How do Travel Bugs Travel?

[+Nochipra]

I think I have a general concept on how a travel bug moves from place to place but I wanted to be sure. I think the way it works is someone picks up a travel bug out of a cache and then either takes it to another cache either locally or in another state. The main question I have is how do we let the owner of the travel bug know where it is once it's moved. I live in Va and I am planning a vacation taking me through ct and pa and was wondering how this all works if I take a tb with me? Thanks for any info.

[The Alethiometrists]

There's a great explanation of the process at:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/howto.asp

 

I'd add a couple things to that:

- Always write down the tracking number (the one that appears on the tag), in case someone picks up a bug and logs it before you have a chance to log it into the cache where you left it.

- Try as much as possible to log bugs promptly, both when you pick them up, and when you drop them off. If you're filing a late log, remember to back-date it.

- Never include the tracking (tag) number in your posts - those are meant as a sort of password, to prove you have found the bug.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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"Thos' Degrees of Longitude and Latitude in Name, yet in Earthly reality are they Channels mark'd for the transport of some unseen Influence, one carefully assembl'd chain…"

– Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon

[+Planet]

A travel bug begins with the birth of an idea. A geocacher orders a travel bug tag from the Groundspeak online store. He/she gets two tags, one to put on the bug, and a copy of it. They have serial numbers on them. Then the cacher creates a page for the Travel Bug, much like cache pages are created. The serial number is what you need to move that bug along. The cacher will then take the bug to a cache, gently place it inside and fondly wave farewell, hoping to someday see it again, but knowing that anything can happen (that's another story). Later that day..... Another cache comes to the cache, and sees the bug. With a little luck they had visited the site and know the goal of the travel bug. If they can help it along they grab it. If they haven't visited the site and the bug wants to go to, say, Vermont, and they don't know the goal and pick it up, thinking oh I'll help this travel, I'm going to New Mexico, well then sorry to say your bug is being sidetracked in a major way. Then when the cache finder gets home he/she goes to the cache page, and logs the find on the cache then goes back to the cache page, clicks on the Travel Bug link in the top right corner and logs the find on the travel bug. It's at this point those who haven't read the page find out the goal of the bug. They should keep a record of that travel bug serial number in case they are waiting for film to be developed to post pictures, they will need it to log anything on the page. If you put it in another cache before getting home MAKE SURE you have the number. The next cache page they log to will have a box at the bottom for them to drop off any travel bugs they might have dropped off, GC.com keeps an inventory of what's in your possesion, from your logs. If the finder just wants to add mileage to a bug and it visited a cache and they are still holding it and want to move it farther, they have to go back to that cache page and "Grab" the bug again. Grab and release using the serial number on the bug tag. NEVER NEVER NEVER post a photo of a travel bug tag showing the number. There are dummies out there who can grab it and move it on you, so you're stuck. Only the bug owner will be able to fix it, I think. If you're taking photos, flip the tag over. If you forgot to flip it, use your software to blur the number. I hope I haven't left anything out. E-mail me if you have any other questions. And if anyone sees my "Give Peace a Chance" Cannonball Runner Travel Bug, please put it back out there. I don't know how anyone could have mistaken it for a trade item it had a big laminated instruction sheet with it!

 

Cache you later,

Planet

 

So many caches, so little time.

[+gallahad]

May I add that, if and when you upload an image of the TB to the site, either use the "smudge" feature or some other feature of your image editing software to eradicate the number on the TB, or at least set up the pic so that the number isn't revealed. I see quite a few TB pics that reveal the number and, inasmuch as it's supposed to be a "password" or sorts, it seems to me that posting an image with the number visible defeats the purpose.

 

"Today's truth remains valid only as long as it withstands the test of tomorrow's discoveries" - George Hicks

[+Nochipra]

Thanks a lot for the info. everyone. It actually sounds like a travel bug is a little more complicated than I had thought. I was considering once I started a cache of my own, placing something like a diary in it and hoping it would just kinda find it's way around the contry on it's own instead of placing a certain destination on it from place to place. I guess I would call it more of a traveling journal or log and hopefully it would find it's way back to me once it was full. I would explain where it started on the front page and ask that once it is full that someone pick it up and bring it back once it made it's full run? I don't know maybe that's just wishful thinking but it might be worth a try? Thanks again for the explanations. Nochipra

[+Green Toad]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nochipra:

Thanks a lot for the info. everyone. It actually sounds like a travel bug is a little more complicated than I had thought. I was considering once I started a cache of my own, placing something like a diary in it and hoping it would just kinda find it's way around the contry on it's own instead of placing a certain destination on it from place to place. I guess I would call it more of a traveling journal or log and hopefully it would find it's way back to me once it was full. I would explain where it started on the front page and ask that once it is full that someone pick it up and bring it back once it made it's full run? I don't know maybe that's just wishful thinking but it might be worth a try? Thanks again for the explanations. Nochipra

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I don't think that it is wishful thinking at all. Many cachers place a laminated goal sheet to their TBs. Many times the TB has no goal in particular, then again many TBs have particular goals. The nice thing about attaching a goal sheet to the TB is that the finder immediately knows what the goal of the TB is when they find it instead of learning the goal when they get home on log onto GC.com.

 

Your idea is a popular one and I recommend that you use it. If the finder immediately knows what the goal is, then the TB is more likely to reach that goal. Do a search for TB goal sheets and you should find pre-made goal sheets for TBs. This will give you an idea of what to write on the first page of the log book.

 

There is no rule that says that a TB must have a goal to reach a certian location. Many TBs just travel around to wherever the finder places it, others have specific goals. It is really the decision of the TB owner.

 

-Stroh

 

-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a broadband connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!

[The Alethiometrists]

Yeah, I've got some TBs with specific destinations, while the others are free to wander. A couple of them include log books. I love picking up bugs where there's some way for me to participate, beyond just moving it. The first bug we ever picked up is still my favorite - Penny Prince, which travels around collecting press-a-pennys (flattened pennys with commemorative designs placed on them). Another bug we've helped is a camera (a "shutterbug"), where everyone takes a picture before moving it. Right now we've got a bug called Troubadour, which is a tape collecting songs.

 

I have seen "hitchhikers" traveling without travel bug tags. "Where's George?" dollars are probably the most common - at least those are tracked online, on their own website. You also see Bookcrossing books moving through caches - I've placed a few myself. And once we found a postcard that was moving from cache to cache. You used the writing space to add a brief log. Once full, it was supposed to return to the address written on it (it already had postage). Unfortunately, we haven't been able to keep track of where it's gone since we had it. Someone picked it up from a cache - we haven't been able to determine if they ever dropped it off.

 

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"Thos' Degrees of Longitude and Latitude in Name, yet in Earthly reality are they Channels mark'd for the transport of some unseen Influence, one carefully assembl'd chain…"

– Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon