Very simple idea to get bugs to their goals

[+beckerbuns]

I recently acquired Shannah's Bearista from another cacher (Eug). She had a fairly specific goal of going to Maryland, possibly way of Oregon. I did hand her off to another cacher (mrp) who lives closer to Oregon than I do. This bug came to me in a Zip-Loc bag. I added a print-out of the first page of her page from geocaching.com that explained her goal. That way people don't even have to look at the site to know whether they can move her along in the right direction. While it's probably not new, I thought this was a great idea, and so I pass it on.

 

Becky

San Jose, CA

[+darniforgot]

quote:

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Originally posted by beckerbuns:

I recently acquired Shannah's Bearista from another cacher (Eug). She had a fairly specific goal of going to Maryland, possibly way of Oregon. I did hand her off to another cacher (mrp) who lives closer to Oregon than I do. This bug came to me in a Zip-Loc bag. I added a print-out of the first page of her page from geocaching.com that explained her goal. That way people don't even have to look at the site to know whether they can move her along in the right direction. While it's probably not new, I thought this was a great idea, and so I pass it on.

 

Becky

San Jose, CA

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I agree. I send all my travels bugs out with their goals attached. That way the cacher doesn't need to go to the website to see what it's goals are.

I often travel, then log all my caches when I get home. Travel bugs without their goals attached are difficult to know if you should take them or not. I don't want to accidentally take them in the wrong direction and have left some behind, to find out later (on the website) that I would have been able to pick them up and bring them back with me to drop off at a cache nearby home.

[+Runaround]

It doesn't always work. One of my bugs that had all of the details attached simply went MIA. It was impossible not to know what you grabbed and what you were supposed to do with it unless the finder ripped everything off without reading it. Another bug with explicit instructions has hardly moved. Even putting "Don't take unless you can place in the next 10-14 days" doesn't help.

 

Not everything is bleak. My Timon bug had a mission to reach the Kalahari. It was recently pulled from a cache in Saudi Arabia and is well on it's way.

 

That makes me 1 for 5.

 

Now where did I park my car???????

[PioneerGal]

I am glad to see this suggestion come to the forums. For several days I have been considering how to approach the topic of bugs reaching their goals and the frustration of them going off course.

 

Let me make it clear, I don't have any travelbugs out there personally. I don't own any. However, I enjoy finding them and helping them along their way.

 

The first bug I found was only a few miles from my home. It was originally to go to the west coast. It had been west and was brought BACK to the east by a cacher. It was a significant backwards step to this bugs goal. I moved it to a higher traffic area cache in hopes of someone moving it west again, but the next cachers have decided to move it northeast. Is this normal? I mean, I guess it doesn't really matter as long as the bug gets to caches and all, but isn't the concept to complete the mission??

 

Another one I picked up started on the east coast and I moved it south, trying to put a few miles on it. The next person to pick it up, brought it bak to my area. Now, the bug was roaming and I logged it as moving toward the great plains. I understand it doesn't HAVE TO move that way, but if you can't contribute to the variety of places the bug goes, should you even pick it up? What good does it do for the bug to visit the same area or same cachers more than once?

 

Am I being too picky? I know I am ranting about something that is a minor part of the geocaching sport. I just became so annoyed to have 2 out of 3 bugs I've picked up have what can be called 'setbacks'.

 

3 travelbugs found is not a high number, but when my frustration percentage is 66% that's a pretty high level of annoyance.

 

I would apprecaiate any feedback on this.

 

The destination tags are an excellent idea in my opinion!

 

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. E Roosevelt

[BassoonPilot]

My daughter recently released her first travel bug. It sat in a cache unclaimed for two or three weeks before another cacher visited the cache and picked it up her ... and proceeded to take the bug 1,000 miles in the "wrong" direction.

 

My daughter's reaction? A good one: She said she would rather see the travel bug moving than remaining in an infrequently visited cache.

[+jollybgood]

I think part of the fun of TBs is not knowing where they will end up. Will they get lost? Stolen? Get off course? You hope they will reach thier goal but the numerous setbacks only serve to build the suspense and make a TB's journey that much more interesting -- at least for me. After all they are basically 'hitchhiking' and that comes with a certain degree of risk.

 

I only have one TB so far (Outlaw Willy) and it's been fun to see him drop from sight only to pop up again thousands of miles away.

His original goal was to escape to Mexico. So far he's been to Main, Florida, MAss and now the South Pacific. Sure he's not achieving his goal but I'm having a lot of fun tracking is journey.

 

Personally, I've never found a TB with printed instructions/goals in the field. It's only after I've returned home and checked the TB's page that I've learned of it's goals or travel plans. By that time it's really too late if I've brought the TB home in the wrong direction.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

[+Team StitchesOnQuilts]

Thank you, Becky! To say I was a little unclear on the concept when I released "Shannah's Bearista" would be kind.

 

I appreciate your having put instructions in with it.

 

What I've been doing on the last 2 or 3 bugs I released is to write the destination on the tag. So, for "Puppy Love", which just wants to travel anywhere, the actual tag has the words "Goes Anywhere" on it.

 

In the future, I will include better instructions, probably on a laminated tag. I will also, hopefully, remember to take photos of the bugs before I release them. (Thank you for the photos of Bearista! )

 

Shannah

[+cactus8]

I grabbed a TB in Pasadena, CA that wanted to reach England before the owners traveled there. The cachers who picked the TB out of the cache I'd placed him in because they were headed to Europe, and this jump over the sea is nesesary to the completion of the goal. I'd like to think that we expedited the goal of Jack the British Bug.