mbbaumann

I haven't checked out of my hotel for GeoWoodstock XI yet and I am looking forward to XII.

I am growing a little frustrated with people who have picked up either one of my geocoins or a travel bug and do not release it again. Some of them have held these items for a year or more and log them as "visiting" but never release them. I have stopped releasing coins for this reason but I still release TB's on a regular basis. A few of my items released at GeoWoodstock X in Indiana are still in the hands of the cachers that picked them up there but they just are not releasing them back into the game. I did not release these items to go into the personal collection of cachers that regularly remove items from the game. (Some of these folks are hoarding up to 30 items released by other cachers, including promotional items like Jeeps released by Chrysler a few years ago.)

How about Williamsburg, VA! Great location! Lots of history in the area, a mother load of geocaches, great groups of Geocachers throughout the Old Dominion to make it happen!

I opened the site last night and my profile page had 5 recently viewed cache pages listed. My question is, Why? I don't really understand why this is necessary or desirable. Am I the only one scratching my head over this "update"?

I have a case of a local cacher who fancies himself as an "expert" in Earthcaches and in geology. Ironically, he was the "guest speaker" at a 10-10-10 event that we had in our area about EarthCaches. He posted a find on one of my EarthCaches (GC1F5X4) in North Carolina with an incorrect answer and no photos. While I have been fairly liberal in allowing finds, even with a wrong answer, when I am confident that the finder had actually been to the location, this guy's answers were odd. I sent him an email reaffirming the requirement for a photo and telling him that one of his answers was incorrect. A few days later he posted 2 photos. They struck me as strange because they were very tightly cropped. Upon a closer review, I figured out that he had taken the photos from the logs of other finders of this and a nearby regular cache. Based on this I sent him a note telling him I was disallowing the find. In response he proceeded to try to convince me that I was being difficult and he was in possession of superior information based on his trips previously to the area with a local Virginia uiversity. If that wasn't bad enough, proceeded to insult me because I am retired from the military. I consider the issue closed and the log disallowed. I am not sure I want to engage this chucklehead because I Geocache for fun and I have enough drama in my real job and life. On the other hand he is representing himself as an EarthCache "expert" and is pretty critical of others who have placed EarthCaches in the region that don't meet his high standards. Funny, this guy is phoning it in and giving us grief. Any recommendations?

I am trying to build a Wherigo Cartridge and an associated Geocache and it is proving to be really frustrating. I am working with the builder but I am having problems getting all the elements to work properly. I am looking for a good tutorial so I can get this thing built. There is an active caching community here that I think would be interested in this new type of cache (the closest Wherigo Caches to this area are in northern Virginia and Washington D.C.) I would appreciate it if anyone could steer me to a good set of instructions on how to methodically build a cartridge efficiently with a good chance of success. I have all my locations, photos and tasks laid out. I just can't make a lot of sense out of putting it all together. HELP!? I am beginning to realize why there are so few of these around and none in my area.

I'm 47, my better half is 45. When we have a particularly difficult puzzle cache we employ our very bright 17 year old. 21 is interested on college breaks and 15 thinks we are all nuts.

I spoke with a Ranger last September in the Hyde Park area of the Mid Hudson Valley in NY (I was up from Virginia to drop my son off at his college in Poughkeepsie). I was searching for a few caches that were on a trail across from the FDR Presidential site and had the luck of teaming up with a local cacher I ran into on the trail. The land had been in a trust that was recently given to the NPS. The ranger happened upon us searching for a cache and started asking a lot of questions. He accompanied us on the trail for a few finds and left with a favorable impression of geocaching, mostly because we were carrying out 2 bags of trash from the trail. Those caches were archived a few months later because they were on the property acquired by the NPS. That one ranger saw the minimal impact we had on the land and appreciated the care we took in our search and the amount of trash we removed from the area. I know that there are some people in every endeavor who ignore rules or just don't care, but my experience in the year I have been geocaching is that those people I have stumbled upon in the woods from North Carolina to upstate New York so far have been very respectful of their surroundings. They may be a little out of their minds, but they are trying to have fun, see new things and leave as small an imprint as possible. The best endorsement for allowing our access to the National Parks is our continued respect for the land and the people who oversee it. Following the rules will go a long way to warming your local Ranger up to our hobby and maybe then they can change the misinformation at the decision making levels.

Can someone tell me what the Virginia DeLorme may be? I am thinking it is identifying caches found in all the counties of the Commonwealth, but I cannot confirm it and googling was not much help last night. I saw a macro for GSAK but I am still not sure what it all is.

I think it is great! Congratulation and keep searching! Only the curious have something to find! Michael Virginia!

Garmin sent me an RMA number and has promised to send it or a replacement back in 7 business days. I am going to ship my unit off after Labor Day Weekend (can't miss some prime geocaching opportunities after dropping my son off at college in NY). I'll let you know how it goes.

I have had my Garmin Etrex Venture CX for less than a year and already the rubber piece that surrounds the entire unit is coming loose, the glue seems to be failing. I have attempted to get through to Garmin's on line product support but I have been unsuccessful. Is anyone having the same problem? Any thoughts on solutions? Michael

It is already activated. Just grab it like you would any other TB.

"Ivishak River (AK)" Red Jeep Travel Bug will begin its travels in a cache near my home in Chesapeake Virginia. I am waiting to get a look at the contest rules on 1 July before I release it. I will keep the promise to let it go before 2 weeks passes. In the meantime, I will keep it with my Silver Jeep TB.

One of my TB's went to Raliegh for the big event. I was a little wary of the potential for this item to disappear at GW5. Low and behold it showed up in Delaware on Tuesday night. It is moving again and I am happy about that. I realize that there is a risk that it will just disappear in some cache that was either muggled or some cacher decided it was a cool item. If that happens, I have another TB tag and I know where to get the item I used again at the Naval Station where I work. In the big scheme of things, I am doing this for fun. I just can't get all worked up over it because that would make it feel like work and I do too much of that as it is. I hope your TB turns up in some interesting place, place there by someone that enjoyed the North Carolina hospitality at GW5. From where I sit in Virginia, I think that is what this is all about.

I am a native New Yorker myself. Born in Brooklyn (Park Slope) transplanted to Virginia by a career in theNavy. I am familiar with the central part of New Jersey (Madison, Summit, Morristown) from relatives who moved to the burbs in the 70's so I am familiar with the how pretty NJ can be. I will load your cache into the garmin and see if I get a chance to go searching. Thanks! MBB

I am heading from Southeastern Virginia to pick up my son at school in Poughkeepsie, NY on Sunday May 13 and returning to Virginia on May 14th. I would love to get a couple of NJ caches in my inventory as I approach 100 finds. So my question to all of you is this: Are there any caches within a mile or to of the Turnpike coming north or the Parkway heading north from the exit on the Turnpike (I believe it is exit 10)? I have my MD and DE locations picked but I need some New Jersey Options. I may get my 100th cache in the Garden State if this works out the way I plan. Any assistance is appreciated. Michael

I am reporting it. I was hoping for proof of alien abduction. Actually, no I thought this may have been a glitch that other people may have experienced.

AMEN! While geocaching has chosen not to do anything about such situations, aren't you accepting and condoning such behavior? Mind your own business, and let the thieves steal anything that they want? I have a handful of TB's wandering around out there. Do I expect them to last forever?No. Do I expect them to only fall into the hands of people that move TBs like I do? No! Am I going to get all worked up about some small minority of people that behave badly and don't follow the rules? No! I do this to get out and relax, I have more than enough stress in my life without compounding it by crusading against Jeep horders. I am for calling people out for sitting on TBs for long periods of time, but that should be the owner of the TB to do with the cacher holding the item.

You would have to buy a block of tracking numbers. I've personally never made a coin, but I gather that you have to buy quite a chunk of tracking numbers...If you're only planning on making a few, you could buy Travel Bug tags and use those tracking numbers; or you could track it on another site, such as sigitem.com I have placed Navy Challenge coins from ships of the Atlantic Fleet into caches locally without tracking numbers. I used them as swag. I had so many of these things from my days on active duty conducting training events on ships that I had no where to put them when I retired. People take them as swag items. I did take a Navy coin that had openings in it and attach a travel bug to it. It is currently wandering around somewhere up north in Pennsylvania. When it comes down to it, you can put anything in play that you wish as long as it meets the standards of the sport. Have Fun! MBB

I made sure that the photo of the Cab and it's traveling companion were positioned to keep the ID number from being visible. The log does not show the TB being teleported to distant caches or nearby space stations. Must be a glitch. MBB

I am a little confused. I have a TB named Cache Cab II that is currently bouncing around in the upper Midwest. It entered a cache, Ogre's Enchanted Swamp Geocache (GC12MN8) where it seemed to have logged an impressive 3702 miles then it was discovered and returned to the same cache where it logged another 3701 miles. Abducted by alliens? A long fare in the cache cab just driving around and not paying (imagine the wear on my tires!). Only 3 of the 5 items placed in the cache (look in the history) have taken this 3701 trip. Jeeps and witches seem to be immune. So my question for you is... What is making this cache accelerate my poor Cache Cab II through the miles in this particular cache? Any ideas? Ridiculuous concepts work as well as serious theories.

AMEN!

Having retired from the Navy not long ago I have been placing the ships' challenge coins I have been given over the years in some of the tougher caches I have been to. I also drop them in caches with patriotic themes.