k7-wave

OK, here are mine, no duplicates shown. I have a Canadian coin and several lovely new Washington State coins available to trade for a California, Texas or Michigan coin or most anything else you dont see here. Eventually I plan to have a personal coin minted also.

I picked mine up on Saturday and got the highly coveted and desperately sought after #109! It's going nowhere but watch out for the others in the 970 range.

Nope, no alter-egos here! I just wanted to log the bug since I was once a crew member in the organization it represented. I dropped it in Barbie Cache on Bainbridge island on Feb 29th. This was during the Chilly Hilly bicycle event. I carried the bug in my seat pack along with the GPSr. The first food stop was in this park so before refueling I went to find the cache. While I had the box open two individuals came along with a GPSr. It was xtracache (who had already found the cache) showing a buddy how to geocache. Apparently they didnt take the bug or log that day. Rev13 mentioned in his log that he was an experienced geocacher from a year prior so he wouldn't have been xtracache's buddy. I was disappointed that this bug never moved again, especially after Rev13's enthusiastic writeup on the bug page. This is not something you could ever replace since the organization it symbolized ceased to exist a dozen years ago.

Congrats John on the big 2K! Looks like you chose a good one for the milestone!

WOW! That's a great post. The things we go through to obtain a precious Moun10Bike coin. Keep trying and you WILL get one. I was at Lily Point-Roberts right after Moun10Bike visited and failed to notice that there was a version 2 coin inside! Imagine me kicking myself. Since the coin was still logged into that cache a week later I even drove all the way back up there, was scrutinized at the international border twice in and twice out, and the coin had been removed the day prior and not logged out online! Well I finally got one at GCD by getting up at dawn like you did and going after it in the rain. Since I have it I dont have to chase them anymore and I'm glad about that. It is so frustrating to chase phantoms. People need to log the darn things out the same day they remove them, and not log them into caches at all (especially overnight) if they aren't going to leave them. BTW I have crashed on my bike in the past and could actually feel the pain as I read your report. I wish you a speedy recovery and a REAL coin waiting for you on your next attempt! Look for caches where Moun10Bike himself has dropped a coin and you'll know it's for real.

GPS III left on top of the car. It hit the asphalt at 45 MPH and tumbled for a long ways. Retrieved it with seconds to spare as an 18-wheeler was bearing down on it. The antenna didn't separate but very edge on the case was all chewed up. I turned it on and it worked fine. The display screen escaped without a scratch. I sanded down the edges with #600 fine sandpaper and could hardly believe how well the unit looked and felt. You have to look VERY closely to distinguish it from a new unit. That was over a year ago and I'm still using it, having found over 1000 caches with it so far!

If they are doing logging or other operations during a weekday you'll often find the gates open. I have never seen them open during the weekend, though. Also, I once drove through one of the open gates and got scolded by a very surly truck driver. As a result, I'm of the impression that you are not allowed to drive in even when they are open. I did this fine cache (Got Coin?) this afternoon. Yep, the gate was wide open. But there was a company truck and a guy sitting in it making sure no cars went in. There are logging operations going on 0.5 miles in just east of the road and up the hill. They were loading timber onto trucks. I was glad to get past that loud mess and hiked on to the cache. When I got back after 5PM the gatekeeper was gone. probably got off work at 5PM, gate was wide open. But there were at least three posted "No Motor Vehicles" signs at the trailhead. You might be able to sneak in after five but you risk being spotted by the logging operation. I suggest just hiking in, no worries. Besides the find wouldn't be as meaningful as a drive-by.

Congrats Cooperdog on reaching 200!

Garmin GPS III (refurbished) unit. My one and only GPSr. Got it in December 2002, found 1000 caches with it and it still works like new. Someday I'll treat myself to a 60CS but I dont feel a pressing need to upgrade for the time being.

I agree with Evergreenhiker! on this. I have done it on occasion to swap TBs if the cache is close to home and I've been holding a TB too long. Also there is a popular bug hotel along a bike path where I like to train on my road bike. I've hit that one several times. I always post a note and list my trades. I also agree that it is bad form to revisit a cache to remove a prized item. A Moun10Bike coin sat in a cache for two days last year only 4 miles from my house. I was first finder on that cache but resisted the temptation to grab the coin. It didn't seem right to me. Nothing wrong with swapping regular travel bugs though. I would just rather invest my caching time finding new caches as opposed to revisiting old ones.

Well the Moun10Bike coins are rather special. Although Moun10Bike retains ownership he generously allows you to keep one as described in the goal. I'm sure he would rather see them move but it just doesnt happen. Witness #178 which I released on 7/6/04. It was immediately snapped up and vaulted by someone who didn't have a Moun10Bike coin. This is quite acceptable as I understand it. As for the others, if they are being tracked they should be moved along. An exception is unactivated coins. For instance I have two Canadian coins that I bought from Mr Gigabyte at last year's Spokane Cache Machine. They have never been activated and they are mine. I have a couple State coins that are also in that category. When the new WA State coins come in I will be keeping one of those too. After awhile you build up a little collection. I cant understand the Yellow Jeeps though. Two of the four I have placed dissappeared immediately. With 5000 out there they are hardly collector's items.

Yeah, I should make it a habit to carry mine with me as well. I also have a lovely SG coin and thus wasn't interested in the one that was in the cache. I have a suggestion: perhaps your entire team could arrange a time to re-find the final together. That way you could fill in any missing experiences along the way, fully enjoy the moment and all log together. I'm sorry for the bad timing yesterday. Thanks also to Seth! for this splendid, thrilling masterpiece of a cache!

Well ThirtySeven and I did stop by the cache due to the powerful lure of a Moun10Bike coin being inside. Sorry, but that is always going to happen when a Moun10Bike coin gets dropped locally. I for one did not even ntend to take it, just add it to my stats and place it back inside (I already have one). ThirtySeven and I happened to arrive independently AFTER ohjoy! and DubyaDee already had found the box, had it open and were going through the contents on the ground. Didn't realize they had just found the cache for a moment, just assumed they were trying for the coins. Anyway the cache had been "raided" of both the Moun10Bike coin and TSG coin long before any of us got there. I dont understand how this spoiled anyone's fun. Twice during the M-I tasks I ran into other teams doing tasks ahead of me but enjoyed chatting and didnt feel disgusted or anything. I wish they had just told us to "get lost" if we were spoiling their fun. I would have left in a flash. Next time I revisit a cache to move a TB and see other cachers there logging instead of introducing myself I guess I'll take off running.

When your GPS unit has you within 35 feet, put it away. Look around. Ask yourself "where would I hide it?". Check the cache page to have an idea of the physical size of the cache. Is it regular, micro or "other"? Rarely will the cache be in plain sight. Decrypt and use the hints. They can be very helpful.

Pine Ridge I is re-enabled. The missing WP1 has been replaced with an identical container.

Wow, 900 sold! I just put in my order for 7 before the first minting sells out!

That's bizarre. One of them had a travel bug in it too, owned by Ajetpilot.

The container for Logan's Run has been taken AGAIN. Cache plunderers are on to this one. I'm probably looking at archiving it in favor of something completely different in the park.

The exact same thing happened to my GPS III last September. I was at a virtual cache where I needed to get a pic with me and the GPSr. I set the digital cam on the roof of the car with the timer and got the pic. Afterwards I set the GPSIII on the roof, retrieved the camera and climbed into the car to see how the pic turned out. It was good so I put the camera in it's pouch and drove away. I was at 45MPH accelerating to 60 when I heard the thump where it hit the trunk and saw the unit tumbling down the highway in the rearview. The next car was a mile away so I had time to make a quick u-turn, crack the door and make a rolling grab before making another U and heading down the road. The case had sharp gouges at all the edges and there was bare metal showing on the battery compartment door. The display window to my astonishment survived scratch-free. I turned it on and it worked perfectly! When I got home I sanded down the case with 600 grit fine sandpaper and put some Armor-All on it when I was done. Unless you were to examine the unit up close you would swear it was brand new. I was very impressed and am still using this very same GPSIII today. I too am a big fan of this style of case. If only Garmin made a color V I would buy it!!

An updated membership map would be a useful feature. The list so far looks great to me.

Logan's Run is back up with an identical container and concept. It has been moved 80 feet SW of it's original home to prevent immediate re-pilferage. The new location makes for a slightly more evil hide so difficulty was raised to 3.5.

These are going to be highly prized. Splendid job on the design! Put me down for 10 also.

Yeah I am definitely leaning towards a 60C! 56 meg vs 19 on the V, plus that awesome color display. The V comes with the CitySelect CD though.

Thanks Jon for the offer to try out your V. That would be outstanding since it's on the short list of units I'm thinking of upgrading to now that the III is dead. This will be my 8th consecutive STP so I know just what I'm in for this weekend. I have writeups for the last seven on my web page. I even had to miss the Victoria Cache Machine last year due to the ride. I'll be on a Litespeed Classic, bib number 344. I have always done it in two days, staying over in Winlock (site of the virtual cache at the "world's largest egg"). I'm not riding with anyone this year but will be keeping to a tight schedule along the way and hope to join a few pacelines. I'm staying over in Portland on Sunday and would have had the time and transport (my sister lives there and will be meeting me at the finish line) to do some afternoon caching but it will have to wait for another trip. See you when I get back!

I think Rainier on one side of the coin would be great. As I'm typing this I am looking at Alabama's beautiful coin. Their geocaching association, the AGA, is prominent on both sides of their coin. It's the size and weight of a Version 1 Moun10Bike coin.