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Little episode today


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Nice day for geocaching for us. The grandkids were with us and something weird and a bit unnerving happened. For a bit I thought it was going to turn ugly.

 

What did happen as were were doing guard rail caching. It happened as we were on the side of the road grabbing one. We had just made the find when a large SUV came hard across the meridian (illegal u-turning) and came roaring up to us and slammed on the brakes beside us. It scared the grandkids. I asked the driver who was an older man, "May I help you?"

The man in a meanacing voice pointed to a much younger man sitting beside him said, "He said you were just at my shop, so is there anything I can do for you."

I looked at him and told him that we were geocaching and had not been to any shop. That we had never even strayed from the roadsides.

He glared at me and said nothing. So I started to explain what geocaching was but he wanted no explanation. Just repeated very menacingly that we had been to his shop and asked what we were doing there.

I repeated that we were never at his shop and once again said we were geocaching.

He just glared at all of us again, dropped the SUV into drive and peeled off.

 

WEIRD

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What's the problem with kids at a guard rail cache? TeamPennyFinder is sharing a strange encounter and the rest of you pile on. You all were not there and I am sure that the kids were just fine under adult supervision. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't post to this forum again.

 

You're right, I wish I was there, darn it. Happy caching.

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Nice day for geocaching for us. The grandkids were with us and something weird and a bit unnerving happened. For a bit I thought it was going to turn ugly.

 

What did happen as were were doing guard rail caching. It happened as we were on the side of the road grabbing one. We had just made the find when a large SUV came hard across the meridian (illegal u-turning) and came roaring up to us and slammed on the brakes beside us. It scared the grandkids. I asked the driver who was an older man, "May I help you?"

The man in a meanacing voice pointed to a much younger man sitting beside him said, "He said you were just at my shop, so is there anything I can do for you."

I looked at him and told him that we were geocaching and had not been to any shop. That we had never even strayed from the roadsides.

He glared at me and said nothing. So I started to explain what geocaching was but he wanted no explanation. Just repeated very menacingly that we had been to his shop and asked what we were doing there.

I repeated that we were never at his shop and once again said we were geocaching.

He just glared at all of us again, dropped the SUV into drive and peeled off.

 

WEIRD

Wow. Scary encounter. I can't imagine what the SUV's problem was, unless perhaps he mistook one of you for someone else? (For example, he had seen some guy lurking near his shop who happened to look a little like Mr. TeamPennyFinder? idk)

 

Kind of puts a damper on the day when something like that happens. And it's especially too bad he did it in front of the grandkids. Sorry to hear that happened.

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What's the problem with kids at a guard rail cache? TeamPennyFinder is sharing a strange encounter and the rest of you pile on. You all were not there and I am sure that the kids were just fine under adult supervision. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't post to this forum again.

 

Agree!! Jeez!!

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For those of you concerned about us taking our grandkids GR caching shame on you for even thinking that I would endanger my loved ones!

 

Now to put your mind at ease the road we were on is a very wide four lane highway. It also has very wide pull over/break down lanes. The grandkids are made to exit our vehicle by way of passenger door away from the main road and immediantly go over it to the opposite side of the gaurd rail where the caches are normally put any way. Ary is 11 and AJ is 5. AJ stays by me even though sometimes it hinders him from making a find because older sister gets to jump the gaurd rails first. But they are always close to me and kept safe! They both LOVE geocaching with us no matter what type we go for, please check my photo albums for the smiles. :)

 

Mormete GC14M9F is the only one that I can possibly think of that the man may have been talking about. It was located at a business under a picnic table that is out front and it being sunday was closed. But still we parked at the road and walked down to it as I had guessed where the cache was.

 

Once we were on our way again with both looking at the map function of the Oregon 450 they settled back down and once again became engrossed in trying to see who spotted the next little green box scrolling into view first.

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Some places (people) are just weird. I went to meet a guy yesterday to check out a car my son wants to buy. We met at a convenience store off the interstate (kinda redneck country). I parked in front of the store and when he arrived he parked around the side. I took the car for a test drive and when I got back I parked up front next to my van and and got out to go discuss it with the wife. He told me he was going to move the car back around the side where they couldn't see because they were kinda funny at that store about people hanging out and would probably come out and tell us something. Really? Nothing like harassing potential customers.

 

They never came out and we actually did go in and buy some drinks and snacks before we left. They didn't seem real friendly.

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I looked at the satellite imagery for the area in question. Looks to be a very busy road.

 

Even with kids exiting on the passenger side of the car, on a wide shoulder, the biggest risk is from other drivers/cars. The other people are the risk you can't control.

 

Whenever I have to be stopped on the side of a road, I get nervous - once I was broekn down on a shoulder, and some clown came screaming up the shoulder, honking his horn at me...like I was in the wrong place. Luckily he was able to get over in time, other wise I would have been killed.

 

Me, I'd never have my kids with me doing caches like the ones in question.

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I did a bit of snooping and looked the OPs profile and the recent finds. It looks like 11 finds were made that day and a note about the incident was made in one of the logs. Assuming that the logs were posted in the order in which the cache were found, there were 3-4 cache found prior to where the incident occurred and one of them contains the following in the cache description:

 

"This log only micro is placed with permission from the owner. You may wish to bring a picnic. Parking available. One friendly female employee is aware of the cache, but the others are not."

 

At least one other cache found mentions obtaining permission from the business owner.

 

I have to wonder if the cache owner just obtained permission from an employee but the owner of the "shop" where a cache was located had no knowledge of the cache. It sounds like the person in the SUV was a bit surly but it would be understandable if a business owner wondered why someone was near their business, spent a few minutes searching for something, then drove off.

 

That's the problem with caches placed on private property. Even when permission is obtain, it's very likely that someone that has no knowledge of the cache (or the game in general) is going encounter someone "acting suspicious" on private property.

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Nice day for geocaching for us. The grandkids were with us and something weird and a bit unnerving happened. For a bit I thought it was going to turn ugly.

 

What did happen as were were doing guard rail caching. It happened as we were on the side of the road grabbing one. We had just made the find when a large SUV came hard across the meridian (illegal u-turning) and came roaring up to us and slammed on the brakes beside us. It scared the grandkids. I asked the driver who was an older man, "May I help you?"

The man in a meanacing voice pointed to a much younger man sitting beside him said, "He said you were just at my shop, so is there anything I can do for you."

I looked at him and told him that we were geocaching and had not been to any shop. That we had never even strayed from the roadsides.

He glared at me and said nothing. So I started to explain what geocaching was but he wanted no explanation. Just repeated very menacingly that we had been to his shop and asked what we were doing there.

I repeated that we were never at his shop and once again said we were geocaching.

He just glared at all of us again, dropped the SUV into drive and peeled off.

 

WEIRD

Wow. Scary encounter. I can't imagine what the SUV's problem was, unless perhaps he mistook one of you for someone else? (For example, he had seen some guy lurking near his shop who happened to look a little like Mr. TeamPennyFinder? idk)

 

Kind of puts a damper on the day when something like that happens. And it's especially too bad he did it in front of the grandkids. Sorry to hear that happened.

 

Another moron whose brains are in his gas pedal. :mad:

 

I've encountered the like - someone comes up and is all in my face about something I have no idea what they are on about. Try to think back, retrace steps and figure what led to this episode - mistaken identity I'd figure, but pea-brain is enjoying being aggrieved about something and there's no rational way out of things, unless you flip out a phone and offer to dial 911 to bring in a mediator. Seemed to work the last time this sort of encounter happened - I think the aggrevated party decided they were better off not pressing the issue.

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Nice day for geocaching for us. The grandkids were with us and something weird and a bit unnerving happened. For a bit I thought it was going to turn ugly.

 

What did happen as were were doing guard rail caching. It happened as we were on the side of the road grabbing one. We had just made the find when a large SUV came hard across the meridian (illegal u-turning) and came roaring up to us and slammed on the brakes beside us. It scared the grandkids. I asked the driver who was an older man, "May I help you?"

The man in a meanacing voice pointed to a much younger man sitting beside him said, "He said you were just at my shop, so is there anything I can do for you."

I looked at him and told him that we were geocaching and had not been to any shop. That we had never even strayed from the roadsides.

He glared at me and said nothing. So I started to explain what geocaching was but he wanted no explanation. Just repeated very menacingly that we had been to his shop and asked what we were doing there.

I repeated that we were never at his shop and once again said we were geocaching.

He just glared at all of us again, dropped the SUV into drive and peeled off.

 

WEIRD

 

2nd Amendment for that worst case scenario.

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I looked at the satellite imagery for the area in question. Looks to be a very busy road.

 

Even with kids exiting on the passenger side of the car, on a wide shoulder, the biggest risk is from other drivers/cars. The other people are the risk you can't control.

 

Whenever I have to be stopped on the side of a road, I get nervous - once I was broekn down on a shoulder, and some clown came screaming up the shoulder, honking his horn at me...like I was in the wrong place. Luckily he was able to get over in time, other wise I would have been killed.

 

Me, I'd never have my kids with me doing caches like the ones in question.

 

We have a guy around here that puts the "Dogs Allowed" attribute on his guardrail caches. The same guy that puts "good parking" on his pages and the entire mile long stretch is a No Stopping Tow Away zone.

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Who takes any kid to a guard rail cache?

 

Jeepers what is your problem?? This is why people hate the forums.

 

When the guard rails in question are on busy roads, one should pause to think if it is a good idea or not.

 

You bet. But if I recall, Judging Cachers For Their Lame Behavior is not the name of the thread.

Edited by bflentje
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That's enough, you two. :laughing:

 

TPF, I'm kind of leaning towards maybe you really were at this guys "shop", and are a victim of the "not everyone working there knows about the cache" syndrome. A syndrome that has resulted in more than one cache I'm aware of being blown up by the bomb squad.

 

You logged it last for the day, but how about that Pink Elephant cache? That could very well be the one.

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Who takes any kid to a guard rail cache?

Better still; who hunts guard rail caches at all?

I've found a few. I don't look especially for them, but if a cache I'm looking for happens to be in a guardrail I won't back away. I might pass it up if the road is busy. I'm basically the same way with LPCs.

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That's enough, you two. :laughing:

 

TPF, I'm kind of leaning towards maybe you really were at this guys "shop", and are a victim of the "not everyone working there knows about the cache" syndrome. A syndrome that has resulted in more than one cache I'm aware of being blown up by the bomb squad.

 

You logged it last for the day, but how about that Pink Elephant cache? That could very well be the one.

 

I suggested the same thing in post #21 but had found another cache which had something in the description which specifically indicated that not everyone that worked there was aware of the cache. I didn't check but I would be surprised if that cache and the Pink Elephant cache had the same cache owner. Even if every one that works a a business where a cache is located knows about the cache, if that business has any customers none of them would know about it unless they happened to be geocachers.

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The caches were logged in order of the finds. The only one that I can think of would be "Mormete GC14M9F" as that one was the only one even remotely close to a business. We still parked on the road side and walked down an incline to a picnik table that was beside a gravel parking lot area. So that is the only one that I could think of. It being Sunday all businesses were closed.

 

For those of you still concerned this is a highway not an interstate. It also was late Sunday afternoon so traffic was very light. This stretch of road goes from one small town to another small town to another small town and so on. It is not like it hooks up major cities and megalopisis. How we park and position the car a driver would have to plow through our car AND the gaurd rail to hit us. But traffic at that time of day is light. Besides, there were 3 adults watching over 2 kids and my grand kids LOVE GR caches. Go figure. LOL!

 

We do other types and save the GR caches for when we are on the road taking them back to mommy. We will take different routes so they can have them to find on every trip. It will be a sad day for them when we wipe all of them out in our area.

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I'd just like to tell my story here.

It's night with clear visibility. Full moon. a flat, straight stretch of road for 2km(just over 1 mile) coming back from a family function. Coyote darts out in from of a car and car hits it. Lights are on(red lights in the back) and hazard lights are flashing as the driver gets out to check the car; a little damage to the bumper and the coyote is no more. Driver gets back in the car. Another car passes going the opposite way-it's headlights illuminate the stopped car. A truck coming headlights illuminating the road ahead. Truck hits the stopped car, car spins and stops on the other side of the road after spinning 180. Diver/passengers in truck not injured at all but truck it wrote off. Car has no trunk left, and even compacted the back seat. Driver of car has concussion. Front passenger has deep bruising. Passenger in the back severely injured. Broken right heel that is stuck between the front and back seats. Broken and dislocated left hip, and he is putting all his weight on that leg after he tried to crawl out the window. That passenger had no idea what happened, lost memory of 2 minutes before until 2 minutes after impact, then lost memory of most of the next hour give or take. HE could have very easily have died. I now have a pin in my hip, and it has gotten worse over the next 9 years. I got to the point where pain medication does nothing. I have had a couple opportunities for great jobs that I can't take because of my injury. I still get upset thinking about it. I'm still in pain-Can't get out of my car without hurting. I am terrified at driving in the dark. I mean to the point that I can't sleep in a car, I have to look out the drivers window. I hang on to something. There are times where I am shaking, and almost crying I'm so scared. The night after that crash I screamed in my sleep.

 

All it takes in one person not paying attention. Someone could have hit your vehicle, and one of the vehicles could hit you or the kids. I'm not saying don't go for those caches(You won't listen anyway :laughing: )-if you're paying attention you could jump out of the way. The problem is when your car is stopped on the road. You can't see through it. You probably don't have the experience to know where it would go if hit. If you must go for those caches please make sure you are far enough away from your own stopped vehicle. The driver of the car I was in just got in when we were hit. He probably would have been killed if he stayed out even 30 seconds longer.

Edited by T.D.M.22
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Sorry just had to say that. Back on topic;

 

Some people are just weird. I was cleaning the lot at work one morning. Saw a coworker coming in and waved to her. Guy in a car between us said something to me and I didn't hear so I went up to him. And this was the weirdest conversation of my life.

Him; you should be working!

Me(confused because I was working); uhh-ummm sorry? What do you mean?

Him; This conversation is getting us nowhere. Have a good day.

 

Very creepy. Only time I was actually scared of someone, and I have had multiple death threats, been hit, yelled at, dealt with drunks and stoners. Never was I more scared. Never seen him since.

 

Just ignore them. Get a CCW(concealed firearm permit) of you feel comfortable with it. Or carry pepper spray. Just never let your guard down. When you get "that feeling" about people you are usually right. The may not want to hurt you, but you should know to protect yourself. Gun, pepper spray are good. So if Karate or Krav Maga, or other martial arts. But even just fighting back with no weapons could save you. You where in your car-you have keys. You're a cacher-you should have a least one pen. Those are perfect for jabbing.

 

Not trying to scare you-just tell you that there are bad people out there.

 

And off topic-I just got a strange sense of deja vu.

Edited by T.D.M.22
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What's the problem with kids at a guard rail cache? TeamPennyFinder is sharing a strange encounter and the rest of you pile on. You all were not there and I am sure that the kids were just fine under adult supervision. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't post to this forum again.

 

absolutely. Give it a rest folks. If you can't respond to the spirit of the post then keep quiet!

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Since there seems to be some insistence that the OP was unnecessarily endangering the children I would like to point out that cars go out of control all the time -- even to crashing through a restaurant window like happened in my area just a couple days ago. If you think you are 100% safe any place on this planet you're wrong. Maybe you feel safe sitting in your living room but cars have been known to come crashing into houses as well. Forget about home invasions, there's also things like earthquakes, tornadoes, and sinkholes swallowing up houses. Life is dangerous and nobody gets out of it alive. That doesn't excuse doing dangerous things but proper precautions can mitigate dangers but you will never ever eliminate them. People walk along streets all the time on a sidewalk in the city and some of them get hit by cars and killed -- I used to have a nephew that we lost that way. Someone on the side of 4 lane highway often is much farther away from traffic than the person on the sidewalk. Do what you think is prudent and let others do what they think is prudent.

 

As for the encounter, there's people around who get excited about stuff for no particular reason and often aren't interesting in actually hearing the answers they are demanding of you. Offering to call 911 often does defuse situations like this but I can see it escalating the situation as well. It's hard to know what to do in that situation especially when you have kids around you and you have to be concerned about their safety as well. All I know to offer is morons are like God -- they're everywhere.

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Getting back on topic, that's really creepy. Sometimes weird things happen when caching.

 

On Saturday I was out on a public rail trail here in central Pennsylvania when people (who we couldn't see) in the valley below the trail started firing weapons at the trail. The first bullet flew less than a food over my head. My husband and I had to drop to the ground and between pauses in firing run for cover behind a rock. The rest of our group was screaming down in the valley to get whoever was down there to stop firing. Miraculously no one got hurt but some people are just messed up. We could hear the firing continue still after we continued down the trail back toward our cars.

 

Glad you and your kids are fine from this encounter. Unfortunately the dangers and creepiness of the world don't go away because you're geocaching, but the same could be said for anything else you could possible do outside.

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