TeamHarrison

Yes, that was a very nice touch. We can't wait to see the Geocoins!!!

Occasionally I happen across posts complaining about the bureaucracy of placing caches on local public lands. It saddens me that many still refuse to weigh the positives of geocaching against the oddly perceived negatives. With that in mind, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to share a story of how my local city Parks and Recreation Department has embraced geocaching in a major way. Please enjoy this tale of how things CAN work and good luck with getting this level of support in your area! http://www.tagfla.com/content/TPR.htm

If you use GSAK, there is a handy note pop-up that will allow you to save notes with a cache AND helps with logging caches. VERY cool feature. I believe you hit Ctrl - T to bring it up. I believe you can even save images with the notes in GSAK. I use that some, but mostly we take pictures at notable caches. For Christmas last year, I painted a cheap photo album with the same camo scheme I use on caches I hide. I gave that to my wife, filled with pictures from each of the caches we had done from the previous ~6 months. We don't take pics at every cache, but when we do, I get them made and add them to the book with the date and cache name. It's really need to see the pics from time to time and see the kids growing up!

Hmmmm. I went there this morning and there was GeoTag information at CoinSwag.com. You can barely find a reference to "GeoTags" now. What happened?

We just received ours and couldn't be more thrilled with the quality! We're not trading them... ...yet, but do hope some lucky cachers will begin finding them in more and more caches!

I've had cards made for a couple of caching organizations I belong to that seem to be a little more resistant to moisture than most. I get them from http://www.overnightprints.com and get the UV coating for no extra cost. This coating seems to make the cards slightly more rigid (a good thing) and more resistant to moisture. They're holding up really well.

I get angry about DNFs. I mean come on, the hider has clearly violated a million "rules", policies, or just plain has no manners! The coords are clearly bad and/or it is a completely inappropriate hide! ...and then I realize that Geocaching teaches me more about my own personality flaws than anything else. I'm learning that sometimes the coords are right on, the hide is appropriate (or even downright clever), and that not all caches are meant to be found on the first hunt/within 15 minutes/possibly ever... ...by me. So... ...DNFs are making me a better person.

Amazingly, we did a lot of things *right* from the start! About the only thing I would have changed would have been to go ahead and drive 20 - 30 minutes away, on those days where we had plenty of time for caching, rather than focusing on "clearing" all of the nearby caches. We've done a masterful job of clearing the close ones now and don't have any targets for quick caching trips (when we might only have time for a quick grab). Yeah, it's hard to ignore those nearby ones that "throb" on your map, almost shouting, "Find me! Find me!", but it's really nice to have them available for quickies!

I would want to find that cache just to read the log! I think this would work better in a real heavy tourist area like Orlando, Florida. That way, the majority of loggers would be out-of-towners and feel a bit more open about jotting down their "secret". I'm sure you'd get a laughable number of "Killed a man while caching." logs too, though. LOL!

2007 International CITO Day, Luther Hall Landing CITO ( http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...4b-98919562b890 ). Conditions were perfect for a cleanup and I'm SO proud of the 22 attendees and the job they did. They REALLY made an impact. (Basecamp) (Supply Table) (Gathering) (Geokids Before the Cleanup) (Cleanup Boats Launching) (Hbunch Cleaning the Cove) (TeamGeoduck Cleaning the Shore) (Chris Cleaning Near the Boardwalk) (Cleaning the Park) When we finished up, the haul of trash was quite amazing. We found toasters, propane canisters, tires, barrels, bottles, LOTS of bait containers, and many other types of litter. The picture below really doesn't fully reflect and relay the amount and weight of the trash we actually collected! (Attendees of the 2007 International CITO Event at Luther Hall Landing Park!) Again, I cannot thank everyone enough for their efforts. I sincerely hope that all attendees had a wonderful time and know that they really made a difference!

2007 International CITO Day, Luther Hall Landing CITO ( http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...4b-98919562b890 ) Recap: What a wonderful day for a Cache In Trash Out event and what a wonderful turnout. I cannot thank the attendees of this event enough! Your efforts *REALLY* made a huge impact on the park and shoreline! The weather held out and we had perfect conditions. It was sunny and warm with just enough of a breeze to keep the skeeters at bay most of the time! (Gathering) (Geokids Before the Cleanup) We had 22 humans and one (1) geopup in attendance. After a brief welcome and safety briefing, those with boats took over the sizable task of cleaning up the cove and shoreline around the park. (Cleanup Boats Launching) (Hbunch Cleaning the Cove) Everyone else spread out to cover the park and especially the hard-to-reach areas around the boardwalk and fishing docks. While the camp hosts, Ty and Phyllis, do a masterful job of maintaining the main area of the park and facilities, some of the areas off the beaten path were definitely in need of attention. (TeamGeoduck Cleaning the Shore) (Chris Cleaning Near the Boardwalk) (Cleaning the Park) As if all of the trash collected weren't enough, there were a couple of run-ins with *SNAKES*. Vernon of Hbunch must have thought it was a stick and tried to pick it up! (OK, not really. He's an amateur snake wrangler.) (Snake Did *NOT* Fall for the Bottled Water Mesmerization Trick and Latched ON!) (Hbunch Wrangles the Snake) When we finished up, the haul of trash was quite amazing. We found toasters, propane canisters, tires, barrels, bottles, LOTS of bait containers, and many other types of litter. The picture below really doesn't fully reflect and relay the amount and weight of the trash we actually collected! (Attendees of the 2007 International CITO Event at Luther Hall Landing Park!) After the pictures we headed back to the pavillion area to reward a few of our attendees with some door prizes. Congratulations to our winners: Kim (Qanine) - FGA T-Shirt, Amy (Tallahassee-Lassie) - $25 Wal Mart Gift Certificate, and Linda (Sorcia) - 2005 Groundspeak Volunteer Geocoin. A special thanks to: -Leon County Parks and Recreation for making the camping area available at no charge and for cleanup supplies. -Keep Tallahassee Leon County Beautiful for cleanup supplies. -Wal Mart for a $25 Gift Certificate. -CVS for CITO Containers (Pill Bottles) and Bags. -Groundspeak Volunteer Reviewer Palmetto (Meg) for the 2005 Groundspeak Volunteer Geocoin. Again, I cannot thank everyone enough for their efforts. I sincerely hope that all attendees had a wonderful time and know that they really made a difference!

OK, it's there now. Thank you. I must admit, I'm VERY disappointed that these weren't available prior to the 2007 International CITO Day... That just perplexes me. Thanks, again, for the info everyone.

I've ran the course of Geocaching "bags". I started out with a small backpack. It was comfortable, but overkill. I ended up overpacking it in the beginning until I wised up. Once I had simplified the load, there was no longer a need for a backpack. I used this pack for 6 months. After the backpack downsizing, I went to a North Face fanny pack (a.k.a. - butt pack, lumbar pack, waist pack). It was larger than some you'll find, but that was still just a tad too small. It had two pockets. One on each side of a water bottle holder. While it was just a tad too small to hold everything I wanted to carry, it was plenty big enough to carry some weight. Even though it was padded and had respectable, wide straps, it would still ride down and make my hips ache. I used this pack for 3 months. The result of the two trials above lead me to believe that I wanted a lumbar pack, but with shoulder straps to keep the load from riding down on my waist/hips too much. I found the perfect setup in the Mountainsmith Tour Lumbar Pack with the optional shoulder straps. The pack comes with a single "shoulder strap", but you'll really want the additional and actual shoulder straps (like on a backpack) they sell. The name of the add-on straps escape me right now. PM me if you can't find them. They're very worthwhile and really keep a weighty pack supported. Best of luck!

Did anyone ever find out where I can buy these if there are any left?

Perhaps it's a Letterbox? Check out http://www.letterboxing.org

The March Signal Calendar is still linked on the front page. Any chance of getting the April one posted? Thanks!

Can someone provide an updated link for the 2007 CITO Geocoin. The above link is leading me to a "Product Not Found" page there. Thank you!

Thanks for the ideas. Now for the (not so) funny thing. When I opened the battery compartment to check for the pads, one of the metal contacts fell out. It had become brittle and broke. Fortunately, the pressure of the battery will keep it in-place until I can send it in during a break in the caching in a few weeks. And by the way, no... ...it didn't have the foam pads. I'll be sure to mention the shut-offs when I send it in. Maybe they'll add the pads when they fix the other issue.

I always use my 76CSx with the Geocaching.com lanyard and have never once lost satellites due to it being suspended upside down. It's a non-issue here.

When my Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx is suspended from a GC.com lanyard and bouncing around on my stomach, it FREQUENTLY will shut down. While I'm a tad bit rotund, the amount of bouncing the unit is subjected to doesn't seem excessive to me at all. And my stomach's pretty soft, so I'm not sure why it would be shutting down. Is this normal behavior? Do I have a unit with something loose? I have looked down at it as it was shutting off and it just sort of fades out until it's off. While hiking, I've seen some pretty varied results in what kind of motion will shut it off. In other words, I've seen plenty of times where a significant jostle would not shut it off while a much smaller one later would. Any ideas? If I send this back to Garmin before the 1-year warranty is up (soon), how long am I going to be without my beloved GPS? Thanks, friends!

Hilarious! Thank you for the link to the past. I think there are some pretty good justifications for SEA - TOE as what I'll go with. The whole Geo / CITO angle swayed me. LOL! Thanks, again!

OK, I've heard a few different pronunciations of the abbreviation, CITO. I'm wondering if there is an "official" or generally accepted "correct" pronunciation? Is it? A. Sea - toe. B. Sit - toe. C. Sigh-toe. D. Sea - two. E. Sit - two. F. Sigh - two. G. "Pick up trash thingy". Thanks for the input.

Deleted Cookies, deleted Temporary Internet Files, and nothing works. Still the same problem.

I'm getting the error trying to upload pictures.

As previously stated, log a Needs Maintenance. If you do pick it up, message the cache owner with an offer to return it to them. If no response AND you have the time, patience, equipment, and interest... ...you can always take the old log, dry it out, tape the logbook pages on standard paper, scan those in, and save the scanned images to the cache. I've done this on a few local caches in an effort to save those original full or damp logs for posterity. I've gotten some positive feedback from people that appreciated at least seeing their log entry live on electronically on the cache description page.