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trackables disappearing


rdfcargo

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What really, really irks me (angers me, makes me want to hit things...): we have sent out several Geocoins and Travel Bugs in the idealistic hope that they would happily travel around and we would be able to follow them just as happily. By now, not one single one of them seems to be around anymore. The last one, with more than 29000 miles, seems to be lost now, too. I tried to contact the one to have logged it last, but never got any reply. Is there no way to do anything about that? Do we really have to write it off as a lost cause? Why do people steal others posessions - yes, keeping something that belongs to someone else ist stealing! Apart from the material value (those things do cost money, after all), this coin has meant a lot to us and we are sad to loose it.

Sorry for rambling, I just needed to vent my frustration! Perhaps others have made the same experience, or even found a way to do something about it?

Greetings from Germany

rdfcargo

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Caching friend of mine who has released over 300 TBs and some considerable number of geocoins once said that he considers them his, "gift to the game".

Spends no time worrying about what happens to them. They travel for more or less time, and will all eventually disappear.

 

I pass that along, as I found it a useful perspective.

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I tried to contact the one to have logged it last, but never got any reply. Is there no way to do anything about that? Do we really have to write it off as a lost cause? Why do people steal others posessions - yes, keeping something that belongs to someone else ist stealing!

A major issue is the takers can justify keeping the valuable items by claiming the items have no value. And others then defend the takers by also insisting the items are worthless, while watching the things being sold on ebay for a tidy profit. FWIW, I'm one person who defends the Owners' property. You don't even want to know what Geocaching.com's policy is, it's incredibly wrong-headed and directly causes Trackables to be gone (so that we buy more?). The inmates run the asylum.

 

If your Trackable is a Geocoin, you know it's laser-inscribed with a Tracking Number, trackable to you. Among the holder's friends and family, who knows... an ethical person may arrive in that household someday, and return the coin to the game. It actually happens. In the case of a Travel Bug, the tag may be separated from the attachment, but the tag can be returned to play.

 

You may opt to make your own replacement after a while. I revive almost all of my "lost" Trackables in a new form. They have attachments that are a huge upgrade, such as the solid silver clay pendant that "TB Night Fury" has -- and they will never be placed for thieves.

Edited by kunarion
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I tried to contact the one to have logged it last, but never got any reply. Is there no way to do anything about that? Do we really have to write it off as a lost cause? Why do people steal others posessions - yes, keeping something that belongs to someone else ist stealing!

A major issue is the takers can justify keeping the valuable items by claiming the items have no value. And others then defend the takers by also insisting the items are worthless, while watching the things being sold on ebay for a tidy profit. FWIW, I'm one person who defends the Owners' property. You don't even want to know what Geocaching.com's policy is, it's incredibly wrong-headed and directly causes Trackables to be gone (so that we buy more?). The inmates run the asylum.

 

I'm with you 100%. I don't attach myself to my few TBs, but understanding and accepting a certain natural attrition does not mean one folks who are -- quite apparently -- collecting them from the wild against the instructions of their owners. I think coins are fun but I'll sure never bother to mint my own just so they can end up in someone's collection or on Ebay.

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Like many others have said, it is a sad reality of the game - a large percentage of trackables do disappear. They get lost or stolen, improperly logged or kept by greedy and selfish people who think it's fun to collect them even if they are actually someone else's property.

 

Like Kunarion mentioned, you can make your own replacement because the number on the trackable still belongs to you, is still registered to your geocaching account - even if it is missing. You can still make a new game piece and put that number on it to be release again.

 

However, I'd like to also say that it could get a little confusing if you make a replacement for your missing trackable and then the original suddenly reappears. And here's were I want to offer hope to all those of us who have had trackables get lost. It may turn up again months or even years later. It does happen.

 

I recently introduced my sister to geocaching and she was most excited about the trackables part of the game. Within the last month she has been geocaching - mostly trying to purposely seek out caches that might have trackables in them.

 

She recently found one travel bug that had been released in May 2010, last logged March 2012 and then no more logs until she found it in May 2016. Another was released in 2005, last logged March 2012 and again, no more logs until she suddenly found it in May 2016 in a cache that was not listed to have trackables in it's inventory. So - four years of "missing" status on those poor travel bugs until my sister discovered them, logged them properly and put them back in the game. FOUR YEARS. There is hope!!!

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Like many others have said, it is a sad reality of the game - a large percentage of trackables do disappear. They get lost or stolen, improperly logged or kept by greedy and selfish people who think it's fun to collect them even if they are actually someone else's property.

 

Like Kunarion mentioned, you can make your own replacement because the number on the trackable still belongs to you, is still registered to your geocaching account - even if it is missing. You can still make a new game piece and put that number on it to be release again.

 

However, I'd like to also say that it could get a little confusing if you make a replacement for your missing trackable and then the original suddenly reappears. And here's were I want to offer hope to all those of us who have had trackables get lost. It may turn up again months or even years later. It does happen.

 

I recently introduced my sister to geocaching and she was most excited about the trackables part of the game. Within the last month she has been geocaching - mostly trying to purposely seek out caches that might have trackables in them.

 

She recently found one travel bug that had been released in May 2010, last logged March 2012 and then no more logs until she found it in May 2016. Another was released in 2005, last logged March 2012 and again, no more logs until she suddenly found it in May 2016 in a cache that was not listed to have trackables in it's inventory. So - four years of "missing" status on those poor travel bugs until my sister discovered them, logged them properly and put them back in the game. FOUR YEARS. There is hope!!!

A while ago, a trackable hoarder, who "supposedly" (I wasn't there) had hundreds of trackables squirreled away, and returned 'em to HQ.

They were "supposedly" (I wasn't there...) doled out to cachers, to finally get those things moved along.

The odds of both within the same time frame kinda makes it appear that something similar might have taken place.

Cool. :)

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What frustrates me is have the system showing someone dropping a TB in a cache and then the cache not showing it in inventory. Is the system broken?

 

daveinoregon - I'd LOVE to see any recent example.

PLEASE post TB page, or cache page, or both, thanks.

 

I just noticed this on an unpublished listing myself, and staff fixed it. Ie, TB page said, TB in "Name of Cache" - "Name of Cache" had NO trackable inventory.

No archived logs on either listing to explain the discrepancy.

 

Edited to add that often archived logs will explain the discrepancy.

Edited by palmetto
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It seems hoping DOES help, after all! Our Coin just turned up again, after almost one year. The person that kept it finally placed it in another cache. I still wonder why we never got an answer to our mails, but, well, I won't complain any longer.

Thanks to everybody who took the time to comment, and to encourage us!

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They should have a rating system for players or something... give them a negative rating for holding onto trackables too long. But then I guess that might encourage not logging them at all... :P

Doubt that you'll ever see a function that's negative here, especially something left to another's interpretation of what "too long" might be.

 

I believe the only reason we have an ignore list, is because it ignores a cache, not a person.

- But part of me would like to see something similar too. :)

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They should have a rating system for players or something... give them a negative rating for holding onto trackables too long. But then I guess that might encourage not logging them at all... :P

 

I think this is a very good point. Not so much the negative side but rather the positive side. Encourage good behaviour for geocachers on travelbugs with a rating points. Also for caches/cacheowners: caches that help to move travelbugs fast (instead of keeping them for long time or even go missing) might get extra points. And prizes (like travel bug tags) if you have passed a very good rating mark.

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They should have a rating system for players or something... give them a negative rating for holding onto trackables too long. But then I guess that might encourage not logging them at all... :P

 

I think this is a very good point. Not so much the negative side but rather the positive side. Encourage good behaviour for geocachers on travelbugs with a rating points. Also for caches/cacheowners: caches that help to move travelbugs fast (instead of keeping them for long time or even go missing) might get extra points. And prizes (like travel bug tags) if you have passed a very good rating mark.

 

I like!!! :)

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They should have a rating system for players or something... give them a negative rating for holding onto trackables too long. But then I guess that might encourage not logging them at all... :P

 

I think this is a very good point. Not so much the negative side but rather the positive side. Encourage good behaviour for geocachers on travelbugs with a rating points. Also for caches/cacheowners: caches that help to move travelbugs fast (instead of keeping them for long time or even go missing) might get extra points. And prizes (like travel bug tags) if you have passed a very good rating mark.

Encouraging positive behavior is a great goal but within the context of a social media world; ratings both positive and negative are subject to farming and abuse. Even consider the slightly different context of farming and abuse of "favourite points" and what they indicate...

 

What makes you think someone who holds TB's cares about a rating?

 

It would at least give the rest of us a head's up if we see someone with a negative rating pick up a TB... :P

I'm struggling to see how a head's up, would be of any practical value and lead to less negative outcomes?

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I recently went for a "maintenance" visit to one of our caches, which supposedly had two TBs in it but neither were there. I posted a note to this effect, saying probably someone had forgotten to log them and marked them "missing". However one of the TB owners changed the log for their one to "move" it back! I'll wait a few weeks and see what happens.................

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I recently went for a "maintenance" visit to one of our caches, which supposedly had two TBs in it but neither were there. I posted a note to this effect, saying probably someone had forgotten to log them and marked them "missing". However one of the TB owners changed the log for their one to "move" it back! I'll wait a few weeks and see what happens.................

We had that happen once, and I emailed the TO saying,

"I'm sorry that your trackables missing, but that has nothing to do with me, as the cache owner.

Groundspeak requires COs to keep their cache pages accurate, and to do so means I have to keep my Trackables inventory accurate as well.

Thank you for your understanding, hope someone brings back your trackable someday :) ".

- And I marked it missing again.

May have been called all kinda names, but they didn't do it again. ;)

Edited by cerberus1
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We all know that humans are different and that some are more creditable than others. That may be a main reason that e.g. ebay has a rating system. This of course does not prevent all misdeals but it helps a lot.

 

At least we are all collectors and loosing our collection lists might be a reproach. Yes, "It is only a game!", many will say now. But games only work with rules and many games have such rules of interrupting if things done wrong. It seem that there are always some of us who can't be responsible without some education. This is sad, somehow but it seems to be our reality.

 

Keeping one's ownership although the owner sends messages to hand it down is a misdoing. I plead for an arbitrative board that this community shall have to decide about sanctions if a member explicitly and evidentially acts against the (few) rules we have. Such misdoing can also mean to ignore somebody's privacy who is not member of our club while playing the game.

 

The main motivation should be that we all have fun with Geocaching.

 

Cheers

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Our travelbug is held prisoner by a travelbug hoarder called Trapflag who have had it, and logged it repeatedly, for 1,5 year now

 

If it were my TB I would mark it missing and lock it to prevent any future logs. :(

+1 Yep. :)

 

You've basically lost it anyway.

I wouldn't give 'em the satisfaction of logging my kidnapped TB anymore.

- Though they may well have lost it months ago, and just logging that code.

Edited by cerberus1
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Yeah it really 'Bugs' me (Sorry about the pun)

 

I hate to go to Geocaches int he hope to find cool things and be left with a crayon. It's not something that usually I swap for.

Trackables generally don't get logged when taken out. I visited 10 geocache locations that should have held trackables and seem to be empty!

 

I do dip my trackables into geocaches just so the owner knows where it's going.

I also need to release one soon.

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Yeah it really 'Bugs' me (Sorry about the pun)

 

I hate to go to Geocaches int he hope to find cool things and be left with a crayon. It's not something that usually I swap for.

Trackables generally don't get logged when taken out. I visited 10 geocache locations that should have held trackables and seem to be empty!

 

I do dip my trackables into geocaches just so the owner knows where it's going.

I also need to release one soon.

You do realize that trackables aren't "swapped" with trade items, right?

Couldn't really tell the way it's worded.

 

Nice to see pics of your "visits" while looking for a cache to drop the TBs in.

Don't see that often enough anymore. :)

Surprised one TO isn't swamped with discovered, as they posted a pic with the tracking code on the page.

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Yeah it really 'Bugs' me (Sorry about the pun)

 

I hate to go to Geocaches int he hope to find cool things and be left with a crayon. It's not something that usually I swap for.

Trackables generally don't get logged when taken out. I visited 10 geocache locations that should have held trackables and seem to be empty!

 

I do dip my trackables into geocaches just so the owner knows where it's going.

I also need to release one soon.

You do realize that trackables aren't "swapped" with trade items, right?

Couldn't really tell the way it's worded.

 

Nice to see pics of your "visits" while looking for a cache to drop the TBs in.

Don't see that often enough anymore. :)

Surprised one TO isn't swamped with discovered, as they posted a pic with the tracking code on the page.

 

Yeah Trackables are not swapped I get that, they are read about then actioned accordingly. Who posted a pic with the tracking code on the page?

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Hi,

I have the opposite problem and don't know what to do. I FOUND a trackable, lying on the path while walking my dog. Nowhere near a cache. I can't log it as I have to say where I found it. So it's sitting here with me waiting for the owner to contact me (I have sent a message).

Maybe something similar happened to yours. ?

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Hi,

I have the opposite problem and don't know what to do. I FOUND a trackable, lying on the path while walking my dog. Nowhere near a cache. I can't log it as I have to say where I found it. So it's sitting here with me waiting for the owner to contact me (I have sent a message).

Maybe something similar happened to yours. ?

 

On the main page, go to "Play" "Find Trackables". Enter the trackable code. Then log "Grab it ..." or "Retrieve it from ..."

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Hi,

I have the opposite problem and don't know what to do. I FOUND a trackable, lying on the path while walking my dog. Nowhere near a cache. I can't log it as I have to say where I found it. So it's sitting here with me waiting for the owner to contact me (I have sent a message).

Maybe something similar happened to yours. ?

 

Once you've found the travel bug's page click on the owners name. Here you can see when the last time the owner was active. This could be the reason your not getting a response. Feel free to follow Harry Dolphin's advise and grab the TB and move it along.

Edited by justintim1999
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I tried to contact the one to have logged it last, but never got any reply. Is there no way to do anything about that? Do we really have to write it off as a lost cause? Why do people steal others posessions - yes, keeping something that belongs to someone else ist stealing!

A major issue is the takers can justify keeping the valuable items by claiming the items have no value. And others then defend the takers by also insisting the items are worthless, while watching the things being sold on ebay for a tidy profit. FWIW, I'm one person who defends the Owners' property. You don't even want to know what Geocaching.com's policy is, it's incredibly wrong-headed and directly causes Trackables to be gone (so that we buy more?). The inmates run the asylum.

 

If your Trackable is a Geocoin, you know it's laser-inscribed with a Tracking Number, trackable to you. Among the holder's friends and family, who knows... an ethical person may arrive in that household someday, and return the coin to the game. It actually happens. In the case of a Travel Bug, the tag may be separated from the attachment, but the tag can be returned to play.

 

You may opt to make your own replacement after a while. I revive almost all of my "lost" Trackables in a new form. They have attachments that are a huge upgrade, such as the solid silver clay pendant that "TB Night Fury" has -- and they will never be placed for thieves.

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I have had problems with people taking my trackable but I finally solved the problem. I take a picture of the trackable ...front and back, add photos to a small card so you can read numbers, laminate it and drop it in cache where I have logged the drop off spot. I also have a note on the card to treat it as a normal trackable and the original is safe with me. If it goes MIA I just make a new card. BAM problem solved. People can log it, track it and move it to new locations. seems simple to me.

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I have had problems with people taking my trackable but I finally solved the problem. I take a picture of the trackable ...front and back, add photos to a small card so you can read numbers, laminate it and drop it in cache where I have logged the drop off spot. I also have a note on the card to treat it as a normal trackable and the original is safe with me. If it goes MIA I just make a new card. BAM problem solved. People can log it, track it and move it to new locations. seems simple to me.

Common today, I guess as long as you're positive your proxy is MIA, you're good. :)

We've seen some locked by HQ, when folks had multiple proxy copies scattered all over.

 

BTW, did you intend to have Spot My Car's tracking number visible to all?

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I have had problems with people taking my trackable but I finally solved the problem. I take a picture of the trackable ...front and back, add photos to a small card so you can read numbers, laminate it and drop it in cache where I have logged the drop off spot. I also have a note on the card to treat it as a normal trackable and the original is safe with me. If it goes MIA I just make a new card. BAM problem solved. People can log it, track it and move it to new locations. seems simple to me.

Common today, I guess as long as you're positive your proxy is MIA, you're good. :)

We've seen some locked by HQ, when folks had multiple proxy copies scattered all over.

 

BTW, did you intend to have Spot My Car's tracking number visible to all?

 

Thanks, I sure hope it's visible on my car. It's a new magnet and meant for when I'm off in my jeep for people to spot it. And log it. I'm not a geo-pro yet but sure trying at the game.

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I have had problems with people taking my trackable but I finally solved the problem. I take a picture of the trackable ...front and back, add photos to a small card so you can read numbers, laminate it and drop it in cache where I have logged the drop off spot. I also have a note on the card to treat it as a normal trackable and the original is safe with me. If it goes MIA I just make a new card. BAM problem solved. People can log it, track it and move it to new locations. seems simple to me.

Common today, I guess as long as you're positive your proxy is MIA, you're good. :)

We've seen some locked by HQ, when folks had multiple proxy copies scattered all over.

 

BTW, did you intend to have Spot My Car's tracking number visible to all?

 

Thanks, I sure hope it's visible on my car. It's a new magnet and meant for when I'm off in my jeep for people to spot it. And log it. I'm not a geo-pro yet but sure trying at the game.

I suspect they meant that the tracking number is visible in the photo that T&C from Hawaii put in their log, which means any random dude on the internet can discover it, like I just did. (Feel free to delete my log.)

Edited by hzoi
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I do dip my trackables into geocaches just so the owner knows where it's going.

 

Fortunately, trackable owners are not notified of dips. So that is meaningless.

 

The dips show up in the "Last Log" column of the "Trackable Items (Yours)" page, so you can tell that your TBs are still "alive" that way.

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They should have a rating system for players or something... give them a negative rating for holding onto trackables too long. But then I guess that might encourage not logging them at all... :P

 

I think this is a very good point. Not so much the negative side but rather the positive side. Encourage good behaviour for geocachers on travelbugs with a rating points. Also for caches/cacheowners: caches that help to move travelbugs fast (instead of keeping them for long time or even go missing) might get extra points. And prizes (like travel bug tags) if you have passed a very good rating mark.

 

Well, it's not the cache owner's fault if other cachers drop TBs in a rarely found cache. One of my geocoins was dropped in a puzzle cache in Japan in October 2015 and no-one has found the cache since!

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Can anyone explain why a TB owner would move the TB to its last known location after a cache owner has confirmed that it's not there and marked it as missing? Have I done something wrong as a cache owner by marking a TB as missing when I know that it's not in the cache? As a geocacher, I find it frustrating when there are TBs in the inventory but not in the cache. As a cache owner and as a geocacher, I want cache inventories to be accurate.

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Can anyone explain why a TB owner would move the TB to its last known location after a cache owner has confirmed that it's not there and marked it as missing? Have I done something wrong as a cache owner by marking a TB as missing when I know that it's not in the cache? As a geocacher, I find it frustrating when there are TBs in the inventory but not in the cache. As a cache owner and as a geocacher, I want cache inventories to be accurate.

We used to see this a lot, but not lately.

The TO either does or doesn't realize it messes with the cache inventories (and all cachers looking for trackables), ticked off, like it's the CO's fault.

It is rude, and one of our friends ran into that.

Marked the guy's TB missing many times!

They were to the point of contacting Groundspeak (harassment), when the TO finally gave up.

Sheesh...

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Can anyone explain why a TB owner would move the TB to its last known location after a cache owner has confirmed that it's not there and marked it as missing? Have I done something wrong as a cache owner by marking a TB as missing when I know that it's not in the cache? As a geocacher, I find it frustrating when there are TBs in the inventory but not in the cache. As a cache owner and as a geocacher, I want cache inventories to be accurate.

 

They don't want their TB to show up as missing. They are wrong; you are right.

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As a new geocacher myself I can completely understand where the geocoins and travel bugs go.

I'm a parent and took my two daughter's aged six and ten out to find out what this geocaching stuff was all about.  Completely new, without much info, we visited about six caches on our first day.

I really do think if we'd found a gorgeous coin inside one of those caches one of my kids would have happily traded something of theirs to take it and keep it as their own.

Now *I* would have read about it, discovered what we had to do, and played the game nicely, but I think a lot of people in my position who were perhaps just doing geocaching as a one-off 'day out' with the kids wouldn't have gone to that effort and just allowed their kids to keep their discovered treasures.

Basically I think a lot of coins or bugs go missing because people aren't aware of what they are and just treat them as general swag for swaps.

  • Upvote 2
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1 minute ago, EmzyJanezy said:

As a new geocacher myself I can completely understand where the geocoins and travel bugs go.

I'm a parent and took my two daughter's aged six and ten out to find out what this geocaching stuff was all about.  Completely new, without much info, we visited about six caches on our first day.

I really do think if we'd found a gorgeous coin inside one of those caches one of my kids would have happily traded something of theirs to take it and keep it as their own.

Now *I* would have read about it, discovered what we had to do, and played the game nicely, but I think a lot of people in my position who were perhaps just doing geocaching as a one-off 'day out' with the kids wouldn't have gone to that effort and just allowed their kids to keep their discovered treasures.

Basically I think a lot of coins or bugs go missing because people aren't aware of what they are and just treat them as general swag for swaps.

Yep.  Travel Bugs sometimes worse (especially if a plush toy attached), but coins are shiny.   :)

We sometimes call them "weekend n done" kids, most not bothering to read how the hobby's played.  That coin is now a souvenir of the day.

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I'm about to release my first trackables - have bought three "monsters" so that the girls and I can have a race to see whose travels the furthest - and I'm going to the effort to attach enough info to try and keep them from being snatched!  I've told the girls NOT to get attached to their monsters though, because they will probably never see them again.  I think they are finding it hard to get their heads around that haha!

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On 4/10/2018 at 1:56 PM, EmzyJanezy said:

 I've told the girls NOT to get attached to their monsters though, because they will probably never see them again.  

I don't plan to see my released trackables - I send them out to travel!   We were visiting our son and daughter in law in the Phoenix area, and on our way to an event in Apache Junction, I got a notification that one of my TB's (released in Oct. 2017) had just been dropped in the event we were headed to!  Too funny!  I got to meet the cacher who dropped it, and the cacher who picked it up, and now has it visiting various caches.  So, sometimes you DO meet your trackables again!

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8 minutes ago, CAVinoGal said:

I don't plan to see my released trackables - I send them out to travel!   We were visiting our son and daughter in law in the Phoenix area, and on our way to an event in Apache Junction, I got a notification that one of my TB's (released in Oct. 2017) had just been dropped in the event we were headed to!  Too funny!  I got to meet the cacher who dropped it, and the cacher who picked it up, and now has it visiting various caches.  So, sometimes you DO meet your trackables again!

Haha that's so funny!  But yeah, most times I imagine they end up lost somewhere or stolen.  I have no problem never physically seeing our trackables again, but some photos of our little monsters on their travels before they disappear forever would be so cool and my girls would be ecstatic :D

I'm attaching a home-made beaded string with my Geocaching.com / Instagram name on it and a separate tag which informs finders that the monsters are on a race and requests photos, again with my Geo / Insta name on it.  That way I HOPE if any parts ever become detatched or damaged I will still stand a bit of a chance of the monsters continuing on their mission or somebody contacting me / sending pics.  

Not set them away yet.  Waiting to find a decent size cache that looks worthy.  Not found one yet lol.

Edited by EmzyJanezy
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