How Many Other Otr Truckers Are Out Here?

July 8, 2005

I am just curious how many OTR long haul drivers we have out there geocaching like we do. If there are enough of us, it might be nice to be able to form a small "ad hoc" group to place and maintain more "trucker friendly" caches across the country.

One of the biggest problems that we have found is that we tend to be a bit limited in where we can cache due to our big rig. Often times there are few caches in and around the truck stops that we frequent, but we have had the opportunity to find caches near places we pick up and deliver to.

One of the biggest reasons that we have not placed a cache as of yet, is that we do not have a set route travelling all 48, so we never really know when we will be returning to any given area. And we do not get home to WI but once every 2-3 months. So properly maintaining a cache would be difficult for us to do. It would be easier to properly maintain these caches if there was a small group of us out there doing it.

I have not yet worked out all of the particulars, but I am sure that it could be done. Right now I am just interested to see if there are any other drivers out there intersted in being part of such a thing.

July 8, 2005

I'm not a trucker, but I heartily support this endeavor! I think this would be an awesome project for folks who live near busier trucking areas (or mor rural areas where trucks come through often).

What kinds of locations would work well for truckers?

I'm currently living in Evanston, WY, right on I-80 and a major nexus for truckers moving through to points west and east. I'm moving soon, but I bet some of the other local cachers would be interested in setting up a series of 'Trucker Caches' for the fine folks that keep American commerce moving.

BTW, if you ever do drive through Evanston, there are a number of nice caches within reasonable walking distance of the Pilot on the east end of town, in Bear River State Park and along the Riverwalk.

July 8, 2005

What part of Wisconsin do you live in? I live near West Bend.

July 8, 2005

Along with the truck drivers, which I have a great admiration for since we RV a lot and find them to be helpful and entertaining, I would love to join this type ad hoc group.

We have a pretty decent size rig of 44' and a tow, so you just can't pull in anywhere. Right now we have a trip to the Grand Canyon planned, and all my husband would commit to is one in each state, and it better be close to the interstate!!! Oh well, one is better than none.

Also:

What part of Wisconsin do you live in? I live near West Bend.

Hmm.....heard of LW Dairy?

July 8, 2005

I'm not a trucker, but I heartily support this endeavor! I think this would be an awesome project for folks who live near busier trucking areas (or mor rural areas where trucks come through often).

What kinds of locations would work well for truckers?

I'm currently living in Evanston, WY, right on I-80 and a major nexus for truckers moving through to points west and east. I'm moving soon, but I bet some of the other local cachers would be interested in setting up a series of 'Trucker Caches' for the fine folks that keep American commerce moving.

BTW, if you ever do drive through Evanston, there are a number of nice caches within reasonable walking distance of the Pilot on the east end of town, in Bear River State Park and along the Riverwalk.

We have actually done a few caches near the truckstops in WY. Cheyene has one near Little America, and there was also a virtual near they Flying J in Cheyene. Closer to you there is a travel bug hotel off exit 102 or 103, can't remember for sure right now.

But to answer the question more directly. Anyplace close to a truck stop is good. Or even sometimes like the travelbug hotel I mentioned we can park for short periods of time on the exit ramps. Along major truck routes is good. (Close to the interstates).

Large parking lots are good places to park. But a person could very easily get tired of WalMart micros hidden under lamp post skirts.

We don't mind walking to the caches either. Most of the ones we have done have involved a decent hike, which is a good thing.

But to sum it all up. Any place where there is ample space to park a 70 foot long truck nearby is a good thing. Or possibly even put in the cache desriptions if there is parking for larger vehicles, and where that might be.

And yes we have eyed those caches in the Evanston area. Hopefully one of these times when we pass through we will have the time to do a few of them.

July 8, 2005

What part of Wisconsin do you live in? I live near West Bend.

Home for us is the Twin Lakes area. Right between Milwaukee and Chicago.

July 8, 2005

I am ashamed to say I never thought about trucker friendly caches. My family runs a trucking business in PA. There is a Petro near my home. I will see about placing a cache in / near there. Thanks for the idea and keep up the good work. I know how hard that work can be. (Although, I always enjoyed riding along as a kid.)

July 8, 2005

Along with the truck drivers, which I have a great admiration for since we RV a lot and find them to be helpful and entertaining, I would love to join this type ad hoc group.

We have a pretty decent size rig of 44' and a tow, so you just can't pull in anywhere. Right now we have a trip to the Grand Canyon planned, and all my husband would commit to is one in each state, and it better be close to the interstate!!! Oh well, one is better than none.

Also:

What part of Wisconsin do you live in? I live near West Bend.

Hmm.....heard of LW Dairy?

Great, hang around here and we can see what kind of numbers we can come up with. What I was thinking of was basically a core group of peeps that travel a bunch that can look after the caches that one another place.

Like say for instance I place one near a truck stop in St. Louis. Cachers go there and report it to be MIA. Well my travel agent has me running up and down I 5 on the west coast so I can't get there to tend to it. But Bob and Mary GeoTeam are running the I70 corridor, so they go in and replace the cache for me.

Meanwhile I am passing thru California on I5, Joe trucker's Cache at the TA south of Redding is in need of repair so I stop in and fix it for him.

Or if there is enough interest perhaps we could even form our own "local chapter" of non local vagabounds. Kind of like the local cache clubs except we wouldn't be local.

For now let's just see if there is any interest and take it slow from there.

July 8, 2005

I am ashamed to say I never thought about trucker friendly caches. My family runs a trucking business in PA. There is a Petro near my home. I will see about placing a cache in / near there. Thanks for the idea and keep up the good work. I know how hard that work can be. (Although, I always enjoyed riding along as a kid.)

Excellent. If/when you place the cache let us know the GC number. We do get thru PA from time to time and will certainly drop in and check it out.

July 9, 2005

My husband (Neos 1) is a trucker, and has placed three caches that are all trucker friendly along the route he travels frequently (weekly at least), and one of mine has big trucks parked by it frequently, although I didn't put it there for truckers intentionally.

One suggestion: The trucking industry being what it is, the chances of having one of the "group members" there at just the right time to maintain a cache in an emergency are not as good as you would like. I think that approvers would feel more comfortable if there was a local involved. Perhaps you could enlist the aid of a local cacher to help with emergencies?

July 9, 2005

My husband (Neos 1) is a trucker, and has placed three caches that are all trucker friendly along the route he travels frequently (weekly at least), and one of mine has big trucks parked by it frequently, although I didn't put it there for truckers intentionally.

One suggestion: The trucking industry being what it is, the chances of having one of the "group members" there at just the right time to maintain a cache in an emergency are not as good as you would like. I think that approvers would feel more comfortable if there was a local involved. Perhaps you could enlist the aid of a local cacher to help with emergencies?

That is a very good point. I know I have a very unpredictable route. It would be much easier if I were a part timer and drove the same roads every day and went home every night.

As far as an emergency goes, I guess that I was not really thinking in terms of getting to the cache location the same day.

Perhaps I should change my focus and try to get more locals to place caches closer to large vehicle parking.

Just out of curiosity, what are the GC numbers for the caches you guys have placed, since they are truck friendly we will put them on our to do list. I saw GCMPKX and will look into that one.

We did one today Good Knight's TB Inn GCMWHC in Valdosta, GA that was VERY truck accesable.

And thanks for placing caches us folks in larger vehicles can get to, cause there are RVers out here too.

Edited July 9, 2005 by TwoTruckers

July 9, 2005

(GCNG5N)

Southeast Wisconsin Comes to the Bluegrass

(GCMQCC)

Blue Monday Micro

(GCKDYR)

Another Rest Area...Another Micro

(Check this one before trying it if you head that way soon...Needs to be checked as the logs say)

(GCKCEE)

Pickle Park Cache

My accidental one:

(GCMXTA)

In View of the Past

Temporarily disabled for reasons beyond my control--Nothing really wrong with the cache I just do not recommend that you try this one until I get to it and make some adjustments--probably this weekend or Monday.

July 9, 2005

As for having locals hide caches in big truck friendly parking, that has some tricks to it also but I am all for it.

As far as in-town caches goes, one problem is that folks who aren't part of the trucking industry don't always understand where you drivers can (and can't) get to...For instance, a lot of folks say "Oh I see big trucks parked at X_store all the time, so I will put one there for truckers", without realizing that the only trucks that X-Store wants parked there are the ones making deliveries to them.

On the other hand, most truck stops and rest areas could stand a cache and would be truck friendly. I have done some traveling this past year and really appreciated it when there were rest stops caches. It gave me the chance to get out, really stretch my legs, really clear my mind, and really perk back up for the next leg of the drive.

Some of the larger truck stops have wooded areas, landscaping, and picnic areas that make nice caching places. The only problem that N1 has had with his caches are that a very few folks tend to feel some perverse pride about parking their four-wheeler in the big truck area (not realizing how dangerous that is!) and they ignore the signs in the rest area and the notes on the cache page.

July 9, 2005

As for having locals hide caches in big truck friendly parking, that has some tricks to it also but I am all for it.

As far as in-town caches goes, one problem is that folks who aren't part of the trucking industry don't always understand where you drivers can (and can't) get to...For instance, a lot of folks say "Oh I see big trucks parked at X_store all the time, so I will put one there for truckers", without realizing that the only trucks that X-Store wants parked there are the ones making deliveries to them.

On the other hand, most truck stops and rest areas could stand a cache and would be truck friendly. I have done some traveling this past year and really appreciated it when there were rest stops caches. It gave me the chance to get out, really stretch my legs, really clear my mind, and really perk back up for the next leg of the drive.

Some of the larger truck stops have wooded areas, landscaping, and picnic areas that make nice caching places. The only problem that N1 has had with his caches are that a very few folks tend to feel some perverse pride about parking their four-wheeler in the big truck area (not realizing how dangerous that is!) and they ignore the signs in the rest area and the notes on the cache page.

I actually really do appreciate the points that you bring up. It gets me thinking in different directions that I had not considered previously. You bring up some good points.

Yes there are always the few that no matter how explicitly you tell them not to do something, they will. Almost to the point of the proverbial wet paint sign. They would probably have never touched the wall before, but put up a wet paint sign and they just have to touch it. I know a few of theose type of people.

And surprisingly enough we have done a number of the caches that we have while delayed making a delivery or a pick up.

Guess I will just continue as I have been doing and bringing up caches in whatever area I happen to be in, and then carefully selecting the ones that we wil do. Doesn't appear to be as many of us truck drivers out here as I thought there might be.

July 9, 2005

Guess I will just continue as I have been doing and bringing up caches in whatever area I happen to be in, and then carefully selecting the ones that we wil do. Doesn't appear to be as many of us truck drivers out here as I thought there might be.

Talk it up on the CB!!!

6.5k · July 9, 2005

Many of the rest stops along I-95 and I-40 in NC have caches. There is also a series of them along the NJ Turnpike.

Here is a list of caches along I-95 from Florence SC to JAX; many of them are big rig doable.

I made this list for our run to GW3 in May.

July 10, 2005

..............there are a number of nice caches within reasonable walking distance of the Pilot........

Finally a reason that would actually get me to stop at a Pilot.

Towards the end of my urge to drive long distance, I had a mtbike mounted behind the bunk and this setup really allowed me to explore. Just wish geocaching had been around back then.

There a series of caches being placed in the service centers along the 401 in Ontario that should be more truck friendly.

Warning: the cycling affected my diet, caused weight loss, I welcomed the dreaded layover and I loved using the words "spandex, female and mtbiker" in the same sentence. (also easier to escape "lot lizards")

dutchmaster

July 10, 2005

Many of the rest stops along I-95 and I-40 in NC have caches. There is also a series of them along the NJ Turnpike.

Here is a list of caches along I-95 from Florence SC to JAX; many of them are big rig doable.

I made this list for our run to GW3 in May.

Thanks very much I downloaded the .loc files. Will be checking these out on future trips through the area.

July 10, 2005

(GCNG5N)
Southeast Wisconsin Comes to the Bluegrass

(GCMQCC)

Blue Monday Micro

(GCKDYR)

Another Rest Area...Another Micro

(Check this one before trying it if you head that way soon...Needs to be checked as the logs say)

(GCKCEE)

Pickle Park Cache

My accidental one:

(GCMXTA)

In View of the Past

Temporarily disabled for reasons beyond my control--Nothing really wrong with the cache I just do not recommend that you try this one until I get to it and make some adjustments--probably this weekend or Monday.

Way cool, these are now in our list of caches to do.

July 10, 2005

I a local driver here in northeast, PA. I run mostly central, PA and central, NJ.

I've done a few caches with my big truck.

July 10, 2005

I'm a has been driver.

I left one at the Pilot truckstop In Hesperia, Ca named "East bound and down".East bound and down

Edited July 10, 2005 by chris142

July 10, 2005

I'm a has been driver.

I left one at the Pilot truckstop In Hesperia, Ca named "East bound and down".East bound and down

Thanks, we just put that one on our list of caches to visit.

July 10, 2005

I a local driver here in northeast, PA. I run mostly central, PA and central, NJ.
I've done a few caches with my big truck.

Just out of curiosity, how many of the 14 caches you guys have placed are near truck parking? And have you ever considered placing caches along your daily travel route while working?

We would love to place some as I travel, but we have no set route, so it may be a long while before we get back to any given area.

July 10, 2005

I'm just adding a list of Trucker friendly Caches for the hesperia area.

TROJAN TRAVELER XII - U.S. 395 waypoint: GCMWBW

Please look at the webpage as this cache is locked and cabled for theft reasons.

This one is across HWY 395 from the truckstop.

Eastbound and down waypoint: GCN899

This one is located at the truckstop.

Jonathans Cache waypoint: GCJZQR

This one is located on the other side of I-15 over the bridge from the truckstop.

Welcome to Hesperia waypoint: GCMHB6

If you are heading Northbound this one is about 1.3 miles north of the truckstop. The road is called Mariposa. This cache is a short walk from the road at the office buildings (LARGE TURNOUT Area), head toward the water tank.

The Slider waypoint: GCMHV6

If you are heading Northbound this one is about 1.4 miles north of the truckstop. The road is called Mariposa. This cache is a short walk from the road at the office buildings (LARGE TURNOUT Area), head toward the water tank, then go left at the end of the building.

There is the ones that I know of that are close to and easy access for truckers.

I hope these help.

July 11, 2005

I'm just adding a list of Trucker friendly Caches for the hesperia area.

TROJAN TRAVELER XII - U.S. 395 waypoint: GCMWBW

Please look at the webpage as this cache is locked and cabled for theft reasons.

This one is across HWY 395 from the truckstop.

Eastbound and down waypoint: GCN899

This one is located at the truckstop.

Jonathans Cache waypoint: GCJZQR

This one is located on the other side of I-15 over the bridge from the truckstop.

Welcome to Hesperia waypoint: GCMHB6

If you are heading Northbound this one is about 1.3 miles north of the truckstop. The road is called Mariposa. This cache is a short walk from the road at the office buildings (LARGE TURNOUT Area), head toward the water tank.

The Slider waypoint: GCMHV6

If you are heading Northbound this one is about 1.4 miles north of the truckstop. The road is called Mariposa. This cache is a short walk from the road at the office buildings (LARGE TURNOUT Area), head toward the water tank, then go left at the end of the building.

There is the ones that I know of that are close to and easy access for truckers.

I hope these help.

Actually yes. We will add these to our list of caches to do. Thanks.

July 11, 2005

I found this topic today and used it as an excuse to figure out how to put a bookmark list together. Here's what I produced. Hope it is working.

Nebraska I-80 reststop caches

NevaP

July 11, 2005

I found this topic today and used it as an excuse to figure out how to put a bookmark list together. Here's what I produced. Hope it is working.

Nebraska I-80 reststop caches

NevaP

This one is on eastbound I-80 rest stop. Take bug spray in summer.

Darr it is

Also these caches are right off I-80 and have enough parking for larger vehicles.

This one is right next to a truck stop. Short walk from fuel pumps.

Mudhut

4.8k · July 11, 2005

I found this topic today and used it as an excuse to figure out how to put a bookmark list together. Here's what I produced. Hope it is working.

Nebraska I-80 reststop caches

NevaP

It works Mom!

July 15, 2005

BUMP,BUMP,BUMP

August 26, 2005

Thanks for inviting me over TwoTruckers. I didn't know this thread existed. Glad to see there are other truckers out here into geocaching.

I liked the thought of starting a truckers geocaching group. Actually, it makes a lot of since. Most states have their own group and some cities even have one. Why not us.

With that thought in mind, I happen to be a domain host and could easily host the site my self. No hosting fees involved, at least until the bandwidth starts killing me. :unsure: We'd have to generate a lot of traffic before that would even become a factor.

I'd prefer to keep at least some of the open discussion here on geocaching.com but the reports of caches needing repair and other communications between truckers that don't quite fit in here would be fine there. It would be the perfect place to discuss with each other maintenance of our caches etc. without boring the rest of the community with our lifestyle. :lol:

It would even be possible to set up forums like we have here, mail lists, chat rooms, and about any thing else you can think of.

What do ya'll think? We could use a subdomain of one of my sites, endlesshorizons.org or we could register our own domain. That's cheep enough that I'd be willing to spring for it as long as others are willing to participate.

Enough of that for now.

Thanks NevaP for the Nebraska I-80 list. Just so happens that I'm sitting just north of Kansas City right now and heading that way across Nebraska. I'm afraid that I won't have much time to do many of them this trip but I'm sure I'll manage to get at least a couple in. Those 600 mile day's kind of get in the way of all my playing.

:anitongue:

Thanks to all others for the other caches. I'll put them in my lists and look forward to doing them.

BTW I've got a simple one that ya'll might like.

GCN737 This one is in West Texas on I-10 near Fort Stockton. It is the first one that my wife and I ever did. When I first arrived I thought this was going to be too easy. Was more of a challenge than I expected and got my wife hooked.

D.J.

August 26, 2005

Ex-truckers here currently residing in the Knoxville area. Not too far from the landing strip known as I-40. Sorry to say there's not a whole lot in the actual Knoxville area that would be real EASY to get to..

We most recently drove for a certain company based in Salt Lake City which I'd rather not mention because I have no intention of advertising for these losers. But we were able to rack up lots of caching time in the SLC/West Valley area. Most of it was done with the use of a rental vehicle though.

The ones we managed to snag with the rig were some you had already mentioned such as the virtual in Cheyenne (Did you log the benchmark there as well?), and the Little America cache. There's another one in at another Little America... but I can't remember the exact location. There's the Travel Bug Mansion in Utah (GCH3QC) that's easy to get to. You have to park on the exit ramp since there's no turn around, but if you're headed east you can pull off onto the ramp, walk a very short distance to the cache and get right back on the big road very easily.

Something I found quite useful was using GSAK and Microsoft Streets and Trips. Since alot of the "right off the Interstate" caches have the road name in them (I-40 Travel Bug Hotel for example) you can filter out the possibles pretty easily once you run PQs for different states. I have Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and a few others saved in GSAK. I'd export them into Streets and Trips and them create a route from our current location to where we were headed. Streets and Trips has a feature that will let you search for "Places of Interest" along your planned route. Take Cheyenne to SLC for example. I'd search for my pushpins (exported caches) within 1 mile of my route. THen use the map to see which ones were close enough to exits that might give us the opportunity to get in and out with the rig.

Did this once on a trip north out of Denver and managed to snag three really nice ones in a small park just north (near Thornton). We parked at the nearby Wal-Mart and walked to the park and grabbed the three caches (Big Squirt #1, #2 and #3) .

Although our travelling days are over - at least for now. I still have about 6000 caches stored in Gsak and have a .GPX file of the ones we did with the truck if anyone is interested. I can email the .GPX file and it'll pop nicely into GSAK.

I've been trying to think of some more places to hide caches in the Knoxville area that would be truck accessible. As for current ones....

There is one within a reasonable distance from the Flying Hook at Exit 369. It's supposed to be a Travel Bug Hotel... but tends to Eat bugs. GCKH7A

There's another one I found just off the 374 close to the TA. (GC67CD) I wouldn't suggest parking at the TA and walking though... not in this heat. BUT there were two trucks parked at the nearby motel when I found the cache. You take the road across from the TA (dead ends at the old Knights Inn it has a different name now... West End or something like that). There's enough room for a turn-around there, but it's not the easiest one. Probably the best plan would be to drop your trailer at the TA for a little while and bobtail over to the cache. They don't mind you dropping trailers there as long as you park it in the back and it's best to sign it in with the fuel desk. We've left a reefer there for a couple days at a time with no problems.

THe Wal-Mart at Walker Springs has one in the parking lot (a VERY VERY small micro) (GCHJ8D) and there's trucks parked there all the time.. another place we'd been known to leave our truck for a few when visiting the home 20.

And don't forget to read up on the Locationless caches!! Remember all those barn in Ohio with the bicentennial paint jobs??? Those are loggable. (GC34B6)

I know there are more geotruckers out there.. There's a guy who drives for Knight Transportation (Also in SLC) ... Umm... What was his name... Halfamind & My Better Half (had to look it up). Anyway.. I'd run across his log on a cache we found in our truck and looked at some of his cache finds. He mentions most of the ones he's found in his truck as being "truck friendly" in his logs... so this gave me more caches to pick from.

It takes some time and work, but with enough effort and drive (pun intended) you can build up a GSAK database of truck caches. Or perhaps a better plan is if we can get enough people involved... each person start with a state and through PQs and map filtering we can get a list of caches along each major interestate that truckers and RVers can use. It'd be nice to be able to pop in an exit number and have nearby caches with big truck parking appear. :anitongue:

August 26, 2005

Yes it would be nice to see a large vehicle icon pop up like a number of the other icons that are available when placing a cache or editing your cache page. Wonder if I should ask Jeremy if this might be a possibility?? I know that there are a few truckers out here, as well as a slew of RV'rs that would benefit from knowing if large vehicle parking is available. But it's usually very difficult to get truckers to organize for anything as we have found in the past.

Currently we do use GSAK and have saved a number of route filters for interstates and the major US routes that we run, so it's as simple as dropping down a filter and selecting the interstate that we want to find caches along. From there we use our mapping programs and make judgement calls as to the ones that we can do. Seems to have worked fairly well so far.

OH yes the one in WY we did also log the benchmark as well. Sure we could always take a look at the ones you did in the truck. If you'd like feel free to send the GPX file. (TwoTruckers@gmail.com) I could sort through our finds and send our truck friendly ones out as well if anyone might be interested.

djstern:

Yes I am all for it, and would do whatever I can to help out. And a dot com to go to, that might be a nice thing as well. What we really need to do is get the word out and stir up as much interest as we can to really get the idea going. Once we can get a respectable number together, (whatever that might be) I would love to see a formal group much like the individual states have. Possibly even having event caches from time to time.

Count us in. let me know if you would like a GPX of our truck friendly finds. As of right now it don't yet exist, but wouldn't be too hard to put together.

One major problem that I can see for placing caches is that the reviewers are rightfully concerned about how well the cache can be maintained perhaps if they can see there is a substantial group of people organized and looking after these caches, there might be less hesitency to approve them.

If we are able to get a group going we should probably include the RVrs as well. I dunno, what are your views on this?

August 26, 2005

Although our travelling days are over - at least for now. I still have about 6000 caches stored in Gsak and have a .GPX file of the ones we did with the truck if anyone is interested. I can email the .GPX file and it'll pop nicely into GSAK.

Just remember the TOS for the information you got via the PQ...

1.6k · August 27, 2005

I just came across this thread today. I don't read the forums as often as some do.

I am a "part-time" trucker. I regularly put in 60 hour weeks, but I am home every

night and only run two states. I don't know where my next trip will be until the previous evening.

I have only cached once while at work. I was making a delivery to a store in a town that has one of my caches. I knew I needed to pay it a maintenance visit, so after I unloaded, I talked one of the guys at the store into letting me borrow his car! :rolleyes:

The furthest I have to drive in one shot (from warehouse to store) is about 220 miles. It is rare that I stop for anything, even though the company doesn't care if we stop on the return trip.

I like the idea of including the large vehicle parking icon. If you are REALLY desperate to cache on a layover, find a place to drop the trailer and bob-tail around town.

Good luck!

Sissy

August 27, 2005

We have been pretty lucky so far we have not run out of caches near truck parking, but sooner or later they will become fewer and fewr as we do them.

There have been a whole bunch close to truck stops. What we would like to do is get a group together to place even more in these areas.

August 27, 2005

You recently visited my TB hotel in Abilene Tx and made mention of it being "trucker friendly". I have started scouting for more locations that can handle the 70 feet you need.. We have a truck stop nearby and a few places that I believe would be the perfect spots.

August 27, 2005

Well... We may be somewhat new to Geocaching -- still getting our feet wet as it were and figuring out the ins and outs of finding caches we can get to -- but we'd happily join up with a Trucker/RVr GeoTeam.

As you know, TwoTruckers (since you got us hooked on this), our routes are pretty irregular as well with little to no advance warning of where we're going (a day or two at best), but we do tend to hit areas we've been to more often than going to all-new places, so with a little local assistance, perhaps we could set up a trucker-friendly cache near one of our "hubs."

To djstern: if you feel bandwidth may be a concern for your idea, get in touch with us. We have access to a webhosting server that currently does not have these issues (one of us co-own the server, so we get more "perks" that way). We have a couple domains that would be available for use or can add a new one if desired. And of course, since this was your idea, we could ensure you have the necessary access to keep it all up to date and running smoothly.

To everyone who has posted waypoints and whatnot about trucker-friendly cache locations: a very big THANK YOU!!! This will certainly help us to enjoy the Geocaching sport more, and will likely enable us to help get some TravelBugs from place to place easier. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! :laughing:

August 27, 2005

Many thanks to TruckerBears for all their help in this endeavor, we will have a website dedicated to this endeavor. When the DNS propogation occurs and everything is set up we will post more info.

We are trying to get a club together for us truckers and nomads that move around, so we can have a club like the other guys that stay in one state. A place where we can gather electronically and eventually possibly have a physical gathering(s) somewhere down the road, pun intended.

August 27, 2005

We now have a "club site" almost up and running. www.geotruckers.com Nothing there as of yet, but hopefully soon. Now all we need is some folks to join. Thanks again to Trucker Bears.

August 27, 2005

Sweet!

Regarding the site...

djstern: Since this was your idea (and a good one at that), we think you should have the first crack at being the webmaster for it. Contact me at truckerbears@geotruckers.com so we can iron out the details of what you need for access and such. You don't HAVE to be the webmaster if you don't want to, but it just seems right that you get the opportunity to say "yea" or "nay" first.

TwoTruckers: Since this whole thing (a truckers/rv'rs club, the website) came about from your initial search for other truckers, I'm thinking you should be the unofficial TeamTruckers Captain, helping to get other truckers, rv'rs, and those with a trucker's mindset to join the group. The more the merrier.

To everyone else who has contributed to this thread with cache locations and suggestions, please continue to do so! We'd love your valuable input, guidance, and assistance in making this work. And if any of you have ideas for the website, please don't hesitate to suggest them.

As for me, I'm just happy to be able to provide this little step in getting this excellent idea into fruition. :laughing:

I'm currently working on putting together my idea for a GeoTruckers.com site logo, and encourage others who are interested to do so as well. We'll put them online and put it to a vote via the group as to what looks and feels right for the club. TwoTruckers has provided a simple and quick one to replace the generic "coming soon" page that the server generated, and unless he objects, it can be included in the voting process. All submissions (if any) should be in PNG, TIF, or BMP format (so as not to be ruined by compression) and sent to me at truckerbears@geotruckers.com for inclusion.

Later!

August 28, 2005

hello from las vegas..been watching this thread and just love what you OTR/RVr's are doing. I myself am a local driver (dont hold this against me) and just put out my first cache near the Petro at exit 54 I-15 LasVegas NV..

GCQAAN

yes there is plenty of room for your truck there

there is also some more just north at the next exit, i think it's #58

good luck on the web site we need it :laughing:

August 28, 2005

Well, I was out of pocket for one day without a connection crossing Nebraska and Wyoming and I'm surprised at the turn things have taken. I had intended on asking for suggestions for a name for the group and letting the group decide as a community on what the name should be.

My suggestion would have been geocachetrucking.com. Two reasons for this name. 1: It says exactly what we're all about and 2: it's about the best search engine friendly name I can think of. That's something you always have to think about with domain names. I would have NEVER have thought to set up the domain myself without a community consensus. We, as a group, should agree on what we should be named, etc.

I would have liked to hear some thought from others before a name was chosen for the site. I'm quite sure others could have contributed some excellent thoughts as well.

As for hosting on my site, this would not have been a problem or I wouldn't have offered it to start out with. As I said, I am a domain host. When I said it would take A LOT of traffic, I meant in the dozens of gigabytes range before it would ever show up on my radar. That's a traffic level that few sites ever achieve.

I had never expected that after missing only one day of connection time that a site would be set up and a name chosen without ANY discussion of any kind on domain name or anything else for that matter.

I do have to say that I would have liked to have seen it be more of a community effort and discussions put to the community in this forum before any decisions were made

I would also suggest that the design and building of the site be an effort of the core group of us who have been the genesis of this concept, not just one person. The site should be built by all of us.

TwoTruckers: I do agree with you that we do need to include RV'ers in our group as well as any other geocachers who would understand our plight and be willing to be a part of our effort. I would also suggest that our group, whatever its name would be, should be open to all with support of our purpose in mind. That being to make geocaching sites that are accessible to those of us in large vehicles that can't park just anywhere. Such should also be clearly stated on the web site.

Edited August 28, 2005 by djstern

August 28, 2005

Well, I was out of pocket for one day without a connection crossing Nebraska and Wyoming and I'm surprised at the turn things have taken. I had intended on asking for suggestions for a name for the group and letting the group decide as a community on what the name should be.

My suggestion would have been geocachetrucking.com. Two reasons for this name. 1: It says exactly what we're all about and 2: it's about the best search engine friendly name I can think of. That's something you always have to think about with domain names. I would have NEVER have thought to set up the domain myself without a community consensus. We, as a group, should agree on what we should be named, etc.

As for hosting on my site, this would not have been a problem or I wouldn't have offered it to start out with. As I said, I am a domain host. When I said it would take A LOT of traffic, I meant in the dozens of gigabytes range before it would ever show up on my radar. That's a traffic level that few sites ever achieve.

I had never expected that after missing only one day of connection time that a site would be set up and a name chosen without ANY discussion of any kind on domain name or anything else for that matter.

I do have to say that I would have liked to have seen it be more of a community effort and discussions put to the community in this forum before any decisions were made

I would also suggest that the design and building of the site be an effort of the core group of us who have been the genesis of this concept, not just one person. The site should be built by all of us.

TwoTruckers: I do agree with you that we do need to include RV'ers in our group as well as any other geocachers who would understand our plight and be willing to be a part of our effort. I would also suggest that our group, whatever its name would be, should be open to all with support of our purpose in mind. That being to make geocaching sites that are accessible to those of us in large vehicles that can't park just anywhere. Such should also be clearly stated on the web site.

Sorry for all the grief, that was never intended. And will never be one of our goals, in fact I would like to just the opposite to be the case.

As far as our group goes, I guess for now it would probably be just you djstern, truckerbears, and us unofficially. We never really have taken an official roll call as of yet, nor have we drawn up a charter membership as of yet.

I hope that you can overlook the fact that Truckerbears chose the domain name. They only had the best of intentions when they did what they did in setting things up. This I can personally assure you. I already have, and sorta like the name geotruckers. (Not just because they are personal friends of mine either). I like the way it flows and it is nice and short. I do know that this is also a consideration that should be taken into account when setting up a domain name.

Hopefully the name of the group is not as important as the group and what we do and stand for.

One thing I am curious about though how well would the name geotrucker work on a search engine, I honestly don't know about these things. But would like to learn.

Again sorry if you were offended, nobody wants that nor was it intentional in any way shape or form, it was only TB's intention to help.

And I agree, that all of a core group should be involved in the web design, so K, the answer to one of your questions would be FTP. That way many/more than one can tweak and add to the site as needed.

One thing I would like to see on the site to start with is a running roll call so we can get it started.

Sorry for the slight "hiccup" at the start here, let's keep on moving forward.

-DJ & Frank-

August 28, 2005

As and RVer, this is just great....thanks....

I hope I will be able to contribute some neat caches and/or ideas.

Queenie

August 28, 2005

Hmm. How NOT surprising. Why is it that whenever someone comes up with a good idea and someone else actually attempts to help bring it to fruition, everyone's panties get all in a bunch? Sheesh. For the record, djstern, I was not trying to usurp your idea to make it my own or in any way wrest control from you. As has been noted in this thread already, and is demonstrated time and time again in most any venue on the Internet, unless someone takes the initiative to do something, nothing ever really gets done, despite all the talk and agreement that something should happen.

As for why I chose to register and activate a domain via my system, that's because as a co-owner of a server (an actual, physical server, not just a domain hosting provider), I may have more resources available to me than you might. You mentioned a concern about bandwidth (but also noted that it was unlikely to be a problem). I have no bandwidth limitations. You mentioned that you'd "be willing to spring for [a domain] as long as others are willing to participate." I chose to spring for the domain regardless of the outcome, with no conditions on its use (although, of course, I'd like to see it used rather than just sit there). You proposed a subdomain of one of your domains. I could do that, too and even offered it, but then decided against that, instead feeling that having a place of our very own, rather than something provided courtesy of one person or another, would be the wiser choice. This way, anybody could have access to build or modify the site, rather than it being in just one person's control.

I chose the name "GeoTruckers.com" because it is short, simple, search-engine friendly, easy to say, easy to spell, and most importantly, easy to remember. As noted above, it also didn't require the use of anyone's pre-existing domains. Additionally, it was chosen because it was available, plain and simple. The name also implies what this proposed club is all about, with additional details to be made available on the website. The "ers" part of the name was specifically chosen over an "ing" ending to identify with the people, not an industry.

Now, djstern, because you were "out of the loop" for a day or two, you come back and find that someone has taken the initiative to get the ball rolling to make your idea a reality. I can understand how that would be disconcerting, however, it would seem to be clear that you didn't actually read any of the posts that were made about it. Of note specifically, you have been praised by both TwoTruckers and us for suggesting the idea, and I specifically suggested that you get first crack at designing and administering the website since it was your idea. In fact, the only reason there's nothing but a simple graphic on the site (other than the obvious fact the site was activated just a few short hours ago) is that we're ALL waiting on you to respond. Are we to take the tone of your post as a sign you'd not like to be involved and would rather have a go with something exclusively of your creation and control? Talking with TwoTruckers on the cell phone today, we've already determined that we could get something up on the site fairly easily. Thing is, I personally don't want to be the webmaster, and they're waiting to see what you have to say. While it's true you didn't have any say in the name or what server the site would be located on, you have not been ignored or pushed aside. We all want you to be involved, but that's up to you to decide upon.

As for your desire to see more of a community effort, well, you can see how far the community effort went last time when no one acted on impulse: the thread went stale for six weeks (July 10 through Aug 25). After your suggestion of a website, no one (other than TwoTruckers and later, the two of us) responded to the idea. Now that a site for this proposed group actually exists, there might be more people willing to participate (as noted by comments from spooner55 and Queenie).

We still want you to be involved in this. Really. You've got great ideas for where the site could go and how it could function. But you really do need to drop the 'tude. No one was trying to slight you or steal your idea, especially considering just how many times you were credited with the idea and recommended to helm it. Go back and re-read the posts if you don't believe me.

As for the number of truckers (or ex-truckers or RV'rs) who seem to be showing an interest in this whole idea, I would say that most everybody who has posted to this thread would count, and that the total number involved may actually be considerably higher when one takes into account "lurkers" who read the thread, but have not yet joined in on the discussion. I know I would count Faith the Aquariaqueen, spooner55, Sissy-n-CR, TeamZebra, chris142, Team Lyons, dutchmaster, NevaP, and many others as potential members. Of course, as to the group website itself, TwoTruckers is correct in that only they, us, and djstern have actively pursued possible ideas for it.

I'm still working on designing a possible logo for the site, and am more than open to having others do the same. As noted in an earlier posting, I'd like for the group as a whole to have the chance to vote on what design they like best. The reason why I suggested these designs be sent to me is because I can get them on the server rather quickly without having to deal with issues such as whether FTP or FrontPage or ColdFusion, Dreamweaver, GoLive, or any other website design package is used. That will be up to whomever takes on the task of helming the site, while simply getting potential logos up right now quickly and easily for people to decide on is my personal goal. As TwoTruckers and I have discussed, the likely best course of action would be to set up the site for FTP and either use one group account for everyone to upload their portion(s) of the site, or assign unique FTP accounts to each member (more complex, but still quite doable). FrontPage, though it's simple to use, would tend to limit the number of participants in the group project. But again, I'm waiting for djstern to let us know if he's still willing to be the leader of the website project.

What say you, djstern?

"K" of N&K -- TruckerBears

[Edited to include acknowledgement of "Queenie's" post that came in while I was writing this mini-novel ]

Edited August 28, 2005 by TruckerBears

7.2k · August 28, 2005

I hope you all can bring this together. As cheap as domain names are these days you could change it and it would be no big deal. From the outside looking in, I will say I like the geotruckers.com web address myself. It is short and easy to remember. I would not be sure if it was geocachingtrucking.com or geocachetrucking.com to be honest. Short and sweet is usually best.

I think it is just cool to bring the idea out. I work in advertising doing ads on trucks. I found out about geocaching looking into GPS tracking for our ad trucks. Even though I work with the industry every day, I never have thought of driver friendly caches. This topic has made me think more about it and I have some ideas for caches in a couple of places in NW Atlanta.

One of my favorite old animated buttons was one of my truck ones. He he, media on the move!

You guys have a good thing going. Keep it going for all the drivers out there.

By the way, I love this button of mine too. How do you like the coordinates!

August 28, 2005

That's funny, mtn-man -- I was just going to make a post about the fact that domain names are relatively inexpensive anymore, and that if "GeoTruckers.com" is not to the majority's liking, it takes very little effort to change it to something new -- either fully new (get rid of the old name) or as a "domain alias" that would allow multiple names to point to the same singular website. Since this is the case, and I DID go and make this name without additional input, I have no problem with letting the group propose alternates to be put to a vote. My feelings won't be hurt regardless the outcome. As I've said, my whole intent was just to get the ball actually moving on this excellent idea, rather than let it fester to oblivion.

Now, regarding your GPS coordinates, are those actual coordinates to a cache, or just a lucky location you snapped a picture of? Very cool either way.

K of N&K/TruckerBears

7.2k · August 28, 2005

No, not a cache. I also did confluence hunting for the Degree Confluence Project. Those were fun too, and sometimes more challenging than any cache I have done.

August 28, 2005

As a cacher who travels in a pickup pulling a 24 foot RV trailer I add my thanks to those getting GeoTruckers.com started. And thanks for including the RV people. I've already bookmarked the site.

NevaP

August 28, 2005

Thanks to all that have shown their support. Let's talk it up with the other large vehicle and frequent travellers out there. We are especially interested in getting those with the nomad lifestyle involved, but we will not be exclusive. Everyone is welcome, but with a special focus placed on those with large vehicle needs.

How Many Other Otr Truckers Are Out Here?

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