worried geomuggles

[stoicwinds]

this was only my 2nd geocache find.

 

so some old people in a new big diesel pickup, were watching us, they drove by 2 times, the 2nd time they asked my wife and friend what we were doing there. they politely explained what was going on, evidently they(old people) were quite snobby. they came back a 3rd time and i saw them looking at my car and reciting my license plate. weird right? when i walked over to them, they backed away i signaled to them and the man rolled down the window. and asked

"whats really going on here?"

"geocaching, its a gps treasure hunting game."i replied.

the lady leaned over to her PDA which was mounted to the dash tapping it, and very arrogantly replied, "we could'nt find anything about it here."

i looked at them confused...thinking .. what? did you spell it geo cash?

the man quickly added in a very testy tone, "if its a GPS game wheres your GPS?"

"its in my car, let me show you." i walked to my metro (which does look shabby) and plucked it from my dash. I walked over to his shiny perfectly clean gigantic truck and showed him the little treasure box on the map with the arrow pointing on it. and started explaining. "you can see, in the middle there is a treasure box..." that was all i got out when he sourly explained that he knew what it was, and that he also had one of these himself implying the gps... he quickly made up some excuse and i let them leave with perhaps some shred of dignity left... maybe if i had a nicer car and no Mohawk(short it maybe but a mohawk none the less) they wouldn't have wondered anything at all.

[+Klatch]

On what kind of property was this geocache located? Seems odd that they were so curious about why you were there.

 

Edit: Never mind, I see it is near the end of an airport runway. That may be part of the problem.

Edited June 23, 2007 by Klatch

[+Knight2000]

I do not know the circumstances or cache you are speaking of.

 

Generally speaking, i am disinclined to tell anyone except a person in a position of authority what i am doing. (LEO or park ranger, etc.) If they ask me what i am doing i ask them who are they?

 

I had a police officer ask what i was doing. I replied "Who are you?" Of course he had his light in my face and i could not see who he was, just a blinding light.

 

Its not that i have a problem with people who don't play the game. But knowledge of your actions will make them more curious and it may harm that cache location and maybe others. I dont need to explain my action to them.

 

I don't know what cache you speak of, but i assume it will be muggled/archived soon. This may or may not relate to the incident that you had.

[+briansnat]

Generally speaking, i am disinclined to tell anyone except a person in a position of authority what i am doing. (LEO or park ranger, etc.) If they ask me what i am doing i ask them who are they?

 

Unless its a LEO, I'll generally either tell the person its none of his beeswax, or make up something totally

outrageous.

[+itsme_timd]

Don't you think that it would make people more inclined to thinking you were up to no good by telling them to buzz off? I thought this was an open and friendly hobby!?!?

[gearhog]

You could always use this quote from the movie TOP GUN when muggles ask what your up to -

"It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you"

[+Renegade Knight]

I tell them exactly what I'm doing. Sometimes they are intersted. Sometimes they don't get it and redouble their suspicios inspection of my activities. The ones who don't get it have a big disconnect in the "Open" part of their mind. They don't have the ability to aborb new information and integrate it. It has to fit their existing mind set...and it doesn't. Oh well.

[+wayfarer222]

I had something of a similar experience. We were hunting a cache (a DNF ) in an area around a city water tower. A car slowed down, curious I'm sure to why we were there, but no questions asked. Had they stopped, I would have just told the truth. Truth can be stranger than fiction after all.

 

Chris

[Cinder2007]

I had something of a similar experience. We were hunting a cache (a DNF ) in an area around a city water tower. A car slowed down, curious I'm sure to why we were there, but no questions asked. Had they stopped, I would have just told the truth. Truth can be stranger than fiction after all.

 

Chris

I thought we werent supposed to let muggles find us.

[+lacazg]

I would just tell a muggle I lost something and I'm looking for it. If I said something outrageous they would probably guess I'm lying.

[Slyhand]

I would just tell a muggle I lost something and I'm looking for it. If I said something outrageous they would probably guess I'm lying.

 

I have been doing this for week now. I had a knock on my door about 30 minutes ago and 2 of Loudoun Countys finest standing at my door. They wanted to talk to me about an incident that happened today. I didnt know what they were talking about. They told me some guy saw me and my son rooting around some trees and when he came up to us and asked what we were doing I told him we were looking for something, he asked if he could help and I told him no. We left and thought that was it. Apparently he took my plates down and callled the cops. So I told them what we were doing and had to have my son collaborate the story. They never heard of the sport so I explained it to them.

It was a little weird.

[+Pink Paisley]

If asked, I explain in the fullest way I can.

 

I watch the eyes glaze over.

 

They back away........

 

Sometimes, in urban locations, I wear a fluorescent yellow jacket. It makes you virtually invisible.

 

PP

[+mousekakat]

We printed up some flyers about Geocaching that also have the website address on them and keep them with our caching things. We haven't run into anyone yet, but if it does, I guess I should say when it does, happen, we'll at least be able to give them a little information that looks somewhat legitimate, hehehe!

[+Wacka]

Last Sunday I was getting a LPC in a Costco parking lot at 3 PM. I thought the coast was clear, grabbed the cache, signed and was going to put it back. One of the cars I thought was empty pulls up and an old guy says "I've called the cops. I saw you trying to steal wire from that light." I tried to explain geocaching, but he repeated that he called the cops. I think he was bluffing since he then left . If I had called the cops, I would have hung around to give a description. I then left too. I passed a few cops from that town within the next few hours, but none pulled me over.

 

If I'm going to be stealing wire from a parking lot light, I'm gonna do it at 3 PM on a Sunday. Right.

[+wesleykey]

Lately I ask muggles if I can help them as soon as they stop and stare. They usually say no and move on.

[+UncleJimbo]

Last Sunday I was getting a LPC in a Costco parking lot at 3 PM. I thought the coast was clear, grabbed the cache, signed and was going to put it back. One of the cars I thought was empty pulls up and an old guy says "I've called the cops. I saw you trying to steal wire from that light." I tried to explain geocaching, but he repeated that he called the cops. I think he was bluffing since he then left . If I had called the cops, I would have hung around to give a description. I then left too. I passed a few cops from that town within the next few hours, but none pulled me over.

 

You should have said, "OK, let me make a note of your license plate to give to the Police when they arrive."

 

[Mr.Yuck]

Last Sunday I was getting a LPC in a Costco parking lot at 3 PM. I thought the coast was clear, grabbed the cache, signed and was going to put it back. One of the cars I thought was empty pulls up and an old guy says "I've called the cops. I saw you trying to steal wire from that light." I tried to explain geocaching, but he repeated that he called the cops. I think he was bluffing since he then left . If I had called the cops, I would have hung around to give a description. I then left too. I passed a few cops from that town within the next few hours, but none pulled me over.

 

Well, that's your problem right there! You'd have a hard time convincing even me that poking around a lamp post in the Costco parking lot is geocaching. (Rim shot, please). Ok, seriously, once he had left after allegedly calling the cops (who weren't coming anyways), that would tell me right there he was bluffing. Just another grumpy "old guy".

[+WRASTRO]

I am boring...I just tell them the truth and try to explain the game. Then if they hang around I become invisible. I used to say I was looking for something, or try to tell them something else evasive and I stayed right in the center of their radar. A nutcase doing something he will tell you about is no threat. A nutcase being secretive...