Trucker Lee

You may wish to leave contact info at the Houston GeoCaching Society page as well.

For the easier caches as you are starting out, look to the graph on the search results page. The bigger the colored box, the larger the owner claims the cache is. You will probably desire to stay away from micros for a bit, unless the coord point to the middle of a parking lot with limited hide locations. Another option would be the cache programs such as GSAK or EasyCache. These could also sort by size and even type if you wish.

You cruise line can tell you which docks you will be using if you ask them. Normally, they have berths reserved for all their ports of call. You could just locate this on the cache finder map and adjust the view to where you wish and run a pocket query from the right of the page. Be sure to name them by the port for easy reference if you cannot load them all at once to your GPSr.

Not always the case. You could lay out a state or county challenge as a means to give yourself an incentive as well. And if you have already done it, can you add your name to the list of those who complete it?

I pick up and move TBs while working, and try to get a few pics posted for the owners. Still, 2 weeks is normally the longest that I want to keep one (which can still add 5000 miles to it's total), and most I keep less than that. But, I am running out of truck friendly caches, and most often those in rest areas are too small or too risky to leave a TB.

If all the persons are claiming FTF within minutes, then yes, there is some collusion going on. Don't sweat it, go find the thing and log it. Although FTF can be fun, it isn't the cache experience itself. Stay with us and play the game, don't let the clique get to you. If they want to bend the rules and give advance notice to their friends, you can't stop it.

It seems you have answered your own question. And got some great outdoor time to boot. Very nice!

Must be tastefully done. Best I have found was a container that when opened played a 3 Dog Night tune. I left there laughing. Did find one that had a rubber snake in it. Heavily wooded and damp area, the swag almost went airborne before I caught myself after that fell into my hand.

You say sent, so I assume you used a wired connection to the Etrex. They will all be the same, easiest way to do that. Have fun.

Place it, but be sure to mention "cache placed with permission of church council". That should be sufficient to let cachers know that certain times of the week may not be the best of times to search, that you do have the proper permission, and whom you got the permission from. As to the swag, tracts that I have seen in caches soon get soggy unless enclosed in plastic. Without being offensive, other items I have seen in caches include handmade crosses of wood and hook stitch, plastic children's necklace with cross, and once, a rosary. Of course, keep in mind that you will also have others leave items there, and will need to keep a watchful eye on the swag for proper decorum.

But now that you got your answer, please don't! Additional graphics, background images, and the like slow the loading of the page for those who may not have the fastest of connections. The more bits to move, the longer it takes to load, and if you are not careful the background pic can really be an outrageous sized file.

Thanks for all your work and efforts, Cheesy. We can understand that work and life will sometimes get in the way of serious caching, wishing you all the best as you go forward. The site was the first stats organizer I used, and really made my new hobby that much for fun when I could see the changes I was making in an easy format. Thanks again.

Dairy Queen for a steak finger basket and blizzard. Wife usually isn't with me so I can get away with eating like that.

I download PQ from Groundspeak or email to laptop, then filter through GSAK for the ones I wish. From GSAK, export to Palm (my PDA loader) and load to GPSr.

I don't care what they call themselves as long as foul language isn't used. I am tired of all the political correctness garbage, but even more tired of hearing people make themselves sound ignorant by using profanity.

Generally, National Forest would be OK as they can and often include private lands within the boundary. National Parks are expressly forbidden. In either case, when in doubt contact the controlling area office. Ranger district offices can be found through the forest website, http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/.

Trails are the result of repeated traffic, it matters not human or critter. In fact, I have regular trails in my back yard because my dogs won't detour to let the grass recover around the corners. Deer, rodents, and even water can make a trail. The important part of leaving no footprint behind is to cause no additional damage. This is done by utilizing trails to as near the goal as possible, then carefully leaving the trail attempting to break no branches, push over no trees, or move the rocks that were slowing the water. If an area looks especially ripe for damage, proper conservation and courtesy dictate going around. If you find that cache, but leave the area looking like a grub-hunting bulldozer has been through, your hunt was not successful even if you get the smiley. We do need to take care of our environment, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the outdoors responsibly.

Often, National Parks are more built up, have a regular maintenance department, do not allow harvesting of resources, and encourage tourism to the attraction they are built around. A National Forest can include private lands, can be leased to individuals or companies for the harvesting of resources, and is patrolled less formally. Edit to add: National Parks are managed by the National Parks Service. National Forests are considered more a resource and are managed by the USDA.

They were hunting as a team, they both were there and signed the log at the same time. In my area, cache owners recognize the "co-ftf" and congratulate as so on the cache page. IMHO, this cache owner you are dealing with is being a bit anal.

I wouldn't care for the idea of having a tracking bug with me, although most of us already use one daily (cell phone can be traced to a region), and would most likely leave such a device where I found it. Which brings up my other point. How would this thing work when locked into an ammo can stuffed under the root knot of an oak tree? Can ya hear me now?

1. Define expert. 2. This definition, do you mean in your mind or the opinion of others.

_____________________________________________________________ The 'not so respectful placement' here is the headstone! The cache is fine. Hold on just a second here! From the apparent age of the headstone, it was likely placed and a tree was planted on the grave. This is a very common practice in old cemeteries. As the tree grows, over the course of centuries, it displaces the headstone. Caretakers and/or family likely have relocated the stone in the midst of the tree in order to mark the grave. In New England cemeteries, (historical Boston) the stones get move, rearranged, relocated over the centuries. That's the nature of stones and graves in a crowded historical cemetery. This particular cache is a travesty, and it's trespassing. My impression was that the marker was placed between the trees for safe keeping, perhaps by a groundskeeper so it wouldn't get run over by a mower, and the cache set later. Replacing or repairing markers is often not in a budget for a cemetery. Still, not a very imaginative hide. Years ago, cemeteries were very often gathering spots for family reunions/work days. A family would gather, clean up around the ancestors, meet and eat with each other, then the kids would learn about family history while walking around with parents and others. {"Here is Uncle Ben, remember him? He had such a sense of humor, remember when he tied the mule to the outhouse while Aunt Susy was inside?"} I have found more than a few cemetery caches, and really enjoyed the ones that brought a history lesson into it. I own one, having adopted it when previous owner couldn't maintain, and see nothing wrong with them as long as one is respectful and considerate if family is visiting the "quiet kinfolk."

Still on sale, not listed on the webpage any longer due to excessive demand. Great price on this unit, mine is on the way. A sideline, the most helpful lady on the phone said she was a cacher as well. Cool!

Status please?

Depends on your container. Found one, and ammo can in a log, that the hole had to be outlined, then chiseled out until the can could fit. Found another that had a jar fitted into the end of a log. This can be done by using a hole cutting bit (for door locks) in a circle, then the middle. Then chisel out the remainder.