ANNOUNCING THE 1ST ANNUAL TRAVELBUG CANNONBALL RUN!

March 9, 2003

Trippy that's a great idea. I'll donate one of our signature totem pouches for a prize...for another milestone.. not sure which. Hopefully once the tracking page is up and going we can get some of this side stuff going.

March 9, 2003

I was going to post a map of the current bug location, but it looks like the only car that has moved is the pace car.

So instead, here's the list I have for the stats/tracking page. If your bug is not listed it because either I accidentally missed it or because the bug name is currently un-parsable. Email me if there's a bug that needs to be added.

----

----

March 9, 2003

Okay...since I realized it looks like two cars have moved, here's the map.

You can click on the [car] icon to bring up the bug's page. Note though that since most bugs are in the same spot there's only one link for that location.

March 9, 2003

looks like some bugs are already picking up the miles. Is the map listed above the 'official' tracking page, or did one ever get established? I think mine's still awaiting placement so we'll sit back and watch - this is great!

-Mixster

March 9, 2003

The official site can be found here: http://www.ny-geocaching.org/cannonballrun

Please note that this is dummy data as I still need to interface Egnix's program with my database. Junglehair will be providing the maps, and we just agreed on the format she needs for the mapping program.

There are still some improvements in the site to come, such as FAQ's and what awards we have planned.

Also please keep in mind that we will be capturing all of the historical data for the race, so no data is being lost. Lastly, with the poor weather we're having in Upstate, NY - those bugs may take awhile to move...

I'm also open to any suggestions, improvements, etc.

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

March 9, 2003

site (even at this stage) looks pretty good. Can't wait to see how things progress. One suggestion would be to put up a section describing the various awards that have been mentioned (first to be lost, etc.) And if there's an email address to send donations, I'd contribute to help offset the cost of everything.

-Mixster

March 10, 2003

I've been getting emails from people saying I left their bug off my list only to find that their bug includes HTML tags in its name...and like I keep saying...my program cannot properly handle that at this time.

I'm very sorry my program doesn't like HTML tags in names. It's just way too low priority of an item to work on right now. I figured it would be pretty harmless to ask folks to (at least temporarily) change their bug name.......

So to spell it out for you...

example legal name: RacerX

example illegal name: RacerX

* Also things like quotation marks are bad too..

[This message was edited by Egnix on March 10, 2003 at 08:54 AM.]

March 10, 2003

quote:
In the spirit of the original race, interference is suggested!

I find the idea of suggested interference somewhat irresponsible. There are thousands of MIA T/B's already. What if all the Cannonballers were interfered with? No one would win.

But in keeping with the "Spirit of the original race" I will certainly interfere with the pace car, if I find it, because that is apparently suggested by the owner.

Can you say "Dragon Bait"?

Captain Walker, Frodo & the gang

Dark River Rangers, Florida Company.

March 10, 2003

Until the official map page is up, I'll try to update my map daily. I'll aim to update it between 5&6pm EST. And to keep from clogging up this thread I won't be posting "I just updated my map" posts. If it's after 6pm just assume it's been updated

2.6k · March 10, 2003

Looks like most are still at the event. Were they all picked up or does brogan have a bag full waiting to be dropped off somewhere?

george

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

March 10, 2003

Thanks, Egnix. Very nice map. And thanks for making the map a little bigger than the original. Now I can see my bug, that immediatly went 150 miles in the wrong direction. . But at least I'm not alone.

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

March 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:
Looks like most are still at the event. Were they all picked up or does brogan have a bag full waiting to be dropped off somewhere?

george

From Page 5 of this thread:

---------------------------------------------

All bugs were taken by the end of the event. Please give the people who took them a chance to get them all logged. Thanks.

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

---------------------------------------------

They're all off & running.

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

March 10, 2003

Hmm... brand new member, only logged the event cache and the one where the MIG went... HMMM... Very interesting... Direct meddling, but who to blame it on?

-Mixster

March 10, 2003

Thanks everyone for getting the race off to what sounds like a fun start! And thanks Egnix for the map and everyone who is working so hard on the web page, and especially you Brogan for putting everything together!

Now if my bug will just show up somewhere - hopefully going the right direction!

March 10, 2003

I put together an Excel spreadsheet to feed into S&T 2003. Looks like about 3/4's of the bugs are either not logged as in someone's hands, or logged as picked up but not placed yet. Of the ones that have been placed about half went NW towards the highway, I assume, and half went NE (sabotage already!). If I can find a place to upload the spreadsheet I'll do so. Plus I've added the bugs to my watch list so hopefully I'll update once daily as are other folks on this board. (This isn't in place of their efforts, just a way for me to play with the maps.)

Oh, and it would appear that my bug and at least one other are in a cache that hasn't been approved yet??? Always fun...

-Mixster

March 10, 2003

For those that want it... contains a couple of bugs that I found that hadn't started, but not sure if this is all of them or not...

http://home.insightbb.com/~mmick1/Cannonball_Run.xls

Also, for those bugs in Lumberjack's Haven, I chose the coordinates for another nearby cache as this one hasn't been approved yet so I can't get the actual coords.

-Mixster

March 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Gimpy:
Thanks, Egnix. Very nice map. And thanks for making the map a little bigger than the original. Now I can see my bug, that immediatly went 150 miles in the wrong direction. . But at least I'm not alone.

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

I can see that several bugs are likely to travel in group for awhile...

but I don't expect that to last too long..

There is nothing like a Packrat who is a geocacher.

March 11, 2003

Have no fear, Junglehair has been kind enough to keep our maps up to date while I finish up the database backend. (If only 'caching could be a full-time job!)

http://www.ny-geocaching.org/cannonballrun/maps.php

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

March 11, 2003

Okay...so is my map no longer needed? Or would it help Mixster if I included my CSV file (which is similar to his xls file)?

I don't want to waste time duplicating efforts...

March 11, 2003

How about combining attributes of both maps? I like the idea of clicking on the car to get to it's web page. AND I like the tags that follow the cars on the map.

cycyclist

I'm in need of direction, I can't see the satelites for the trees there.

March 11, 2003

I think the 'official' page isn't using S&T anyway, so no real issues there. I didn't mean to cause any issues, I just figured since I was doing this for myself I might as well provide it if someone else could use it. I made the mistake of actually creating a hyperlink on each of the bugs for their page at first, which isn't interpreted by S&T, so I had to copy and paste each one to a seperate field. Yippee!

-Mixster

March 11, 2003

So Mixster,

Are you hand entering all the data? If you'd like I can just post my CSV file which has basically the same info...and it's all automatically generated...

March 11, 2003

Yes...please post your csv file. I would like to use it to plot on my map as well!

Thanks...

Scott

March 11, 2003

For kicks you can try to go here for current stats and the CSV file. This site will be up and down, so no guarantee you'll get to it...but if you do, enjoy...

*Updated: .CSV link now works.

[This message was edited by Egnix on March 11, 2003 at 03:04 PM.]

1k · March 11, 2003

Holy cow! I just finished reading all 6 pages of posts on this forum for the first time. Seems I should have checked it out earlier to answer some questions on the mapping aspect. For now, I am using ArcView GIS software to set up the maps to track the racers, and exporting that as a JPEG image for posting on the tracking Web page (http://www.ny-geocaching.org/cannonballrun/maps.php). Sorry, this doesn't allow for the hyperlink option to send you to the bug's page.

1.4k · March 11, 2003

The posted rules don't say anything about Canada. I thought it had been decided that the bugs would have to travel in the states only. Or at least they would only be able to go from State 1, through Canada and into State 2 where State 1 and State 2 share a common border anyway. That's not detailed on the rules page or am I smoking my own tailpipe?

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time.

March 11, 2003

Egnix, thanks, I'll have to give it a shot. For now the URLs above should have the latest excel files and map w/ links.

-Mixster

Eh, guess it'd help if I posted the URL map:

http://home.insightbb.com/~mmick1/cannonballrun.htm

March 11, 2003

Hey Mixster

Thanks for the work

Wanted to let you know the map image isn't coming up... http://home.insightbb.com/~mmick1/cannonballrun_files%5Cimage_map.gif

is your map location except we get a fractured link.

cycyclist

I'm in need of direction, I can't see the satelites for the trees there.

March 11, 2003

That's because Microsoft won't conform to standards. On the generated HTML file they use a '' instead of a '/' in the link to the map image.

BTW Mixster, if you're going to keep yours updated I'll quit doing mine. No sense in having two people doing the same thing. Besides, it will give me more time to work on the database stuff...

March 11, 2003

I did a replace all on the HTML. What a pain in the a$$. I'll probably keep this up to date if that lets you focus on the db stuff... it keeps me busy and out of trouble.

-Mixster

March 11, 2003

Anyone familiar w/ S&T 2003 know how to add tooltip-like tags to the bugs on the html map? I know I can turn each of them on, but it seems like that would be too crowded? With 70+ bugs on the screen, maybe I should leave the name pointers to the official map? Let me know your thoughts...

-Mixster

March 11, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by trippy1976:
Or at least they would only be able to go from State 1, through Canada and into State 2 where State 1 and State 2 share a common border anyway.

That was my understanding... If your bug goes through Canada, it's still got to come back into Pennsylvania before it can move on...

2.4k · March 11, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by trippy1976:
The posted rules don't say anything about Canada. I thought it had been decided that the bugs would have to travel in the states only. Or at least they would only be able to go from State 1, through Canada and into State 2 where State 1 and State 2 share a common border anyway. That's not detailed on the rules page or am I smoking my own tailpipe?

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

_Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time._

http://www.mi-geocaching.org/

Well, while they don't mention Canada by name, I think this covers it:

quote:
Travel bugs are allowed to move only one state at a time, states must share a common border. Any bug that skips a state intentionally or not is required to backtrack to the last continuous state that it was in (not necessarily the same cache) and begin again from there. The same holds true for any bug leaving the country.

That was taken from the rules page of the Official 2003 Cannonball Run website

Just because you're paranoid DOESN'T mean they're not ALL out to get you.

March 11, 2003

quote:
Any bug that skips a state intentionally or not is required to backtrack to the last continuous state that it was in (not necessarily the same cache) and begin again from there. The same holds true for any bug leaving the country.

Hmm, guess that means if you went NY to Canada, you'd have to go back to NY before going any further. Ouch!

-Mixster

1.4k · March 11, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by IV_Warrior:

quote:
Travel bugs are allowed to move only one state at a time, states must share a common border. Any bug that skips a state intentionally or not is required to backtrack to the last continuous state that it was in (not necessarily the same cache) and begin again from there. The same holds true for any bug leaving the country.

That was taken from the rules page of the http://www.ny-geocaching.org/cannonballrun/rules.php

Just because you're paranoid _DOESN'T_ mean they're not _ALL_ out to get you.

See? I knew I was smoking a tail pipe Thanks

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time.

March 12, 2003

Hey! At this very moment I have 2 participants sitting in my bay window waiting to "get out there".

All 6 of us are planning a trip to PA on Saturday...it will be right balmy then...near 50!!

The plan is to find an easy cache near the thruway

Fearless has suggested making up a card with the state that the TB has gone to so that cachers can check off the already visited places....

What do you think?

Any cachers going to be near Erie PA on Saturday?

Dx

"Have you no news on your travels?" the Book of fairy & folk tales of Ireland (1888)

March 12, 2003

Forbidden access

What happened to the "official website?

http://www.ny-geocaching.org/cannonballrun/rules.php

I get a forbidden access message. or is it just me?

Cycyclist

I'm in need of direction, I can't see the satelites for the trees there.

March 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by cycyclist:
Forbidden access

What happened to the "official website?

http://www.ny-geocaching.org/cannonballrun/rules.php

I get a forbidden access message. or is it just me?

Cycyclist

Hmmm. Same here.

"Gimpy"

--KC2KNI--

March 12, 2003

It appears that I am not on the privileged list either.

How about a "mouse over" option for the TB map? Is that possible for our need? When one moves their pointer over the TB icon, it would bring up the TB name and Cache name?

Just a thought.

6.5k · March 12, 2003

Was there any physical record taken of who left with which traveler(s)?

Theres still like Two Dozen on the event page, that have not even be logged into anyones possession

March 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by welch:
Was there any physical record taken of who left with which traveler(s)?

Theres still like _Two Dozen_ on the event page, that have not even be logged into anyones possession

I agree. It seems like a very large number to be unlogged.

Do people in New York just typically take this long to post on the site, or were there a few newbies at The Gathering who didn't know what Travel Bugs are?

Night Hunter

If Wyle E. Coyote could afford all that ACME stuff... Why didn't he just buy DINNER?

6.5k · March 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Night Hunter:
I agree. It seems like a very large number to be unlogged.

Do people in New York just typically take this long to post on the site, or were there a few newbies at The Gathering who didn't know what Travel Bugs are?

If they're new to caching or not, Do they know how to log a TB? If theres not list of who took what, how can the 'left overs' be tracked down? In a few more days just start emailing people that were probly there and ask "Hey did you take a TB? Could you log it OFF the page?"

March 12, 2003

quote:
Do people in New York just typically take this long to post on the site, or were there a few newbies at The Gathering who didn't know what Travel Bugs are?

Why does it have to be a New york thing?

All I know it was snowing here today and Jacksonville, FL was 80. I bet this weekend there will be a lot of geocahing activity in the northeast. It's just kinda hard right now with all the caches frozen in place. So with a little patience, I bet everything will be fine. Just take a chill pill and go find a cache. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL You know exercise is good to take the stress level down.

Duane

Upinyachit

Our feet go where the caches are!

2.4k · March 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by upinyachit:
All I know it was snowing here today and Jacksonville, FL was 80. I bet this weekend there will be a lot of geocahing activity in the northeast. It's just kinda hard right now with all the caches frozen in place. So with a little patience, I bet everything will be fine. Just take a chill pill and go find a cache. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL You know exercise is good to take the stress level down.

Duane

Upinyachit

Well the weather doesn't generally have much of an effect on getting on your computer when you come home from an event cache. Someone, or several someones, came home from the event cache with travel bugs and didn't log them. All that is needed is a simple log with the "I have it" option so the bug is shown "In the hands of" whoever has it, instead of being show at the event cache.

I'd imagine the owners of said bugs would like to see them quickly placed in a cache, but the posts here are just asking that they be logged so their real "location" is being shown on their pages.

Just because you're paranoid DOESN'T mean they're not ALL out to get you.

2.6k · March 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by upinyachit:

quote:
Do people in New York just typically take this long to post on the site, or were there a few newbies at The Gathering who didn't know what Travel Bugs are?

Why does it have to be a New york thing?

All I know it was snowing here today and Jacksonville, FL was 80. I bet this weekend there will be a lot of geocahing activity in the northeast. It's just kinda hard right now with all the caches frozen in place. So with a little patience, I bet everything will be fine. Just take a chill pill and go find a cache. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL You know exercise is good to take the stress level down.

Duane

Upinyachit

Our feet go where the caches are! http://home.rochester.rr.com/thehughesfamily7/images/feet.gif

What does any of that have to do with not logging that you have posesion of a bug? Frozen caches might explain why the bugs are not in a new cache, but snow or no snow you should be able to log that you picked up the bug.

How are we suposed to know who has posesion of the bug unless they log it?

george

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

March 12, 2003

It went from a cache to the gathering *today*? Not sure I truly understand that one... I'll be generating today's map and file soon...

-Mixster

March 12, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Mixster:
It went from a cache to the gathering *today*? Not sure I truly understand that one... I'll be generating today's map and file soon...

-Mixster

J-Ra's 'Cuse Car and Dekaner's Eye in the Sky were late entries in the Cannonball Run Race. Brogan posted them to the event page today, but he will be placing them in caches soon to start the race.

As for NYers not logging their travel bugs yet, I would say to wait until the weekend. It's supposed to warm up to 60 degrees then, so people will have geocaching on their minds again. Everyone at the event was fully aware of what a Travelbug is, and how to log them. Just give them some time to do so.

March 12, 2003

I changed a few things around this morning with the site so Junglehair could upload the maps and ended up screwing up the permissions. My mistake, won't happen again. Learned my lesson to -test- all my changes before I go to work...

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

March 12, 2003

Sorry I was out of comission for a few days immediately following the Gathering... I did however see all bugs off safely into the hands of fellow cachers, as noted above a fair amount of them have not been "grabbed" off the webpage, it has been my experience with other bugs that some cachers do not log their grabs, only their drop offs, take it for what it is worth.

Dark River Rangers: Feel free to "interfere" with the Pace Car all you like, misdirect it, backtrack it, hell, send it out og the country if you like!! It's A "Travel" Bug !!!!

The Canada question was covered in the rules, you can leave the country to go into Canada but you have to come back to the last continuous state that you were in to continue on in the race.

Dekaner has a handle on all the race page and junglehair is doing the mapping just give them a chance to get it moving and I think you all will be VERY happy with the results.

Sit back and enjoy the race!

March 13, 2003

when your bug doesn't even leave the event page. I understand that due to weather they may sit in someone's hand or in another cache. But I would at least like to see proof that my bug was taken by someone. Not that I would ever doubt you, Brogan . We just like to know who to badger about placing our bug into that next frozen cache.

Brogan, did you keep a list of who has what? If so, and if it gets into next week with bugs still not officially grabbed, can you send some gentle email reminders?

Thanks and I am sure I speak for everyone when I say thanks for all the efforts everone is putting into this race. You really set the standard high for any follow up races.

ANNOUNCING THE 1ST ANNUAL TRAVELBUG CANNONBALL RUN!

Recommended Posts

Join the conversation