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The Orange County Thread


The Geo Chasers

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Sorry I have not been here lately, been working on guess what???...Today on my way to REI i stop and did a few caches and two were in a park called W.O. Hart...It between Cambridge and Glassell and the 22...It looked real clean and had benches, bbq, clean bathrooms, and there area a few caches in the park...not sure who goes there on the weekends...so i guess someone should check them out...ok tell ya what, tell me what parks we are look at and I'll run down there this weekend

pengy.gif

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If someone can get over there and find a good spot in Central Park - BBQ's, near parking, lots of space and tables - email me the coordinates (along with another way to ID the particular area) and I'll start making the calls to try and reserve. If we can't reserve, we'll just have to do what folks do to get space for pinata parties in the parks around here: short straw shows up early in the morning and plants the flag!

 

I, too, am glad we're finally going to do this.

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

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It doesn't show it yet, but news is that Kevin & Susan hit 600. Congradualtions to the southern crew.

 

A couple weeks ago while visiting Aurgora Hills I hid two micro urban park caches. I had the coordinates saved in my gps and it crashed the next day wiping out all I had.

 

I emailed Kevin with the description of the area and the rough coordinates. Let's see if he can find them.

 

george

 

39570_500.jpg

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

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quote:
Originally posted by LarsThorwald:

If someone can get over there and find a good spot in Central Park - BBQ's, near parking, lots of space and tables - email me the coordinates (along with another way to ID the particular area) and I'll start making the calls to try and reserve.


 

Per my previous post, you can't reserve anything at Central Park BUT that could change after their council meeting on 1/21 as they are looking to reinstate some sort of reservation policy. Best place for this would be the picnic shelter area that I just tried to reserve (near parking, BBQ, tables), which was the same spot we had the OC Geocachers' Picnic at. The coordinates should be the same.

 

However, it might still be a good idea for others to check out other areas of the park in case there are some other potential spots. Specially if you haven't been there yet, this weekend would be a good time to seek out the 3 or 4 caches spread out over the park grounds.

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This is odd - I made a post here yesterday and it never showed up!

 

I go for Central Park. If someone can find the right spot - BBQ's, tables, etc, please send me the coords - and a way to ID it to the park - and I'll take over contacting the park HQ. If we can't reserve, we'll draw straws to see who shows up at dawn to claim the territory!

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

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I have been way too busy to keep up on what everyone has been posting...So here goes:

 

1) A note to welcome and thank everyone that has been using this thread! Geocachers from other counties are always welcome... icon_smile.gif

 

2) A picnic gathering sounds great, thanks to all who are organizing!

 

3) Way to go Kevin & Susan! 600 finds...I am jealous.

 

4) Ha ha...Flakers...no comment.

 

A special thank you to all who visited our newest caches, (even with the problems).

And a thank you to Husqui for his contribution on the Orange County Travel Bug. I cannot believe that it is almost at its goal!

 

Thanks again! Happy Geocaching!

 

The Geo Chasers

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I went to both WO Hart in the city of orange and Huntington Beach Central Park....my view is both are clean...both have what is needed (ie bathrooms, tables, bbq and play ground for us kids) both allow dogs...oh and yes there are a ton of caches by both...Hart is a first come first serve...I went to where the OC Gathering was held in central and so we know about that...so just let me know...

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Good job, Charlie! Great marketing spiel.....are you some sort of writer or something icon_wink.gif?

 

Were you able to make reservations? Supposedly, the HB/Central Park council was to have met 1/21 to decide if they were going to reinstate a reservation policy. If you haven't called them yet regarding this matter, I will call tomorrow and let you know what they decided on.

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I just talked to Janis at the Community Service center for Central Park. The good news is that they are now back to accepting reservations for facilities at the park. The bad news is, just like their previous policy, they are charging $200 to rent out the picnic area icon_frown.gif.

 

However, if it is not rented out by the Thursday right before 3/22, she said that it will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. So it looks like someone will have to stake out the place early that day assuming it does not get rented out. I will make it a point to call on 2/22 to make sure it's still available and then again once-a-week for the 4 weeks prior to the picnic.

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Husqui, thanks for checking with them about the new (old) policy. Please keep us posted.

 

Has anyone been able to run by and check on an alternative site there? I'm assuming there has to be more than one place to have a picnic around there.

 

"I thought you said this was a quick find!" - My wife

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So, where the heck is everyone? I thought we were going to keep this thread alive and nobody has posted here for 6 days! icon_confused.gif Am I the only one that has no life and resorts to checking these boards for signs of social interaction?

 

Granted I haven't logged a find in over 10 days but hey, I've been busy on the weekends. Anyway, just wanted to see how everyone was doing....gotta go, as I still have to get some dinner. icon_biggrin.gif

 

BTW, this weather sucks! It's a good thing we took advantage of the snow on the Christmas day but other than that, we might as well be in New Zealand! And the Lakers will hopefully hit .500 by the end of tomorrow night....

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quote:
Originally posted by husqui:

So, where the heck is everyone? I thought we were going to keep this thread alive and nobody has posted here for 6 days! icon_confused.gif Am I the only one that has no life and resorts to checking these boards for signs of social interaction?

 

Granted I haven't logged a find in over 10 days but hey, I've been busy on the weekends. Anyway, just wanted to see how everyone was doing....gotta go, as I still have to get some dinner. icon_biggrin.gif

 

BTW, this weather sucks! It's a good thing we took advantage of the snow on the Christmas day but other than that, we might as well be in New Zealand! And the Lakers will hopefully hit .500 by the end of tomorrow night....


 

Well, since you asked (better be careful next time you do! jsut remember, that I'm usually pretty long winded icon_biggrin.gif ) : The biggest news in my life has nothing to do with geocaching, but which has been on my mind constantly is that I got 'doored' last Tuesday (the last Tuesday in January). First, let me say that I'm completely alright... not fractures or concusions... just some big bruises and some scrapes. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

Heres how it happened. I was riding my bike pretty fast up Westwood (8:40AM) to get to campus, and right before Le Cont, the car parked in the second to last space, opened its door right in front of me. I'm still not quite sure how I flew of my bike, but the door only got about 20-30 degrees off the car, so it only hit my right brake lever. I think my right shoulder might have hit the door too (but I'm not really sure), because thats what hurts the most, and what the doctors at the hospital had xrayed. I couldn't see or hear very well for 5-10 mins, but then felt much better, and the guy that hit me (he was really nice about it) walked me to the hospital which was 5 mins away. I was out in time to take a midterm I had a 2 PM icon_eek.gif

 

I don't think his car door survived... I didn't see it, but he said it wasn't really closing. The only thing wrong with my bike was a bent brake lever, and an misaligned headset, both of which were easliy fixed.

 

My helmet had a nice crack in it. I'm really glad I wore one. It served its purpose. My head might have left an atistic impression on the asfault. I'm also really glad there wasn't a car right behind me, but rather another cyclist about 50 feet behind who also stoped and helped.

 

For those of you that don't wear helmets icon_mad.gif while you bike... you crazy! Go here to find out how to choose a helmet: http://www.bhsi.org

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I've been busy thinking up ways to avoid work and geocache more with only marginal success icon_wink.gif.

 

Besides that, I've been taking care of my daughter (17 months) and my wife (6 months pregnant). So I've kind of had my hands full.

 

As far as anything geocaching related… I've been running out of caches that I can hit on my lunch hour (more like 2 hours now). The only caches I have left within a quick drive of my work in Chino Hills are in Chino Hills State Park, but I can't get to them fast enough on foot or bike to be able to grab them at lunch. I think I'm going to have to change jobs so I can get a new geocaching area!

 

Does anyone else out there do the majority of their caching during the week?

 

"I thought you said this was a quick find!" - My wife

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quote:
Originally posted by FullOn:

...

Does anyone else out there do the majority of their caching during the week?

 


 

During the summer, and then over winter break, I was in the habit of going during the week, mostly because I could and I had nothing better to do since my one friend left in OC after college works now. The only problem with this was usually getting stuck in traffic around 3-5 in the afternoon on my way home. During school, I really don't geocache at all, which is unfortunate... considering im sooooo close to 100. Well not really that close. I would like to hit 100 before the March get together, but its not going to happen.

 

Also, there are a few caches I'm dying to do up here in LA county... but I'm lacking the time, and the man power. Two of them are night caches, and another one is a 4.5 difficulty, and high up on the terrian level. I'll post the links if I can find them again. It would be great if I could do those with people that aren't 'first time geocachers', but it looks like thats what its going to be... unless someone here wants to team up. I can provide a couch in a clean quiet appartment in a quiet neighborhood if someone wants to do the night ones and doesn't want to drive back to OC the same night. I think they are less than an hour away from Westwood.

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quote:
Originally posted by LarsThorwald:

Hey Martin, what ARE the night caches?

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."


 

Here are the night caches... they are done by Sipder Dude and the Ventura Kids (I think the Ventura Kids will be making an appearance at our OC get together):

 

A Night to Remember - Easy (GC7285):

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=29317

 

A Night to Remember - Difficult (GC8062)

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=32866

 

I'm having trouble finding the difficult cache I mentioned, but as soon as I do, I'll try to remember to post it.

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Charlie,

 

The Ventura-area cachers are quite good at this game. I've made a few ''treks'' out that way and am very impressed. Wildwood Park, alone, has a good 10-plus caches in it i'd like to do all in one day.

 

***Changing the subject***

 

What I want to know is why only two Finds and a few No Finds on Agent BOXCAR, Resupply cache

[ http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=11534 ] in the 13+ months of its existence???

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OK, fine... Throw down the gauntlet. I've been looking over this one for awhile. The one reason I've been avoiding this one is because my mountain bike riding skills are sorely lacking and 12 miles on a bike didn't sound like much fun to struggle through. Now if I could ride a motorcycle to it... That would be a different story icon_smile.gif

 

The two that I'd really like to do are The Bridge to Nowhere and The Bald Italian.

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...was a cool place to visit. I went there (and hiked a little bit beyond it) sometime between '94 and '96. Alex and Jessi were much younger back then and our total roundtrip hike was more like 10 - 12 miles, I think. I saw this pop up a few months back and thought about doing it but I know that the brats would not be able to finish the hike. The distance isn't as much of a problem as the multiple river crossings, which totally pooped them out.

 

My ideal hike-and-seek would be 4 to 6 miles roundtrip, either during the winter months when it's cool and/or if the trail offers sufficient shade. All of these in consideration of my four-footed fiends, who I've hardly ever hiked without in almost 12 years. Any recommendations?

 

Bedford Peak Stash has been on my list but I just haven't found the time. I need to do this before summer sets in. I think that this is about a 6 to 8 mile roundtrip using the same trailhead for K&S Silverado Canyon #2 cache.

 

I was all set to do the Santiago Truck Trail Endurance Cache when it first was posted almost a year ago, but then I got hit with the dreaded poison ivy. This would have been a 16-mile roundtrip hike that we definitely would have to do during much cooler weather. Even so, I've sort of scratched this off 'cuz I don't think we will get much shade along the trail, as it's the same one used for K&S Fossil Hill Cache.

 

And I really appreciate the last few caches that Martin has hidden (SJC Eagle Loop, SJC Ridgeline, SJC Helipad). Fairly local to me and the hiking distance is perfect and the trails/scenery were pretty cool. (Not too mention that I didn't have to spend hours figuring out where to start the hike since he gives clear directions on parking/trailhead coordinates icon_biggrin.gif)

 

Long post, eh? See what happens when it's a slow day at work? icon_wink.gif Just a couple more things....

 

Charlie - I WAS hoping to hit log 200 finds (I know, it's miniscule compared to the rest of you geocaching gurus out there) but my non-geocaching life has just been so busy on the weekends lately that I'd be lucky to hit 175.

 

Also, yea of little faith! icon_mad.gif You're asking me if I THINK the Lakers will make the playoffs? C'mon, at the very least, you should be asking if they will make it to the conference finals! Well, if they don't then I can always put the "f" in front of their name....

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Crap! I've been meaning to place a BRIDGE TO NOWHERE CACHE for a year now... and it's already there! I actually set out last year to do it, toting a full box, but ended up taking the ROAD to nowhere instead - thinking, stupidly, that it LED to the bridge to nowhere. Unfortunately, it led... nowhere.

 

Lakers: I know, they're looking good. We'll see.

 

BOXCAR's out of my league. WAY out!

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

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So... I've run out of stuff I'm willing to give away at home. I'm a junkcollector/packrat, so there are plenty of things that would be great for caches, but I'm not sure I'm willing to part with them.

 

My question is, where can I get stuff to put in caches? I did run across a toy store that was having a 'going out of business sale' few months ago, but I was with my brother, and there was no way he was going to let me go in there once he saw that excited look in my eyes. I could always order a bunch of geocaching compases and patches, but... it would be nice to have a larger selection. Suggestions? Have any of you had any luck with certain places/areas/stores to get stuff? (both LA and OC?)

 

Husqui: Thanks for liking my SJC caches. I don't as many visitors to them as I do to my 'Drougher', and my 'Close me down' offramp cache, but its understandable.

 

I have an extension to SJC Eagle Loop trail planned (it will start from the other trail head to that area I found). I should be able to do this one over spring break. I also have something really monumental planned for Laguna... at least I hope/think it will be monumental, and fun too, and won't be too frustrating. I don't know if I can set it up in a week by myself... hopefully my friend who lives in Laguna (and has a 'park anywhere' sticker on his car) will be around and will be able to help me out.

 

So many caches... so little time... so much homework icon_mad.gif !!!

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quote:
Crap! I've been meaning to place a BRIDGE TO NOWHERE CACHE for a year now...

 

I saw an article on the Bridge to Nowhere in the Times early last year and thought it would be a great place for a cache. Of course then summer hit and I didn't want to hike in temps over the century mark, then I got beat to it. Still sounds like a fun hike.

 

I'm seriously thinking about going for Baldy. Especially if the weather stays nice and cool and we don't get much snow up there. Apparently you can take the ski lift to the top and then hike across the ridge to the summit. It's supposed to be less than a 10 mile round trip that way. One of these days…

 

Nobody cares what I think.

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Martin-

 

Most of the stuff I have traded comes from the Dollar Store and Big Lots. But my philosophy is starting to change on the subject. I've always admired the little polished agates with eyes and a nice custom card that John & Donna leave in the caches they find, so I'm trying to come up with something that is cheap, homemade, small, personalized and unique. There is a thread going about homemade geocoins. I'm thinking about trying these out. I also like the cards that Uneakone and Happy1 leave in caches.

 

Anyone seen anything else they though was cool?

 

Nobody cares what I think.

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We are coming over from the UK on Thursday (2/13) staying for a week. Staying at the Hyatt Regency, Irvine - which as far as I can tell ISN'T in Irvine icon_smile.gif

 

Anyone like to suggest the "must do" caches in the area. And which are the ones to be avoided?

 

I've got a list of all the caches with a terrain rating of 2 or less and will go from there.

 

As usual, anyone who might like to meet for a beer and some geocache chat during that period, please email me.

 

TH + Mrs. TH

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Welcome to OC (Orange County), Mr and Mrs TH! Are ya coming here for business or pleasure? Or could this be a Valentine's Day vacation?

 

What type of caches would you like to do (I guess, short hikes or walks due to terrain of 2 or less) and how much time do you want to spend geocaching? Give us an idea and I'll send you some recommendations.

 

Since you appear to be a brew lover like myself, you may want to make a stopover at The Yard House, located inside Triangle Square on Newport Blvd in Costa Mesa. It has good food but more importantly, has OVER 200 BEERS ON TAP! icon_biggrin.gif

 

Now if you want to soak in more of the local atmosphere, you can literally walk across the street and visit the Goat Hill Tavern. It "only" has over 100 beers on tap but it's been a Costa Mesa mainstay for a long time (maybe 20 years or so). Definitely not a ritzy atmosphere like YH but provides tons of neighborhood fun with peanut shells/sawdust on the floor, pinball machines, pool tables and the occassional bar fight... icon_wink.gif

 

Oh and don't forget, we NEVER figured out how to drive on the correct side of the road....

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quote:
Originally posted by husqui:

Welcome to OC (Orange County), Mr and Mrs TH! Are ya coming here for business or pleasure? Or could this be a Valentine's Day vacation?


All pleasure. Fancy some sun after a dull English winter. Valentine's Day is incidental. Got a bit put off it by the hotel charging $100 a couple for its Valentine's Dinner.

quote:

What type of caches would you like to do (I guess, short hikes or walks due to terrain of 2 or less) and how much time do you want to spend geocaching? Give us an idea and I'll send you some recommendations.


We like interesting places. Not against the odd Cache'n'Dash too. And I don't do hills too well, so hill tops are out. Mrs. TH likes virtuals that take you to interesting and unusual places. There seems to be more of those in LA county, so we will probably do a day up there.

I'm hoping to get as many days geocaching in as Mrs. TH will allow. She wants to go to Tijuana again, so one day will be spent going down there. I've mapped a few interesting caches on the way down there.

quote:

Since you appear to be a brew lover like myself, you may want to make a stopover at http://www.yardhouse.com/main.shtml, located inside Triangle Square on Newport Blvd in Costa Mesa. It has good food but more importantly, has OVER 200 BEERS ON TAP! icon_biggrin.gif


Never been in there, although it is about 5 years since I've been to Costa Mesa.

quote:

Now if you want to soak in more of the local atmosphere, you can literally walk across the street and visit the Goat Hill Tavern. It "only" has over 100 beers on tap but it's been a Costa Mesa mainstay for a long time (maybe 20 years or so). Definitely not a ritzy atmosphere like YH but provides tons of neighborhood fun with peanut shells/sawdust on the floor, pinball machines, pool tables and the occassional bar fight... icon_wink.gif


Ahhh.... the Goat Hill Tavern. Spent many an hour in there!!! Glad to see that its still going strong.

If you have time one evening to quaff a couple with us, perhaps to can email your contact details.

 

TH

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quote:
Originally posted by FullOn:

Martin-

 

Most of the stuff I have traded comes from the Dollar Store and Big Lots. But my philosophy is starting to change on the subject. I've always admired the little polished agates with eyes and a nice custom card that John & Donna leave in the caches they find, so I'm trying to come up with something that is cheap, homemade, small, personalized and unique. There is a http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=2480992945 going about homemade geocoins. I'm thinking about trying these out. I also like the cards that Uneakone and Happy1 leave in caches.

 

Anyone seen anything else they though was cool?

 

Nobody cares what I think.


 

FullOn: I care what you think! Thanks for the tip on BigLots and the DollarStore. I just need to find some around here. In regards to making a 'calling card' or making something to put in a cache... I think those things are really cool. However, if its the only thing someone is using the trade, I don't like it, because it would get a bit repetative to find the same things over and over. But, form what I can tell, the people that do this actually do a good job, and just supplement their trades with their 'calling cards'. I've even traded for them before... currently I'm holding K&S monkey #7 hostage.

 

F33d the addiction: cache on!

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It's not the most original idea, but we leave LarsThorwald pencils in caches. I don't consider these trade items, just extra leave-behinds (when they fit).

 

We also have stickers to put in log books. Some sort of personalized sticker/stamp seems to be a growing log book trend...

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

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quote:
Originally posted by Kevin & Susan:

Martin,

 

What's the ransom for K&S monkey #7? Can you provide ''Proof of Life''?

Hehehe...

 

Kev :~)


 

Kevin: Actually... I was originally going to take 'proof of life' pictures and place the Monkey #7 in my most recent hide, and have the ransom be your visit to the cache. But, I was in a rush to hide the cache before I got back to school, so I didn't get around to it.

 

I have yet to decide what the new ransom will be... but things might not turn out that way: hopefully the proof of life pictures I will post a link to here on Wednesday or Thursday will tell a different (maybe amusing) story. First, I have to get some midterms out of the way.

 

So many caches... so little time... too much homework!

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quote:
FullOn: I care what you think!

Thanks, Martin, I need a little positive affirmation every now and then. icon_smile.gif

 

Kevin, I had, of course, failed to mention your K&S signature monkeys in my original post. Terribly sorry icon_wink.gif. I had one I found in GeoJeff's Raging View cache, but I re-released him somewhere else. The wife wouldn't let me keep another monkey in the house! I'm bad enough about flinging crap around the house. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Still toying with the geocoins idea. I'm going to have to run by Michael's & see what they have.

 

OK - one more idea rolling around my noggin... Is there any interest in a Southern California centric geocaching website? I've seen the Chitown pages and MI & WI sites along with a few others. They seem to be kind of a nice place to discuss local issues and such. Just wondering...?

 

Nobody cares what I think.

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Martin: Guess i'll have to go do all your caches now! HA! Went riding Sunday with a buddy at Aliso/Woods Canyon and had brought printouts for all your caches in the SJC area, but never got around to going that far south. I figured a weekday would be better anyway, after seeing the crowds at the park. The West LA cache will have to wait awhile.

 

Rich: You can do whatever you want with our monkeys.

Regarding a Geo-website: The OC Geocachers Yahoo page has seemed to die out, apparently due to apathy. Maybe a more elaborate and SoCal-generic site, rather than OC, would get more activity.

 

***Rambling on...

Right now i'm frazzled because I swore to myself on January 1st i'd tone down this addiction and catch up on other interests and responsibilities. But every day somebody keeps tempting and taunting me with a new cache I just gotta go find. Grrr...

And sometimes there's several in opposite directions of the compass. Double grrr...

And sometimes I'll go do a new one somewhere, and be planning to go the other direction the next day, only to see another new one pop up back where I was the day before. Grrrrrr..... You know what happens when you tease a dog too much? Hehehe...

Kev :~)

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quote:
Originally posted by Kevin & Susan:

 

***Rambling on...

Right now i'm frazzled because I swore to myself on January 1st i'd tone down this addiction and catch up on other interests and responsibilities.

Kev :~)


 

I know how you feel. I swear after every bike ride that I'll ride more and cache less. I think I've gained 10 lbs from not riding enough. My poor Blur diserves a better rider. icon_smile.gif

icon_smile.gif

george

 

39570_500.jpg

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

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quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:

quote:
Originally posted by Kevin & Susan:

 

***Rambling on...

Right now i'm frazzled because I swore to myself on January 1st i'd tone down this addiction and catch up on other interests and responsibilities.

Kev :~)


 

I know how you feel. I swear after every bike ride that I'll ride more and cache less. I think I've gained 10 lbs from not riding enough. My poor Blur diserves a better rider. icon_smile.gif


 

For us, geocaching has gotten us to be more active, not less. icon_wink.gif For the most part, non-caching related activities are now scheduled for non-daylight hours. icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by FullOn:

 

Is there any interest in a Southern California centric geocaching website?

 


 

I think it's a great idea! Yes, I am VERY interested in seeing a SoCal geocaching website. If I had any website design and/or programmng skills, I would have started one already.

 

The OC Geocachers Yahoo group is/was a good idea which was born largely out of a not-too-flattering article that was published in the OC Register. It was/is a bit frustrating as hardly anybody joined in or started any discussions (note: Martin was one of those who threw in his two cents worth). Sort of like throwing a party, having a few people show up, and then have nobody talking to one another.... icon_confused.gif

 

An actual website (instead of a forum) containing information, tips, articles, etc. on geocaching in and around Southern California would be a very useful and fun project to do. We would only need a handful of people to contribute to it but I think that a lot of geocachers would visit it as their main source for geocaching news and events in SoCal.

 

I envision this to be something like a newspaper and bulletin board of sorts. Among other things, we can post guidelines/rules and regulations on hiding caches in various regional and wilderness parks, a monthly article featuring a cache or two, Geocacher spotlight (e.g., "Will the REAL OtisPug please stand up?"), listings such as the top 10 favorite caches, top 10 cache-and-dashes, top 10 hike-and-seeks, and the standard FAQs, newbie tips, and "what-the-heck-is-this-thing-called-geocaching-all-about" primer.

 

A forum or discussion board such as this one would be nice but might be too involved to create one on our own website. For geocachers who want to interact, then maybe we can still link to a yahoo groups forum or just use the Groundspeak Forums like we are doing right now (why not? it seems that we are finally getting a couple of things going through this media... icon_wink.gif). We can always have a "letters to the editor" section or something like that where we can post and field questions from the general geocaching public.

 

Once again, I ramble so I better quit while I'm ahead. Hey, it's 6 in the morning and it's raining so I can't walk the dogs! Maybe I'll go for coffee and donuts instead.... icon_biggrin.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by husqui:

quote:
Originally posted by FullOn:

 

Is there any interest in a Southern California centric geocaching website?

 


 

I think it's a great idea! Yes, I am VERY interested in seeing a SoCal geocaching website. If I had any website design and/or programmng skills, I would have started one already.

 

The OC Geocachers Yahoo group is/was a good idea which was born largely out of a not-too-flattering article that was published in the OC Register. It was/is a bit frustrating as hardly anybody joined in or started any discussions (note: Martin was one of those who threw in his two cents worth). Sort of like throwing a party, having a few people show up, and then have nobody talking to one another.... icon_confused.gif

 

An actual website (instead of a forum) containing information, tips, articles, etc. on geocaching in and around Southern California would be a very useful and fun project to do. We would only need a handful of people to contribute to it but I think that a lot of geocachers would visit it as their main source for geocaching news and events in SoCal.

 

I envision this to be something like a newspaper and bulletin board of sorts. Among other things, we can post guidelines/rules and regulations on hiding caches in various regional and wilderness parks, a monthly article featuring a cache or two, Geocacher spotlight (e.g., "Will the REAL OtisPug please stand up?"), listings such as the top 10 favorite caches, top 10 cache-and-dashes, top 10 hike-and-seeks, and the standard FAQs, newbie tips, and "what-the-heck-is-this-thing-called-geocaching-all-about" primer.

 

A forum or discussion board such as this one would be nice but might be too involved to create one on our own website. For geocachers who want to interact, then maybe we can still link to a yahoo groups forum or just use the Groundspeak Forums like we are doing right now (why not? it seems that we are finally getting a couple of things going through this media... icon_wink.gif). We can always have a "letters to the editor" section or something like that where we can post and field questions from the general geocaching public.

 

Once again, I ramble so I better quit while I'm ahead. Hey, it's 6 in the morning and it's raining so I can't walk the dogs! Maybe I'll go for coffee and donuts instead.... icon_biggrin.gif


 

I think a website would be great. The yahoo groups site has the potential to do everything we need, except its a very dry interface, and as Husqui pointed out, people don't seem to like it. Also, RicoandtheFiddler (are they alive) and I were the only ones to put links to it from out caches... if more people had put links, maybe it would have worked out better.

 

These are just my first thoughts about the subject:

 

My brother runs a free 'just for friends' hosting serving which hosts my domain, as well as a couple of his friends... nothing too high traffic. I could be able to convince him to host this site (there is a catch though... see the next paragraph). I belive the machines that has the webserver has the spare cycles to host something like this. Someone (maybe even me) would just need to buy a domain name with the DNS service (I have recommendations for where to buy from), and we would need to find someone with the time and artistic ability to make us some webpages _and_ keep them updated (I don't have the time, or the artistic ability). The machine also has the capability to handel 'prepackaged' forum/message board software. Hey, we could probably even do email forwarding... I would love a martin@socal(geo)cacher.com or Mratin@socalgeocaching.com

 

HOWEVER... there is one catch. Bandwidth. My brother runs all the stuff from behind a 786K Down / 256K Up ADSL line. The 256K is one notch above what the base ADSL service is, but it is still _slow_. And with multiple users, it would crawl.

 

I will talk to my brother and see if he has any other ideas how we might do this.

 

Martin.

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quote:
Originally posted by ^Martin^:

 

...

 

I will talk to my brother and see if he has any other ideas how we might do this.

 

Martin.


 

Forgot to mention... I am definitly _not_ the only Southern California geocacher with these types of resources. There _has_ to be someone else with even more resources. Maybe we can start another thread under the SouthWest topic.

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I'm in the process of setting up a brand new Mac OS X server here at work. We're on a T1 getting about 512K up & down. I'm not sure what the performance for hosting at this speed would be like. I do have some experience in setting up websites. A modest example that I haven't updated since October. Which leads to the big problem, TIME. With my work, I'm busy for weeks on end and then suddenly have nothing to do for weeks.

 

As far as content, I was thinking along the lines of what Husqui had mentioned. A few links to articles, a forum area, tips & rules for caching in some areas and links back to the geocaching website (does anyone use any other sites besides Buxley's?). I figure it would take a couple of weeks to set things up initially (which a couple of weeks ago would have been perfect - hitting another busy period here) and then maybe a few hours a week to update as long as we can get some people to contribute content.

 

Martin - thanks for the offer. If we go ahead with this, I'll probably take you up on some of it. And if your brother has any other ideas, for sure let me know.

 

Maybe I'll take a few minutes and put together an idea or two for interface design.

 

Nobody cares what I think.

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I think this is a great idea and I would be willing to create the web pages and/or any kind of Southern California Logo that the group would like to have.

 

If you're interested in seeing some of my work go here or here.

 

The second page is a little out of date, but all pictures, logos and side bars were created by me. I'd love to get more involved in a Southern California group and this is where I think I'd fit in.

 

Webfoot icon_razz.gif

 

PS. If I've overstepped any boundaries, my apologies in advance.

 

Tromping through the underbrush looking for Ammo cans, Tupperware containers, & little round disks.

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Webfoot - WHY DON'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!!! icon_mad.gif

 

Just kidding icon_razz.gif. I appreciate the offer. If I do this thing, I'm going to need all the help I can get. It turns out that we just got a new client here at work that is going to keep me hopping for the next few weeks, but I'll try to get a couple of designs together.

 

What kind of HTML experience do you have Webfoot. Do you know how to hand code, XML, database driven, etc...? It looks like your stuff was created on a PC, right? Are you using FrontPage?

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FullOn: When you mentioned the OS X Server, were you volunteering it, or were you just mentioning that something like that would be ideal? Would it be setup to host multiple domains, or is it only being setup for your 'work' (i.e. would your employers care that its hosting other domains?). I think the T1 should be enough. The site most likely won't have any sort of media besides images to download (and those would be inline), so, it will defintily be an improvement over the 256K I can offer.

 

WebFoot: All the help we can get is appreciated. I looked at your pages. Have you looked into CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)? You should try them out... they are a bit of a pain to setup, but pages end up looking slicker with them.

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I was planning on setting up the server to do some low-bandwidth hosting. Our company website, maybe some client stuff and a hidden corner for me! It's going to be pulling double duty as a file server and web server, but with dual G4's it shouldn't be a problem. We're a pretty small company anyway.

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