Do You Have A Geoparent?

[Mustcache]

I found out about geocaching while I logging wheresgeoge bills. However since I started caching a year and half ago, I've turned a few people on to it.

 

Who got you started? Do you have a "Geoparent"?

[+ThePropers]

I found out about geocaching while I logging wheresgeoge bills. However since I started caching a year and half ago, I've turned a few people on to it.

 

Who got you started? Do you have a "Geoparent"?

 

I do, but I don't know who it is. Back in November/December of 2003, there was an article on MSNBC (or MSN...forget which) about "cool tech gadgets people can't live without" and there was a woman in that article who said she couldn't live without her GPS for geocaching. I did some quick googling on geocaching and thought it sounded cool and got the GPS for Christmas a couple weeks later and we found our first cache on New Years Day, 2004.

 

I have tried unsuccessfully to find the article, but to whoever that was, if you're still out there, thanks!

[+fox-and-the-hound]

No, but since introducing our game to curious family members I now have "geo"parents, "geo" grandparents, and "geo" aunts and uncles!

[+koikeeper]

My geoparents are "The Caching Nuts". I met them when I went to a geocaching event last year at Lorimer Park which is near Philadelphia, PA. They let me use their gps and answered my questions... even gave me some pointers on caches in my area... super people

[+Kryten]

I have a geoparent but I don't know who they are, I guess that makes me a geoorphan.

(A work buddy who had been out birdwatching told me about some people he met at a wildlife reserve who were out looking for a hidden box with a GPSr, it sounded interesting)

[+the hermit crabs]

I found out about geocaching while I logging wheresgeoge bills. However since I started caching a year and half ago, I've turned a few people on to it.

 

Who got you started? Do you have a "Geoparent"?

Interesting question to me, mostly because we do have "geoparents", but we have never met them and they are totally unaware of our existence. Makes me wonder how many people have "geooffspring" out there that they have no idea exist (due to Unprotected Talking About Caching).

 

Ours are The Thompson Trio, who live a thousand miles away from us; one member of that team mentioned caching several times in an unrelated newsgroup that I was lurking in a few years ago, and I checked it out because it sounded fun.

 

edit: Hey, wait a second... is this like some sort of MLM thing, where now we will have to give a certain percentage of our finds to them?

Edited April 10, 2006 by the hermit crabs

[Rupert2]

I sure do. He is keymaster1. Believe it or not we live over 500 miles apart. I had known him for several years before we ever got into GC or WG. As it happens were both at an event in Dallas when he asked to me go find this hidden bottle with him. It was 116 degrees outside in the middle of August. Obviously I had a good time and have been at it ever since.

[+wandererrob]

I first heard about it from a founding member of a club I'm in. He even hid a few caches around here. Several months later after buying a GPSr for other purposes, I remembered him mentioning "some game" he played with his GPSr, so I emailed him and asked him about it again.

 

Sadly he moved to NC, archived most of his caches and isn't really active in geocaching anymore. I on the other hand started off slowly the first few years, only logging a few a year. This past year I got into it more fully, having logged probabnly 75% of my finds to date in the past year alone.

[bogleman]

My mother is a tree hugging, grind your own wheat to make bread nature loving hippie and my father was a redneck , lets go stomping in the woods, make a snare to catch a rabbit mountian man. I guess you could say I have geo-parents.

 

As for getting introduced to GC I came across it from an article in the paper and I thought what dumb a__ would do this mess. I was concerned about finding these things hidden in all the wrong spots. To my surprise GC and the VCR's make sure that the "no-no" spots are safe from suspicious packages. So I decided to see what all the hype was all about and decided to try my hand at finding some caches.

 

I've had a GPS since 98-99 for hunting, now it just gives me something else to do with my free time.

[+ThePropers]

Actually, if anyone could identify the cacher from the description below, it would be a big help. I would have imagined that back in 2003 it might have been relatively big news in the group if a cacher got geocaching mentioned on a major news outlet....not sure if the forums were around back then.

 

I do, but I don't know who it is. Back in November/December of 2003, there was an article on MSNBC (or MSN...forget which) about "cool tech gadgets people can't live without" and there was a woman in that article who said she couldn't live without her GPS for geocaching. I did some quick googling on geocaching and thought it sounded cool and got the GPS for Christmas a couple weeks later and we found our first cache on New Years Day, 2004.

 

I have tried unsuccessfully to find the article, but to whoever that was, if you're still out there, thanks!

[+Kacky]

I found out about geocaching while I logging wheresgeoge bills. However since I started caching a year and half ago, I've turned a few people on to it.

 

Who got you started? Do you have a "Geoparent"?

 

Less than a month ago. My Monty. (Drofrockology) <3 <3 <3

 

ETA couldn't ask for a better GeoDaddy. He got the Governor of Nevada to declare a Geocaching Day. He also manages a big annual rally event.

Edited April 11, 2006 by enfanTerrible

[Pto]

Yes, I have a geoparent - or should I say Had. Unfortunately, the great person who introduced me to this sport has since passed along.

[+Morgan's Marauders]

My geoparents are my sister and her husband (Keith&Company.) I can't remember how they got in to caching, but about three years ago, they told us about it. After harping and harping ("You gotta do this! The kids will love it!") they mailed us one of their little yellow garmin etrexes. And thus the obsession was born.

 

They were in this weekend and we enjoyed caching some with a cousin from Kansas (Kansas Munchkin.) So I guess I have a geocousin too.

 

Caching is great. Life is good.

[yamaboy]

My geoparents are my real parents.... or should I say my yamaparents? I know... "they had kids? Who let them have KIDS???" But here I am, and they are just hilarious, busting out in the middle of the night, driving fifty miles to be the FTF. I'm not quite that extreme but I go with them and have recently been going on my own and with friends.

[OuttaHand]

My geo-parent is my boss. I learned of geocaching shortly after I started working here.

A couple years later, I had geo-kids. Oddly enough, my goe-kids are my parents!

Edited April 12, 2006 by OuttaHand

[+SamLowrey]

My geoparent is Timothius who was my former boss. Great guy. Retired and moved out to Silver City, NM. Not an active cacher, really, but I will be forever in his debt.

[+TotemLake]

I germinated.

[+geos of the jungle]

A co-worker who's also a good friend (and was once my boss) got me hooked. He grabbed me at lunch and told me to come along for a hike. A new cache (Take me to the Highway) had shown up within walking distance of our office. He explained geocaching to me and another co-worker as we hiked our way up to the cache. A few days later I picked up an eTrex and took the family out for a couple hunts and geos of the jungle were born.

[uperdooper]

my brother made me do it.

[+RiverCacher]

Mine is Triffid...he made a presentation to my Trout Unlimited chapter or Scout meeting back in the fall of 2001 about mountain biking or something...at any rate, he mentioned geocaching and I was hooked!

 

Scott

[+the hermit crabs]

My geo-parent is my boss. I learned of geocaching shortly after I started working here.

A couple years later, I had geo-kids. Oddly enough, my goe-kids are my parents!

So you're your own grandpa!

[funinthealps]

Mine is Finnster. A good friend who I grew up with. He, his wife, and the mighty Finn (their son) were stopping by for a visit on their way back to Idaho. When they asked if I knew where Pill Hill was and explained that they had to stop at a park over by St. Mary's Hospital to find a cache the explination of the game began.

 

We've both been using a GPS for sailing for years but I had not heard of the game. He explained it, showed me the website, I grabbed my GPS, and have since found nearly 80 in a few months. Hidden several as well.

 

Just went out to Idaho for a visit a few weeks back and as it turns out a guy I used to teach skiing with in Germany is now a Sandpoint local (Schwitzer Guy) and is big time into caching as well. I found his cache (Hermits Hollow) located off one of the ski runs at Schwitzer Mtn.

 

So I guess I have a Geoparent and Geocousin.

 

Funinthealps

[codeman3]

I was turned on to GC by my teacher in my EEP class.

[+New England n00b]

Who got me into geocaching? Jeremy Irish & the people who work/volunteer at Groundspeak. I had a GPS already and I wanted to 'mod' it (I'm over that phase) and came across the website. Additionally, everyone who had hidden a cache before I joined qualifies.

[+The GeoGadgets Team]

I AM the Geo-Parent...

I've introduced more folks to Geocaching than I can keep track of. I have actually been paid (or reimbursed actually) to travel and teach others how to GC. Those people tell other people and so on...

Does this mean I don't have Safe GC? Do I proliferate neophyte Geocachers senselessly? Do I regret my actions? Hell no! I love hunting the caches hidden by my babies (and grandbabies)!

[+Team Laxson]

My sister and her son (Kermit&Beaker), introduced us to caching when they came out to Colorado for a vacation. We never looked back.

Now, 9 months later (how ironic), we have 345 finds and a multitude of kids: 99Viggen, geogoose214, okitina, littlegman, bytewize, and impgoat.

 

Yup, our cup runneth over.....

[+Beffums]

Mine is mostly my sister_in_law (Green_eyed_lady) - she was definitely the most fanatical in the family. My brother-in-law (geosalamander) was actually the first in the family to start geocaching, so I guess that makes him my geo-grandfather?? Then my father-in-law (Jaspop) and mother-in-law (Jasmom) got into caching too. Hmm, but since my husband (JAPTKD) introduced me to all of them, does that make hubby my geo-parent? ugh - too confusing to keep all the geo-kinships straight!

 

So far, I only know of two people that I helped get "into" geocaching, and both were just from them stumbling across some of my caches. One is the City arborist for our town (but, it helped the local cachers learn why one specific cache at a noted tree kept getting muggled!) and the other is a groundskeeper at a local university. Both were just out doing their jobs, found a cache, and have started logging many caches since then.

[+Semper Questio]

My Geomom is the wife of rxpx40 who I was working with at the time.

 

I am, in turn, Geodad to my brother (shop99er), my oldest daughter (Ladycacher), and a number of co-workers and professional associates.

 

And I'm Geograndpa to, at least, my grandsons, The IncrediBoys.

[+DocDiTTo]

I've got one - a guy at work who goes by Relayer. He mentioned caching to me in late August 2004, and I found my first cache in early September. At the time, he had 1 find. I believe he is now up to 17 finds. So he may not be the not experienced parent, but he's the one who got me started. Oddly enough, I have one "geo child" who I took out caching for his first time, and he's now got about 250 finds more than me... so I guess each generation of "kids" is outdoing their "parent" in my neck of the woods.

[butschy]

I actually saw this on the CBS Evening News the other night and just had to check it out. I have a 13 year old son and he was hooked immediately. We went out last evening and found our first cache.

 

I must say that this is a very interesting and addicting hobby!

[+Bill & Tammy]

My father-in-law actually turned me onto it, but I did see a feature about it on the tube as well. Now I can always blame hime when his daughter doesn't see me much

[Oliver1869]

I found out about geocaching while I logging wheresgeoge bills. However since I started caching a year and half ago, I've turned a few people on to it.

 

Who got you started? Do you have a "Geoparent"?

 

Early in January of this year, my brother while dining out, happened to overhear folks at the next table discussing geocaching. He knew I had a GPSr and asked if I knew anything about it. I checked out Geocaching.com and was hooked. Still a newbe with 25 finds and one cache yet to be published and lovin' it. Now my brother wants to accompany me on an outing. Maybe he will discover he needs a GPS as well.

[+Travelinmatt76]

I found out about caching from a radio morning show. Rod Ryan from Houston's 94.5 The Buzz mentioned Geocaching one morning and I've been hooked since.

[+Lighteye]

I had been asking for a GPS for years from my Dad, for fishing purposes. Unbeknownst to him, I sold the boat, got the GPS unit as a gift, and needed something to do with it while on Christmas break. I thought I would give GCing a try, and ran into my first Mr. Magneto, while the owner and friends were 50' away. Eventually one came over and asked "did you find it yet?". I HAD found it, didn't recognize it for what it was, and had dropped it in the brush next to a sign. After a 10 minute hunt, it was re-found, signed, and the owner and friends became my family...training me on containers, hide styles, etc. A big hats off salute to Ole Bass Cacher and Smiling Little Perch for helping me to get my footing!

Edited April 13, 2006 by Mr. & Mrs. Lighteye

[+Frettchen_2006]

Girl Scouts? I heard of it through the badge that came out towards the end of last year and started off with letterboxing (less capital needed as I didn't own a GPSr). With so few LBs in the state, I decided to give caching a try and gifted myself with a new unit and have been caching (and letterboxing) since

[[RR]Macavity]

Well, I was watching Patrolling with Sean Kennedy when I first heard about geocaching - there's a segment in Episode 3 about what Sean did when he found the last stage of one of Pharmadude's multi-caches in poor repair.

 

(Long story short: Sean cleaned it up, replaced the damaged bits - I think the logbook and the cache note were soaked, and the cache note was tearing - put the contents in an ammo box, and put the ammo box back where he found the original Tupperware container.)

 

So in a way, SKTFM and Pharmadude are my geoparents.

 

(By the way, the cache in question was Pharmadude's "Campbell Valley Surprise", waypoint GC6A17)

Edited April 13, 2006 by [RR]Macavity