What's your story?

[+Wandering Vikings]

There is a topic right now for people to talk about their favorite personal coin of the year, and lots of people are mentioning that they like certain coins because of the story behind the coin or the sybolism on the coin.

We haven't had the opportunity to meet a lot of cachers in person and don't know most of the story's...

So please share them!

 

What is the story behind your personal coin?

[+Eric K]

 

Ours isn't exactly an earth shattering story.

 

Even though I've been minting coins for several years I never did a personal coin. My son and I came up with the name D.E.A.D. sometime long before Geocoinfest. It stands for Derek, Eric and DeAnn.

 

He ended up drawing a picture of us as zombies Geocaching. We sat on that for a LONG time before having the coin made. Since we were going to Geocoinfest I figured he would really enjoy being able to have some of his own coins for trading and he really enjoyed it.

 

On the front of the coin is the D.E.A.D geocachers and on the back it has D.E.A.D caching since 6/21/02 as that is the date we started geocaching.

 

Small note, originally the GPS the artist used a Magellan with the antenna but since we've always used Garmins I had them make it look more like a Garmin!

[+Lemon Fresh Dog]

Mine is a simple story of a naive lad that.... oh wait.... wrong forums...

 

Every year I do a personal coin to place in caches, give away and trade. This year it was the Geobone v2. (they are far more expensive to mint than my 2006/2007 coins - so I only want to d the Geobones every few years).

 

What is the story?

 

Um... my geonick is "Lemon Fresh DOG" - so a bone makes sense.

 

The SCUBA portion reflects my interest in discovery, exploration, science and the earth - so I thought I'd start as low as I can! Plus I am a diver (unless you actually have to dive to be considered - I haven't been out/under nearly as much as I want to be). Each new bone in the future will represent a major theme of a hobby I like - Mountain Biking, Cross-country skiiing, hiking, astronomy, aviation - that sort of thing. I don't want to over-crowd the coin - so one minting to one theme. This is for my outdoor/exploration interests.

 

The little doghouse with the bones out front (or bowl) and the satellite above is something I try to place in all my coins - to tie them all together.

[+fox-and-the-hound]

 

Our personal coin and our name itself is a bit of a ha-ha between Eric and myself actually. Our wives worked together and wondered if we might get along so we did the couples get-together and sure enough we liked all the same outdoor activities. Within weeks we were spending every weekend on one outdoor activity after another, but mostly hiking or fishing. For many years I've babied a bad knee in the effort to stave off the eventual surgery required to fix it so hiking was a bit harder for me. Eric (as anyone who's cached with him can attest to) is a bushwacking fanatic who can bully his way through brambles with eyes closed and a built in compass in his head. Hills? Straight up! Cliffs with convenient 50 yards away? Straight up! Even the poor dog can't climb it? Straight up, he'll find us later! Lacking that much tenacity or agility, I head for the trail, switchback or shallower ascent. This pattern of him going straight and me constantly zigzagging behind like a hound on the hunt allowed us to come up with a caching profile name in mere seconds. Of course it didn't hurt that his name really is Fox, too.

 

The face of the coin shows the fox and the hound running in a constant circle with the geocaching signal and satellites flying overhead. The rear shows our tracks (the only thing) being left behind in our passing and a bone as a reward. A trivial thing so treasured by all dogs that they'll go to extraordinary lengths to find one (much like caches to cachers). Our email address of course and the coordinates of our first successful find not even a donut's throw from the front door of the police station. We treasure the thought of a two hour search for a easy micro on a bitterly cold day of snow while trying to look inconspicuous in a town square less than 40 feet on a side! The police must have laughed themselves to tears watching us because they're apparently well aware of its existence. That's our story, hope it made you smile.

Edited December 19, 2008 by fox-and-the-hound

[+drneal]

The Chiro-Cache coin was basically a remake of the chiro-cache pathtag.

 

On the front are pictures of my cache hounds Logan and Heineken (Heine.) The original artwork was from a charcoal I had done at "Camp Gone To The Dogs," a week of training for you and your dogs!

 

On the back is the chiropractic caduseus (it's what I do,) my last name is a little long for some, so a lot of my patients call me DrNeal, the chiro-caches are a group of caches I've placed around my area, and at the bottom of the coin, the ILYK is a message for my wife, Kathy. I'm working on a 2nd personal coin in memory of Kathy, and will let everyone know when it comes to be.

 

I guess I still haven't mastered getting an image in a reply!

Edited December 20, 2008 by drneal

[+joranda]

 

Ours isn't exactly an earth shattering story.

 

Even though I've been minting coins for several years I never did a personal coin. My son and I came up with the name D.E.A.D. sometime long before Geocoinfest. It stands for Derek, Eric and DeAnn.

 

He ended up drawing a picture of us as zombies Geocaching. We sat on that for a LONG time before having the coin made. Since we were going to Geocoinfest I figured he would really enjoy being able to have some of his own coins for trading and he really enjoyed it.

 

On the front of the coin is the D.E.A.D geocachers and on the back it has D.E.A.D caching since 6/21/02 as that is the date we started geocaching.

 

Small note, originally the GPS the artist used a Magellan with the antenna but since we've always used Garmins I had them make it look more like a Garmin!

 

 

I really like this one.

[+NOSNOW]

Shadow’s Friend and I meet at a local zoo. She was kind enough to let me out of the cage (LOL). We were both Docents and worked with a lot of the animals at the zoo. My favorite were the raptors. At the zoo we worked with a Barred Owl, Barn Owl, Great Horn Owl and a Red Tail Hawk.

 

When we got married we designed the eagle and sun logo for our wedding. We used it on our invitations, programs and anything else we could put it on. Our cake top was a statue of a pair of eagles in flight. After we took a class in stain glass I converted the design into a window for our bedroom. So when we started geocaching and found out about geocoins there was no doubt what had to be the front of our coin. The back we made with a picture of Shadow, our rabbit and the sign for NOSNOW. That is the story of our first coin Soaring for a Cache.

 

 

 

We learned a lot from the first coin, and our second coin, CacheHawk, brought us back to working with a red tail hawk name Ben from the zoo.

 

[+Tank Hounds]

Our caching name is the Tank Hounds...Mr TH was in the Army for 21 years (just retired) and one Christmas for fun we put our 2 hounds up on a tank display at Ft Leonard Wood, MO where we were stationed at the time...it then became a tradition...so every year we dragged all our hounds to a tank on the Army base where we were stationed and plunked them up there and took their picture! So when we decided to do our first trade only coin that it had to have the tank hounds on it...We think that it came out great!!!

The back side is of the Engineer Castle (Mr TH was a Combat Engineer in the Army). There are also 6 paw prints to represent all 6 of our hounds that we had at the time the coin was made. We also made it in the shape of a "dog tag"....to represent both the military and our "dogs"

 

Below are all links to all 8 years of our tank hound pics and a pic of our coin.

 

2008

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue..._2008_fixed.jpg

 

2007

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue117/CA722XZF.jpg

 

2006

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue...ankpicclose.jpg

 

2005

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue...2005TankPic.jpg

 

2004

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue...2004TankPic.jpg

 

2003

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue...2003TankPic.jpg

 

2002

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue...2002TankPic.jpg

 

2001

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/sue...2001TankPic.jpg

 

 

[+fox-and-the-hound]

http://img.geocaching.com/track/0130e37e-f...5be6cde3ab4.jpg

 

The Chiro-Cache coin was basically a remake of the chiro-cache pathtag.

 

On the front are pictures of my cache hounds Logan and Heineken (Heine.) The original artwork was from a charcoal I had done at "Camp Gone To The Dogs," a week of training for you and your dogs!

 

On the back is the chiropractic caduseus (it's what I do,) my last name is a little long for some, so a lot of my patients call me DrNeal, the chiro-caches are a group of caches I've placed around my area, and at the bottom of the coin, the ILYK is a message for my wife, Kathy. I'm working on a 2nd personal coin in memory of Kathy, and will let everyone know when it comes to be.

 

I guess I still haven't mastered getting an image in a reply!

Edited December 20, 2008 by fox-and-the-hound

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

This is my best personal geocoin who i have set free into the world.

 

This Chase your dreams geocoin has a great and wonderful story

 

 

As GeoError kindly named my personal coin in the other thread, I'll share the story here

 

In 1989, I was happy, pretty much had everything I'd been working for through my twenties; graduated from university, had a job teaching, lecturing and examining in mathematics, had obtained my Private Pilots License and was trialing for the Great Britain Squad as an archer.

 

At a GB squad selection event I was hit in the head by a discus and suffered a severe brain injury, and in that fateful moment my life changed forever.

 

I was in hospital for 11 months and when I was allowed back home I needed 24 hour care and had to adjust to life in a wheelchair.

It took years to make progress, but I was determined to have some independence.

 

In 2000 I was given my gorgeous Golden Retriever, Caesar, by Dogs for the Disabled, as my registered assistance dog he has worked by my side ever since.

 

His forgiving nature and unfailing love have seen me regain my confidence, albeit slowly at first, and now, when I look back, life has changed again completely.

Perhaps not in a split second, but over the course of time.

 

I now am very involved with advocating for access and equality for people with disabilities.

I have raised funds for Dogs for the Disabled so others can benefit from one of these amazing dogs.

I am European Vice President of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners and also in 2006 was appointed to a committee which advises the UK government on the transport needs of people with disabilities.

 

In the middle of all that I discovered Geocaching!

 

Last autumn, a friend of mine saw a contest in a national newspaper, they were looking for people to nominate those who they believed to be "Everyday Heroes".

They were looking for people who had triumphed over adversity.

To my surprise I was nominated and won!!

The prize?

To carry the Olympic Torch when it passes through London on April 6th 2008 as part of the Olympic Torch Relay and later in the year a trip to China to see the Torch Relay there too.

 

 

You can see video of our Torch Relay run at this linky.

 

I have a few coins left which I am selling ... proceeds to Dogs for the Disabled (who gave me Caesar), contact me through my profile if you are interested.

[+Lemon Fresh Dog]

Now THAT is a story and THAT is why I collect geocoins - sending a note to get one of these ones!

[+Wandering Vikings]

 

As GeoError kindly named my personal coin in the other thread, I'll share the story here

 

In 1989, I was happy, pretty much had everything I'd been working for through my twenties; graduated from university, had a job teaching, lecturing and examining in mathematics, had obtained my Private Pilots License and was trialing for the Great Britain Squad as an archer.

 

At a GB squad selection event I was hit in the head by a discus and suffered a severe brain injury, and in that fateful moment my life changed forever.

 

I was in hospital for 11 months and when I was allowed back home I needed 24 hour care and had to adjust to life in a wheelchair.

It took years to make progress, but I was determined to have some independence.

 

In 2000 I was given my gorgeous Golden Retriever, Caesar, by Dogs for the Disabled, as my registered assistance dog he has worked by my side ever since.

 

His forgiving nature and unfailing love have seen me regain my confidence, albeit slowly at first, and now, when I look back, life has changed again completely.

Perhaps not in a split second, but over the course of time.

 

I now am very involved with advocating for access and equality for people with disabilities.

I have raised funds for Dogs for the Disabled so others can benefit from one of these amazing dogs.

I am European Vice President of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners and also in 2006 was appointed to a committee which advises the UK government on the transport needs of people with disabilities.

 

In the middle of all that I discovered Geocaching!

 

Last autumn, a friend of mine saw a contest in a national newspaper, they were looking for people to nominate those who they believed to be "Everyday Heroes".

They were looking for people who had triumphed over adversity.

To my surprise I was nominated and won!!

The prize?

To carry the Olympic Torch when it passes through London on April 6th 2008 as part of the Olympic Torch Relay and later in the year a trip to China to see the Torch Relay there too.

 

 

You can see video of our Torch Relay run at this linky.

 

I have a few coins left which I am selling ... proceeds to Dogs for the Disabled (who gave me Caesar), contact me through my profile if you are interested.

 

Wow!! What an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing!

[+GeoKs]

We were lucky enough to trade for a Dorsetgal and GeoDog geocoin this past summer and really enjoyed reading the story behind the coin.

 

The story behind our personal coin is no-where near as inspiring, but since PLnauta was kind enough to put our "Highwood Pass" geocoin at the start off the thread highlighting some of the 2008 personal geocoin designs, here it is...

 

 

At 2206 meters (7170 feet), Highwood Pass is the highest point in Canada that can be reached by paved roadway. Many of our favourite hikes in the Canadian Rockies start at the Highwood Pass Day Use parking lot or nearby parking areas and so far we've hidden over a dozen geocaches on the mountains shown in 3D relief on the front of the geocoin. The meadow adjacent to GC1GG69 - Pocaterra Cirque is Mrs. GeoKs' favourite spot in the whole world.

 

We've been hiking with our kids for 5 years now, and always try to be prepared for any eventuality. Even so, there have been a couple of times we've been caught without all the necessary gear, so in addition to full rain gear, tuques (for all you non-Canadians out there, a tuque is a close-fitting winter hat) and gloves for everyone, we now consider all the items shown on the reverse of the coin to be essential geohiking equipment: a good multi-tool, our backpacks with trekking poles, comfortable Gortex-lined hiking books, our camera (the one on the coin is our oldest GeoKid's Canon G9), bear spray and an air horn (to scare any bears away), a good first aid kit, our GPSr, and lots of water and food to keep our GeoKids fueled up while on the trail.

 

The benchmark in the centre of the coin represents the Canada Geodetic Survey marker closest to the summit of Highwood Pass. The marker was installed in the 1950s, but an attempt by the Canadian Geological Survey to confirm its location in the 1980s was unsuccessful. This past summer we tried to locate the marker, without success; we plan to try again next year.

 

Since we received our coins from the mint at the very end of October, we've really enjoyed trading for others' personal geocoins. So far, of all the stories we've heard, we most enjoyed the tale behind Cache_in_Hand's "Adventures in Geocaching Vol #1" geocoin.

[+Lemon Fresh Dog]

GeoKs! I know where that Brass Cap is!

 

I'll bring it to the next local event....

 

Kidding....

[+BVnLJ]

Just making a request of the "Yime" to please tell the story behind your 2008 Yemon-Yime coin, my curiosity has been piqued by others in different threads and now I needs to know

[+DaFunkyFrogs]

Just making a request of the "Yime" to please tell the story behind your 2008 Yemon-Yime coin, my curiosity has been piqued by others in different threads and now I needs to know

what she said...........we also would like to hear that......we are still looking for that elusive "Dark Yime".......

[+Rockin Roddy]

Our coin was made a few years ago, so not sure if this is what you're after....but....

 

Tod, KAboom and I had been caching for 5 months (first just Tod and I as KAboom was "adopted" soon after), we were on a big roll!! We found 500 caches that first 5 months and I had also moved 500 TBs in this timeframe, we made the 500th cache the 2006 MWGB! I had some spare change (we actually had money back then lol), so I decided to make a coin!

 

I wanted to show my pride in Michigan and the Jeep I had bought which broke us into the world of caching, so what better way than to have the Jeep "breaking through" the state of Michigan? The front showed this, it symbolizes our coming into the caching world with both barrels blazing! Now, the back shows a trail we traveled here in Michigan to go after a cache. While the trail wasn't overly tough, it did prove tough enough to rip the O2 sensor from the Jeep, so we thought we'd add this!!

 

Of course, being proud of our quick rise in the milestone counts, we added the 500th find and the 500th TB move in the wording and also added our names (all of them since we cache under an assortment of names...Team Rod & Tod w/KAboom, The Cachestalkers or just Rockin Roddy lol).

 

Since then, we've not cached much, the last real number run for the whole team was at the 2008 MWGB and Tod was killed 2 days later. KAboom and I have gone on a few small runs, one to Manistee MI and another up north further. Having KAboom has been a great help, but I miss Tod very much and we don't get out much (the cost of gas, the lack of funds and Tod's loss all have contributed to this, I suppose).

 

We have another coin coming out soon, it's TOP SECRET lol! It'll be one to help promote bike awareness as well as be a personal and it WILL have Tod's name on it (we'll use the Team Rod & Tod w/KAboom or the TR&T w/K shortened version). This coin should be out early next year, so stay tuned!!