - well there's no easy way to do that. I'll wait to hear back to see if I'm correct but my GPS said I was within 4 feet when I stood at the bottom of the deck and reached up underneath (the deck is above street level). If that's the case - I won't likely return to it - it's too conspicuous for me. Jenn

I set out fairly early this morning, intending to be FTF on a new cache in a nearby town. Also took info on 2 other nearby micros. My kids and I LOVE caches in parks... we enjoy bushwhacking and searching... but on these urban micros I just stink. The first one I went to (the new one I wanted to be FTF), is at a restaurant. I got within about 5 feet, and I'm fairly sure I know where it is, but there were idle employees at the car wash across the street (about 50 feet away) and I just didn't have the cajones to start rooting around under the deck where the cache is supposed to be, so I weenied out and left. The restaurant wasn't open yet - which is why I went early. The next one I tried was at a Salvation Army thrift store - I'm not sure just where it is but it was teeming with people I couldn't even get a parking space. I looked around a bit from my vehicle but couldn't quite figure out where it might be, so I abandoned that effort too. The third one is at a Home Depot - I've grabbed a similar on on Christmas Day (no muggles around then!) well today there were plenty of people around. I checked in a lamp post that looked like a likely spot, but nothing, then the GPS suddenly told me I was 80 feet away. I looked around, wandered around as if I was waiting on somebody, then 2 trucks of contractors pulled up next to me and started exchanging equipment, so I moved to another space... closer to the target, but I just couldn't see where it might be hidden. With enough people around to make me feel conspicuous, I left there and went back to the first location to see if I could work up the nerve to try again - but the idle car wash people were still idle, so I gave up and left. I'm 0/3 on the day - all within a couple of miles of each other. I feel like a geo-failure I've read threads on how people use stealth, how they "hide in plain sight" but I think I just stick out like a sore thumb. What am I doing wrong? Some days the GPSr bounces all around - there's lots of clouds today but I seemed to get a decent signal, and I know enough that when I'm close to a target, to stop worrying about the reading and start looking for the target and start thinking like a cacher, but I'm just not doing something right. Even that Christmas Day micro I looked in about 5 lamp posts before I found the right one (duh!)... but at least there weren't watchful eyes wondering what the heck I was doing. The first day I went caching with my kids and another relative, we found about 3 urban micros - but it was Labor Day and there weren't too many people around so it wasn't too hard to snoop around unnoticed - however, our first-ever find was archived that day because the next cacher to come around got busted by the police and the cache had to be removed -that put a bit of fear in me. The cacher wasn't charged or anything - but I can tell you if we'd been apprehended on our first cache that would likely have ended the hobby for us. I've got 25 finds now, but most are in parks and places like that where it's not unusual for people to be tramping through the woods, "exploring"... Anybody else have micro-phobia? Jenn

Done - thanks for the help. As it stands I've got well over 1000 miles logged for finds so far! This thing is addictive!!!!!!!!! Jenn

Do you mean back-date the bug? I was going to see if I could do that. I'm not at home right now (where the bug is).. but when I go home shortly I am going to play with it and see what I can do. Jenn

Actually, I think I just answered my own question... when I went back into my account, I clicked on "show all logs for caches" and everything I've found to date was listed, including the archived ones. When I get home tonight I'll try activating my spare bug and try logging it through - the list is complete and in order so I'll hopefully be able to calculate my caching mileage to date. Hope this info proves to be helpful to somebody else and not a waste of bandwith And if anybody has anything else to add, I'd appreciate it. Cheers, Jenn

I have a spare travel bug, and now that I have 25 finds, I thought about making the spare a "personal" bug to log my mileage. I'm not a premium member, but I remember all the caches I've found and most of the order in which I found them. I've seen folks logging their personal TB through a cache and I know how to do that, but a couple of my early finds have been archived, and I can't bring them up in a search anymore. For a while, stuff that was archived (not just "disabled") still showed up - but now I can't pull them up at all - is there a way to bring up stuff that's "gone" to log a personal TB through? If not I guess I can only log my TB through the ones that are still active or just disabled. Thanks in advance for any help. I did try to search archives for this topic but came up blank. Jenn

I've had this happen a few times now, there's a bug in the cache's inventory but when we find the cache it's not there. If I see other notes posted in the cache logs (over a period of time) where someone notes that the bug or coin is not there, after I've visited the cache and found that the bug or coin is missing, I post a note on the trackable item's page that I looked and it's not there - and if others prior to me have made the same observation, I mention it there. This happened today, in fact - a Geocoin was not where it was supposed to be, it was placed in October and a few people who have visited the cache in the last few weeks also mentioned in their cache logs that it wasn't there - so when I went, I posted a note on the coin's page. Hopefully the owner will see that and perhaps either research it or mark it missing. Stinks to have something go missing Jenn

To quote the infamous Eric Cartman.... Bet he took all his toys out of the sandbox too. Jenn

Well he logged finds yesterday and 4 days ago - so unless he retired today.... Jenn

We found one of those as part of a multi. That part contained the co-ordinates of the second stage, which was a regular ammo can. I nearly missed that tiny micro - in fact we passed it over twice before I actually tapped it to see if it would move - and it did! Jenn

Here's another one I posted... When we got stuck - we were STUCK. I thought I'd have to call a wrecker - but then the wrecker would get stuck trying to get us unstuck. We pushed and pushed the truck and after getting stuck and unstuck about 4 times, we finally got out. The road we (mis)took was public, but ended in a private drive, rather abruptly, and the property was posted but there was no way to turn around til we got to the house at the end of it - which I HOPE was unoccupied - at least nobody was home at the time. It was weird - old house in poor repair, junk lying around everywhere (OLD junk - derelict junk) but there was a new-looking satellite dish... There was no real driveway, and it appeared that a part of the lawn at the side of the house was being used as a turn around so that's what we did - well it had rained all day the day before and the ground was all slippy and spongy... what a nightmare. I felt bad but we ended up leaving a few ruts as a calling card. Not to mention we were covered in mud from the spray from the whirling wheels that just wouldn't catch the ground and stick.... We did find the park with paved lot where the cache was but didn't find it that day - came back the next day and found it - but only AFTER my daughter took a header down the hill she ran down as a 'short cut'... a few scrapes and she bent her glasses but was otherwise OK. I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who is directionally and terrain-challenged at times! Jenn

OMG that was funny!! I had that same waist-deep thing happen to me once - not while caching, but I was in a park, moving from one baseball diamond to another, via a "shortcut". I swear it looked like a paved path - but it was indeed a narrow but deep canal, stagnant, with grey scum uniformly covering the surface of the water. I was running from A to B, and when I saw the "sidewalk", I jumped down onto (into) the middle of it - you can imagine my surprise when I discovered it was NOT a sidewalk, but pond scum - literally! I had some major 'splaining to do to my Mom when I caught up with her at my destination across the park. I know that wet wedgie feeling very well! Jenn

When I first started caching, there was a good thread about geo-stealth and tips for us newbs and how to not attract attention. One of the bits of advice was to "hide in plain sight" - exactly what you're saying - have a purpose and LOOK like you're where you should be, doing what you should be doing. I've done just that in a few places, and not had a problem (yet). Although the time I was walking up a roadside, the man who was weed-whacking nearby gave me a strange look - but he did NOT follow me when I ducked into the bushes off to the side of the road. Perhaps he was afraid of what he might have found me doing in there!! LOL! Parks are the places I am most relaxed - I try to do micros in parking lots etc., either on holidays or after hours. The cache near me is in a parking lot (sort of) and it's really funny to watch people trying desperately not to be obvious Jenn

Here's 2 logs I posted a few months ago. First attempt was DNF, and the second attempt we found it. Actually it was a multi and we found the first stage on the first attempt. The cache is called 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Playground" and it's got a "space" theme... we're searching for the crash site of a space ship. Some cachers keep that theme when logging their visit - and I kept with that. The cache is owned by a good friend of mine - he got a chuckle out of it too. The cache page can be found here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...50-2aafee6d30f1 Here's our "sequel"...

I have teenagers who cache with me. My daughter usually brings a few bits and pieces that she'll trade if something catches her eye - and IMO it's usually an even trade - trinket for trinket - nothing of much value - "toys" as it were. We found a new cache last week that had some good stuff in it - my son wanted this or that - and I asked him what he'd brought to trade- he forgot to bring anything - so I told him he couldn't just take (there's a very important lesson here for kids!). His uncle was with us, and left money in the cache - about appropriate to the value of the item my son wanted. So he thanked his uncle for the gift. IMO a lot of the little odds and ends are great for kids. I have a cache near my workplace and often I see families out caching, and the little rubber lizard is a wonderful find to a 5-year old. Then Mom or Dad teaches him that he's got to leave the plastic pig in exchange. Even trade - the child learns to give up something to get something. I think that's a good life lesson for the younger set. I found a great cache that was a CD trading post. I did not have any CDs with me to trade, so I just signed the log. Now that I've found a few caches, and have seen what *kinds* of goodies I find in them, I'm getting around to accumulating some stuff for my geocaching bag so I can trade evenly or up if something suits my fancy. As was said above - we're all on our honour in this hobby - and yeah some folks will take something and leave nothing or leave less - that's life. But for most people, and people who are doing this as a family, I think it's a great opportunity to teach kids about sharing and giving and taking fairly. The McToys may not appeal to everybody - but I've seen kids' faces light up when they find something like that - and I think it's great. Jenn

Perhaps he's just seen too many episodes of "Cops" *g* Jenn

I like the logs in this one (hope my link works..) http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...3c-32a263027325 The owner of the cache insists that logs be written in verse - some of them are pretty funny. I haven't sought this one yet, but I read the logs every now and then for a chuckle. Jenn

That's true I suppose - but I've seen a few folks who looked utterly ridiculous - and they *had* to know it, and it's hard to keep a straight face sometimes when you want to burst out laughing... but I digress... I have a neighbour who is a "challenging personality" such as what the OP described. She's not a good neighbour and she makes trouble for anybody that she can - so I put up a fence between my yard and hers (her yard backs up to mine - or vice versa!). Good fences make good neighbours in this case. I can see both sides of the coin in this discussion - honestly I can. There sometimes are people who push a panic button for no reason. That statement can apply to either party in the subject discussed Jenn

Wow - an ecclectic mix of surprises!! I found a letterbox while looking for a cache, but I knew from the cache page that there was a letter box nearby. Other than some trash, we haven't found anything interesting yet. I did "find" another cacher one day, we were both trying to be FTF - I'd looked unsuccessfully, then he came along and beat me to it He didn't know there was another cache in the same park, so when I told him about it we found it together. I guess I "found" a new friend! Curious to see what else I 'find' in my travels as I seek more caches! Jenn

I date back to Krisandmel's day I think Haven't heard the term "BBS" in a long while. I've been there, done that with forums too - and I have owned and maintained a forum on another subject for about 8 years so I've seen my fair share of board wars, cat fights, flame throwers and trolls. By and large, forums can be a wealth of information - and sometimes "mythinformation" (pardon my lithp!) - and it usually doesn't take a seasoned forum veteran too terribly long to figure out who's who after reading a few posts. And yes, sometimes meaning can be lost or misconstrued, particularly if the reader does not fully understand the sense of humour or the mindset of the poster. Sometimes something meant to be funny or sarcastic comes across as rude or insulting when it isn't meant to. I've seen a lot of miscommunications in my day too. I'm new to this sport and these particular forums, so I haven't really made friends or enemies yet. I read posts, and comment based on what I know. A good dose of common sense works well too. Since I'm a newb to the hobby, I do more reading than answering, but I'm not shy to chime in if I think I have something constructive to say. So far, the posts I've read here, for the most part, are informative and humourous, and good-natured. I'm comfy here Jenn

Dude - you need to chill. Nobody's attacking you here - just bantering your encounter about a bit, and sharing some amusing anectotes and opinions. Respectfully - you appear to have a rather defensive attitude - perhaps *that* is part of the problem? Again - I'm not trying to be disrespectful or stir the pot - but you really "sound" -dare I say - a slight bit paranoid. Jenn

There was another thread recently where a cacher encountered police because the cache he was looking for was in an area where a fire had been deliberately set a few days before. Quite understandable that his activity, while innocent, could have been perceived as "suspcious" - but he did nothing wrong, and therefore had nothing to fear. He did speak with the police officer and went on his merry way. If the cacher wasn't doing anything wrong, he has nothing to fear. IMO he put himself more at risk for keeping under the radar - had he been spotted after the fact by the police officer, he'd have been more likely to be detained and questioned because he did try to avoid the encounter. It's a catch-22 at times I guess. I still think if he was not doing anything wrong, or was not where he shouldn't have been, there was no reason to fear. Remember - police officers are there to protect and serve - not to rustle people up "just because". I guess people's perceptions about LEO makes a difference. I was raised to think that police officers are "my friends"... but many are raised to think police officers are the enemy... If I'd been in that situation, I would probably have just made myself available to the officer, along with my geocaching gear and a brochure. I guess to each his own. Jenn

Sad isn't it? Can't even walk through a park without being suspected of something If I had any cajones in that situation I might have turned around and asked why she was following ME? Or better yet - make the call and summon police to ask what SHE was doing? (I know this is a waste of LEO time - I'm just making a funny). Still - when you're doing nothing wrong, it would kind of be funny to turn the tables on the Nosey Parkers out there Jenn

You're right - but have you ever noticed that it's hard not to look guilty if you're accused of something - even if you're not guilty!! Jenn