SerenityNow

When we go on vacation we always try to fit in a horseback ride as part of the fun. It is not always easy to find a good public stable in some areas, though. We feel that a comprehensive Waymarking list with prices, locations, hours, and satisfaction ratings would be an invaluable tool in our future vacation plans.

"Proper place" according to YOU. Certainly not according to me. "Speak for yourself, John Alden!"

We were happy to see the long awaited answer to the virtual & locationless problem in GC.com, but upon first looks at the Waymarking site we are disappointed. The uniqueness issue was totally ignored even though in every explaination of Waymarking the unique issue is pointed out. With the very broad categories being offered, why not phrase it unique and mundane. I do understand that Waymarking can someday become a powerful database of useful places and information, but it really isn't part of a game or sport which, we think, geocachers thought they were getting. Why not promote it as a travel resource? The only reason we see geocachers so involved is that they carry GPSrs and can mark the waypoints for the site.

Jeremy, you had a chance to create another interesting site, but after seeing the initial offerings and the suggestions being made, it seems you've only succeeded in making a website devoted to lists. List your favorite McDonalds, your nearest amusement park, Starbucks, etc. Some of the categories and waymarks are interesting and unique. Why not make sure they all are? We had been looking forward to the new Waymarking site, but it seems you threw out all the negative feedback about locationless and virtual listings and welcome them here. We may be totally missing the point of the site, but at least we can rest in the fact that we don't have to visit it. Before we end, we'll just quote your own words - "So what is Waymarking? While geocaching is a way to place containers in the world for others in the find, the tables are now turned and it is up to you to go out and find unique objects and places around the world." We see the word unique there!

Actually, we've enjoyed geocaching so much because it draws us to unusual and less frequently visited areas. We see there is already a catagory for McDonalds and you mentioned Starbucks and Tim Hortons. We are very surprised that geocaching.com would want to bring us to these over exposed locations. We say, be critical, drop all the run of the mill catagories and leave the unusual or unique. One of kind tea houses and coffee houses would fit the bill quite nicely. Let's not turn the new Waymarking site into the locationless fiasco.

We vote a resounding NO! This has already been a hot topic on Geochums, our northeast Ohio forum. Some say it is no different than an ad in a phone book or on the sports page of the newspaper. Here is our thought: "Well, I don't know who said it first, but in the words of some famous person "Two wrongs don't make a right". Kids pictures and family photos are plastered all over Geocaching.com. They pride themselves on being family friendly. The yellow pages don't. Heaven knows the sports world doesn't! Not with the behavior of the major sports figures these days. Therein lies the difference. If you want to go to a gentleman's club in any city then by all means use the phone book in that city, or do a search on the Internet for one. Why should this have to invade every aspect of life including our sport? Some may say that this type of thing is "everywhere we look so you can't shelter your kids". I say that it is only everywhere we look if WE let it be everywhere we look. There is no reason it has to be on this site. There are plenty of other wonderful, exciting, artistic, etc places that can be featured. Why not just concentrate on those. There certainly are enough places already where the "seedy" side of life can be viewed or researched."

I just stumbled on your videozine today and got a kick out of watching episodes 3 and 4. I even put a link to episode four on our area forums - Geochums. I think a lot of the folks around here will enjoy it.

What's all this talk about 5/5s??? It's not all about the numbers for us... we do the 1s, 2s, & 3s too! If it's a cache... we'll do it!

We're having a great time in Geochums. The forums feel like a smaller version of groundpeak's.

So what link would you put in for the cache you mentioned? I'm a bit confused on what to put in that link field on his form.

What has it replaced? Hmmm.... Where to begin? Housework Yardwork Boredom in the winter Reluctance to leave the air conditioned house in the summer TV on the weekends I'm sure there's more, I just can't think of anything right now. All in all it's been a good trade off!

I just use a ZipLock baggie for both my PDA and my GPS in the rain. It works fine. Cheap too!

Everything is working fine for us on FireFox. The system is very slow tonight though. Nice day here in the MidWest so EVERYONE is logging like crazy!

Chill, at least you know where it is! I still can't believe the jerks that take a travel bug and keep it. 99.9% of these things are practically worthless, except to the bug owner.

I get the same question at work every Thursday during lunch... "So, you geocaching this weekend?" When I say yes, of course, they all start talking about how much fun it sounds. A couple even want to try it in the spring.

In my area of the country we call this a quickie:

I feel BigRedMed said it very well. There is a place for all the different style hides. The responsibility of monitering the quality is in the approvers hands. The same goes for the whole "charity" issue that gets discussed ad nauseum. As Bigredmed says, "get to the root of the problem". I enjoy the variety of cache hides out there, traditional, virtual and locationless. I would have lost interest if all the caches involved a 5 mile round trip walk through the woods.

Very cool, Jeremy. Good work! By the way, I found a Lexus under a snowbank after the recent snowstorm here in Cleveland. Anyone know if Lexus has forums. Hey, a guy can dream!

Lynn and Lucy have been a part of our lives now for a long time and we love them both dearly. We feel as if we know the entire family, as they all pitched in to celebrate our 1000 finds with us. We love them both dearly and our thoughts and intense prayers go out to them. Lynn, Kevin, and family, when you have a moment to read this, know that we are praying constantly for Lucy and her safe return. For those who wonder where they are located, the family lives in PA between Lancaster and Hershey. We are sure that the entire geocaching community in that area will be involved in any way they can to aid in the search, as CCCooperAgency and SBux are much loved cachers with more friends than they can count. If more help is needed, Lynn and Kevin, just post a meeting place here and your friends from everywhere will be there in a flash. As for Tom and I, we are only 6-8 hours away. All you need do is call us or e-mail and we'll be on our way. So, prayers are needed from everyone. And Lucy, if you are reading this and you need help, you know how to find us. Just call. We love you. Tom and Anna Mary SerenityNow North Royalton, Ohio

Here's two of our favorite winter cache finds JacksonBog/Tour de Force and East Reservoir Island. As long as you're dressed warm, winter caching is great.

As far as traveling items go, you should add that the owner of a traveling item should have the goals attached to the traveling item, otherwise risk the traveller moving in an undesired direction. It shouldn't be up to the finder to figure out what the goal is. I personally DON'T want to see anything about traveling items in the code. People need to LET GO. TBs have been essentially thrown away. Donated if you prefer, to enhance the game for some. Leave them OUT. Every time someone whines about a bug I just want to scream. They don't belong in the code. Hmmm... That's YOUR opinion! There are those of us who really enjoy TBs and think they are a real enhancement to the geocaching experience. Perhaps YOU have "Let Go" of them, and that is certainly your right, but there are those of us who choose to continue to enjoy them. A few TB guidelines in the code would be nice, especially those suggested by Kai Team.

They really are a pain to log and drop. Now I generally just leave them in a cache when I run across them. I'm afraid they're here to stay, though, because they're inexpensive to buy. Everyone thinks they can build a better mouse trap, but why mess with success. Jeremy has a good set up and it keeps getting better. I misread the original topic post and my log has to do with finding travelertags in caches. As far as gc.com TB's, they should stay in gc.com caches. That's how they're tracked.

GRADE D-

Hmmm... interesting thought. We hadn't thought of the Jeep account. Well, at least we haven't had any e-mail from them!

Absolutely not! Can't imagine why the heck we would want them. Darn, we can't even collect for a charity, so why in the world would we want to open up to comercial accounts?????