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Yesterday evening about 7 pm we found a cache near a local business. We had to walk about 10 feet through knee high grass to find the cache. No problem, signed log, traded TB's and were on our way. Had a good evening and went to bed about 11. At midnight I was woken up by something crawling near my leg. I tried to shake it off and go back to sleep. I felt it again, and jumped out of bed and turned on the light, expecting to find a spider. When I threw back the (luckily yellow) sheets, my husband saw a tick walking around. IN MY BED!!! So, I let it crawl on a piece a paper and fed it to the Venus Flytrap in the kitchen and then TRIED to go back to sleep. I laid there for an hour and a half waiting... I knew if there was one, there may be others. And where in the heck was that thing hiding for the last five hours? No bites on anyone, but ugghh! I finally fell asleep and dreamed about ticks all night. Today the sheets get a wash in hot water. Here is my question. Are the ticks worse this year? Or is it that we are new to geocaching? We've walked through the woods with the girl scouts, boy scouts and just the family before, and never had a problem. Now we walk 10 feet through grass by a business and gets ticks in the bed. This is our fourth tick encounter this spring, even using DEET sometimes. Are there superticks in Sacramento? Do I have to put off geocaching until it's cold? Help! Signed, Sleepless in Sacramento

Are they travel bugs or collectibles or both? How can a coin from finland start here (calif). Can anyone purchase foriegn geo coins. They are interesting and i picked one up BUt I do not quite get it...Thanks a newbie who is getting rolling

I'm watching as thread after thread is closed and wondering, what can we talk about that is not going to get deleted, edited or closed? And if you can get past all of that, chances are you're going to get scolded for not saying what you want to say in the most innoculous manner possible -- heaven help you if you get the slightest bit passionate about what's on your mind -- you'll be slapped with a warning (the online equivalent of standing in the corner). What can we talk about? If we're told that the answer is caching (which I suspect it will be), then let us talk about and discuss the things that are related to it. So come on -- deleting, editing, closing, and scolding is not doing anything but getting everyone frustrated and afraid to speak about caching, much less anything else. This is a social activity -- do you really think that stiffling everyone is doing anything positive to further this activity? I think it all comes down to the social aspect of caching -- and this has been brought up several times in the past -- what are these forums really about if not a social venue to discuss whatever the topic of the day is amongst those who share a similar attraction to this activity? This should be especially true in the non-specific 'General' Forum. *****

I cant seem to get my explorist 500 to talk to my laptop using the mapsend software. There is no software update or patch for this model. im stumped and frustrated.

Let me put it to you very simply. Yes, if you waved the American Flag and posted an exhortation on your cache page to vote for this guy or that guy, or call your Congressman about this issue or that, or even posted a picture of the UNofficial POW/MIA flag, then THIS American and most likely every other on the site who 'gets' what we're doing here would complain about you. This is my HOBBY. This is not my CAUSE. There isn't ANY other space on the internet where I can talk about how pretty my wife's garden is without being subjected to political rancor from all sides and accosted by commercial noise looking to separate me from my money. This is my HOBBY. NO agendas, meaning no CAUSES. Your cache pages should be about what you hid and where you hid it. Creativity and distraction, subterfuge and humor, brain-teasers and plain-text "GO FIND" descriptions are all great and welcome, but DO NOT try to convince me of anything, here in my HOBBY. ------------------ Even seemingly innocuous stuff like a cache page dedicated to collecting money to rebuild a school, or establish a foundation, or send a kid to camp has downsides. Everybody who went to that school would start posting about how bad it was or how great it was instead of what we SHOULD be reading here, and people would complain about the Foundation and the people of this or that persuasion who would inappropriately benefit, or the MYRIAD of complaints I've read about inner-city kids and camps, and suddenly we're a Social Media site. Then, there'll be the claims of bias because THAT Foundation gets a cache page and MINE doesn't, and if it's successful at collecting money, they EVERYBODY who likes money would go through the minimal bother of getting a Cache Page approved, and we're a opportunistic fund-raising site. Then, there's the inevitable physical backlash against your cache by morons who don't believe in YOUR agenda, or worse, by ones who DO! So, keep your opinions and your causes to yourself,....HERE. GS bites back on this rule fiercely (I hope ...still) because it's such a slippery slope. The description of my second cache was rejected because I used the word 'CHEVY', as in, "I was riding in my Chevy". "Commercial tie-in", I was told. I didn't really grok it then, but I do now. It makes NO difference to me whether or not I agree with you and your agenda; take it somewhere else. This...is...a...refuge. There are so many aspects of this thing of ours that are uncharacteristic of the 'internet', that we need to protect it vigorously. I'm out in the woods having a good time, and I don't want to have to weed through everybody's carp when I'm battling mosquitos. </Rant>

Our Prague Giga trip we talk about playing AL and how those could be shown in app. Now creator can select AL start location and it could be miles away where is actual visit loacations. This should be change to sequential AL. If LAB creator select sequential order then lab location should be in main map latest unvisited location. It would be helpful to all players. Also in non-sequential LAB start point should show in middle point of unvisited locations. In progress LABs should view in map different color dot. Now all is viewed in green and then you need open filter to find "in progress" labs.

Ok, I'm obviously a newbie and having difficulty with my software. I've looked through old posts and can't find the answers that I'm looking for. I've also looked at Smittys(something or other) and various other step by step web sites but none of them seem to explain exactly what to do - like "ok....my screen doesn't have that "magic button" you're talking about". So....as complex as it is - can anyone either help me fully or in part with the following questions? If you'd rather, anyone willing to talk to me like I'm 4 can email and we can do it that way. I just appreciate help. By the way - my GSAK and Cachmate are paid for. So here goes: POCKET QUERIES: I see where people have them generated a couple times a week. When I generate mine I say 'send me 50 that I haven't found'. But it keeps sending the same 50, because obviously I haven't changed the information. So, I deleted all my queries and will just mark the ones I've found in the meantime. Why would I keep downloading the same 50 and having to import them every couple days and rework them? Am I missing the point of Pocket Queries? I'm certainly not finding 50 every couple days but I like a good variety in case I travel 10-15 miles down the road. GSAK: Love the program but have a problem converting the files to get them into my PDA. I have to open Cachemate, go through about 15 steps, go back into GSAK and then export them. Does everyone have to go through that every single time? Also, do you list your Pocket Queries by date as different data bases? I have several files, all differnt names, with the same info in them. Does that make sense? Aren't I just wasting computer space? CACHEMATE: I love this program! Great for my PDA. But....does it really do my any good to mark that I've found a cache, put in the time, date and comments, turn around and do the same thing on GSAK and turn around and do the same thing on Geocaching.com? I understand having to do it in one program and then again on the web, but it makes no sense to be doing it three times - I'd rather be spending all that time outside. Isn't there someway my Cachemate can sync with GSAK, other than just importing the queries into my PDA? Well, there you have it. My ignorance exposed (along with a few spelling errors, I'm sure). Again, any insight, help, or laughing would be appreciated.

I recieved the serial cable for my new etrex today, but am having some problems with getting the PC and GPSr to talk to each other. If the etrex is in NMEA Out mode, I can connect to the COM port using hyperterminal and see data coming in. I can also use NMEA to track my position in GPSU. The problem occurs when I want to transfer waypoints etc., as in 'GARMIN' mode I recieve errors from each program I try saying 'Timed out' or 'No data recieved'. Any advice on what to try would be appreciated, and I'm running windows XP.

Hey guy im a neww joiner so i lam unsure on what to talk about thanx guys for the help APAANDSUNLOOKINGFORFUN

Is there any LACKEY here who is able to say something to the problem? We can talk all day but only Groundspeak staff can do something about it - or say that they don't care what problems we have and that having emojis as first sign is more important than the conviniece of GARMIN users. @Moun10Bike or others, can you contribute something or give this suggestion to your technicians if you agree? Jochen

According to this trip report, the road to the Boulder River Trail is washed out. Adds a mile to the hike, and parking is limited.

"Desaster Memorials" seems to fit best - even if there are three different desasters. I would talk to bluesnote on this topic - he is officer in the category and helped me with a memorial half a year ago. "Graves of the Unknown" might be a bit tricky as it is a mass grave and the description states that they want unknown individuals. "Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death" came also to my mind, but might also be a bit tricky, because they want to have the names of the ones buried (see WM14TJK as an example). Perhaps Keith as an officer of that category might offer an insight on that.

How ironic that I would be on here Monday and Tuesday reading about folks strange adventures while caching. Only to have one happen to us last night. For more details go here and check out my log: Bopp Playground Let's just say this made for an interesting caching adventure.

Hi, I was just wondering what a few things meant when someone logged that they visited my cache. It was "FTF" and "TNLN" i was just wondering if they were abreviations like ASAP or something that i didnt know the meaning of. Thanks.

Noble Knobs that is! Just a shameless plug for my new cache placement.

Okay, I'm kind of new to this, I was introduced to it a while back ('03) but LIFE occupied most of my time, so I'm just now starting to put some equipment together and have some issues. I'm using MapSource 4.09, GSAK 5.5.1, and a borrowed eTrex Legend. 1. I've DL'd waypoints from gc.com into GSAK now how do I get them over to MapSource (or the GPSr)? 2. I also have waypoints loaded in the GPSr, how do I DL those into MapSource or GSAK? In GSAK when I go to 'GPS>Receive Waypoints>Yes' it gives me "Error sending waypoints: GARMIN: Can't init COM3". MapSource seems to read the GPS from COM3 with no problem but I don't see how to load waypoints from GPSr into MapSource at all! I'm leaving for vacation on Sunday and would love to have this up and running for the trip up as well as doing some caching while in N. Georgia. Thanks, Randy

I have an interesting plan for a new hide. I need to incorporate some sort of plaque into the cache placement. Is there any body out there that would have some sort of idea on how to create one? I have considered getting small peices of marble and trying to use a dremel / rotary tool to engrave it,... this however could become expensive very quickly as I don't even have a dremel. The plaque would need to fit the following critera in the end. - Nice finish, or the ability to hold paint to apply finish - Longevity in the outdoors, aging is no problem but I don't want it to be destroyed by moisture or cold (may rule out clay, don't know) - Not easily cracked or chipped - Somewhere around 4 inch diamter, or 4 x 4 square.... not set on these dimensions but would like it to be near that size. Cannot be made of cement as the place it will be mounted that we are creating is made out of that and it would not look all that thrilling. Ideas anyone?

Yes, the Hanford B Reactor tour is exactly this. It's a free tour of a facility that's really critical to the history of our area, and the tour is really very well done, but a lot of people still haven't done it. I'm hoping to talk to the DOE person tomorrow, so fingers crossed! Meantime, what do you guys think about these logging questions? I'm not really sure of the year-to-year longevity of the #1 requirement, and if it changes (or the others) then the questions could get dropped, or I'll have to go on another tour and come up with more questions! 1. In the large Front Face Room, to the left there is a large diorama of the facility, with red buttons to light up the different areas. How many red buttons are there on this display? 2. In the Valve Pit Room, there's a Safety News bulletin on the wall. How many safe hours are announced on this bulletin? 3. In the Control Room, there's an old calendar on the wall. It says "Hanford Project" on the top of the calendar. What is the latest month/year on the calendar, down in the bottom right corner? 4. If you go back past the Exhaust & Intake Fans, you'll find a mural painted on the wall. It says, "I need you on the job... Full time" at the top. Here you see mention of HEW--what does HEW stand for? Finally, one last request to help prove you were there: 5. Please include in your log a photo of your favorite room. ( But please don't include a photo that gives away answers to the above questions )

I was heading out with a friend today. Just after we put the first cache away, a Forest Service truck drove up. We ended up talking to this 24-year veteran of the Forest Service for more than an hour. She had never heard about Geocaching. She actually found a cache one time (DeCon container), but it did not have a log inside it, or any other information about it being a Geocache (only a whistle and one other thing), so it ended up in the trash. As we explained Geocaching, she was very open to the sport and thought her own children would like it. However, one thing that surprised me was when she said that even with a big label on a cache container, it wouldn't have meant anything. In this area they have to contend with a lot of trash left by illegal aliens, so without knowing about the game, even a well-marked ammo can might have ended up in the back of the truck to be tossed out. Does it surprise you that someone who works for the Forest Service has never heard about Geocaching? How would you proceed so the local Forest Service personnel become aware of our sport?

http://www.skype.com/ i find this good free inter net phone my user is craigmawdesley

I think the OP may have moved on. At least they have not visited the site since the very day of the first post. 11 found caches in 20 years, talk about low-intensity caching...

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. I am taking Joe_L's advice to heart and sleeping on it a bit. And I've been looking more into Moun10Bike's suggestion of the Hanford B Reactor and that's actually a fantastic suggestion. So I went on the tour and it was really good. I think it would make a great virtual. I have it all written up but when I asked the tour people for permission they really balked at the idea. "We'll have to ask our Department of Energy liaison." Ouch. I haven't heard back yet. It may be a lost cause. I'm going to try to call them today and see if I can talk to that DOE person directly.

If you were a muggle (I know it may be hard to think in these terms), and your friend, who happened to be a geocacher, decided to teach you the game, what would you think? Not knowing what you know today, would you believe him to be crazy; would you regard him as an inspiration; would you disregard him?

I was wondering what others use to clean their precious Garmin 60cs/60c screens. I've been using a little Windex, or a little soap and water. To wipe it dry I have a small "silk?" sunglasses bag. I think this is safe. I don't have a screen protector on so the actual screen gets dirty and smudged. What do you use to clean and wipe? (YOUR SCREEN !)

When we first started, folks would talk about "the Garmin/Magellan factor", and we thought they were just trying to BS the noobs. - But we'd notice a 26' difference between the two, and knowing who uses what at the time, saw that most came true.