Excuses To Muggles

[+Silfron Mandotheneset]

"I'm working on a research paper."

 

Haven't had to use this for caching, waiting for my GPSr to come in the mail (impatiently, I might add). But I can't tell you how many uses this one has! Of course it only really works if you look high school or college aged. Or if you have elementary aged kids with you, but apparently those groups don't get much attention

[+JAYMEDINC]

My family and I have been at this for only a couple weeks. We've already had to stop by the local kids soccer field three times trying to find a cache. The first and third time we were there, we were questioned by the people that wanted to put the chain across the road, as to why we were there. Actually, both times the question was "Can we help you?" Same clueless shaking of the head was the result both times when we we tried explaining the truth. I had no idea that making stuff up seems to be the norm. Although, we weren't looking for a cache that could get plundered. Just a tiny magnet.

[+Guinness70]

if out in nature i just pull out the camera and go for the frogseye view shots

 

You can try talking to yourself and walking in circles. Wait, we already do that!

ever wonder how stupid you look calibrating the electronic compass? ...

had a few strange looks, so now i make sure nobody around.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Guinness70

[MBpilot22]

Had one today. I was at a cache when a guy walking a dog saw me from across the street as I was looking around. I gave up looking for that cache, so I went to the next one about couple blocks away, and who shows up again? This time the guy approaches me and says he saw me a few block away and wondered if I was a real estate agent or if I worked for the city. I told him I was geocaching. "Huh?" I spent a minute explaining it to him and showing my GPS unit, but he was kind of "okay, whatever." He said "good luck" and left. I gave up looking after a few minutes and headed back to my car and I see him looking inside my car. As I approached my car he says, "I don't believe your cover story." I smiled, got into my unmarked ex-highway patrol Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and drove off!

[+Bouts777]

I've been approaced twice before by someone that wanted to ask me questions.

When I saw them coming nearer to me I stop searching and asked them first if I can help them. They then started to say that they wanted to ask me the same question. I told them that I'm a detective from the local police station and busy getting the co-ords of a crime scene to do an analysis of a suspected serial rapist. And I make sure they see the gun.

They then quikly move on.

The only catch is that I am a detective at the local police station.

[+Howlingmoon]

A friend, my husband, and I were recently looking for a cache near a lake. I had sent the boys down the steel slope to look for the cache, while I stayed near the trail trying to figure out which direction to send them. At one point, two muggles and their muggle dogs walked by. They asked what I was doing in the middle of the woods. I told them "just having some fun" and grinned at them. They just kept on walking but, I think they stopped on the other side of the lake to watch me. They couldn't see what hubby and friend were doing, since they were hidden by a hill and a lot of trees and undergrowth. lol

[Pepper and more]

Forget the walking sticks. We carry a folding cane. (less than a foot long when broken down in 3rds) If muggles are about, I just flip open the cane, and become a pathetic elderly person hobbling along. Good thing they don't see me poking under the bushes with it! LOL

[DevilDocMac]

I've just started caching and had my first run-in with "muggles" on the same day. I thought ahead. Before we approached GZ in the car, I stopped and pulled one hubcap off and stuffed it in the trunk. The poking around the brambles was easily explained by a mumble and pointing at the ugly blank wheel.

[otterdude]

I have yet to come across a muggle while caching. Normally, to aviod them coming to me, I just point at some random object (if I'm with another person) and act as if I'm explaining something. It works.

 

If one would come up to me, I'd say, I'm treasure hunting.

[MFU]

My top 3:

 

1) Just catalogue-ing the flora in this ecologically sensitive area. Ooooh, there's a myflourish geocachious over there. Looks like a reasonable speciment. Excuse me....

 

2) Hmmm, those reports about crop circles nearby musta been wrong

 

3) Maam, please don't come to close, I have to preserve the crime scene. No maam, I can't tell you what happened, it might put you in danger.

[+gsoh2oman]

I didn't have to explain myself to a muggle but the story is funny none the less. I was in our downtown area looking for a cache and I noticed a security guard nearby but he was talking to a delivery driver and I thought was not paying me any attention. I saw two free newspaper stands side by side and determined that one of the boxes had to be the cache location. I bent down and opened the first box and started looking inside when I heard this voice from behind me say "It's in the black one!!" so I quickly turned around and yep, It was the security guard. I didn't know what to say!! So much for being stealthy.

[+Mokzii]

"I'm accumulating statistics on the "insert made up, boring sounding insect" for an entomology research paper."

 

Completely uninteresting to people, and sounds too official to be a lie.

[sjcuk13]

getting out of my car the other day to do a cash in Redcar as I had never been to the area before I asked a passing muggle if I was walking in the right direction for the railway tracks he agreed I was then asked if I was geocashing. I was a bit supprised but said I was and asked how he knew he said he had accompined his sister a few times and had seen me put my gps in my pocket.

 

I haven't been doing this for long so it just shows that you can't be too carful. l

[whitehand]

i work for the dept of transportation so i use the same excuse that i use at work when nosey people ask questions "I'm doing a pheasant count for the DNR"

[stryder717]

Once in a urban enviroment we were approched by a homeless man and offered a tour of the city. we told him that we were just looking for a place to eat (we acually were goint to after we found the cache) he then proceded to show us all the places we could chose from.

[+magnskeet]

Our most interesting was the one where we got caught by the cops. We were searching for a good spot on a back road to place a larger cache. My father-in-law and I are pulled onto the side of the road with GPS in hand. The cops pull up and ask if we are ok. He told us this is a good spot for drugs and just wanted to make sure we were not selling them in the wifes minivan. He let us go and we decided not to put a cache in that spot.

[pugsley&wednesday]

Some of you folks with the more creative answers really need to go over to the SCA forums!

Yeah, the medaeval living history group. Here's one I've pulled myself a time or two..

"Excuse me, are you in a play?" This from a mundane while my friend and I, in garb, were stopping to gas up the car on the way to an event.

"Yes, as it so happens, we are."

"Oh, really? Which one?"

(Friend and I, in unison) "Death of a Salesman!"

 

So far, while caching, I've never had to tell anyone I was trying to hide the bodies. "Filming without a permit" would be a good line, though. Anyone here ever seen Wizard of Speed and Time?

[+vinsonbar]

The only time I have been caught by a muggle I didn't even reply. Here's how it went down. I was looking for a geocache that was in a guardrail. first time I ever encountered one of these. My mom who also geocaches was in the car. so here I am in my pimped out scion xb looking around this guardrail all a sudden I hear from some drunk/drinking hillbilly looking people... "HEY! you looking for drugs?". I immediately stopped looking got back in the car and waited for another day. Thats what happens when your in maine I guess. lol. They probably wanted some. so I think if I am ever to be encountered and asked what I am doing I will just say... Looking for drugs. no I wouldn't say but it would be semi funny.

[+Lennu]

Ultimately..... I don't understand why so many people are interested in what we are doing instead of minding their own business.

 

Of course if we are trespassing into a protected area it is perfectly understandable. Once a man cam and ask what I was doing, he was the pastor of some church. I had a printout of the cache and a GPS in my hand and I couldn't do anything else but telling the truth.

 

He said: "Alright then, I know about that. I see you guys quite often around here, no problem have fun. I just wanted to be sure"

[+AD0SB]

well I haven't been hassled too much, but here have been the 3 good ones:

 

first time: told the "muggle" that my son was playing there yesterday and lost his key to the house, and I hoped to find it because I didnt want to have to re-key my locks... didn't work so well, they preceded to help me look, so I had to pretend and look for roughly 10 to 15 minutes, by gosh we did find a key, so I pretended it was mine and thanked them as I went on my way... came back another day, because I saw the cache when looking for the "key"

 

second time: had camera, notebook and gps with me, so I told them I was with the US forestry department, and I was inspecting and documenting cases of insect borne diseases that were infecting trees in the county. This one also didn't work so well, the person asking me was a park ranger, but was in normal clothes because he was with his family, then his son whips out an old lowrance and proceeds to look for the cache with me. Later on he does tell me thats the best excuse / reason to be out there digging in the woods he has heard so far.

 

the last time: This was a good one, two older ladies I heard them coming down the path, walking their dogs, blah blah blah, what is that guy doing in the woods... ... ... So then when they get close enough I pull off the old cap'n morgan pose, throw one foot up on a stump, and stand as still as a statue, I think it freaked the one older gal out, because they sure got quiet and picked up the pace considerably. I held the pose for about 3 to 5 minutes (enough for them to get about 1/3 mile up where the path goes out of sight) I can only imagine what they thought...

 

I think I will stick with the tree inspector line though

[+pieslicer]

I like to tell muggles I am conducting a geological survey of the area for the Federal government.

[+Silfron Mandotheneset]

Some of you folks with the more creative answers really need to go over to the SCA forums!

Yeah, the medaeval living history group. Here's one I've pulled myself a time or two..

"Excuse me, are you in a play?" This from a mundane while my friend and I, in garb, were stopping to gas up the car on the way to an event.

"Yes, as it so happens, we are."

"Oh, really? Which one?"

(Friend and I, in unison) "Death of a Salesman!"

 

LOL, the only time I was in a gas station in garb I just got funny looks. I guess they were too confused to ask any questions!

[+Kohavis]

Haven't had to explain myself yet. But if I do, I have two plans:

 

1. Tell the truth. Always the best approach!

 

2. If that doesn't work, mumble that I've been talking to Satan and the entrance to Hell is ....somewhere ....around here! That ought to keep them away

[+Glyn Morris]

I never directly explain to anyone what we are doing but me and the kids pretend that we are out foraging for mushrooms if caught on our knees searching the undergrowth.

[+ejoty]

My funniest story to date: My son and I were looking for a very cleverly hidden cache near some pay phones. The clue said you did not need to tear anything apart, remove screws, panel, etc. It said nothing about looking in every crack and crevasse in the phone booths. Which is exactly what we were doing. A few people gave us some unusual looks, but no one spoke to us. One lady who glanced our way as she went into the store, approached us and asked if we were in meed of a cell phone to call someone. She thought we were looking for change for the phone. We explained geocaching to her, invited her to help us locate the cache and she shook her head and walked off thinking we were crazy. ejoty, form the wastelands of utah

[+komebeaux]

I've used the excuse of "my wife thinks she dropped an earring here the other day".

 

In some cases, I will just explain to someone what I'm doing. I tell them it's an online scavenger or treasure hunt.

[+RusticScout]

Recently, I had a creepy muggle come up and ask me if I was looking for dead bodies. No response and quickly DNF'ed due to the warm cozy feeling he gave me...

 

I think I would be moving quickly too!

 

I am new at this and one of the caches was in a busy parking lot, so I tried to look like I was on a cell phone. I had a pretty good idea where it was at, but it was just way to out in the open, so I decided to come back when it wasn't busy.

I left that parking lot and starting walking down the street to another cache, when I see this car turn into the drive in front of me and I see this guy get out and come walking down toward me on the sidewalk.

I am thinking to myself, "Please, don't be coming to.." and sure enough he walked right up to me and said "I saw you at the parking lot over there. Did you lose something? Did you need help finding something?" I said "No, no, I was looking for something...I'm geocaching and I was just looking for a cache." and then he said "Oh yeah, it's right out in front." I quickly said "Don't tell me! I know where it's at, I just didn't want to grab it, in front of everyone."

He kinda laughed and I said "Well, I gotta go." and then kept on walking. I was afraid he was going to ask me out or for my phone number.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Haven't had to explain myself yet. But if I do, I have two plans:

 

1. Tell the truth. Always the best approach!

 

2. If that doesn't work, mumble that I've been talking to Satan and the entrance to Hell is ....somewhere ....around here! That ought to keep them away

You may want to be VERY VERY VERY careful where and when you use that one! About twenty years ago, at a time when I was working as a therapist in the mental health field, one of the major weekly news tabloids in America did a cute and funny (at least to me) and entirely fictional story about how the Back Door to Hell (or maybe it was the Back Gate to Hell or the Secret Doorway to Hell) had been found in a farm field in a small town in Ohio.

 

Well, the entirely unexpected outcome of the publication of this tale was that once the tabloid hit the newsstands, all sorts of loonies, fanatics and just plain old very curious and very credulous and gullible people form all across the USA and Canada (and a few from Europe) hopped in their cars and on buses and planes and trains and descended on this tiny farm town in the middle of Ohio, and, since many of the seekers were very mentally or emotionally unbalanced (and many were highly diagnosable, if you get my drift) it placed an amazing workload on the law enforcement and mental health and social services providers and agencies in the town and the county. Within a week, there were stories in the major media all across the USA about the humorous but also at times sad situation of all these people, many of them mentally or emotionally disabled, who had made the pilgrimage to a small Ohio farm town to try to visit the Back Door to Hell.

 

The whole matter was of particular interest to me at the time because I was then working as a therapist in a walk-in street clinic in a small city on the East Coast of the USA. It happened to be a trendy city that was a kinda magnet for all sorts of lost New Age seekers and disturbed people hoping to find the new Haight Ashbury of the late 1980s, or maybe at least a guru or a messiah, and thus both my street clinic and the local police force had to deal with an influx, usually via the bus terminal, of five to ten highly-disturbed people per day who arrived in town nearly penniless, driven by all kinds of visions, with very poor coping skills and often with a knack for irritating people on the streets or for actually assaulting them in minor ways, and it kept us all rather busy! So, when the Back Door to Hell thing transpired in Ohio, we would all laugh at our weekly department/agency liasion meetings, crowing that finally some other city was getting a taste of what we had to deal with every day! Of course, what we went through was rather minimal compared with what Berkeley, California and Woodstock, New York have to deal with every day, because they are still seen as magnets by many disturbed and lost seekers!

 

Something similar, but on a much smaller scale, happened in the New Jersey Pine Barrens (no, not the one inside Sioneva's skull) back in the 1980s and 1990s when a couple of somewhat deranged New Age/conspiracy theorist authors started publishing articles and letters on Compuserve (sorry, but there was no real web in those days, just Arpanet and Bitnet, plus Compuserve), on various Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), in zines and via xerox FAX and mail art circles, claiming that a tiny town in the middle of the Barrens called Ong's Hat had recently been the site of all sorts of bizarre interdimensional experiments with a time-space portal built by a deranged defrocked scientist (how DID they ever find out about me...? ) Once word spread, loonies and curiosity seekers from all across the world started to flock to the Pine Barrens, placing a new load on the law enforcement and mental health agencies all across the sparsely-populated area.

[+jc_hook]

Normally I open up and confess if the muggle doesn't look deranged.

 

Once however my friend and I were on a footbridge on hands and knees looking for a cache, when we saw a mom and her boy come walking by. I sort of panicked and just kept looking for the micro ignoring them. As they passed their conversation went like this:

 

Child: Mom, what are they doing?

Mom pulling her son along: Don't worry about what they are doing just keep moving!

[Whacked]

I saw on another board the suggestion of carrying a clipboard, as that makes you look 'official.' I think it's a brilliant idea! Might try it.

Funny, I am brand new to this. Since I occasionally do inspection stuff for work I keep my boots, safety vest and hard hat in my truck. I know from past non-geo experience that wearing that gear and carrying a metal box clipboard you are practically invisible to the muggles. Makes sense to do this while geocaching.

 

Also a safety vest is not a bad idea to wear if your out in the boonies when hunting season starts up.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I saw on another board the suggestion of carrying a clipboard, as that makes you look 'official.' I think it's a brilliant idea! Might try it.

Funny, I am brand new to this. Since I occasionally do inspection stuff for work I keep my boots, safety vest and hard hat in my truck. I know from past non-geo experience that wearing that gear and carrying a metal box clipboard you are practically invisible to the muggles. Makes sense to do this while geocaching.

 

Also a safety vest is not a bad idea to wear if your out in the boonies when hunting season starts up.

Yes! As I have said many times before in the forums, this is my classic "disguise" and I have even used it early in the morning to place a geocache container 20 feet up a lamppost at a busy intersection in the middle of our city, and no one gave me a second look. I even "own" an engineering and services company called VXP Services, which has a webpage of its own, and which offers "geo-placement", "geo-maintenance" services and "geo-muuggle abatement" services, and I invested in high-quality adhesive labels for my hardhat, safety vest and clipboard bearing the company name and legend, and in three magnetic signs for my car (for the two front doors and for the trunk) which read something along the lines of "VXP Geo-Engineering Services" and display the company phone number and website URL. I park the car near my "worksite" and this cuts down on questions or second looks 100% when performing delicate geo-operations in urban and suburban areas.

[+herr_tichy]

@Vinny & Sue Team:

 

 

Seriously, I've been joking with my friends about closing off potential final locations with barrier tape (I don't like urband caching very much, I just can't cope very well with ppl watching me) - you made me seriously consider that now

[+WatchDog2020]

I saw on another board the suggestion of carrying a clipboard, as that makes you look 'official.' I think it's a brilliant idea! Might try it.

Funny, I am brand new to this. Since I occasionally do inspection stuff for work I keep my boots, safety vest and hard hat in my truck. I know from past non-geo experience that wearing that gear and carrying a metal box clipboard you are practically invisible to the muggles. Makes sense to do this while geocaching.

 

Also a safety vest is not a bad idea to wear if your out in the boonies when hunting season starts up.

Yes! As I have said many times before in the forums, this is my classic "disguise" and I have even used it early in the morning to place a geocache container 20 feet up a lamppost at a busy intersection in the middle of our city, and no one gave me a second look. I even "own" an engineering and services company called VXP Services, which has a webpage of its own, and which offers "geo-placement", "geo-maintenance" services and "geo-muuggle abatement" services, and I invested in high-quality adhesive labels for my hardhat, safety vest and clipboard bearing the company name and legend, and in three magnetic signs for my car (for the two front doors and for the trunk) which read something along the lines of "VXP Geo-Engineering Services" and display the company phone number and website URL. I park the car near my "worksite" and this cuts down on questions or second looks 100% when performing delicate geo-operations in urban and suburban areas.

 

You are either completely nuts or the most brilliant person alive - there is a fine line between the two - LOVE IT

 

LMAO - http://www.funsprings.us/VXP/

Edited September 21, 2008 by WatchDog2020

[C-Ker1]

In a situation where muggles are around, my group usually splits into two groups--the searchers and the distraction. While searching for a caches in a little park not to far from where my great-grandmother used to live, a young boy saw us checking the bushes and asked what we were doing. I told him we were looking for a cat named Muggles. He spent five minutes helping me "search" for the cat. The others in my group located the cache, signed the log, and then returned it to its spot. When they were ready to go, I told him that it might already have gone back home and we were going to go check. Since he lived near the little park, he promised me that he would keep an eye out for Muggles.

[+ncfinn]

In a situation where muggles are around, my group usually splits into two groups--the searchers and the distraction. While searching for a caches in a little park not to far from where my great-grandmother used to live, a young boy saw us checking the bushes and asked what we were doing. I told him we were looking for a cat named Muggles. He spent five minutes helping me "search" for the cat. The others in my group located the cache, signed the log, and then returned it to its spot. When they were ready to go, I told him that it might already have gone back home and we were going to go check. Since he lived near the little park, he promised me that he would keep an eye out for Muggles.

 

1) Is it nice to have a little kid out there worrying about a lost cat?

 

2) Isn't "help me look for a lost animal" the favorite line of child nappers?

 

3) Why not tell the kid about the cache and make him/her the cache guardian or something that would make him/her feel important?

[C-Ker1]

[

 

1) Is it nice to have a little kid out there worrying about a lost cat?

 

2) Isn't "help me look for a lost animal" the favorite line of child nappers?

 

3) Why not tell the kid about the cache and make him/her the cache guardian or something that would make him/her feel important?

 

1) My bad. I should have mentioned that the kid was around 12 years old. Sorry if I made anyone think we were talking about a younger child.

 

2) I never asked for the help; he volunteered. Before he arrived, we had already found an empty porn DVD case that left nothing to the imagination on the cover, so I was trying to keep him away from the area where it was.

 

3) Not all 12 year olds are trustworthy. This one might have been, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't bring his school buds around to see the cache. We didn't want to take a chance that the cache would be muggled because of us.

 

I never figured someone would try to lay a guilt trip on me for simply adding a post.

[+ChicagoCanineCrew]

I've learned lately that caching with some kiddies in tow means muggles don't tend to give you a second glance. Somehow they seem to think it's perfectly normal for 2 adults and 2 kids to be rummaging along a fence line at the edge of a park

 

I've found the same thing with dogs. I almost always cache with a dog any I've never had any ask me why I was tromping around the woods/parking lot/park. In fact I've found that people generally don't notice you at all when you're walking a dog. I usually walk my dogs at night and sometimes we stop to take a look at an interesting bug or spider web, etc while walking and no one ever gives us a second glance. Even if we're walking in a park that is supposed to be closed for the night we don't get much notice even by the cops. There is a suburb nearby where people hardly ever walk (no sidewalks in much of it) and if I walk there alone I get suspicious looks but if I'm with a dog, nothing. I guess people just figure we're walking our dogs so we can't be up to any mischief. Not sure how that works.

[+BuxCamper]

Yes! As I have said many times before in the forums, this is my classic "disguise" and I have even used it early in the morning to place a geocache container 20 feet up a lamppost at a busy intersection in the middle of our city, and no one gave me a second look. I even "own" an engineering and services company called VXP Services, which has a webpage of its own, and which offers "geo-placement", "geo-maintenance" services and "geo-muuggle abatement" services, and I invested in high-quality adhesive labels for my hardhat, safety vest and clipboard bearing the company name and legend, and in three magnetic signs for my car (for the two front doors and for the trunk) which read something along the lines of "VXP Geo-Engineering Services" and display the company phone number and website URL. I park the car near my "worksite" and this cuts down on questions or second looks 100% when performing delicate geo-operations in urban and suburban areas.

 

Now you've started me thinking...

[end13]

Once we were geocaching and we had a elderly couple ask us what we were doing, We told them we were geocaching, and they just gave us that look that says "OK, i'm going to walk away VERY slowly. These folks are crazy."

 

I love seeing people's reactions to a few gecaching terms!

Edited September 27, 2008 by end13

[+JATurtle]

It depends on who finds you looking, and where. When it’s the police, I tell them exactly what I am doing in some detail. When I carried pages, I would show them a cache page or my book. With local folks in an urban area, I will typically say I am “just looking” and look busy. I generally get the impression most people think I am working. In rural areas, it definitely depends on the muggle and the location. I was stopped by a farmer who said he owned the land conservatory where I was looking for a micro. He said he thought I might be a person who had stolen his tires from the nearby barn. With him, I spent some time talking and trying to explain what I was doing. He didn’t like it but seemed was a lot less interested in the truth of my activity. Especially since I could find what I was looking for. Lately, when I have found myself in a position to confess, I find it is better to tell people I am looking for a “game piece in a scavenger hunt.” People always seem to be satisfied with this explanation without any other discussions.

[+scubajt41]

"Manbearpig" "Underpants gnomes"

 

I know batman left the secret lever here somewhere

 

my weapon is here somewhere..are you (insert name here)? man the things i do for a klondike bar..

[+sullude]

I was on a bridge at 3:oo pm in about 5 below with out the windchill on a bridge over the fox river looking for a micro mag under a handrail. Out there for 20 mins. and nothing. Being that cold people just look at you like your stupid being out in this cold looking at the water Stopping until they leave then continuing your search.. This little old lady walks on the bridge and I say hi, she's like " are you fishing ". UMMM "no" she's like ok and walks away. Being dumbfounded and laughing think I'm on a bridge on a freezing cold day, mind you not holding or even around a fish pole and asked if I was fishing lmfao . Gotta love it sometimes!!!

 

PS Here's your sign

[+acmancuso]

 

"Jack told me the hatch was located somewhere around here." <--For 'Lost' fans. :-)

 

 

I Lol'd

[+andyfee]

A few of us went caching after work. Got to GZ a long muddy path with rocks now and again. We were hunting around when I noticed a dog running around. By the time I had turned around one of my friends had walked upto the muggle and said to her "It's there afternoon out, and they like hunting for worms so don't worry to much about them".

She seemed to buy that one, especially when she walked past me and I was sat on a rock head in hands trying not to laugh, with the cache open in front of me.

[Quizes]

I've been in two situations where I've been caught in the act of searching:

 

The first one was while hunting a micro at a local statue. I was putting it back in it's place when I was surprised by someone saying hello from behind. When I turned around, he stated that he didn't mean to scare me, but he was going to photograph the artwork...then he asked what I was doing. I told him about geocaching and showed him the container. He'd heard of it, but never done it.

 

The second time I was caught, I was in a bad part of town looking for a cache in kind of a trashy area. I heard a car door slam behind me and started to formulate excuses for being there when a friendly guy waves a GPS at me and yells "Are you geocaching?!" Yep! So my first encounter with a fellow cacher helped me make a find.

[+Coyote's Girl]

Just looking for a nice, quiet spot to nurse the baby.

[+Fustrate]

The person I go caching with the most and I are both big LOST fans, so we've used some excuses like...

 

"we're looking for a way back to the island!"

"there's a Dharma station somewhere around here, and we just need to find the entrance."

"Eloise told us that we have to be here at exactly this time, or we'll miss the window."

 

other times, we just start saying random lines, like "WE HAVE TO GO BACK, KATE!" or "The numbers! They're cursed, man!" or "You all, everybody, actin' like you stupid people, wearin' 'spensive clothes!"

[+CoverOfDarkness]

I call this the 'Mad Cow' antic:

A couple days ago I was crawling on the ground on hands and knees, a Muggle came near me and as they approached I just started bowing my head to the ground saying "Moooooo" over and over again. To further fit into the role, I took a mouthful of grass and looked up at them chewing on my meal. Thank God there were no dogs there previously...

 

One I almost had to use was the excuse that I had chased a large bug up to the tree and it was currently hiding. 'What's it look like?' Looks tasty, black, eight legs, a strawberry flavored bowtie on its back. Wanna help me look?!

 

For teenagers, some video game-related excuse works. Looking for COG tags, the OverShield, ammo for my BFG, or the Cullis Gate to the Heroes Guild.

 

With LEOs, I just act casually, don't offer any information unless asked.

[+Goonies Oosterhout]

ever wonder how stupid you look calibrating the electronic compass? ...

had a few strange looks, so now i make sure nobody around.

Calibrate by turning the GPSr instead of turning yourself. Pirouettes do look stupid...

[+Team K&L]

I have encountered a lot of muggles in my short time of caching and usually just tell them what I'm doing. People who take their dogs to the parks on a regular basis are used to seeing cachers. But I can't wait until I have a kid muggle. I'm going to tell him/her that I saw a rainbow end at that very spot and I'm looking for the pot of gold!