Idiot award!

February 26, 2009

I went caching last night with a friend. Now when I say 'night', I mean 1-4am, after work. We walked to two caches and drove to the third. This third cache proved to be a little difficult for us even though it was quite obvious once we actually found it. To try to get some help, I went to my car and sat in the back seat to consult my laptop, 'Mr. Universe'. Bonus points to those who know the reference.

The other logs and Google Maps didn't prove to be much help, so got out of the car and returned to the hunt. Found it quickly and decided to drive to the next cache .4 miles away... except the doors were locked. Seems Nissan Versas automatically lock if the ignition is not engaged. So there we were, stuck in the middle of a car-park at 3am waiting for a locksmith. Needless to say we walked to the other cache to keep warm while we waited.

So remember, kiddies, either be smart and keep your keys attached to you or carry a spare in your GeoBag, outfit, whatever. Or keep your windows cracked enough to get a stick through.

February 26, 2009

That sucks. I always have two pairs of keys on me (I also have electronic locks on my door).

Now, some of you may wonder why I have two sets of keys on me. Well, I am a volunteer firefighter/EMT and some times I end up going straight to the scene of an accident. In a lot of cases that means I end up leaving on the ambulance and my SUV is left at the scene with all it's lights going.

I generally toss an extra set of keys at a firefighter and they will then drive my car back to the fire station for me. That way I don't have to go back to the scene. It looks really silly when my SUV is sitting on the side of the road with all it's lights going and nobody else around it (it happened once and it was a really busy road and looked really stupid when I got back to it).

To give you an idea on what lights I have on my SUV you can check out this youtube video (there is a siren on and it's LOUDin the video).

Edited February 26, 2009 by Nathan Wert

February 26, 2009

Did you know that the magnetic Hid-a-Key boxs are actually used to Hide a Key? Yes kids, they're not just for Geocaches

I learned the hardway and have one up under my bumper.

February 26, 2009

Did you know that the magnetic Hid-a-Key boxs are actually used to Hide a Key? Yes kids, they're not just for Geocaches

I learned the hardway and have one up under my bumper.

I never trust those though I have no reason not to. Personal paranoia I guess. Might do, though. Might do.

February 26, 2009

Did you know that the magnetic Hid-a-Key boxs are actually used to Hide a Key? Yes kids, they're not just for Geocaches

I learned the hardway and have one up under my bumper.

I never trust those though I have no reason not to. Personal paranoia I guess. Might do, though. Might do.

Duct Taped to the back of your license plate works well also.

February 26, 2009

Did you know that the magnetic Hid-a-Key boxs are actually used to Hide a Key? Yes kids, they're not just for Geocaches

I learned the hardway and have one up under my bumper.

I never trust those though I have no reason not to. Personal paranoia I guess. Might do, though. Might do.

Duct Taped to the back of your license plate works well also.

Genius! Gotta love duct tape, lol.

7.2k · February 26, 2009

Duct Taped to the back of your license plate works well also.

Until your license plate is stolen. A couple of co-workers had theirs stolen while mine was nearly stolen. The only thing that saved me was one of the screws was stripped. I've since changed to anti-theft style bolts.

Also, if you have no way to remove the license plate...

What I've taken to doing is cable-tying a spare key way up under the car. I make it very inconvenience to get to, but more convenient that busting a window or calling a locksmith.

Here's a neat gadget I've been meaning to play with. Makes your car keyless entry if you have electronic locks.

February 26, 2009

Duct Taped to the back of your license plate works well also.

Until your license plate is stolen. A couple of co-workers had theirs stolen while mine was nearly stolen. The only thing that saved me was one of the screws was stripped. I've since changed to anti-theft style bolts.

Also, if you have no way to remove the license plate...

What I've taken to doing is cable-tying a spare key way up under the car. I make it very inconvenience to get to, but more convenient that busting a window or calling a locksmith.

Here's a neat gadget I've been meaning to play with. Makes your car keyless entry if you have electronic locks.

That is neat - Check out the picture of the blonde lady using it - Her sunroof is open -LMAO

Edited February 26, 2009 by WatchDog2020

1.2k · February 26, 2009

I too have a Nissan versa. Thankfully my discovery of this bonus feature wasn't as bad. I was chatting with some friends after lunch. Unlocked the car, but we continued to talk for 10 minutes. when I went to open it up I realized it had locked itself. Cool feature until it locks you out.

February 26, 2009

To try to get some help, I went to my car and sat in the back seat to consult my laptop, 'Mr. Universe'. Bonus points to those who know the reference.

<3 Firefly

February 26, 2009

To try to get some help, I went to my car and sat in the back seat to consult my laptop, 'Mr. Universe'. Bonus points to those who know the reference.

<3 Firefly

Close, so half a bonus point.

Thanks for the suggestions in planting keys. That TapLock device looks rather useful and downright cool! (if only I could actually afford it, lol.)

February 26, 2009

The tap thing is only $11, they sell them in bulk on that sight, so be sure to look at the price for a single one. I don't know how hard it is to wire into the system though.

OT: Would saying Serenity give me my other half point?

February 26, 2009

The tap thing is only $11, they sell them in bulk on that sight, so be sure to look at the price for a single one. I don't know how hard it is to wire into the system though.

OT: Would saying Serenity give me my other half point?

I noticed that shortly after I posted it and didn't feel like editing. Ordered one just in case. Now to think of a tap sequence.

Yes, you get the other half point. Congrats, you have two half bonus points, lol. Shiny.

February 26, 2009

The tap thing is only $11, they sell them in bulk on that sight, so be sure to look at the price for a single one. I don't know how hard it is to wire into the system though.

OT: Would saying Serenity give me my other half point?

I noticed that shortly after I posted it and didn't feel like editing. Ordered one just in case. Now to think of a tap sequence.

Yes, you get the other half point. Congrats, you have two half bonus points, lol. Shiny.

I wonder if they hold the code memory if they lost power? How cool to put one in an ammo box hooked to a lock solenoid that would allow the top to open after the correct knock pattern. Of course you would want a momentary switch that would be held down when Knocking so you wouldn't drain power between cachers - Hummmm. A mount to a building with constant power would be awesome. "Knock - Knock" Mystery Cache

February 26, 2009

Thats kind a of a weird feature. My van will relock the doors if you unlock them with the remote and don't open any of the doors within 30 seconds.

That being said, I learned a lesson from my uncle about spare keys.

He passed away, and we inherited his old pickup. One day the bottom radiator hose busted, and in replacing it, I found a huge lump of tape wrapped around the hose. I figured the cheap SOB had fixed a leak, rather than replacing the hose, but I was curious how it held up so long, so I started cutting the tap off. Lo and behold, there was a set of keys taped to the hose.

My van has really expensive security keys and the dealer charges way to much to activate the key, so I have yet to buy a spare. Besides, you really have to work hard to lock the keys in the van, as the Germans saw fit to make sure you can't manually lock the drivers door and then shut it.

The nice thing is you can get a standard key cut that will at least open the doors. I keep it around my neck so I can at least get in the van if I lose my key or if I want to leave the engine running on a cold morning.

February 27, 2009

We had a similar situation, only not at night. Both sets of keys were locked inside, (mine and my wife's) so we improvised and found a long piece of #10 solid copper ground wire from an old power-pole nearby.

All those years in prison finally paid off!

February 27, 2009

I'm right there with you with regards to the security key...I was told by the dealer that it would cost us in the neighborhood of $150 to get a replacement key...OY!! On that note, for the last two vans we owned I got one of the generic keys cut (so I could at least unlock the doors) each van was written off maybe a month after the key was cut (STUPID dumb luck!! Hit black ice and rolled one, then 6 months later hit a moose) Now while i know it had nothing to do with the spare key, I'm taking no chances...LOL

My keys have a lanyard with two carabiners, one carabiner attaches the keys to the lanyard, the other carabiner attaches to my belt loop...this serves two purposes...1.) The second carabiner keeps the lanyard from dangling and gettting caught up in something 2.) It's simply not convenient to hop out of the car without my keys...so I either have my keys with me, or am abundantly aware that I don't (having had to unfasten them from my jeans before getting out)

But I need to find a better system...might look into that tap lock...wondering though how hard it would be to wire...plus I'd like to know if having it wired in is going to void any kind of warranty on my van...cos that wouldn't be so cool

Thats kind a of a weird feature. My van will relock the doors if you unlock them with the remote and don't open any of the doors within 30 seconds.

That being said, I learned a lesson from my uncle about spare keys.

He passed away, and we inherited his old pickup. One day the bottom radiator hose busted, and in replacing it, I found a huge lump of tape wrapped around the hose. I figured the cheap SOB had fixed a leak, rather than replacing the hose, but I was curious how it held up so long, so I started cutting the tap off. Lo and behold, there was a set of keys taped to the hose.

My van has really expensive security keys and the dealer charges way to much to activate the key, so I have yet to buy a spare. Besides, you really have to work hard to lock the keys in the van, as the Germans saw fit to make sure you can't manually lock the drivers door and then shut it.

The nice thing is you can get a standard key cut that will at least open the doors. I keep it around my neck so I can at least get in the van if I lose my key or if I want to leave the engine running on a cold morning.

February 27, 2009

So, everyone is getting the Clapper for their cars????

February 27, 2009

Yeah pretty much =P

24.7k · February 27, 2009

...Here's a neat gadget I've been meaning to play with. Makes your car keyless entry if you have electronic locks.

Shave and a haircut...

10.1k · February 28, 2009

Okay. In forty years of driving, I have managed to lock the leys in the car once! Of course, that was while geocaching. AAA does not strike me as particularly bright. "What is the street address?" "Darned if I know. I'm in XYZ Park, on ABC Street." But they did get the key out for me.

Magnetic Keyholder for hiding a key?!? What won't they think of next!

February 28, 2009

Let's see, I've definitely had worse luck in locking my keys in my car... 5 years driving, Probably as many times locked keys in the car. Only once geocaching, but I've only been doing that for 3 weeks.

I know the feeling of that sort of phone call. Trying to get a locksmith out to my car the other night, they kept asking for a street intersection. I'm in a ruttin' parking lot, there are no street signs and my maps happen to be in my locked car. I offered GPS coordinates, though! [] They didn't find it humourous at all...

7.2k · February 28, 2009

Oh, at one time I kept a key in my wallet. Got rid of that truck and key, but have not made one for the new truck.

1.9k · March 11, 2009

I've done it twice. The first time, I was near my home, so all I had to do was call home and have my mom drive out with her key to unlock it. The second time, I was 70+ miles from home, so that was in no way an option. I ended up calling a locksmith which was 8 miles from where I was locked out, in the Yakima Canyon. I now carry a spare key in my billfold, which I never leave anywhere (force of habit).

7.2k · March 11, 2009

Well, I ordered 3 of the TapLock thingies for 11 bucks each. Pleasantly surprised when they showed up. I haven't installed one yet, but doesn't look like a rip off. Yet. Will report back when I do.

March 11, 2009

My keys go righ tinto my caching bag when i stop and get out.... hopfully i don't leave them as some swag. lol

1.7k · March 12, 2009

I once locked my keys in my car while out caching in the Valley of Fire, a ways away from Las Vegas.

In the summertime.

Locksmith drove out, picked me up, took me to an ATM in town, where I withdrew money I didn't have ( :laughing: ), then drove me back to the car, took the money, and unlocked the car. Elapsed time: 3 hours.

I went back to caching. My insurance company reimbursed me for the roadside assistance cost later on.

April 3, 2009

My key comes out of the ignition and aroound my neck, all in one motion. It's on a lanyard that dangles and reminds my hand not to let go of the key. This works MOST of the time. There was the time that I turned the ignition back on to lower the window to talk(it was raining), then rolled up the window, hopped out of the car to join caching buddy, and left the ignition on, with the door locked for the day. Jumper cables anyone?

April 5, 2009

I went caching last night with a friend. Now when I say 'night', I mean 1-4am, after work. We walked to two caches and drove to the third. This third cache proved to be a little difficult for us even though it was quite obvious once we actually found it. To try to get some help, I went to my car and sat in the back seat to consult my laptop, 'Mr. Universe'. Bonus points to those who know the reference.

The other logs and Google Maps didn't prove to be much help, so got out of the car and returned to the hunt. Found it quickly and decided to drive to the next cache .4 miles away... except the doors were locked. Seems Nissan Versas automatically lock if the ignition is not engaged. So there we were, stuck in the middle of a car-park at 3am waiting for a locksmith. Needless to say we walked to the other cache to keep warm while we waited.

So remember, kiddies, either be smart and keep your keys attached to you or carry a spare in your GeoBag, outfit, whatever. Or keep your windows cracked enough to get a stick through.

Oh yes, the locked out of the car scenerio.

Awhile back me and 4 coworkers went to Mt St. Helens to grab a cache in a cave and after driving three hours to get there we all got out, grabbed our bags and at the last moment I realized that I had left my camera in the car. No big deal right?

Well upon taking my bag off and digging into it to get my keys, I realized that they weren't there. I went to the car and there they were, hanging from the ignition. I thought "no big deal". My trunk on my car doesn't lock, never has since the day I bought it. Never. Except for today that is. I went to open the trunk and it's locked! We were already running out of daylight, and here we were miles from help and my keys were officially locked in the car. A hiker came our way and we explained our issue to him. All he said that he had to help was a screwdriver. It's not what we needed but I got it from him and figured that we could officially break the lock on the trunk for good. Since I've seen a million movies where they smash the lock on the trunk I figured it would be easy. WRONG! We jammed the screwdriver in the lock and started kicking the end of the screwdriver. It did nothing but destroy my lock, bend the screwdriver and left me keyless. Now what?

My buddy then said that he might have an E-tool (military collapsing shovel) in his bag. He dug and found it. Now what?, I figured. We buried the shovel between the car and the door on the right rear door and began prying. Once we had it in there and a 3/4" gap to play with we searched for the perfectly shaped stick that would reach the lock. Eventually we found a stick, got it in there ....and it broke just as we thought we might have had it!

I was upset at this point and figured what the hell, lets pry more. The other guys were at that time drooling at the mouth to smash a window. I didn't really want to do that though. So we pried more, alot more and after finding a sturdier stick we were able to get the door unlocked.

Now we had keys and a camera,....and a door that didn't align with the car anymore, and a shovel dent to remind me from now on. Thanks to good all-american thin sheetmetal we pryed the top of the car door back in shape and we were on our way.

But what a PITA it was!! I will never lock keys in the car again!

April 7, 2009

Ugh. Here's my tale, from December '06, a month after I took delivery of a new Jeep Wrangler with electronic door locks:

Friday was cold and windy. Any time I'd get out of the Jeep I had to struggle with the door either being pulled out of my hands or slammed in my face, depending on the angle to the wind. When I reached Redfield Canyon Wilderness, I saw some cliffs that I wanted to photograph. I pushed the door open against the wind, hopped out, and the door slammed shut behind me. After I snapped my pictures, I returned to the Jeep and found it locked. Keys inside, engine running, radio playing, and locked.

I made three circuits of the vehicle, yanking on all three handles to confirm the awful truth. I knew what I'd have to do, but I wanted to put it off as long as possible. Finally, I selected a solid, oblong rock about the size of a baking potato and went to the passenger-side window. I gave it a tentative peck with the rock, which rebounded smartly. Gave it a firmer tap, with similar results. Planted my feet, swung the rock and gave the window an almighty bang. The rock just bounced off.

For these initial attempts, I had wrapped the rock and my hand in my T-shirt, hoping to spare myself injury. But I was also sparing the window. I covered my face with the T-shirt instead, gripped the rock by the end and struck a hammer blow to the window. Success! The window imploded. But my hand was dragged right through the jagged hole, causing me to release the rock, which bounced around the interior of the Jeep, cracking the plastic panel of the driver's side door, and scuffing other bits of the interior.

Since my hand was alread inside the vehicle, I reached down and released the lock. When I gingerly removed my hand from the hole, it was dripping blood from countless superficial cuts. I opened the door and grabbed some gloves, which I put on to contain the bleeding while I cleaned up the broken glass.

Once I washed and bandaged my hand, I continued my caching mission. Found the Lone Ranger and TNLN. Well, that's not entirely true; I left some crumbs of tempered glass everywhere I went that day.

April 7, 2009

That's why I keep the soft top on my Jeep Wrangler. Just unzip and crawl in through the back windows. Being small and puny is helpful.

1.7k · April 7, 2009

Okay, I confess, I did it again. About two weeks ago...

I was hitting a rural cemetery cache about a mile and half outside town, on a Sunday, on the way back home from a weekend caching trip... with severe storms predicted to roll in.

To make a long story short, the keys were inside the car, along with my jacket... I was outside. And there was a locked door in the way. So me and the GPS took a walk into town. Of course, it being Sunday, all the possible locksmiths were closed, but I went over to the local police department. The officer was very helpful, contacted one of the county sheriffs to come help me. Of course, the man was on the other side of the county, so I had to wait a bit, while the skies got darker and darker.

All turned out well, though - after about ten minutes, the sheriff was able to get the door open, just as it started to sprinkle. I raced the storm all the way home, 70 or 80 miles to the east, and it struck shortly after I got home. And I got to ride in the front seat of both the police car and the county sheriff's car, which was a definite first - this one went in the record book as one of my favorite DNFs. Yes, I DNF'ed it, after all that - just didn't feel like getting soaked, and it was getting late!

April 7, 2009

That's why I keep the soft top on my Jeep Wrangler. Just unzip and crawl in through the back windows. Being small and puny is helpful.

I'm addicted to the comfort and quiet of the hardtop, so that's not an option. But I did learn the secret-knock procedure for reprogramming the electronic locks. Now when I open one door, all three unlock. Greatly improves my chances. (After the trauma of busting the window on my then-brand-new vehicle, I also open the window, and usually turn off the engine and take the key with me.)

April 7, 2009

I never thought I would want a vehicle with the code lock on the door. But by the time I found a truck with the equipment I wanted, the only one had that code lock.. I figured I would never use it, but it turns out that I do use it a lot... I've lost track of how many times I've intentionally locked the keys in with the engine running...

April 9, 2009

I'll admit, I did this numerous times in the years BC (Before Caching). The easiest car I had to get into was a '74 Pinto stationwagon. The windows by the rear seat were hinged at the front, with a latch at the back. You could pop the hinges out of the frame and open the window. Unfortunately, the last time I did this I didn't get the hinges reseated properly, and several weeks later they decided to pop out by themselves - on the freeway at 55MPH. Since the window was still attached by the latch, it didn't just fall off, it exploded - little pieces of glass everywhere. Sounded like a shotgun blast right behind my head.

I haven't locked them into my truck yet. Partly because I have gotten into the habit of always checking (multiple times) where the keys are before closing the door, and usually have them in my hand just to be sure, even if I'm not locking the door. Also the truck beeps when I open the door and the keys are in the ignition.

And I got to ride in the front seat of both the police car and the county sheriff's car, which was a definite first -

First time in the FRONT seat...

Idiot award!

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