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Creative TB missions


TeamMJ2

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I thought I would start a discussion dedicated to discussing some of the fun, creative, or just unique ideas you've used, are thinking of using, or come across. This has likely been a discussion (if not I'd be shocked) but since I couldn't find it, here we go.

 

Good ideas I've found:

1) a small adolescent book (about 200 pages or less) with a hole drilled clear through to attach the bug. The idea was to read it yourself or with a kid and then post comments of it on the TB page. Sorta like a virtual book club.

 

Good Idea (maybe) I've not tried.

1). Send out a TB with a QR code printed on a short mission description. QR code takes you to YouTube or Vimeo link where you can leave a video comment of your favorite geocaching experience or something.

 

Feel free to steal this idea and let me know how it works

 

Fun idea I've tried

1). Sent a TB attached to a small magnet of my family crest. Mission: make it to a cache in the county of Ireland my ancestors are from and and make it back to me. Unfortunately, the first person to find it was a new cacher who didn't know what to do with it and lost it. But I plan on trying again.

 

How about you?

Edited by TeamMJ2
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Nothing special really. Mine are geeky ones.

 

One is a sack boy which is still sat (as far as I am aware) in his first cache. He is from the game little big planet. He name is little and he wants to see the big planet.

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=4131482

 

One I have is storm trooper TK421. He is a new worker on the Death Star. He's not very good at his job and to top it off he's been sent on a mission to find some droids on tatooine. (To go to Tunisia)

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=4157677

 

My last geeky one is a little ring called my precious and he needs to get to lonely mountain (aka nz)

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=4157651

 

I got a 5 pack to tbs. and those three are my geeky ones. Then there's 2 "normal" ones only put 2 out there at the moment. Waiting for good caches to put the other three in.

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Great idea! Good luck racing your coin, I think that sounds super fun! How cool would it be if you could somehow get someone to take a picture of the coin with Bennedict Cumberbatch, who plays the great detective in the relatively new BBC TV mini-series "Sherlock". If you haven't seen the show, it's a MUST!

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Great ideas! I like your creative themes, especially 'my precious'.

 

I wonder how many TB's actually accomplish their missions? Any ideas out there?

 

Also, how about the most creative/difficult mission accomplished? Anyone with a cool story?

 

Thanks.

 

Me and my other half helped a mini to its finish line. A family put 3 minis and a beetle (as that they couldn't find a different colour mini) for an Italian job race from Italy to England. 3 of those TBs made it home and we helped one.

 

At the time my other half just lost his job and I had dragged him out to a TB hotel cache to take his mind off of things. We got there and one of the minis was there. He loved the idea and story behind it that the next day we got in the car and drove for an hour to take it to the cache it wanted to be returned to. Got a lovely email from the cache owner saying thank you and it made that weekend a lot better.

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I wonder how many TB's actually accomplish their missions? Any ideas out there?

 

Hard to say. It is a bit dispiriting to go out of your way to help a TB complete the goal, only to find out the owner cared less about the trackable than you did! That has happened more times than I care to dwell upon. :mellow:

 

But sometimes my own trackables have pleasantly surprised me! While vacationing in July 2009, I dropped two trackables with goals of returning to one of my caches in Southern California; one was dropped in New York and the other in Rhode Island. HOME2 SoCal #1 completed the journey in 8 months. HOME2 SoCal #2 arrived in September 2010. Awesome.

 

My geocoin, Homing Signal, successfully traveled to New Zealand from Europe.

 

My tsun coin heading to Montana has been wandering for 3.5 years and was recently recorded in Florida. Maxquest, on its way to Michigan, is in Japan. And a tag trying to get to Alabama traveled over 61,000 miles, to many international stops, before getting lost in Afghanistan. Some trackables have better adventures than the unimaginative goals I set for them! And that is fine by me.

 

Although, I do hope that tsun coin gets to Montana before I do. It has six months. (Seriously though, I'm just happy it is still moving. :) )

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I released Aether's Whim (a Dandelion geocoin) recently with the mission to travel to the Netherlands and visit 30 caches there, then return to me. I am skeptical it will accomplish any of that but figured it would be fun to set an ambitious mission. Why not, after all!

 

I totally agree! If I'm going to spend $5 (or $6, if you buy the new tags) with the knowledge there's a better than good chance I'll never see it again, I want to at least try and for a mission that's worthy of my "investment."

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I have a tb called Fairytail Endings. It is a small notebook with a tag. The mission is to write the next chapter and (if possible) type it up online. By the end, I hoped to have a story. It may be missing now though. <_<

 

I had a similar thought for a future TB mission. The biggest difference was that I thought it would be fun to act it out in video format. Each person would create a video comment and add the next portion of the story using the same characters that we started with, and main thread of a plot.

 

And a tag trying to get to Alabama traveled over 61,000 miles, to many international stops, before getting lost in Afghanistan. Some trackables have better adventures than the unimaginative goals I set for them! And that is fine by me.

 

That's really cool. Yeah, I don't think I would mind at all if my TB or coin never made it to its mission, but had adventures like that! I noticed that most of the places your TB's have been to have major military bases... That would be a pretty cool mission. Make it to as many military bases as possible, including over seas.

 

I also send a quick email thanking each person that picks up my trackable, and again when they drop it off.

 

I think that is one of the smartest ideas I've ever heard when it comes to trying to keep TB's moving. It's a nice way to remind people to get them on their way, without sounding too much like, "Hey! I'm watching you!"

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...the goal being for them to meet up and switch tags. I think for it to be a challenge I'd have to do some traveling and start them off at least a state or two apart from each other. I'm hesitant only because of the fact that many trackables go missing, but perhaps TeamMJ2 is onto something there...

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The Red Deer Geocaching club started a race in August 2011. The bugs were to go to WEST CAN 2 then return to red deer.

Our leopard shark made it very close to WEST CAN 2 and actually returned to Red Deer in February where we snagged it. I emailed the returner and thanked them very much. My daughter was very happy to get it back. My sons in the same race disappeared last year. :(

Of the 17 started I only get updates on about three yet. The rest seem to have disappeared.

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...the goal being for them to meet up and switch tags. I think for it to be a challenge I'd have to do some traveling and start them off at least a state or two apart from each other. I'm hesitant only because of the fact that many trackables go missing, but perhaps TeamMJ2 is onto something there...

Found one a bit like that. The page is in German but what I got from it was the key (that i found) wanted to find the lock and then get to this cache in Germany.

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...

 

That's a pretty fun idea. I think I would put just a little twist n it and make it a key that opens a specific cache. I think I would need to attach a request to the TB that stats the key should stay within a certain distance of the cache and I might need to have some other requests guidelines like requesting the key is put in a different cache within a week or something. Oh, and definitely have a backup key or two for when (not if) it eventually goes missing. Can anyone think of any rules this idea would break?

 

I'm actually in Cambodia on a trip with my church and we visited Angkor Wat. I released a TB attached to a MN quarter with the simple goal of traveling the world and hopefully making it back to me in one year. In the meantime I'm going to buy a world map, some string, and push pins. My preschooler and I will connect string to every new location (major province or state) as a way of introducing him to geography.

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I have my tbs together in photo contest, the person who posts the best picture of the tbs will win a cache in honor of them

 

That's a cool twist. Do you have any certain criteria you're looking for in the photos? What sort of TB, i.e. will it be personalized in any way? How long to do you let the contest go?

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...

 

That's a pretty fun idea. I think I would put just a little twist n it and make it a key that opens a specific cache. I think I would need to attach a request to the TB that stats the key should stay within a certain distance of the cache and I might need to have some other requests guidelines like requesting the key is put in a different cache within a week or something. Oh, and definitely have a backup key or two for when (not if) it eventually goes missing. Can anyone think of any rules this idea would break?

 

I contacted my local reviewer about that exact idea to see if it was 'kosher' and he pointed me to an example (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCWGCJ) that he says was very frustrating because of how often the key went missing.

 

I actually may still do that, but I'd probably send out about three or four and just let people go anywhere in the state with it instead of trying to keep it within ten miles. Maybe limit it to metro-Atlanta (my home town) at the most.

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...the goal being for them to meet up and switch tags. I think for it to be a challenge I'd have to do some traveling and start them off at least a state or two apart from each other. I'm hesitant only because of the fact that many trackables go missing, but perhaps TeamMJ2 is onto something there...

 

Done!

 

http://coord.info/TB551P3

http://coord.info/TB54XW1

 

I started them off together and hopefully the first finder will split them up and start their separate journeys.

Found a nice big cache to put them in. Secluded and with an extremely low muggle-factor. Of course, that doesn't mean these won't go missing from day one...but at least their first step gives them a chance at moving out a little bit.

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...the goal being for them to meet up and switch tags. I think for it to be a challenge I'd have to do some traveling and start them off at least a state or two apart from each other. I'm hesitant only because of the fact that many trackables go missing, but perhaps TeamMJ2 is onto something there...

 

Done!

 

http://coord.info/TB551P3

http://coord.info/TB54XW1

 

I started them off together and hopefully the first finder will split them up and start their separate journeys.

Found a nice big cache to put them in. Secluded and with an extremely low muggle-factor. Of course, that doesn't mean these won't go missing from day one...but at least their first step gives them a chance at moving out a little bit.

 

I did a similar goal with these two: Momster's EaSneak & Momster's WeSneak. WeSneak started in California and EaSneak was dropped into a Massachusetts cache. I would update the trackable pages so finders would know where the partner TB was located. They actually got within 130 miles of each other, then a cacher took one of them out of the area. So close! But it was still fun to follow their movements.

 

37fb620c-b510-4caa-9913-f1a4a0a74a60.jpg

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We started, quite by accident a series of traveling action figures. All having the same dog tag and each with a different mission (reference # TB276FN).

 

The first was Edgar Allen Poe and his mission was to visit his grave site in Baltimore, MD on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Mission completed and the cacher mailed FoCoPoe back to us. We sent them a nice 'thank you' geocoin and were pleasantly surprised that the whole thing actually worked.

 

So much so that we decided to attach the dog tag to a Sherlock Holmes action figure with a mission to visit his old flat at 221b Baker St., London, UK. Mission completed and that cacher mailed FoCoHolmes back to us and we sent off another 'thank you' geocoin.

 

Then we started thinking just how lucky are we that dozens of really nice people actually helped these two plastic look-alike action figures get to where they wanted to go. What absolutely wonderful people they are!

 

After months of deliberation and a move from the four corners of the US (where the 'FoCo' came from) to Australia we decided to push our luck and made FoCoHolmes into Oz-Moses with a mission to visit the pyramids of Giza and possibly the Red Sea. He is presently in Sweden.

 

We wish him and his traveling companions safe journeys.

 

Cheers,

 

PandA Inc

Edited by Panda Inc
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Panda Inc, what awesome success! You should figure out how to bottle that mojo and sell it! I love those ideas that involve connecting a TB to a physical location or person.

 

My next TB waiting for me when I get back to the states will start a mission to meet and get a photo with Chris and Martin Kratts, my kids LOVE them.

 

Way to go J Grouchy, I think I'll have to watch those TBs and to see how they do and maybe I'll try it here in my home state.

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Way to go J Grouchy, I think I'll have to watch those TBs and to see how they do and maybe I'll try it here in my home state.

 

I just hope it doesn't take a month or two before someone visits the cache again. It's a great location, but one drawback is its infrequent visits. I wanted something out of the way to start, but I'm almost regretting going THAT far out of the way. If nothing happens for a couple of weeks, I may revisit that cache and drop it in another great cache that gets a lot of traffic.

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We started, quite by accident a series of traveling action figures. All having the same dog tag and each with a different mission (reference # TB276FN).

 

The first was Edgar Allen Poe and his mission was to visit his grave site in Baltimore, MD on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Mission completed and the cacher mailed FoCoPoe back to us. We sent them a nice 'thank you' geocoin and were pleasantly surprised that the whole thing actually worked.

 

So much so that we decided to attach the dog tag to a Sherlock Holmes action figure with a mission to visit his old flat at 221b Baker St., London, UK. Mission completed and that cacher mailed FoCoHolmes back to us and we sent off another 'thank you' geocoin.

 

Then we started thinking just how lucky are we that dozens of really nice people actually helped these two plastic look-alike action figures get to where they wanted to go. What absolutely wonderful people they are!

 

After months of deliberation and a move from the four corners of the US (where the 'FoCo' came from) to Australia we decided to push our luck and made FoCoHolmes into Oz-Moses with a mission to visit the pyramids of Giza and possibly the Red Sea. He is presently in Sweden.

 

We wish him and his traveling companions safe journeys.

 

Cheers,

 

PandA Inc

 

Okay...now THAT is cool. I'd like to do something like this.

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Lately, I've been sending some bugs to visit events that aren't geocaching-specific. Up, Up 'n' Away is headed out to visit hot air balloon festivals. Fat Tire Flyer is headed to Frisbee/disc dog events. Tampion will be heading out to Civil War battlefields and reenactments. Bandy the Rodeo Clown is headed for... OK, you guessed that one. I'm planning another mission to some model rocketry events in Nevada. Maybe I should send one to Burning Man?

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Okay...now THAT is cool. I'd like to do something like this.

 

Thanks J Grouchy.

 

As the post says, it was more accidental than planned. Most of the action figures we got from Archie McPhee (http://www.mcphee.com/shop/) and one or two we found at an op shop (thrift store). It's good to put some thought into your travelers, as you obviously do. Keep up the good work!

 

Cheers,

 

PandA Inc

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Panda Inc, what awesome success! You should figure out how to bottle that mojo and sell it! I love those ideas that involve connecting a TB to a physical location or person.

 

My next TB waiting for me when I get back to the states will start a mission to meet and get a photo with Chris and Martin Kratts, my kids LOVE them.

 

Way to go J Grouchy, I think I'll have to watch those TBs and to see how they do and maybe I'll try it here in my home state.

 

TeamMJ2,

 

Thanks for the opportunity to post the story! We don't hold a whole lot of hope of Oz-Moses completing his mission, primarily because of current events in Egypt and the entire region in general. But we decided that Moses being a common denominator to many religions in the area, might actually stand a chance of getting there. We'll see how the mojo holds up ... and if it does we'll bottle some up and send it to ya :D !

 

Cheers,

 

PandA Inc

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We also started a Ring (The One Ring) that needed to travel to NZ.

As told in a quite famous Story. Yes we like Lord of the Rings a lot ;-)

 

But in addition to this Travelbug we also released 9 others (The Nazgul) to hunt the Ring and prevent it from reaching it's destination.

Unfortunately, the Ring was catched quite fast and currently we are recalling the Nazgul to start another round.

 

"The One Ring" Travelbug

 

We also thought about a similar "Travelbug-Game" concerning the Hobbit.

But to do it right there should be a minimum of 14 Travelbugs and the "Ring and Nazgul Version" only required 10 (which was cheaper ;-) ).

 

Maybe if we find the time and cash... :D

 

 

We'll see,

 

Gsox

Edited by Gsox
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Maybe this has been done before, maybe it hasn't...

 

The Vandal Project

 

The bug is a small piece of flat wood (approx 3" x 5") that has been primed white. All I ask is that each finder in some way, shape or form deface the bug. Sign their name, have their kid paint a picture, what ever. I also ask that they post a picture of what they have done so I can see the results. Ultimately the goal is to have it totally covered with paint, marker and ink. If there is no more room, write over the existing graffiti. I mentioned my idea on a local board and many people thought it was a cool idea. Some even went out, found it and moved it along. It has been stalled a bit over the winter (which is to be expected in Western NY). I am considering launching a second version of this. IMO, it adds an extra dimension beyond merely tracking its travels.

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Maybe this has been done before, maybe it hasn't...

 

The Vandal Project

 

The bug is a small piece of flat wood (approx 3" x 5") that has been primed white. All I ask is that each finder in some way, shape or form deface the bug. Sign their name, have their kid paint a picture, what ever. I also ask that they post a picture of what they have done so I can see the results. Ultimately the goal is to have it totally covered with paint, marker and ink. If there is no more room, write over the existing graffiti. I mentioned my idea on a local board and many people thought it was a cool idea. Some even went out, found it and moved it along. It has been stalled a bit over the winter (which is to be expected in Western NY). I am considering launching a second version of this. IMO, it adds an extra dimension beyond merely tracking its travels.

 

I like that idea. I think I'd make it like a frame so I'd screw the tb to the wood and have a white frame for cachers to draw on. The tb tag could be twisted to you could read the code on the back and have the tb image framed. If you know what I mean...

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I've just released a TB with the name 'Make a Bolt for it.'

It is a small bolt for a door.

It has two missions one hard and one easy.

The easy one just visit as many caches as possible.

The hard one, to dip and visit those wonderful high Muggle density caches such as 'Side Tracked' near railway station or ' Off your Trolly' found normally in Supermarket car parks.

Stealth is required for these.

Panic or be discovered may cause you to want to make a bolt for it.

So here's the bolt!

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We're about to launch one to commemorate the 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants! Its goal will be to visit all major league ballparks and have its picture taken at each one. It got a head start: it's been to AT&T Park in San Francisco. Look for it sometime around Opening Day! :)

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We're about to launch one to commemorate the 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants! Its goal will be to visit all major league ballparks and have its picture taken at each one. It got a head start: it's been to AT&T Park in San Francisco. Look for it sometime around Opening Day! :)

 

Too fun! If I can help, I'd love to get a picture with it in front of Target Field, home of the MN Twins!

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I've just released a TB with the name 'Make a Bolt for it.'

It is a small bolt for a door.

It has two missions one hard and one easy.

The easy one just visit as many caches as possible.

The hard one, to dip and visit those wonderful high Muggle density caches such as 'Side Tracked' near railway station or ' Off your Trolly' found normally in Supermarket car parks.

Stealth is required for these.

Panic or be discovered may cause you to want to make a bolt for it.

So here's the bolt!

 

I'm looking forward to the day I can visit the UK and log this TB!

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We're about to launch one to commemorate the 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants! Its goal will be to visit all major league ballparks and have its picture taken at each one. It got a head start: it's been to AT&T Park in San Francisco. Look for it sometime around Opening Day! :)

 

This one reminds me of Sam the Olympic Eagle (TBJDA3). Unfortunately, the last I heard of him, he was riding around in the trunk of someone's car.

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I'm pondering a lock & key pair...the key attached to one trackable and the lock attached to another...the goal being for them to meet up and switch tags. I think for it to be a challenge I'd have to do some traveling and start them off at least a state or two apart from each other. I'm hesitant only because of the fact that many trackables go missing, but perhaps TeamMJ2 is onto something there...

 

Done!

 

http://coord.info/TB551P3

http://coord.info/TB54XW1

 

I started them off together and hopefully the first finder will split them up and start their separate journeys.

Found a nice big cache to put them in. Secluded and with an extremely low muggle-factor. Of course, that doesn't mean these won't go missing from day one...but at least their first step gives them a chance at moving out a little bit.

 

Okay...so I go back to the cache to retrieve this since nobody has logged a visit to the cache. I was planning to drop this pair into a busier cache, but discovered it was missing. Nobody has logged a visit online and nobody has logged this pair of trackables, but someone initialed the log "TTE" on March 2 (I think...it was difficult to read clearly). Seriously, folks...if you aren't going to play the game right, don't play at all!

 

I may have to mark this missing and it hasn't even been logged yet! GRRRR!

 

(is there a way to search members? probably wouldn't do me any good since apparently this jerk - yes, jerk - doesn't log his/her visits online)

Edited by J Grouchy
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Does this sound like your guy?

 

Not sure. I'm in Atlanta...that person is in NC. I saw that one, but didn't want to assume it was the same person. A lot of people sign or initial the log differently from their online ID.

 

This has inspired me to try to devise some sort of "safe haven" cache for trackables...but I'm a little stumped as to how to achieve it. Perhaps make it some sort of PM 'challenge' cache, requiring some evidence of trackable ownership and a good check-in/out record.

Not sure if that would violate guidelines, though...

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Does this sound like your guy?

 

Not sure. I'm in Atlanta...that person is in NC. I saw that one, but didn't want to assume it was the same person. A lot of people sign or initial the log differently from their online ID.

 

This has inspired me to try to devise some sort of "safe haven" cache for trackables...but I'm a little stumped as to how to achieve it. Perhaps make it some sort of PM 'challenge' cache, requiring some evidence of trackable ownership and a good check-in/out record.

Not sure if that would violate guidelines, though...

 

I'm betting some would say that constituted an additional logging requirement.

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There's one I'm hoping to cross one day, I don't have the reference number, but a guy in Germany started a blank deck of cards...they are all white. He noted each with their suite and number, but otherwise left them blank, and anyone who picks the deck up can decorate one of the cards however they want.

 

I just released a bug into GC HQ. It's a Strawberry shortcake from the top of one of those kids drinks with the characters on top (I love SS). Her goal is to visit strawberry festivals, strawberry fields, and have her picture taken with any of those, or with anything strawberry.

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I have my tbs together in photo contest, the person who posts the best picture of the tbs will win a cache in honor of them

 

That's a cool twist. Do you have any certain criteria you're looking for in the photos? What sort of TB, i.e. will it be personalized in any way? How long to do you let the contest go?

 

 

 

In my photos my 2 race cars ( wich are the tbs) must be the star, and the contest goes on about 10 months

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