Grr...who would do that?

[+FishieFive]

I'm new to geocaching, but I've read up on how to log and drop TBs. I swear, though, some cachers haven't bothered and it drives me nuts. We found a TB that wanted to go to London. We dropped it in a TB motel near the highway. It was picked up and within a few days made its way into a TB motel next to an international airport. We were thrilled, knowing it was close to going overseas, maybe even right to London. I checked on it today to see if it made it over or not...instead I found that an experienced cacher (over 6000 finds) moved it out of the airport cache and to some random location 20 miles away. I'm so irritated. It's not my bug, but I was proud that we were able to help it move closer to its goal. Why would an experienced cacher move a bug farther away from its goal?

[+BlueDeuce]

20 miles isn't too bad. I had a bug with a goal to come back to me here in Iowa. It got within 30 miles and someone picked it up and took it to the west coast. The attached tag clearly stated the mission.

[+FishieFive]

20 miles isn't too bad. I had a bug with a goal to come back to me here in Iowa. It got within 30 miles and someone picked it up and took it to the west coast. The attached tag clearly stated the mission.

 

Oy, you're right, that's a lot worse. How frustrating! This one also had a tag attached, clearly stating the mission. Did you ever get yours back?

[+BlueDeuce]

Yes it did! After being dropped (five months later) it went to Wyoming, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and then back to Iowa. I then sent it to someone in Maine. It went to New Hampshire to Wisconsin and was picked up by someone in June of '09 who quit caching a month later.

 

As soon as I get my workshop available to me, I'll re-release it. (We are finishing the basement and everything, and I do mean everything, is stuffed into my workshop right now)

[+Walts Hunting]

You would probably understand how TB's move if you read (or reread) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where they explain how the Infinite Improbability Drive works. It fully explains what is happening.

[+Fuzzywhip]

Yup, I've had something like that happen to me!

 

I have (had) a TB (Tabi 2 TB - TB1213T) that was supposed to travel to Japan, then stay in Japan and visit Shrines + Temples. The TB was clearly marked with its mission. I even had a Japanese translation on the TB so it would stay in Japan.

 

Started in Seattle, WA and finally made it to Japan. Travelled around for awhile, then a cacher took it to Sweden! From Sweden, it went to Germany, and finally to California, USA.

 

I thought: at least its in a spot to get back to Japan ... but no! Someone took it to Florida, USA.

 

Now the TB has been marked "missing!"

 

Grrrr!!!

 

(At least it travelled all the way around the world!

[+The Blorenges]

I'm new to geocaching, but I've read up on how to log and drop TBs. I swear, though, some cachers haven't bothered and it drives me nuts. We found a TB that wanted to go to London. We dropped it in a TB motel near the highway. It was picked up and within a few days made its way into a TB motel next to an international airport. We were thrilled, knowing it was close to going overseas, maybe even right to London. I checked on it today to see if it made it over or not...instead I found that an experienced cacher (over 6000 finds) moved it out of the airport cache and to some random location 20 miles away. I'm so irritated. It's not my bug, but I was proud that we were able to help it move closer to its goal. Why would an experienced cacher move a bug farther away from its goal?

 

Console yourself with the thought that maybe, just maybe, there's a geocacher near that random location who's planning a holiday, or going on a business trip, to London in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

 

Such is the Strangeness of Serendipity.

 

MrsB

[+St.Matthew]

Keep in mind most people don't know the goal until they take and log the TB into their inventory. I have two trackable items in my inventory right now that I'd have never taken had I known their goal beforehand.

[+johnvanderlip]

I picked one up that had just about completed it's mission of going to Disney and returning home. It took five years to finally make it home, I brought it a few hundred miles closer and another cacher got it within a couple of miles of the final destination. Then it was taken and brought all the way back to Florida.

I think it will be looping back and forth from Montreal to Disney forever. kind of funny really.

[+Team Van Dyk]

Keep in mind most people don't know the goal until they take and log the TB into their inventory. I have two trackable items in my inventory right now that I'd have never taken had I known their goal beforehand.

 

This is precisely why it's a good idea to attach the goal to the TB itself, thusly: http://coord.info/TB48CV1 . . . and to follow all of the other Snoogan's Longevity Tips!

[+NOSNOW]

In the TB world, the fastest and interesting path may not be the shortest.

[+tmwed4]

Here's one: I formed an account and bought a trackable for my mother-in-law to get her interested since we have a cache on her property. Her selected goal was to make it to Mt. Rushmore from our home in Tennessee. After a couple of short trips, it had made it to Nevada, now north... right? WRONG! That one is now in SWITZERLAND!!!!! I don't think there is a Mt. Rushmore there!

[+fluoro]

Ha, I have a coin hoping to go from Illinois to Hong Kong. After some travel in the US and Europe it was taken to Shanghai. A short stay, before it was brought back to the UK

Edited June 18, 2011 by ptniff

[+The Blorenges]

I'll just mention this in passing...

 

If it really bugs you that your bug has ended up way off track and you'd like to get it back, there's no harm in contacting a geocacher who has it "in their hands" to ask them if they would kindly mail it back to you, offering to refund them any costs, obviously.

 

I've only done this twice, but it worked well.

 

MrsB

[+Lieblweb]

You can't be too upset about what happens to these TB's. As long as you did 'your part' - that's all that matters.

 

I've learned to look at the goals before picking TB's up. And if I can't help it along, I'll *discover* it. If I happen to notice the TB has been in that cache too long, I'll pick it up anyway and place it in one of the local 'movers' (caches that have high traffic).

 

Just recently I pickecd up a coin that wanted to visit 'difficult multi's' or favorites. We were excited because we had planned on doing a 6 stage multi/hike cache the following weekend. I dropped it in there. I got home and looked at the coins history (its several years in existance) and we're the only people to drop it in a multi!! So, needless to say - we were proud of that!!

 

On another instance, we picked up this really neat coin that had gone to China & back. It appeared it had accomplished its goal - however, the description on the website was somewhat vaque and confusing. The coin had come back to the owners home state. It was a really cool coin, and I e-mailed the owner asking them if they wanted me to pack this up and ship it to them via postal. I think I pissed them off by e-mailing them....??? I'd fear this thing will get stolen eventually (and why I asked if they wanted it back NOW while the oppurtunity was there). Oh well...... they should update the website to reflect the current goal!!!!

Edited June 18, 2011 by Lieblweb

[+Team Van Dyk]

we were pretty proud of helping this guy along: TB3E9Q4. It has a multi-part goal to visit Elvis-related places -- Kalamazoo, MI to Graceland in Memphis, TN and finally to Vegas. We brought it to Elvis' local office in Kalamazoo (and took a picture). Then a few weeks later we were going on a trip to Nashville, so we picked it up again and brought it down and deposited it in a cache that was actually on the former Gibson guitars manufacturing facility in Nashville (and took a picture), thinking that the next person to pick it up would probably move it along closer to Graceland. Unfortunately, the next person picked it up to take it to Vegas (it's currently in Utah), so it appears to be skipping the centerpiece of the trip -- Graceland. SO CLOSE!

 

The way I look at it, the goals we've put on our TBs are ideally the result; if they take a circuitous route to get there, that's fine with me. Even if they never get there, that's fine with me too. So long as they're still bouncing around, there's always the possibility that they'll get back on track!

[+NanCycle]

In the TB world, the fastest and interesting path may not be the shortest.

 

Unless the TB is in a race to a specific location within a specific time, IMO a long & interesting journey trumps a short & fast one, every time.

[+Fianccetto]

They are game pieces on the geocaching board of life, sometimes they hit a ladder, sometimes a snake.

[scidawg]

How about this one..... TB2732R It is a soccer ball that wanted to visit University of North Carolina where Mia Hamm played her college soccer. I helped it along, it got to within a few miles of campus, then some guy deliberately moves it across the state, where it ends up in a 5/5 cache that gets about 4 visits a year, if that.

[+Chokecherry]

I had a good laugh about one of my bugs that I would like to get back to Slovenia at some point in addition to just wandering. A cacher took it on a European cruise which included Greece and Vatican City. All it would have taken is dropping it there and it would have found Slovenia eventually. I just had a really good laugh about it and continue to watch where it wanders now. Really it's not that big of a deal to me and htere's nothing attached to the bug stating that its goal.

 

Unless there is some thing explicitly stating the goal of the bug on the bug I have no idea where it wants to go until I get home to log it. If I happen to be on vacation away from here that can take the bug well off course.

 

Also when you write the goals and attach them to bugs keep it short and simple. If I have a tome attached to a bug all about little Johnny's life and times and buried in that tome is the goal of the bug I likely won't sit in the field and read that thing and just take the bug and read it at home. Usually I cache where there's lots of biting bugs and odn't want to be stationary that long.

[+dfx]

Well, there's this one... Originally it was in a race with restriction not to leave Austria, when it was taken to Sudan. After a year or so, the owner finally gave up on the race and changed the description. It took another year for it to finally get out of there - just to get lost again.

[+ventura_kids]

I would like to suggest..... ya need to have a tag ON or WITH the travel bug that says which way to take it.

 

I have been on several week long trips, and grabbed a bunch of travel bugs....only to find out that I took them the wrong direction. We don't log them while zooming along. We take them home and then look up their goals.

 

The ones we find that actually have a card or tag on them, can be quickly checked before grabbing them.

[+NanCycle]

I would like to suggest..... ya need to have a tag ON or WITH the travel bug that says which way to take it.

 

I have been on several week long trips, and grabbed a bunch of travel bugs....only to find out that I took them the wrong direction. We don't log them while zooming along. We take them home and then look up their goals.

 

The ones we find that actually have a card or tag on them, can be quickly checked before grabbing them.

 

Yeah, if you care about where it goes, a tag stating the goal can be very helpful. Still no guarantee that it won't veer off course, though.

 

Without going back and digging up all the details--I once picked up a TB whose name was "Eastbound" Something, and it had a tag that said it was only supposed to move eastbound. I was only able to move it a short distance east (within Colorado and New Mexico), but I noticed a short time later that someone had taken it to California. And I don't think they took the long way around!!

[kimbo25]

I placed my first travel bug a few months ago and was excited to see if "he" would get to his chosen destination. Not only did he go north instead of south and west, but he was taken from a regular cache and placed into a premium cache (members only) - where he has languished for over 2 months. That just doesn't seem right...

[scidawg]

I placed my first travel bug a few months ago and was excited to see if "he" would get to his chosen destination. Not only did he go north instead of south and west, but he was taken from a regular cache and placed into a premium cache (members only) - where he has languished for over 2 months. That just doesn't seem right...

 

If you check the logs for that cache, it's pretty obvious that your bug is no longer there. Can't understand why the owner has posted several times that there are 3 or 4 bugs in the cache, yet leaves an inventory showing 20+ bugs...come on...mark them missing when you know they aren't there.

[+jbushee]

Keep in mind most people don't know the goal until they take and log the TB into their inventory. I have two trackable items in my inventory right now that I'd have never taken had I known their goal beforehand.

 

Quite often the mission is printed and with the TB/GC, but that doesn't necessarilly help.

[+ngrrfan]

Keep in mind most people don't know the goal until they take and log the TB into their inventory. I have two trackable items in my inventory right now that I'd have never taken had I known their goal beforehand.

Quite often the mission is printed and with the TB/GC, but that doesn't necessarilly help.

Glad you think so. Most of the TBs I've come across have no instruction cards with them so you have no idea what the goal is until you log it.

[+E_ZIG_A]

I don't really mind if my TBs go off mission, just so long as they are still moving around. I know I've picked up a quite a few that I found to have a certain mission once I got them home to log them, but too late by then I had already nabbed them. When you are travelling it can take a while before you get to log your TBs, so it is very easy for a TB to go off course. But then again, who says the best way is the shortest way to the goal? I have a certain TB that is part of a TB race, it's goal was to reach Liverpool in England from Australia; well, it got to the UK, shot up to Scotland and was steadily making its way back down to very close to Liverpool ...... and now its in Germany right next to the Swiss border! Personally I think that is hilarious and I've enjoyed reading the logs from some people in Germany who realised it was off course and are now moving it around trying to point it back in the right direction. Now THAT is much more interesting than having the TB go directly to its goal!

[poofy96]

I feel really bad about what I did. The bug I got was in hawaii wanting to go to Japan but I brought it to the main land in the midwest. It didn't mention a goal on the tag and all I had was a gps, so it doesn't show trackables and their goal. What should I do?

 

That's why people do that.

[+Semper Questio]

One of my very first TBs was given the goal of getting to a cache near by brother in Manchester, WA. I activated it and logged it into a cache near me. The very first person grabbed it and was off on a plane and duly dropped it in a cache in Manchester.....New Hampshire! So it took a very scenic route over many months, but it eventually got there.

[doubletow]

We are newbies and hope to release our first geo-coin into the world. I realize one problem with a mission that has a return in it, is that you don't know if it actually is going away or returning until you check the logs. So even if you have a mission statement, you may still move it in the wrong direction. Would it make sense to have people check off when a part of a mission has been completed?