Jump to content

TB Success Stories?


btutor

Recommended Posts

I am thinking about getting a few TBs. But after checking these forums all I see are stories of woe. Has anybody gotten their money's worth out of a tb? Any inspiring stories that will push me off the fence?

Any helpful tips when releasing one?

Link to comment
Has anybody gotten their money's worth out of a tb?

 

Heck ya! But inspirational stories ain't what it's about. I've had bugs that have been floating around there for a couple years. The ones that don't make it I've replaced, at minimal cost. No new TB purchase required.

 

TBs go on and on forever.

 

Coins are the ones you can't replace. At least without people complaining about finding a copy.

Edited by BlueDeuce
Link to comment

Well, my brother and I have one that has been a pretty successful venture.

 

It started as just a lark where I sent something to be routed to him. I live in Texas, he lives in Washington State. It took 14 months, but it made it there.

 

We decided to use the same TB tag and start sending it back and forth with different things attached and see how many times it could make it. Well, it has made it to him twice and it is one its way back to me for the 2nd time now. It seems as if it may have gotten stuck or disappeared, but you never know.

 

Just a few weeks ago I found a bug that had last been logged in Arizona 2 years ago. I found it in Austin, TX. No clue how it moved about or by whom, but I was sure glad to be able to resurrect a missing bug! That kind of scenarios has happened 5-6 times.

Link to comment

I have three TBs my science classes put out to travel to different biomes (desert, tundra, savannah, etc). We've launched one each year for the last three years. They are averging about 3000 miles a year. One has gone to Alaska and returned to the lower 48, one has gone to Europe where it's making a grand tour now.

 

One got stuck for a little while in a remote cache, but it was quickly rescued when we requested help. Most people understand it's bettter to drop them where they can be picke dup so they will travel. It's been fun to watch them. I'm satisfied enough that I already have two more TBs ready to launch the next two school years.

 

I think one key to happiness with TBs is to have several out at once. You feel less attached, worry less, and have a better chance of having one show some activity.

Link to comment

Hey, my first travel bug just resurfaced! It had disappeared after making only one move. Months later, someone found it in another cache. I thought it was gone for sure, because I was the last one to see it when I stopped by that cache, and the next guy who logged a find did not see it. I almost think that a muggle took it, looked up the website and became a geocacher, but that's just a wild guess.

Link to comment

This one is my favorite of the bugs that I've helped move:

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=36491

 

It was a memorial travel bug dedicated to the owner's daughter who died soon after birth. Its goal was to travel around the country to visit all the states, and then to return home. It did travel around quite a bit and visited a lot of states. Then the owner asked that it make its way back home, and it made it there this spring. It was a very sweet travel bug, and I'm glad it made it home safely.

Link to comment

I've had two travel bugs complete their missions. One was sent to my brother in Seattle. It made the trip in four moves in thre months. 3000 miles! He changed the mission to visit my sister in Maine, and dropped it in the Czech Republic. It's been wandering aroung the Netherlands for the last year or so. Oh, well.

I sent my sister in Maine a Furby. It detorued through Tennessee, but finally arrived in Maine. She attached the tag to a camouflaged pink lawn flamingo to send to me. It was last seen at an event in New Hampshire. Come on, people! You can't find a cache large enough for a pink flamingo??? I moved it to 'unknown' rather than to pay its bar tab at the restaurant in New Hampshire. Oh, well.

On the other fin, we've had had five or nine bugs stolen, lost or muggled. Two green parakeets. One lost in Minnesota, one in Massachusetts. Two coins stolen, one muggled. My CITO coin that somehow made its wway to Spain hasn't moved in six months. Oh, well. Interesting experiments.

Link to comment

I have not doubt that this coin I recently sent out into the void will successfully complete its mission.

 

Current GOAL: I have decided to set a reasonable mission for this coin. It's mission is to wander afar in any direction. It will also be missing for long periods of time. It will be listed as being caches where it is not. It will be retrieved by cachers who will not move it for excessively long times. It will be retrieved from caches that it is not logged into. Well that should do it. Based on previous experience and extensive reading of the TB Forum.

Link to comment

Our Tb Bridget the Gator was set free in Charlotte, NC in November 2004. It went to Mexico and traveled around the North West. In the spring of 2006 she came back to Charlotte. We retrieved her from a cache and then set her free again with a friend from Maine. She has continued to travel. Funny thing is someone brought her to GW5, we were there, but did not know she was there until after we got home. She is now in a cache in NC, so maybe we'll get to see her again and get a new picture of her with the kids.

Edited by jamrasc
Link to comment

I am thinking about getting a few TBs. But after checking these forums all I see are stories of woe. Has anybody gotten their money's worth out of a tb? Any inspiring stories that will push me off the fence?

Any helpful tips when releasing one?

 

I just ordered a new set of dog tags and some stickers to turn my car into a TB. I expect that to be my "most successful".

 

I ordered a Diabetes Awareness bug, and placed it in a cache...and before anyone took it the owner archived the cache. I checked and the container is gone, no idea what happened to the TB. I emailed the cache owner, but he didn't respond.

 

I dropped two before that, one in SC and one in TN. They went missing for a long time. One of them recently turned up, and got moved a little, but the other one still has no recorded motion.

 

Personally, I've moved a couple of TBs, but after the above, I won't do that anymore, I'm afraid they'll be lost. I'll still order one if they do a "free" thing again.

Link to comment

Personally, I've moved a couple of TBs, but after the above, I won't do that anymore, I'm afraid they'll be lost.

 

As a bug owner I'd rather you move them. I know they could be lost, that's the chance I decided to take.

 

Take pictures, tell a story, have fun with my bug. That's all I'm looking for.

Edited by BlueDeuce
Link to comment

I have a nice story I'd like to share. I had 3 "crab" tbs named "I Pinch", I Pinch2, and I Pinch3. They were in a race to California and back to NJ. Anyway, I pinch 2 won the race, I pinch 3 is still out there, but I Pinch went missing. :rolleyes:

The last cacher to place I Pinch in the cache he went missing from not only replaced him with another crab, but is now putting some miles on his crab legs in his travels. I Pinch is now "I Pinch now the soft shell crab". You can check out this story on his tb page. TBQ9H1.

I would like to thank "Cool Cache" for going above and beyond the call of duty to help my travel bug. If there were awards for this sort of thing, I would nominate Cool Cache for the higest of them. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...