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Travelin Man


Joypa

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Let's not consider this a "whine" and cheese party, OK? I've cleaned out my local area and the nearest caches I have not found are a hair short of 30 miles away. I'm still gonna go caching but logistics and fuel economy are starting to be factors. I was wondering how many of you are in a similar situation and what tips you have on planning for these road trips.

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I have one cache 1 mile from my house (placed Monday). About four within 30-40 miles. The rest are over 60 miles away. My last day of caching cost about $40 in gasoline alone. :D I most definitely pack a lunch for these trips! I'm thinking about trading in my gas hog for a small car...and more caching. :)

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I am in no way running out of caches, but on occasion, it's nice to run up to other parts of the state to do some caching.

 

My main suggestion? Always have more gear than you need.

Anything you could classify as "Sometimes needed for caching" should go in a box in the back seat. This generally includes, rain gear, extra shoes, extra socks, maybe even an extra shirt, blaze orange vests, flashlights, first aid kit.

 

The same goes for food and water. If we're going on any extended caching trips in areas we don't know well, the 5 gallon cooler gets filled up with ice and water, and we generally keep a couple random snacks, like Snickers, cause why should you wait if your're hungry? :)

 

My other tip is research. Make sure to thoroughly read the cache page for each cache beforehand, and read at least the last five logs if not a few more. Before leaving you should have a good idea of which caches you want to do, how long they should take, how to get there, and if you'll need anything special.

 

 

Two other tips:

- Make sure someone knows where you're going and knows to call SAR if you're not back or haven't contacted them before a specified time

- Make sure to have FUN!

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I'm lucky enough to live in rural Iowa--from my driveway, the nearest wal-mart is just shy of 30 miles away, and I work right across the street from it. My average weekly drive between work and barbershop rehearsal is on the order of 400 miles. Pretty quickly, driving 20-30 miles for a geocache just isn't all that big of deal in the grand scheme of things. Since I've only recently more active in caching (1 find in two years, and then 14 in two months and two states) I haven't put together much of a gear kit. I've always got one or two knives on me, and at least a multi-tool in the car. Of course, there's always spare shoes, coverals & boots (not very usefull now, but wait 6 months) in the trunk.

 

I'm working on logging all caches within 30 miles of my house and so far my method has been to load every one in the northeast quadrant at one time, and do a 3-5 hour marathon to hit as many of them as I can on a Saturday. I plan to sometime this summer take a day off work and run a 3-day marathon of a portion of the state, log as many caches in the weekend as I can. THEN, I'll be a little more prepared and actually have a kit with me.

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I have found all 100 caches within 35 miles of my house (OK, except for one new one which appeared last week). But I have 350+ finds, of which "only" about 100 are locationless or "couch-potato" virtuals (ssshhh, don't tell the approvers :mad:).

 

The difference between 100 and 250 ? I make sure that whenever the family goes anywhere, or if I have one of my very rare business trips, that I take my caching kit with me. On family vacations where we exchange homes, the kids (14 and 16) are never up before 11am, so my wife and I sneak out for a quick cache at 8:30 and can usually grab 3 or 4.

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I have a couple within 5 miles then lots within 10 miles but then again my caching is with someone with 3k+ caches so he traves for so I end up with a lot of cache out 50 60 60 miles from home. I guess your just have to hit the road. That is part of the fun.

cheers

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I am in no way running out of caches, but on occasion, it's nice to run up to other parts of the state to do some caching.

 

My main suggestion? Always have more gear than you need.

Anything you could classify as "Sometimes needed for caching" should go in a box in the back seat. This generally includes, rain gear, extra shoes, extra socks, maybe even an extra shirt, blaze orange vests, flashlights, first aid kit.

 

The same goes for food and water. If we're going on any extended caching trips in areas we don't know well, the 5 gallon cooler gets filled up with ice and water, and we generally keep a couple random snacks, like Snickers, cause why should you wait if your're hungry? :P

 

My other tip is research. Make sure to thoroughly read the cache page for each cache beforehand, and read at least the last five logs if not a few more. Before leaving you should have a good idea of which caches you want to do, how long they should take, how to get there, and if you'll need anything special.

 

 

Two other tips:

- Make sure someone knows where you're going and knows to call SAR if you're not back or haven't contacted them before a specified time

- Make sure to have FUN!

Let's see....wife brings that and I do not, yep, nope but good idea, never, no but if it's hunting season this would be a must, yep, yep, no we use bottled water and yes. Hmmm... Thanks for the ideas.

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I'm lucky enough to live in rural Iowa--from my driveway, the nearest wal-mart is just shy of 30 miles away, and I work right across the street from it. My average weekly drive between work and barbershop rehearsal is on the order of 400 miles. Pretty quickly, driving 20-30 miles for a geocache just isn't all that big of deal in the grand scheme of things. Since I've only recently more active in caching (1 find in two years, and then 14 in two months and two states) I haven't put together much of a gear kit. I've always got one or two knives on me, and at least a multi-tool in the car. Of course, there's always spare shoes, coverals & boots (not very usefull now, but wait 6 months) in the trunk.

 

I'm working on logging all caches within 30 miles of my house and so far my method has been to load every one in the northeast quadrant at one time, and do a 3-5 hour marathon to hit as many of them as I can on a Saturday. I plan to sometime this summer take a day off work and run a 3-day marathon of a portion of the state, log as many caches in the weekend as I can. THEN, I'll be a little more prepared and actually have a kit with me.

Let's see....yes, no but good idea, no, no, yes. Thanks!

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