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Geocaching taking the place of other hobbies?


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I used to really enjoy playing flight sim on the computer. I mean really enjoy it. I'd think all day about where I was going to fly, what I was going to fly. I could spend hours in front of the computer, flying. Fry's Electronics was my favorite store, and I'd look all day at better stuff for my computer. I could have dropped a paycheck in there in no time. I was not really into the idea of spending too much time outdoors.

 

Flash forward to the past few weeks. Every time I sit down to try to do some flying, I get bored after five minutes and shut it off. I spend all day thinking about the next time I'm going caching, or working through ideas for some devious new hides I want to put out (our area is in need of some more difficult caches). I'm even as a side hobby getting interested in hiking, backpacking and camping again. Gander Mountain has now become my favorite store.

 

So, I ask everyone, have you had a previous hobby that Geocaching has totally replaced, and have they been more non-active (sitting on your rear) type hobbies? Or maybe, in general, has caching made you more active than you might have been before?

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So, I ask everyone, have you had a previous hobby that Geocaching has totally replaced, and have they been more non-active (sitting on your rear) type hobbies? Or maybe, in general, has caching made you more active than you might have been before?

 

... he asks while (sitting on his rear) reading and posting in the geocaching forums :rolleyes:

 

On weekends that it true for me.

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I used to really enjoy playing flight sim on the computer. I mean really enjoy it. I'd think all day about where I was going to fly, what I was going to fly. I could spend hours in front of the computer, flying. Fry's Electronics was my favorite store, and I'd look all day at better stuff for my computer. I could have dropped a paycheck in there in no time. I was not really into the idea of spending too much time outdoors.

 

 

I used to do a lot of flight simming too, and the funny thing is that is what got me interested in getting a GPSr. But I didn't know what I was going to do with it...until I read about Geocaching!

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So far, yes, and I hope we can keep it up. We love our video games, reading, and doing lots of crafts - all which involve sitting on our butts. On top of that, my husband and I sit for our jobs and the kids sit at school all day. If we actually "sat down" (pun intended) and calculated how much time we spend on our arses, it would be staggering. One of the many reasons we got into geocaching because we needed a reason to get out and be more active, more often. We're even going to try a streak just because it will motivate us to get out every day.

 

But we're also trying to be careful not to go so "gung ho" in the beginning that we burn ourselves out. -K

Edited by hudsonfam
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Actually, I think what happens is that what you describe occurs initially, then after a few months or a few hundred finds or you've found everything within 10 or 20 miles of you the reverse occurs (or you start to have a "balance" between your other hobbies).

 

NRE....."New Relationship Energy" - applies to lots of things. :rolleyes: -K

Edited by hudsonfam
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I used to do a lot of flight simming too, and the funny thing is that is what got me interested in getting a GPSr. But I didn't know what I was going to do with it...until I read about Geocaching!

 

Funny -- That sounds a lot like me. Besides flight simming, I used to love building wooden models of airplanes. Now, I go out caching whenever I have free time, and I have two or three half-finished models in my basement and several bottles of glue slowly hardening as they sit there neglected.

Edited by jsarche
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So, I ask everyone, have you had a previous hobby that Geocaching has totally replaced, and have they been more non-active (sitting on your rear) type hobbies? Or maybe, in general, has caching made you more active than you might have been before?

 

I used to get through about 60 to 70 novels a year. Now I'm lucky to get through 6 to 10.

 

I used to watch open wheel and drag racing. Now I hardly get the time and I haven't been to a racing event in YEARS!

 

I used to shoot sporting clays at least 6 to 10 times a year. Now I'm lucky to go twice a year.

 

I used to pay for, or at least greatly offset my vacation expenses playing poker in Laughlin & Las Vegas, but now I'm out finding caches instead of breathing the second hand smoke in the poker rooms. :rolleyes:

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Actually, I think what happens is that what you describe occurs initially, then after a few months or a few hundred finds or you've found everything within 10 or 20 miles of you the reverse occurs (or you start to have a "balance" between your other hobbies).

 

Five years and 3800 caches here and still going out almost every weekend.

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Caching hasn't replaced my hobbies to the other poster's extents, but it has started to take up more of my time. Unfortunately in NE Ohio, the weather doesn't cooperate very often. I mean, caching in a light rain is OK but during storms and heavy rains I'd rather stay dry. I got my first guitar when i was 11 and have been playing steadily since. (Thank you Stevie Ray...we miss you!!) So, for the days I can't get out to cache or ride my bike, there's my 3 guitars, Call of Duty, Skate, and iTunes. :rolleyes:

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<I was really into HAM Radio>

 

Ham radio is way different today than it was back in the 60's when I had my Hallicrafters SX-101 receiver and HT-32 Xmiter....and I hung out on the county hunters net...14.336.

 

My other hobby was Metal Detecting, I had an old Tube Fisher M-Scope and used to go out and find coins and stuff. A number of years ago I bough a Fisher CZ-70 Pro....but then I started to see metal detecting being banned in parks and other places....people would dig holes looking for stuff and just leave them....not cover them back up....defacing the park, making a mess.....so metal detecting kinda died out.

 

Then when I was up in Madison, WI....they had a segment on the news about geocaching....wow....something new to try, I bough a 60CSX and went out....OK...this was more fun because you knew you would basically find the treasure at the coordinates.

 

But now I kinda see geocaching heading in the same direction as metal detecting....people placing caches in areas that can be defaced, placing caches where it scares the public and bomb squads are called....I sure hope cities don't start to ban Geocaching in parks and other places like they did with metal detecting....then I would have to find something new to do.

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Actually, I think what happens is that what you describe occurs initially, then after a few months or a few hundred finds or you've found everything within 10 or 20 miles of you the reverse occurs (or you start to have a "balance" between your other hobbies).

 

My wife is headed towards 700 right now, and jumps at the chance to go caching still. We are actually planning two days of caching next week for our 5 year wedding anniversary. Seriously. And it was sort of her idea.

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I used to play Civilization I, II, III, and IV (had to do a pc upgrade for that one) until all hours in the a.m. It drove my wife nuts. I would think (daydream/strategize) about my current game while at work. Since we started caching, I haven't played one game. I think about it at times, but I'm afraid to start for fear that it may take over again. I'd rather be out caching with friends and family anyways.

 

I was really into HAM Radio ( my geocaching name is my callsign ) and have been so into geocaching I haven't touched it in years.

I've wondered about your name, but now it makes sense.

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It hasn't replaced any hobbies because, well, there wasn't much time for hobbies with our jobs and workouts anyway. Instead it has replaced housework. Every Thursday my beloved says, "I think we should just stay home this weekend and get things done around the house" and I say, "Yes, you're right. We should."

 

On Friday I say, "I found an interesting cache we could go to sometime."

 

Then on Saturday morning he says, "OK, we're caching this morning to find that interesting cache plus a few others and then we'll do some work around the house this afternoon and we'll cache on Sunday."

 

We get home late on Saturday afternoon. I spend an hour or two logging. Then he says, "I'm too tired to do housework."

 

I say, "Does that mean no Sunday geocaching?"

 

He says, "No, no. We'll still go geocaching tomorrow. We'll do housework next weekend."

 

And so it goes. Our list of necessary house projects keeps growing larger.

 

Carolyn

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I'm still very new to geocaching, but I see it being more of a complement to some of my other hobbies more so than pulling me away from them. I have hobbies like photography, hunting, fishing, camping, biking.... I think geocaching will actuallly give me the drive to get out and do all of these activities even more again and be a very nice fit with them.

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I've always had an "obsession of the moment". For awhile it was indie films, last summer it was getting in shape (I lost 45 pounds in 2 months, and have since gained it back and I enjoy eating what I like MUCH more than being thin), Halo a couple summers ago (I went to competitions), xbox, reading (I read 6 books in June this year), comic books, yada yada yada.

 

I go through obsessions like the Olsen twins go through eating disorders.

 

I think, though, based on the nature of geocaching, with there being so many to find and in places I've been before and never known of the secret and places I've never been that I could see and that every experience is a completely different one, that this one will last quite a while.

 

Cheers, geocachers.

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I started caching in 05 and got burned out after a few hundred. Mostly because I was into the numbers. I took a break when I discovered the addiction...er.. I mean game World of Warcraft. I played this game endlessly. But eventually it got to be boring so I sold my account, purchased a new GPSr and got back into caching. Now the fun is looking for the really good caching to find. I don't get out as much as I used to but that is fine because I could care less about the numbers now.

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I used to have wild flings with multitudes of female companions and then geocaching came along.

 

What WAS i thinking??

 

Man, that's not the way. You have to find that one girl, the one who will love you for who you are and who's been right under your nose the whole time but you just didn't know it. And then you realize that you were wrong to chase after all of those other women when the perfect one was always right there in front of you and then you kiss her and then the credits roll and you leave the theater and wish you went to see Funny People instead even though everyone else has been saying it sucks.

Edited by chrisrayn
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I used to have wild flings with multitudes of female companions and then geocaching came along.

 

What WAS i thinking??

 

Man, that's not the way. You have to find that one girl, the one who will love you for who you are and who's been right under your nose the whole time but you just didn't know it. And then you realize that you were wrong to chase after all of those other women when the perfect one was always right there in front of you and then you kiss her and then the credits roll and you leave the theater and wish you went to see Funny People instead even though everyone else has been saying it sucks.

 

Well, yeah, I have her but her husband gets mad if I keep her out too late.

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So, I ask everyone, have you had a previous hobby that Geocaching has totally replaced, and have they been more non-active (sitting on your rear) type hobbies? Or maybe, in general, has caching made you more active than you might have been before?

 

On the contrary, I'm a lot less active now geocaching that I was with my previous hobbies.

I used to go out and hike eight or eleven miles every Saturday and Sunday. Ran out of trails so I started following that white trail with the extra tall blazes. Did over a thousand miles on the AT from the Presis in New Hampshire to Rockfish Gap, Virginia. Only took me ten years!

Then I discovered geocaching!! Now, I'm lucky to do four or five miles on a weekend. Also gave up trail maintenance after fifteen years. I mean, how many times can you hike the same trail? And spending most of your time picking up beer bottles gets very tiresome after a while.

Definitely a lot less active now that I'm geocaching! (Of course, age might have something to do with that too. And Rockfish Gap is an eight hour drive...)

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So, I ask everyone, have you had a previous hobby that Geocaching has totally replaced, and have they been more non-active (sitting on your rear) type hobbies? Or maybe, in general, has caching made you more active than you might have been before?

 

I used to get through about 60 to 70 novels a year. Now I'm lucky to get through 6 to 10.

 

I used to watch open wheel and drag racing. Now I hardly get the time and I haven't been to a racing event in YEARS!

 

I used to shoot sporting clays at least 6 to 10 times a year. Now I'm lucky to go twice a year.

 

I used to pay for, or at least greatly offset my vacation expenses playing poker in Laughlin & Las Vegas, but now I'm out finding caches instead of breathing the second hand smoke in the poker rooms. :rolleyes:

 

You need an iPod and an account at Audible.com my friend. You can read when your driving or geocaching or during any activity where you can't read a normal book. I discovered the joy of audiobooks 2 years ago and I'm "reading" four books a month and I'm still active.

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Oh I'd rather be caching then so many things! But unfortunately I have to work, keep the household, make the dinner, etc. Sneak in the odd cache or two when possible. Love the hiking and seeing new places that were right under my nose all the time. Love the comraderie of cachers in our area, especially the good-natured teasing. I've been caching a littler over a year and see it lasting a long time. I wish my family enjoyed it as much as I do. Wonders how many of us have family members not so enthusiastic about caching? Wonders why I got the bug and my husband didn't?

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It hasn't replaced any hobbies because, well, there wasn't much time for hobbies with our jobs and workouts anyway. Instead it has replaced housework. Every Thursday my beloved says, "I think we should just stay home this weekend and get things done around the house" and I say, "Yes, you're right. We should."

 

On Friday I say, "I found an interesting cache we could go to sometime."

 

Then on Saturday morning he says, "OK, we're caching this morning to find that interesting cache plus a few others and then we'll do some work around the house this afternoon and we'll cache on Sunday."

 

We get home late on Saturday afternoon. I spend an hour or two logging. Then he says, "I'm too tired to do housework."

 

I say, "Does that mean no Sunday geocaching?"

 

He says, "No, no. We'll still go geocaching tomorrow. We'll do housework next weekend."

 

And so it goes. Our list of necessary house projects keeps growing larger.

 

Carolyn

 

I think you folks must be clones of us. The same thing happens here. The only time housework gets done around here now is when it rains.

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So, I ask everyone, have you had a previous hobby that Geocaching has totally replaced...

We used to regularly play tennis.

I have no idea where our rackets are at now.

 

We have always enjoyed driving around on the back country rural roads.

Now we are able to combine that with geocaching. :rolleyes:

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At one time, many moons ago, I was an absolutely dedicated hunter. Big game, small game, rifle, pistol, archery, black powder, didn't matter. If I could cook it, I was out in the woods trying to kill it. The only time I even questioned my hobby of choice was one year during archery season, I was 30' up a palm tree, during a tropical storm. My wife made me buy a GPSr after I got myself thoroughly lost, spending the night out in the woods. Several years later, she talked me into trying this game, and with just a couple exceptions, (invitational hunts from friends... I carried my gun with me, but my real objective was finding the caches in those woods), I haven't looked back. The same was true with intercoastal waterways fishing, and recreational shrimping. I bet I haven't done either in over two years.

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