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Tb "dipping" - What's The Point?


ross&kate

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Just in the past week I've seen a number of hits on my caches with people saying they are "Dipping their travel bug" to get the mileage up. What the heck is this all about?

 

As far as I can deduce, they are symbolically putting the TB into the cache and removing it right away, and want to log this so that their TB gets more mileage. So why don't they jus sit back and log entries on dozens of cache's to get their find count up? Seems equivalent to me.

 

C'mon folks - am I the only one who sees this as a defeating the intent of the whole TB system. We can all cheat at this game if we want. There's no prize for getting the most of anything (that I know about -Maybe I'd better check the website in more detail!)

 

Is this dipping activity widespread, or has it just been invented by some folks around my area?

 

-R of the R&K

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I am moving your thread from "Geocaching Topics" over to "The Travel Bug" forum.

 

In passing, I note that you may wish to clarify what kind of trackable you're talking about. For example, many geocachers have a personal TB or geocoin which they use to track their own travels from cache to cache. This is an accepted and long-standing recognized use for trackables.

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C'mon folks - am I the only one who sees this as a defeating the intent of the whole TB system. We can all cheat at this game if we want. There's no prize for getting the most of anything (that I know about -Maybe I'd better check the website in more detail!)

 

If the TB moved there, and the system was used to record this movement, then it seems like the system is working ok. Now if people are just making things up, like logging into a cache in Antartica for miles, then yea the TB system isn't doing anything useful.

However, personally I tend to log TB in and then back out (or dip or whatever you call it), when I'm packing them around and keep running into micros. Lack of planning on my part I know, but if the TB was there should I log it as having been there? or should I skip the intermediate caches and just log it where it leaves my possession?

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I have a personal TB that I log into, and out of, every cache that I visit...as to the idea of people just logging TBs in and out of random caches to increase mileage...TPTB might have a problem with that, I can't find a reason to get worked up about it.

 

Jamie

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As an early Birthday presant my Hubby bought me 4 TBs (UPS is dropping them off TOMORROW!!! :) ). I plan on sending 3 of them out on "missions" and one of them I'm gonna keep, and use it to see just how many miles I get before I stop doing caches (which I'm betting is going to be a LONG time from now lol). I think it's a good and really neat way just to see how many miles you actually travel while caching. And, yes, I'll admit, I got the idea off of some other people's TBs. When I decided I was wanting to get some I went through looking at others to get ideas of what people are doing for Missions. In a week's time I looked at about 3500 different TB pages. This is how I got the idea of tracking myself. I just wish Ii could "dip" them into the ones i already done, but i don't think it'd be right, as I wouldn't be finding them again.

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I just wish Ii could "dip" them into the ones i already done, but i don't think it'd be right, as I wouldn't be finding them again.

Lots of people do just that -- it's a tedious process, but if you want to do it, you can. Just log a "note" rather than a second "found it" for each of your old finds. Set the date of the note to the date that you actually found the cache originally, and for text put something like "Tracking previous cache finds on my personal TB" or something similar, so that the cache owners realize what you're doing. You can then delete those notes from the cache pages just to reduce the clutter.

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I just wish Ii could "dip" them into the ones i already done, but i don't think it'd be right, as I wouldn't be finding them again.

Lots of people do just that -- it's a tedious process, but if you want to do it, you can. Just log a "note" rather than a second "found it" for each of your old finds. Set the date of the note to the date that you actually found the cache originally, and for text put something like "Tracking previous cache finds on my personal TB" or something similar, so that the cache owners realize what you're doing. You can then delete those notes from the cache pages just to reduce the clutter.

 

OH COOL!! Thanks for letting me know that! My Husband had said the same thing (that he wishes we could track the already found ones) I told him about this thread and that I was waiting to see If anyone says anything, and if not I was gonna start a new one. Thanks again for letting me know. :P

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Is this dipping activity widespread, or has it just been invented by some folks around my area?

 

Sounds like a lot of new personal TB's being launched and dipped in previously-visited caches. A personal TB is not at all uncommon. I was 100 in when I started my personal TB and WAY too lazy to go back and put it in all 100, but many people will.

 

It's a shame there isn't a more elegant way to handle personal TB logging -- not just catching one up, but the hassle of logging it in and out on an ongoing basis -- but I could never think of one, so I haven't made any suggestions to that effect.

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It's a shame there isn't a more elegant way to handle personal TB logging -- not just catching one up, but the hassle of logging it in and out on an ongoing basis -- but I could never think of one, so I haven't made any suggestions to that effect.

 

AW I have an idea. This would only work if you had your real home coordinates given to the site. A cacher, we will just say a new cacher who just signed up for arguements sake, would start his (yes his, his name is Bob and this is my story :) ) mileage at his home coordinates. Then when he is done logging his days caches, he hits the new home button on his "my account page." That sends his personal bug back to his home coordinates and gives a semi accurate account of his days mileage. The next caching trip it all goes the same way. Oh yeah, the loop hole. Bob goes out and finds 5 caches in the morning, then his wife calls him and says "hey Bob, come home I need you to mow the lawn!' So Bob goes home and mows the lawn. Then he comes in and drinks some tea and sees a new cache pop up. Bob jumps in his Hummer and goes and gets a FTF. WoooHOoo! Anywho, he logs his caches for the day. First he logs the 5, then hits his home button on his my account page. Then he logs his next cache and then hits that home button again. THE END

 

(No Bob's were hurt during the telling of this story. Also the guys name is not really Bob, he doesn't drive a hummer, and the poor sap got beat out by 5 other cachers for the FTF. These things all had to be changed to protect the innocent.) :P

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I have two actual physical caches in my hometown. I have "dipped" the TB's into a Historical Tour cache that is actually a virtual listed as a multi. I have also taken some pictures of the TBs on some of the parts of our Historical Tour. These I have posted on the TB page. Then I send it on to a cache somewhere else where there is room. I wish there was a way to make a "waypoint" marker type of thing that when I grab the TB, it logs my "pitstop" for the mileage. Like when I get home and don't get back out again for a few days. Home would be a "checkpoint" before sending it out on the rest of the journey.

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AW I have an idea.

Yeah, the best idea I came up with was similar. It was essentially making every cacher a personal TB, so that the site simply keeps track of your mileage as you log finds. (I hadn't thought of the home coordinates thing -- that would actually make your scheme better than a personal TB for accuracy of mileage, though you'd have to be able to tell it when you're on vacation, so it wouldn't log you home at night). I didn't know how much of an additional burden such a thing would be, though, so I didn't have the gall to suggest it. Most of my gall is channeled into other directions.

 

My personal TB is more of a caching diary than a mileage counter. I don't dip it in every cache (I did at first, but I got tired of the hassle). I dip it into my favorite one of the day, and then write a couple of sentences about the whole day's adventures. Sometimes I'll post pictures that would be spoilers if I put them with my log. I'd probably stop that if I noticed a lot of people were watching my TB page :unsure:

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I have a cache very near my home that I will drop a travel bug into and pick up to show it is moving along.

 

For example, I recently picked up travel bugs while in Texas, dropped and picked them into the cache near my home then actually left them in a cache Illinois. I just felt it shows the actual mileage and locations the bugs have traveled with me.

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1. I've seen some "pulled TB out and put it right back in" posts. What's the point of that?

 

Well, for example, today I took a Vicarious Flyer TB (TBMWZ3) to visit a nearby general aviation airport which is its mission. In the normal course of things, I might have just left it in that cache for someone else to take to further airports. But as it happens when I originally picked the bug up in Texas someone PM'd me and asked me to drop it close to Modesto since I was bringing it to California. Modesto is about 100 miles away in a direction I don't often go. I'm game to plan a road trip but it will take me a month or so to have a free weekend (assumng the $*#^&$ rain stops soon). It isn' fair to the owner for it to sit for so long without furthering its mission, so I'll carry it around to caches near airports and dip it in the meantime.

 

The other reason I'll often dip TBs is if I've taken a lot of pictures of the bug on the hike out to the cache... and then for some reason (eg. there isn't room) I can't leave it. I dip it so I can show the owner it is active and I have a place to put all those pictures.

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1. I've seen some "pulled TB out and put it right back in" posts. What's the point of that?

 

Some people are moving TBs in the direction they want to go, but adding stories and perhaps some photos of the travels along the way. Some TBs have goals to visit as many caches as possible. Some are personal TBs that people use to track where they've been. Ours is not to reason why...... It doesn't harm anything or anyone to log a TB along the way. That's why they are called Travel Bugs, they are travelling. Not dipping. Unless it's a hydro cache :D

 

2. Is there a general rule such as... if you remove a TB you must replace it with one, or is that only for certain caches?

 

No, travel bugs are not trade items, they are game pieces. It's not a one for one situation. They want to move. If the Travel Bug wants to travel, move it. And anyone who makes rules on their cache pages about trading one for one is in for disappointment when it doesn't happen that way.

 

Edited by Eartha
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Personally I don't do the dipping thing. I had never heard of a "personal tb" before though and it sounds interesting and may end up doing something like that.

I have seen people do a "pickup and drop back in" in cases where an owner of a very difficult cache puts a jeep tb in a cache to entice people to try to find it.

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I have seen people do a "pickup and drop back in" in cases where an owner of a very difficult cache puts a jeep tb in a cache to entice people to try to find it.

 

OMIGOD!!! I do so like that idea, thanks. Anyway, I'm on the fence about the dipping thing as the last bunch of caches aren't "worthy" of the last cute little TB I found and I feared the worst but it still got to travel. Also the digging thing, in retrospect is tedious when the cache page is a slow load and I'm on dialup.

 

On a related note, what about the act of allowing others of your group or those at an event, to dip while your dipping? In other words, allowing other to copy the numbers so they can log their own dip and up their count? Or does that support the "pickup and drop" instead of the vise versa.

 

dutch(feeling enlightened)master

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I was at a CITO event today where someone has a personal TB that he has everyone sign at each CITO event. We logged it so I would know I'd already signed it...(YOu only sign it once...) There were a few other personal TBs at the event that we also all got credit for having "ENCOUNTERED" but they went along with their owners at the end of the day.

 

We also Started a TB at the event, and those of us there will log having encountered it, I guess...

 

So for those specific ones, we will Grab and Drop both at the same location...

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I don't think anyone really cares about the mileage on anyone's elses TB's except their own. Which is why "dipping" was discovered.

 

My very first TB, I dropped off and it was lost in Texas. It wasn't until I was back in So Cal, that I learned of dipping to track MY mileage. It's a fun way to discover how far we will go to find a cache.

 

And putting in the home coordinates, that is brilliant. I start all of my TB's in a local cache that we placed, and it's close to home. But I don't return each of my TB's to home when we come back from caching.

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1. I've seen some "pulled TB out and put it right back in" posts. What's the point of that?

 

Well, for example, today I took a Vicarious Flyer TB (TBMWZ3) to visit a nearby general aviation airport which is its mission. In the normal course of things, I might have just left it in that cache for someone else to take to further airports. But as it happens when I originally picked the bug up in Texas someone PM'd me and asked me to drop it close to Modesto since I was bringing it to California. Modesto is about 100 miles away in a direction I don't often go. I'm game to plan a road trip but it will take me a month or so to have a free weekend (assumng the $*#^&$ rain stops soon). It isn' fair to the owner for it to sit for so long without furthering its mission, so I'll carry it around to caches near airports and dip it in the meantime.

 

The other reason I'll often dip TBs is if I've taken a lot of pictures of the bug on the hike out to the cache... and then for some reason (eg. there isn't room) I can't leave it. I dip it so I can show the owner it is active and I have a place to put all those pictures.

Just a thought...

Is it a good idea to post the tracking number? Will a lot of ppl not just log it as a find?

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Is it a good idea to post the tracking number? Will a lot of ppl not just log it as a find?

 

Ah, no, that's only the id number for the TB and not the one needed for logging the Hitchhiker.

 

Exactly. It is an ID, which allows people who might to interested to see the bug I mentioned. Tracking numbers is the numerical code found on the tag itself.

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AW I have an idea.

My personal TB is more of a caching diary than a mileage counter. I don't dip it in every cache (I did at first, but I got tired of the hassle). I dip it into my favorite one of the day, and then write a couple of sentences about the whole day's adventures. Sometimes I'll post pictures that would be spoilers if I put them with my log. I'd probably stop that if I noticed a lot of people were watching my TB page :(

 

This is such a cool idea. I had wanted to keep track of my travels, the few I've had to date, but had no idea as to how to do it. Now you've got me, and probably a lot of others, thinking. :mad: Not the traditional use of the travel bug of course, but hey, aren't we all a travel bug of sorts? :mad:

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If I may be so bold, I think I'll add my 2cents here. This is actually my first post to one of these forums. I'm fairly new to this addiction and have recently started a personal TB of my own to keep track of my miles on the road and all of the caches I visit.

 

Like others, I also PLACE and RETRIEVE my TB in and out of all of the caches I visit. I also do this with the cache closest to my home coordinates after a day of caching to include the mileage to and from home each time I go out. I like the ideas that have been thrown out to streamline the process and was wondering what could be done to possibly get one of these methods implemented. Another idea that I had that could streamline the process would be to implement a VISIT CACHE log entry on the TB homepage. You could use a window for entering the waypoint to identify which cache was visited. This would eliminate visiting the cache page twice to log your TB in and out. This would also eliminate the need to go back to the TB homepage and delete all of the PLACE logs for those that do so. You could also probably set it up so that people could enter their HANDLE in the waypoint window so that home coordinates could be easily entered. Any thoughts?

 

One thing I've started to do to keep an accurate log of caches I visit is to PLACE my TB in and RETRIEVE it from caches that I DNF. My reasoning is that I visit the cache site and search for the cache and since my personal TB is simply a bookkeeping record for me, why not include the DNF's as well. My question: Is this kosher?

 

Thanks, DeltaMikeAlpha

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If I may be so bold, I think I'll add my 2cents here. This is actually my first post to one of these forums. I'm fairly new to this addiction and have recently started a personal TB of my own to keep track of my miles on the road and all of the caches I visit.

 

Like others, I also PLACE and RETRIEVE my TB in and out of all of the caches I visit. I also do this with the cache closest to my home coordinates after a day of caching to include the mileage to and from home each time I go out. I like the ideas that have been thrown out to streamline the process and was wondering what could be done to possibly get one of these methods implemented. Another idea that I had that could streamline the process would be to implement a VISIT CACHE log entry on the TB homepage. You could use a window for entering the waypoint to identify which cache was visited. This would eliminate visiting the cache page twice to log your TB in and out. This would also eliminate the need to go back to the TB homepage and delete all of the PLACE logs for those that do so. You could also probably set it up so that people could enter their HANDLE in the waypoint window so that home coordinates could be easily entered. Any thoughts?

 

One thing I've started to do to keep an accurate log of caches I visit is to PLACE my TB in and RETRIEVE it from caches that I DNF. My reasoning is that I visit the cache site and search for the cache and since my personal TB is simply a bookkeeping record for me, why not include the DNF's as well. My question: Is this kosher?

 

Thanks, DeltaMikeAlpha

 

I would consider this kosher so long as you made it clear in DNF note that the bug did not actually visit the cache. But then I don't yet own any caches, so a cache owner may have different feelings on this.

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i dont see the point..if you all concered bout how far you go just look at the milage to the cache on the computer or your odometer..the point of a tb is to watch IT travel , not YOU....

The point of a TB is whatever you can think of to do with a trackable number. That's partly what makes them fun: there's so much latitude in what you can do with them. I've got a bug that lives in my refrigerator.

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2. Is there a general rule such as... if you remove a TB you must replace it with one, or is that only for certain caches?

 

No, travel bugs are not trade items, they are game pieces. It's not a one for one situation. They want to move. If the Travel Bug wants to travel, move it. And anyone who makes rules on their cache pages about trading one for one is in for disappointment when it doesn't happen that way.

I was surprised to see that they are not trade items. Not really, but I was surprised when I was new and finally realized this. If you print out a sheet for your TB from its page it says,"This is no ordinary geocaching trading item!"

 

So does the 'no' apply to ordinary or to trading item? There is a bit of ambiguity there. When I first started out I assumed it was a trading item, but not an ordinary one because you didn't keep it. So I'd always trade something for it, not necessarily another TB. Then when I started going out with other cachers, I'd see them just take some or all the TBs in a cache. Or we'd negotiate swaps among us. Hmmm. Okay, I guess you don't need to trade.

 

So as long as we're putting a statement on the new tags not to keep them, maybe we can alter the printable TB sheet to reflect that you don't have to trade anything for them.

 

Such as: This is not a trading item. It's not for keeping, instead it's game piece that is moved from place to place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I agree with Auntie Weasel. I think TB hotels put TBs at higher risk of going missing than other caches. Not that they don't go missing other ways - stolen caches, caches found accidentally by those not in the game, and actually one of the most common ways mine have disappeared - a new geocacher taking one not realizing what it is. I do not often include a TB sheet with mine and take that risk. I will put a sheet on the ones I'm dropping in Germany next month since I just read that TBS are rarer there and not always known.

Edited by flyingfisher
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C'mon folks - am I the only one who sees this as a defeating the intent of the whole TB system. We can all cheat at this game if we want. There's no prize for getting the most of anything (that I know about -Maybe I'd better check the website in more detail!)

 

If the TB moved there, and the system was used to record this movement, then it seems like the system is working ok. Now if people are just making things up, like logging into a cache in Antartica for miles, then yea the TB system isn't doing anything useful.

However, personally I tend to log TB in and then back out (or dip or whatever you call it), when I'm packing them around and keep running into micros. Lack of planning on my part I know, but if the TB was there should I log it as having been there? or should I skip the intermediate caches and just log it where it leaves my possession?

 

This says it pretty well for me.

 

Unless the OP wants to clarify their position

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I have no problem with the concept of "dipping" personal bugs, coins or whatever, although it doesn't appeal to me personally. What does rankle me, though, is receiving 20 or 30 watch list notices daily from someone "retroactively dipping my personal geocoin". Might it be possible to have a special "dipping note" category that does not show up on the watch lists?

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Just in the past week I've seen a number of hits on my caches with people saying they are "Dipping their travel bug" to get the mileage up. What the heck is this all about?

 

As far as I can deduce, they are symbolically putting the TB into the cache and removing it right away, and want to log this so that their TB gets more mileage. So why don't they jus sit back and log entries on dozens of cache's to get their find count up? Seems equivalent to me.

 

-R of the R&K

 

Some time ago I dropped a TB and just out of curiosity I followed that one for a while. The TB originated from Texas and when I got hold of it it was in Sweden (my country :wub: ). After a week it was logged again and this time by a american couple at holiday in Sweden! They continued caching here and at every cach they took a photo with the TB. After a while they went back to the US and dropped it in a cach "at home" so to speak.

Dipping trackables like that seems OK to me.

 

What do you others think about it?

 

Gasolin

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I am not an authority by any means on this but it seems to me this is a game and however you play it is ok. This particular issue seems to be open to doing this. Is there some rule saying you can't do this? Why would anyone care what someone else is doing with there travel bug? I think travel bugs should have the right to marry each other if they so choose... :) ooops got carried away a little! Stepping off soap box. :D

Seriously who cares if people "dip" there travel bugs? Are we in some contest for mileage now? None of my business what otehrs do! Let them have there fun and you have yours? Deal?

I dipped some travel bugs in Iraq this last month when I was there because they made a policy that you could no longer cache on base. However the caches had not been disabled so I went ahead and dipped my bugs in teh caches I had already found prior to the ban. This all kindof happened at one time when I first got there some months back. So anyways long story short the bugs did travel with me to those cahces and I did find them and log them etc...

 

Chris

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When I see a TB I like I "adopt" it, and with the owners permission, I take it with me and dip it into every cache that I find. I also take at least one photo of the TB at each cache and post it on the TB's page, thus proving I was actually at that location to avoid someone saying I am cheating to chalk up the miles. Geocaching takes us to great places and photos are a way of recording our travels. Go to my profile and look at my gallery, you will see hundreds and hundreds of TB photos, like the ones below.

 

Dune Buggy TB and a genuine joshua tree

091e4f88-2232-49ea-867e-172ff84be2b8.jpg

 

Dune Buggy TB and the California aqueduct

ba753acc-3aae-41ef-bd44-80f0e06d7526.jpg

 

Zeke The Zeger TB at Big Bear Lake, California

842ec9b3-4455-4c7b-ab7c-2f8d034ba5e2.jpg

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Is this dipping activity widespread, or has it just been invented by some folks around my area?

 

Sounds like a lot of new personal TB's being launched and dipped in previously-visited caches. A personal TB is not at all uncommon. I was 100 in when I started my personal TB and WAY too lazy to go back and put it in all 100, but many people will.

 

It's a shame there isn't a more elegant way to handle personal TB logging -- not just catching one up, but the hassle of logging it in and out on an ongoing basis -- but I could never think of one, so I haven't made any suggestions to that effect.

 

I think they should add a "dip personal TB for milage" button on the cache page.

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Just a few things that chime with what others have said, I have a personal TB on a necklace that I or my wife can wear when we go out caching, and yes it gets dipped but there are some rules for logging it as a successful visit, first we have to have it with us when we find a cache, you can't log it if it wasn't there, this counts for past caches as well. The way I see the personal TB it is to use it as a log of our caching travels but it needs to be current and present. I usually do not dip actual TBs just set them free and let them run. The only reason I see for dipping an actual TB is to establish a starting point. I wish when you authorize a TB or Geocoin you could start at your home Coords. I will be dipping an actual TB, because I am taking a trip and I want the little guy to get a good start.

 

http://img.geocaching.com/track/display/47...ff81fcace6d.jpg

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The other reason I'll often dip TBs is if I've taken a lot of pictures of the bug on the hike out to the cache... and then for some reason (eg. there isn't room) I can't leave it. I dip it so I can show the owner it is active and I have a place to put all those pictures.

 

Should a trackable be dipped into a cache which is too small to physically hold the trackable? Namely, if I wanted to show that a trackable has seen a particular landmark and find the nearest cache, but the cache is a micro, would there be any repercussions of the cache's trackable history having a trackable too large for the cache?

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The other reason I'll often dip TBs is if I've taken a lot of pictures of the bug on the hike out to the cache... and then for some reason (eg. there isn't room) I can't leave it. I dip it so I can show the owner it is active and I have a place to put all those pictures.

 

Should a trackable be dipped into a cache which is too small to physically hold the trackable? Namely, if I wanted to show that a trackable has seen a particular landmark and find the nearest cache, but the cache is a micro, would there be any repercussions of the cache's trackable history having a trackable too large for the cache?

 

Bugs should get credit for every cache they visit. Dipping it through any cache, including micros and virtuals is perfectly acceptable. The only caches you can't log through are Earthcaches and Webcam caches.

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we dipped our new TB in a cache we'd recently visited - logged it as a note, and then retrieved it. Then my DH took it with him on a business trip. over 200 miles logged! If I had not dipped it first, it would still have 0 miles as it would show the Colorado cache as the initial placement, not our home state

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I kinda like this idea of dipping my own coin to keep track of my own travels. I was thinking of releasing a wild TB or coin, but was agonizing over the fact that so many go missing.

 

So maybe this would be a way to have my cake and eat it too. Release a couple of TB or coins, and let them travel....or not. But I would still have my own "travel buddy" to log miles.

 

Am I understanding this concept correctly? Don't want to anger the Geo-gods. :ph34r:

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I kinda like this idea of dipping my own coin to keep track of my own travels. I was thinking of releasing a wild TB or coin, but was agonizing over the fact that so many go missing.

 

So maybe this would be a way to have my cake and eat it too. Release a couple of TB or coins, and let them travel....or not. But I would still have my own "travel buddy" to log miles.

 

Am I understanding this concept correctly? Don't want to anger the Geo-gods. :ph34r:

 

You got it. My personal bug never goes missing and it always is promptly logged. It's kinda like a little caching buddy who knows the journeys you've gone on as well as you do.

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