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Does Anyone Read The Travel Bug Missions?


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Does anyone actually read the Travel Bug mission??

Just had a TB in our area destined for Vermont. That was the stated mission. Someone picked it up and took it to Arizona! Not sure I understand that.

Why have a mission if no one tries to help accomplish it's mission? Sounds like there are no real missions. Looks like all TBs just go wherever, whenever.\

 

:smile:

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Does anyone actually read the Travel Bug mission??

Just had a TB in our area destined for Vermont. That was the stated mission. Someone picked it up and took it to Arizona! Not sure I understand that.

Why have a mission if no one tries to help accomplish it's mission? Sounds like there are no real missions. Looks like all TBs just go wherever, whenever.\

 

:smile:

 

We always read the mission tag if there is one and only pick up bugs that we can help with their mission or that have been stuck in a particular cache for awhile.

Why move them if you aren't helping them?

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Reading and abiding are 2 seperate things. I've been watching a bug thats trying to get to our little town in rural Idaho for almost 2 years now. Last summer it was about 200 miles away and things were looking good. A cacher picked him up and made a note that he would be passing through town. A month later he dropped the bug in arkansas well over 1500 miles away. Looking at his logs, he did indeed drive right through town on his tour.

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Not every bug has a tb sheet with them and when a cacher picks them up, they have no idea what the bugs goal is. Not everyone is going to take the steps to see what a bug's mission is if it's not included with it or they could accidently move it in the wrong direction because they picked up a bud while travelling. I recently had 4 bugs that were simply in a cache with no tb sheet with them. I was going to simply drop them in the next cache we got to but I thought it would be best to see what their goals were. I ended up printing out a sheet for them, mailed the owners since they were recently released and I could easily get them to their goal with my travels, and ended up releasing them to travel more because of the owner's desires.

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Does anyone actually read the Travel Bug mission??

 

I always get around to reading the mission, but sometimes, I admit, (if there is no laminated mission card) I move them first and look later. If I can help the mission in any way, I will attempt to do that, or at least move the bug to another safe cache; I think a moving bug is better than a stationary one. I do consider the caches I use to deposit bugs; I try to put them in reasonably high traffic caches that have little chance of mugglencounters.

 

I own 11 bugs, most of them traveling happily to their hearts content. With my own bugs it seems most people make some kind of effort or acknowledgement of the bugs' missions.

 

Although I have no laminated cards attached to my bugs, any future bugs won't leave home without them. These not only give the finder a clue, they provide more visible information to those who may never have encountered a travel bug and may not understand what it is.

 

I don't know if the Groundspeak store sells the laminated tags or not, but they should include them with the travelbug package. :smile::smile:

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I agree. it would be nice to have an option for laminated mission cards with an order for a TB tag. In this case there was a card attached. The cacher just simply ignored it. Kinda frustrating. There are loads of TBs that just want to go anywhere. No need to take the TB and go 2000 miles in the wrong direction. If there's a stated mission, it should be something a cacher tries to help accomplish.

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Reading and abiding are 2 seperate things. I've been watching a bug thats trying to get to our little town in rural Idaho for almost 2 years now. Last summer it was about 200 miles away and things were looking good. A cacher picked him up and made a note that he would be passing through town. A month later he dropped the bug in arkansas well over 1500 miles away. Looking at his logs, he did indeed drive right through town on his tour.

 

I agree, as a TB owner you really shouldn't count on the rest of us to be your special delivery service. Of course it's nice when a TB stays on mission, but that can take an impossibly long time as well for all factors to cosmically line up for that to happen. The really great thing about TB's is they allow for a huge amount of chance and a certain degree of the chaos factor I suppose. A TB can be moved to some pretty interesting places unexpectedly (I have one that just jumped the "pond" to Scotland), it can lanquish forever in a cache, it can disapear for months, years or forever. It's best just to take a realxed attitude about them and like caching enjoy where they take you even if it's vicariously.

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Reading and abiding are 2 seperate things. I've been watching a bug thats trying to get to our little town in rural Idaho for almost 2 years now. Last summer it was about 200 miles away and things were looking good. A cacher picked him up and made a note that he would be passing through town. A month later he dropped the bug in arkansas well over 1500 miles away. Looking at his logs, he did indeed drive right through town on his tour.

 

I agree, as a TB owner you really shouldn't count on the rest of us to be your special delivery service. Of course it's nice when a TB stays on mission, but that can take an impossibly long time as well for all factors to cosmically line up for that to happen. The really great thing about TB's is they allow for a huge amount of chance and a certain degree of the chaos factor I suppose. A TB can be moved to some pretty interesting places unexpectedly (I have one that just jumped the "pond" to Scotland), it can lanquish forever in a cache, it can disapear for months, years or forever. It's best just to take a realxed attitude about them and like caching enjoy where they take you even if it's vicariously.

 

Whoa! "my special delivery service" ? Where'd that 'tude come from? Yeesshh! I completely understand the multitude of variables that can and do keep a TB from getting where it's owner wants it to go, but if you don't want to help it along it's way then just leave it. TBs have missions. That's why they have cards. As stated previously, if they don't have a mission, it simply makes them SWAG. I also understand that it's pretty cool to see where a TB can jump to. So, just buy a TB and release it w/no mission. How then is a geocoin different from a TB w/no mission? This is supposed to be a fun game. Shame that folks can't simply read and help those who spend $$ on TBs enjoy the thing they paid for. My 2 cents.

Edited by JollyGreenGiant
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There seem to be many that do not have missions.

 

You are correct. I'll bet those people aren't reading very many interesting logs. I had a 'move from cache to cache' bug. It didn't get picked up much and it only had 'grabbed bug - dropped bug' for logs. Booorrrriinnggg. A few months into it's journey I had to change the goal.

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I do. Honestly, I'm a tad paranoid about picking up bugs that don't have mission sheets. I normally avoid them unless I'm sure I can get them where they want to go.

 

I try to read missions before I go to the cache so I know if I want to take the TB or not. I really wish Groundspeak would create a GPX file for TBs that included mission information. When out in the field if I find a TB without a tag on it I'll take it. When I get home and read its mission and find I've moved it in the wrong direction I make sure to include in my log that I found it without a mission sheet and offer to print one out and include it with the TB so it will get moving in the right direction.

 

Unless I release a TB that simply wants to travel I make sure to laminate a mission sheet and attach it before releasing it.

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As with cache finding, it's all about the journey! (and serendipity)

 

Suppose RalphCacher creates a TB that want's to go to Hawai'i, and drops it in his new cache.

AmeliaCacher picks up the TB as the first finder on the new cache, and as luck would have it, Amelia just happens to be going to Hawai'i on vacation the very next week! One jump, the TB gets to it's goal, story over!

 

THAT'S BORING!

 

Now suppose the same TB inches it's way across the continent, then bounces back to New England, hits Florida, takes a side trip through Europe and Africa, then goes to Australia where AmeliaCacher finally finds it and takes it to Hawai'i.

 

That's EXCITING! (and interesting)

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As with cache finding, it's all about the journey! (and serendipity)

 

I agree with you. And in general I am very happy with the paths my Bugs are taking through the caches of the world. I have the Salty Sailor TB (TBKM50) happily traveling the ports of the world (19,000+ miles in five months). But then there is Froggie would a travelin' go (TBKY91) who has a very specific set of mission goals and no one seems to read them at all. He left here properly tagged but I can only assume that he has lost his mission info somewhere along the line. And of course there was Shuttle Me Freely (TBKFTP) who disappeared out of his second cache and is now in a TB graveyard. It is always a craps shoot when you send out a bug. That won't stop me from sending them out on their missions though! :blink:

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Any movement is better than no movement. If no one moved bugs unless they could specifically help it achieve a goal then most bugs with a specific goal would never move anywhere. Just be glad it is on the road and not stranded in a cache somewhere.

 

There have been travel bugs that I have helped accomplish missions. Right now I have three on my watchlist which want to go to Europe which I can help in May if they are still in our area by that time.

 

But, you never know when a movement is going to help a bug accomplish the goal. For example, I have a Travel Bug whose goal is to get to the Oregon coast. Should I be disappointed if someone moves it to New York? Heck no! Someone in New York could pick it up and move it right across the country for me. By the same token, instead of the person going to New York picking up the bug let's say they leave it in the cache. The next cacher comes along and is going to Portland, OR. Wow, I think, that bug is really close to its goal now. But, the cacher drop the bug in Portland and the cache gets muggled and the bug is MIA. It would have been a lot better off in New York even though it is further from its goal.

Edited by DanOCan
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"Any movement is better than no movement." Not if it puts the bug in some godforesaken cache location that gets a visitor every two or three months. Travel bugs are supposed to travel, putting them in cache locations that do not experience many visitors and/or are in out of the way locations do not afford that opportunity. You can rest assured that when I send out a bug that if I want it to languish in such caches, I will make that crystal clear. People need to learn the skill of 'if you can't do better than that, leave your personal self-gratifying desires at home and LEAVE IT ALONE'. :blink::blink:;)

Edited by Team Cotati
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Yes I try to read the mission, but the problem comes in when it has no attached mission... (If you find one that hasn't been logged in, but still has a copy of the mission with it you can still figure out where its trying to go). If I find one that doesn't have an attached mission I usually take it home and print it out, and if time allows laminating the tag and attaching it to the thing. Not having the mission with the traveler is a bad idea because either A. someone that could have helped it along passes since they didn't get to read the online page. B. someone ends up taking the wrong way because they didn't get to read the online page.

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Most of the TBs I've seen don't have attached mission sheets, but I pick them up anyway. Then when I get home I look up its mission and if it's going the direction I'm going next weekend, I take it along. Otherwise, I put it in a different local cache. At least that way the owner sees that its still out there.

 

I'm all for seeing my bug bounce all over the world on its way to its destination. It'll make for a great Travelbug Journey Wallmap when it comes home.

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I'm pretty new to all this only having started in mid-December. However, I always look at the cache sheet before I go out. I look at all the TBs and their missions. If none of them have a mission I may move the one that has been there the longest. I did that with a little girls TB that had been stuck awhile in a TB hotel. It was in a mileage "race" so I put it in a high traffic cache. It worked. It went from KC to VA to UT in a month or less.

 

If there is a TB with a mission I can help it on, I will grab it and try to help it. I have one now that is waiting in my hands for a about a month until I get to Europe. I emailed the owner and received permission to hold it until then. If I am going to hold a bug for any time so I can help it on its mission I will email the owner and receive permission. I have another one that I will be dropping in Virginia the second week of March.

 

I failed to drop a TB this past weekend because the cache I had targeted for it was in bad shape. So I'm another person who looks at the cache to see if it will hamper a TB moving or may be muggled. I went about 120 miles out of my way to help another TB get closer to its goal and to visit an area I haven't been to in about 20 years. So sometimes TBs give me a mission to go cache somewhere I wouldn't ordinarily go or think about going. That is part of the fun and I hope I treat any TBs that come my way properly. Or am I a TB junkie? :blink:

 

-ScottWT-

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Sometimes the mission/history is so confusing you just don't know what to do. ;):blink:

 

And if it is that important to you, you can simply email the owner for instructions. OR leave it alone. If it is important to the owner, he will respond. If it is not important to the owner, I can see no reason why it should be important to a cache visitor. :blink::)

Edited by Team Cotati
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I do read the missions and try to comply whenever possible. However, many bugs are traveling alone without their mission papers. If I pick up a bug, take it home, then find out its mission is something I'm not able to do, I drop the bug into another cache hoping someone else will help it along. I've also printed mission papers for some of those bugs to include in the drop so the next cacher doesn't do the same thing I did.

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Ah, sometimes I wonder. Some of ours:

A bug going from NJ to Maine detoured through Maryland, and Tennessee. It did make it to Maine! It should be noted that in transit, it lost both it's travel papers and it's tag, but the very kind cachers went out of their way to help Grey Furby! Thanks!!

A bug going from NJ to Texas to California actually made it to Texas quickly, then for some inexpilcable reason detoured to Minnetota, where it disappeared.

A bug going from NJ to Seattle made it in three months and three hops!!! Thanks!!

 

But, I've also seen other bugs:

Going from Rome to Scotland, took a detour to NJ. It has made it to Germany.

Going from Massachusetts to the Cayman Islands, detoured to Great Britain.

 

Some people read the goals, some ignore them. Oh, well.

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Does anyone actually read the Travel Bug mission??

Just had a TB in our area destined for Vermont. That was the stated mission. Someone picked it up and took it to Arizona! Not sure I understand that.

Why have a mission if no one tries to help accomplish it's mission? Sounds like there are no real missions. Looks like all TBs just go wherever, whenever.\

 

:unsure:

 

Be thankful your bug has traveled from the home area. It seems any TB released in my area of So Cal stays in my area of So Cal unless another cacher on vacation happens to be lucky enough to snag the TB before on of our local cachers.

 

I too put missions on my bugs and read the missions of other bugs and do my best to assist in the completion of that goal. Not many of my areas cachers do that. Mostly they just pick them up, log them in and out of caches they find for a few months and just release them a few miles away. A few times the bug was placed back where I placed it. They don't look and see where the bug has been either.

 

Personally I don't care if any of my bugs ever complete its goal. Just as long as they move out of my local area where more ethical cachers are I am fine with that.

Edited by Woody_K
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