Why do you pick up a bug?

[+suzukiburke]

We've started a few bugs, and some of them have gone thousands of miles, while others have made it as far as...the cache we left them at.

 

I've currently on a long trip, so I've picked up a few and left a few, but I'm wondering: why do you pick up a travel bug?

 

For me, it's clear goals on the item. There's an added bonus if the goals direct me to do something interesting (go to national parks, eat at Chinese restaurants), which also lends itself to taking pictures and uploading them.

 

What else? What makes a travel bug successful?

[+RatRunCrew]

I pick them up because of the magpie in me! I suppose I ought to do the right thing and check its goal, but I doubt if its going to stop me getting the 'shineys'

[+Chokecherry]

I don't know the goals of any bug I find when out in the field. Because a lot of our caches are not well traveled here I will grab bugs out of pretty much any cache they are in and attempt to move them to better travelled caches at worst or move them along in their goal. Sometimes I'll drop them in newer caches that I know will get more business than the older ones that most have already found.

 

I don't really have any other criteria than that. If there's a bug there I'm going to grab, bring it up, examine the goals and then figure out how I can help or drop it in the near by, easy to get to travel bug haven that sees a ton of traffic and hope someone grabs it that can help it.

[hoosier guy]

I pick them up because finding & watching TBs exands my GC experience past my own finds and area.

[+chaosmanor]

Pretty much agree with most of what the three folks ahead of us have written. Goals help, but if the thing looks interesting, we might grab it, goals aside. If we know w traveler has been in a cache for a while (more than a month, say) we'll grab it. Rock bottom, though, is, we're attracted to shiny things And we like to help lost waifs find their way

[+Mzebonga]

I discovered my enthusiasm for Trackables when I picked up a charming little chap called Sad Ronnie (TBJTBN). After almost passing him over and leaving in a cache up a hill, I decided that I wanted to take him to his finishing point (after a 3 week jaunt in Canada!)

 

I found that I liked to be part of the stories that each of the trackables acquires as they criss-cross the globe.

[+Dragery]

I enjoy seeing where they've traveled, and if possible helping them along with their goal.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I last picked up a bug, because some fool sneezed in my direction!

 

We move Travel Bugs as often as we can, likewise supplying photos if possible.

Why?

Probably because that is what we would want done with ours!

 

That and it provides us with some sense of fulfillment, thinking that we helped to make another's day just a bit more fun.

 

Corny? Maybe, but that's the way it is.

[+tmwed4]

Yeah, we've never met a traveler we didn't love. We've been meaning to start uploading more pictures on our travels since we want that done with ours. We sometimes worry about etiquette, but basically have no self control. We sometimes plan our whole routes now just looking for trackables. Wish people would change status to missing when they are though!

[+Becia]

I picked up my first trackable due to the following:

 

1.) I have a geo-caching friend down in my hometown in TX who's got them constantly moving. I was jealous darnit, I wanted to even just SEE one, ha ha.

 

2.) It was for a cause I deeply, DEEPLY support. It was a breast cancer awareness geocoin, something I donate time and money into every chance I get due to my family history and what's it's done to me personally. I wanted to be a part of raising awareness and keeping it in the eyes of the people, and when this geocoin came this way, I knew it was meant to be, to be part of it.

 

I've still got the coin, just picked it up yesterday, and am looking for the right moment/cache to place it in. It's goal is traveling the states, I want to get it to a place that it'll move quickly (although after I leave it, it's in the hands of the next cacher, I'll trust their honesty to keep it going), to complete this goal. If I could get it to Wichita Falls TX or Snyder OK, even better (in memory of my Grandma, it wasn't this cancer that took her from this realm, but it did leave it's scars), but since I can't, I'll get it as far close there as possible.

 

It's fun to be part of something world-wide

[+Harry Dolphin]

I hae a TB fetish.

[+Quossum]

I love seeing where they've been. There's nothing like going to the bug's page and looking at that map and seeing all the miles it's traveled and caches it's visited. I like being part of its story. I regularly check up on the trackables I've moved, to see where they are now.

 

I read the mission once I get home, and if I can do something to help them meet that goal...that makes me feel good! I've definitely gone well out of my way (over 100 miles!) specifically to take a bug where it wanted to go.

 

I admit I will grab any trackable I find, in any cache. I do try to visit caches specifically that list bugs in their inventory, but more likely than not they're not really there, so that's not such a reliable way of finding them.

 

It's fun!

 

--Q

[+CorDenCheDer]

I love seeing where they've been. There's nothing like going to the bug's page and looking at that map and seeing all the miles it's traveled and caches it's visited. I like being part of its story. I regularly check up on the trackables I've moved, to see where they are now.

 

I agree. It's a great geography lesson for the kids too.

 

den

[+mattandjax]

i just love their individuality. like they have thier own personalites. its great fun looking up the website and learning about their adventures, and then be able to participate.

we released our first one yesterday, and its already been picked up from the new cache, so we eagerly await the next update so see where its gone...

[+Prescott Patrol]

Agreed to all of the above. I just released a few of my own bugs and am quite happy with them. Especially BrownBeard the Pirate TB3F6J9. I am curious to see where they go and what happens to them. I have to admit to some trepidation though with the frequency TB's go missing. I'm using braided cable and ferules so hopefully that will help. I read a post where someone sent out a notebook and asked others to sign, mark, draw and otherwise creatively contribute to it's journey. Yep, I already bought a notebook

[DannyCaffeine]

To move it somplace it wants to go. If I can't go there or make a dent in the distance I will just discover it.

[+Planet]

I like to pick them up if I can think of fun things to do to help its goal. This was my latest adventure with a TB, later on today I'll log the photos and fun I had with a Farmall tractor, staying only on farm roads all the way home from Vermont.

[+BlueDeuce]

To move it somplace it wants to go. If I can't go there or make a dent in the distance I will just discover it.

 

You know, even moving it .10 of a mile does help. I've had a bug Discovered several times because people weren't going anywhere close to the destination. If each of those people had moved it just a little bit there would have been a dent in the distance it covered.

[+Fiery Searcher]

I move TBs because I like the idea that someone put some thought into creating it, giving it a mission, and is waiting to hear from it. After reading someone's profile years ago, I try to give each TB/coin at least one photo, be it where I found it, where I left it, or where I saw/did something neat and the TB was in my backpack.

 

I'd say it's the icing on the geocaching cake! And I like feeling a bit connected to other geocachers out there through my logs and photos.

[+Planet]

Here's that Farmall Tractor TB I had fun with.

[Maarten&Diana]

I move TBs because I like the idea that someone put some thought into creating it, giving it a mission, and is waiting to hear from it. After reading someone's profile years ago, I try to give each TB/coin at least one photo, be it where I found it, where I left it, or where I saw/did something neat and the TB was in my backpack.

 

I'd say it's the icing on the geocaching cake! And I like feeling a bit connected to other geocachers out there through my logs and photos.

 

I couldn't agree more!!

 

But I can understand if you are on a cahcehunt and find one and you know you are not going to cache soon again or only nearby that cache, you leave it for someone else to pick it up who might take it further away (greater step towards the gaol of the TB).

[+lachupa]

It just add a new dimension to things. I like seeing where they've been and being part of moving them along. I have a couple out there. One of them may not be moving for a while. I put it in a cache by a lake in Taos that took a beautiful hike to get too. I knew when I placed it that if no one grabs it by fall it's going to be where it is until next spring.

[+Original A1]

To me, TBs and GCs have that "message in a bottle" feeling to them. They've been set off somewhere perhaps a very long way away and are on a journey and why shouldn't I help them on their way? When I catch up with their webpage, it reveals the equivalent as the message in the bottle (perhaps without needing to break the bottle in the process too) and it's fun.