gravechaser
-
Posts
139 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by gravechaser
-
-
Well, we haven't been able to go caching for about 2 weeks but I have been to "Indianer" and have been picking up likely bits of swag...does that count as being an active cacher?
By the way, otis, you were in my yard awhile back (Tippys), sorry I didn't see you out there or else I'd have come out to say Hi.
I'm on here a lot but I don't say much because I can't think of anything useful or witty to say.
-
Thanks for all the replies. I like the definition from KY. Lord knows I need to walk more and what it better than in an interesting place? If they hold another one close then I'll be attending!
Thanks again everyone!
-
Aye, matey! The suited creatures just raided the house and took my money on the 15th! Beware! Now I don't have enough coin fill the cache I wanted to put out.....
-
My question is, "What is a geocaching Trailmix?" I've used the search feature here and all I have been able to find are references to the Trailmix events that have been held but nothing that tells me what it is.
I've been caching for a little over a year. I have picked up a lot of the commonly used terminology like CITO but I recently saw a Trailmix event take place not far from us. I assumed it was a camp-out type of event where fellow cachers meet up to say hi, scatter out to cache in the area and then campout together to swap stories. However......
Last week we were channel surfing and saw something referred to as a Trailmix where the people were following a trail with GPS locations to pick up pieces of a large puzzle. The team members were scattered out and had to find the end of the trail and put their puzzle together to win something. We caught the tail end of this so I don't know if it was caching-related.
Am I confusing caching with an obscure-channel game?
-
My gosh, Bret, a rough head count of 33 and it's only been 4, count 'em, four days. This may well be the huge event you've been dreaming of!
-
OH YEAH!!!! I'll be there and I'll bring the kids. They thought that was just the greatest place! I'll 'rsvp' when it gets closer though.
-
Lincoln Trail State Park, 2.25 miles south of Marshall, IL, is a nice quiet little park that would make a good central base camp. Terre Haute, IN has many MANY neat caches and there are more than 50 in a 15 mile radius in IL, too.
-
Sorry, Bret....I was referring the the ones that I know who live in Clark Co., IL.....You are the only other one I know from IL and we all know YOU peruse the forums!
-
I've been thinking since reading/watching this thread. I think one possible reason that IL doesn't have it's "own thread" because our fellow cachers don't ever look at the forums. I stumbled into caching and still only know a few fellow cachers. The ones that I do know that are from IL, when asked, have admitted that they don't peruse the forums.
We are from Marshall and I've promised the kids that we will go on our first geo-outing for the year this Saturday. I've been putting it off for health reasons but I promised the kids. Rain or shine we'll be out on the roads finally!
-
My two cents worth: we Illinoisians don't have our own thread because we're all way too busy outside caching to bother posting on a thread!
-
We are in East Central IL and I have seen a "panther". It was a black cougar, several of which have been seen numerous times in Clark county alone. That's why I carry my camera with me at all times, hoping I see it again. They exist here but I think your neighboring wife is a few fries shy of a Happy Meal.
You might tell your neighbors that the position of the Conservation Cops is that if there isn't a specific hunting season for it then they are poaching and if they kill it they will go to jail along with a hefty fine. If they kill the neighbors cow/calves they will be liable for destruction of private property.
A call to the police, not 911 but an office call, might go a long way toward getting the shooting stopped, too.
By they way....put 911 on a speed dial....with neighbors like that you'll probably need it.
-
My typing fingers sometimes go awry....make that exit 247 instead.
-
All great places but if you are coming west on I-70 you will buzz through Terre Haute, IN, which has a multitude of caches and just 17 miles west and in ILLINOIS at the #147 exit (2nd IL exit) is Marshall.
There is one rather close to the interstate, 4-6 in Marshall which is just a mile south of I-70, Lincoln Trail State Park has one which is 5 miles south of I-70, and probably 10-15 within, oh 4-5 miles radius of Marshall. Just do a search on caches for zip code 62441. The majority of them are park and grabs or at least easy terrains.
Marshall has two motels. Restaurants: Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Lincoln Trail Park Restaurant, three family type cafes, and fast foods- Wendys, McDs, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Arbys.
-
Two years ago I was getting a haircut and I arrived early. The gentleman in the chair was telling my hairdresser about what he'd done to her GPS to fix a coordinate problem. I sat and listened as they discussed adding maps, changing waypoint names and "cachers they would like to give a beatin' to.
Finally I caught a pause to ask what they were talking about. For the next 15 minutes I got the education of a lifetime on GPSr, how to use them, the many things they are used for and exactly what geocaching is.
I went home and looked up geocaching.com and after reading up on it I proceeded to ebay the next day and snagged a Garmin Legend for $70 and have been at it ever since. I find it's a fun hobby to engage in.
-
Background: I gave our County Highway dept my master list of 135+ alleged cemetery locations in our county. They then paid three guys to go GPS the locations as best they could. They found five I didn't know of, too. They did a good job of writing down the waypoint coords and I'm currently entering them into EasyGPS, which I use for geocaching. If it matters I use a Garmin Legend, too.
What I need help with is thus- Is there any map program/website/etc that I can use to plot these waypoints on that can be printed? I want to give this information to our local genealogical library for patrons to use when they want to visit these little forgotten gems. What I'm envisioning is a county map or multiple maps that combine to make the whole county that has my waypoints printed on them.
Better yet, someone here may have a better idea of how I can display these waypoints. I plan on printing a list of cem names, coords, and simple driving directions but a map for display would give people a better idea of where they are heading to and other cemeteries in the area.
Is there a way to do this? I'm a novice with maps but I'm willing to learn this necessary skill.
-
I use mine to help map cemetery locations in the county in which we live. The county highway department wants to get all the known burial locations into their new mapping system because folks stop in there looking for directions to the cemeteries. The secretary doesn't know of very many let along where they are. We are marking not only the cemetery location but the entry lanes to them since some are way back in the woods.
On my personal unit I have added in detailed local mapping for the county and I've used that little Garmin's map page to give people directions. I just scroll along the roads they will need to travel so they can see where they will be going.
Works pretty good as long as my batteries hold out. -
We live in the country and are on a corner where a road intersects the highway in front of our house. Our "home" cache is hidden in an evergreen in our extensive windbreak. It is a medium sized cache.
In our description we note that:
1) yes, we have a dog and she absolutely can NOT go out that far and she's so used to people being out on that corner that she doesn't even bark anymore.
2) a quick description of our house so you know which side of the highway it is on
3) I give coordinates for parking as we have a driveway there that prime for parking in to search from.
It continues to amaze me at how many people DO stop to find the cache and when logging it proceed to say how uncomfortable they were on "private" propery or how much they dislike caches so "near" a home.
I think to soothe the fears of those who are uncomfortable I'm going to have the kids make a couple of small wooden signs with the Leatherman mark on it. Those signs will be at our driveway and at the gap where folks slip through the trees.
-
I find myself examining potential containers and have a great time testing them!
I'm excited to go for a walk!
The kids like to point out potential cache locations
I have a camera at all times for those unexpected little treasures/views now
We've become more aware of our county and the incredible areas within it like:
abandoned churches & schools
abandoned cemeteries
wonderous geological sites never before seen
old timberframed barns
beautiful homes & landscaping
old old concrete bridges
local legends
local historical sites
homes of friends
road names
and I can now navigate the entire county with confidence. We're ready to hit Crawford County now to expand our local knowledge base. I do this with our kids and we are having a grand time, thanks to many ingenious area cachers. THANKS!
-
We try to keep a partial roll of toilet paper in the vehicles. It is used for not only its intended use but also for blowing noses and covering ouchies. We had used the last of our roll and what was in the next cache?
A travel size roll of TP in a little resealable clamshell! At the local discount store we found them priced at less than $1.50. We also have traded out tape measures and replaced with pliers and small crescent wrenches. -
I take coordinates for the cemeteries that we are brought to or that we stumble across.
The local genealogical library had abt 60 cemeteries "transcribed", which means they've been visited and the tombstone information was written down. That was last done btw 1970-1974 so I'm adding coordinates, and directions (thanks to my MapSource addition!) to their cemetery books and I mark waypoints at them so I can return to update the "newer" residents. I've added so many small family cemeteries that the library is up to 136 and going! The kids like doing this with me, we talk history, technology of the times, local relationships, etc.
Plus all this walking should count as working out- I've lost weight during the months that I do all this walking.
-
Hi, Otisb89. I grew up south of Marshall, attended school here all 13 years and live south of town. My closest friend who goes by "rockdivas" caches with her kids as do I. There are a couple of folks from West Union too. Oh, and a lady that I go to Church with. She doens't cache alone but has gone with a cacher friend several times and enjoys it.
The next event that comes up in Terre Haute or in the Clark Co area...well...you HAVE to attend. I've been to several and have been able to put faces to the names I see in the logs. I have yet to have a bad meal, either!
-
Yes, we use them.
I and the kids get PI practically by looking at it so we check for that, snakes, times available, things like that. It tells me that we need plan our time out or to dress more hard-play and that the particular cache isn't going to be a short-time find.
We plan our trips around the type we feel like doing that day so those little attributes come in handy.
-
Mine is "Homer".
"Bring Homer over here, Mom."
"Can I use Homer? I'll be nice to him, I swear!"
"C'mon Homer, take me home!"
"Doh! Nice job, Homer."
Oh, it gets called a lot of other things when the kids aren't with me and, like others here, I can't say what or I'll get in trouble with The Establishment.
-
When out on foot searching: no music only the sounds of the area.
When in the vehicle: Nickelback and Jimmy Buffett. What a mix, huh?
My typing fingers sometimes go awry....make that exit 247 instead.
Works pretty good as long as my batteries hold out.
A travel size roll of TP in a little resealable clamshell! At the local discount store we found them priced at less than $1.50. We also have traded out tape measures and replaced with pliers and small crescent wrenches.
MOONSHINE 2008!
in Midwest
Posted
Jenischmeni, Lincoln Trail is a nice campground. I don't know if they take reservations, though. We live just a bit north of the park, I can find out pretty quickly for you.