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I just wanted to let you know that I placed a nighttime only cache called Wait Until Dark. It may not be for everyone, but if you're the adventurous type and want to get out of your comfort zone, this cache should provide a refreshing change from the 1/1's. If you're up for the challenge, go for it...it's a lot of fun.

 

It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end

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Inspector - you outdid yourself this time. There were three groups in the hunt (even a contingent from Marin) and Kablooey coming up as we were headed down. We gave the single guy (bthomas) the great FTF prize. Thanks for the fun, we all missed you and wondered why you weren't there to join us. Again, it was great.

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A cacher in New York sent his WTC Rivet travel bug to our cache about a year ago and it finally made it there this weekend. Thanks, Marky, for dropping it off!

 

The bug owner asked that it be left in our cache until September and I am then going to mail it back to him. If you are in the area, come check it out - this bug is made from a rivet from the World Trade Center.

 

Thanks, and enjoy.

 

Krystal

 

"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground."

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quote:
Originally posted by kbrece:

A cacher in New York sent his WTC Rivet travel bug to our http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=35918 about a year ago and it finally made it there this weekend. Thanks, Marky, for dropping it off!


When Joani's on a mission, I don't have much choice but to go along for the ride. icon_wink.gif We didn't let a little darkness keep us from finding the cache (or rather, from finding our way back to the car). icon_smile.gif It was a fun cache, and we came back the next day to do the other caches we missed. Thanks for the neat cache, and Joani says to thank you for the t-shirt. icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

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

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.

.

Now here's a how-do-you-do.

 

I received an email from a Creston Aldridge suggesting a code response for my Picnic Time cache.

 

It was the wrong code and when I emailed him back and suggested that the email he sent me didn't give an indication of which cache he was responding to, he sent me a 2nd email and mentioned the Picnic Time cache and asked for a clue.

 

Gentleman cacher that I am, I gave him a clue which will probably result in a find.

 

I forgot to ask him what name he used in geocaching and so I sent a 2nd email to him asking his caching name and also posed this question..."You're not Ranger10 are you?"

 

After I pushed the send button I went to look at the profile on Ranger10 and sure enough, the nospam address is for c....aldridge.

 

I sent him a 3rd email ... a polite one... and suggested that with the provided clue I was sure he would be able to find the Picnic Time cache and that I hoped he would respect its *innocuous* nature and let it remain.

 

We'll have to see what happens.

 

Ron

 

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

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quote:
Originally posted by fizzymagic:

I'm confused. I can't find any evidence of a Ranger10 at geocaching.com. At least, they haven't posted any logs. So I don't understand what's going on...


 

**********

 

Hey Fizzy...here is the url for his profile.

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.asp?A=124552

 

**********

 

Look back through the forum for Sacramento and you'll see some of the discussion.

 

Basically, this guy is just *doing his job*, because the cache is 75 feet off an ashphalt road which is the only spot a *citizen* can walk on at this park. The upper dirt road is accessed through a picnic area and some storage containers. Since one is not supposed to set foot off the ashphalt road (even to have a picnic ... I suspect the picnic tables are only for workers....) the cache is *illegal*.

 

I don't really have a problem with this *enforcement* other than I think it is an *exactitude* that reeks of excessiveness. It is akin to the *rule* that doesn't allow dogs on EBMUD trails where horses are allowed. In that case, I'm sure there are some differences in dog fecal matter as opposed to horse fecal matter, and for those dog owners who let their dogs run instead of having them on a leash, I can see where some squirrel (or maybe a cow) might get offended by a dog's presence.

 

I realize some horses get spooked by dogs, but some humans get spooked by horses too. Responsible *pet* management would seem to be the cure here.

 

***********

 

Anyone drive 5 miles an hour faster than the speed limit lately?

 

Ron

 

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

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quote:
Originally posted by Ron Streeter:

Anyone drive 5 miles an hour faster than the speed limit lately?


If you don't, you are probably at risk of causing an accident by driving too much slower than the flow of traffic. icon_wink.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 Marky:

quote:
Originally posted by Ron Streeter:

Anyone drive 5 miles an hour faster than the speed limit lately?


If you don't, you are probably at risk of causing an accident by driving too much slower than the flow of traffic. icon_wink.gif

 

--Marky


 

... and don't forget to run the yellow ^h^h^h^h^h^h red light!

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.

Had a nice email from Hemlock about caching in general and the archiving and approval process. This is a learning experience for everyone and even though it's a couple of years old now, geocaching is still evolving.

 

I've found that straight-forward communicating with TPTB at geocaching.com usually works out ok.

 

I have only had one cache archived that I couldn't legitimately argue a case for and I have some new ideas for it that might work, so everyone should keep an open mind when working out the *sore spots* on these things.

 

The archived cache was a *locationless* that I had really placed as a *statement* AGAINST locationless caches, and I guess in a way it WORKED, as it got rejected!

 

Ron

 

I've never been lost. Fearsome confused sometimes, but never lost.

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quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Ron Streeter:

It is akin to the *rule* that doesn't allow dogs on EBMUD trails where horses are allowed. In that case, I'm sure there are some differences in dog fecal matter as opposed to horse fecal matter, and for those dog owners who let their dogs run instead of having them on a leash, I can see where some squirrel (or maybe a cow) might get offended by a dog's presence.

 

************

 

Gee, I'm speechless.

 

Harrumph!

 

*****************************************

This Space Intentionally Left Blank

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What's the deal with this new format for the Nearest To list? The first time I saw it, there were little boxes showing whether or not I had found the cache, but the list is no longer sorted by unfound/found/hidden status. This is really bad. Tonight when I looked, the little boxes were gone, too, so all I had to go by is the cache and owner name. Some of them I haven't paid any attention to for 10 months and I'm not even sure of the name. I really don't like this. Is there a customer satisfaction survey going on anywhere? Chat or forum about this? I don't see it on this board or any link on the main page. Does anybody else have strong feelings? I would like to get some feedback en masse to Groundspeak if there are others out there with the same problems I have with it. I want to be able to see at a glance just the unfound unowned caches nearby. I can't do that any more. At the very least I'd like the boxes back and the owned caches should have checked, not unchecked, boxes. I'm surprised no one is commenting by now. icon_mad.gificon_mad.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

What's the deal with this new format for the Nearest To list? The first time I saw it, there were little boxes showing whether or not I had found the cache, ... Tonight when I looked, the little boxes were gone, ...


You have to be logged in to see the hidden/found status. Also, from My Cache Page, under Search for nearest caches from your home coordinates, you can click on 'filter finds' and it will only show caches you haven't found. Good luck clearing you first page now!

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by LilDevil:

quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

What's the deal with this new format for the Nearest To list? The first time I saw it, there were little boxes showing whether or not I had found the cache, ... Tonight when I looked, the little boxes were gone, ...


You have to be logged in to see the hidden/found status. Also, from My Cache Page, under Search for nearest caches from your home coordinates, you can click on 'filter finds' and it will only show caches you haven't found. Good luck clearing you first page now!


Yeah, I was clear out to page 14 but now I'll have to switch to miles. I'm clear to just 6.8 miles at the moment.

 

--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 LilDevil:

You have to be logged in to see the hidden/found status. Also, from My Cache Page, under Search for nearest caches from your home coordinates, you can click on 'filter finds' and it will only show caches you haven't found. Good luck clearing you first page now!


 

I hadn't noticed the filter finds feature. Maybe that's why I have so many DNF's. icon_confused.gif I'm trying to catch kablooey in that department and making great progress, too. Anyway, that's what I needed. But I notice that now the site keeps logging me out. I was logged into the forums but not to the geocaching.com site at the same time. This didn't used to happen. Thanks to all who pointed me to what was right in front of my nose.

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quote:
Originally posted by LilDevil:

quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

What's the deal with this new format for the Nearest To list? The first time I saw it, there were little boxes showing whether or not I had found the cache, ... Tonight when I looked, the little boxes were gone, ...


You have to be logged in to see the hidden/found status. Also, from My Cache Page, under Search for nearest caches from your home coordinates, you can click on 'filter finds' and it will only show caches you haven't found. Good luck clearing you first page now!

 

Lil Devil http://www.lildevil.org/images/smiley/lildevil.gif


 

I was actually happily surprised with the new format, because of the found/hidden filtering option. It is now so much easier to find the nearest caches, and the new ones, not only from my home, but from any search option chosen. Agreed with Marky that you can not anymore say that yo've cleared x pages, but we'll have to work with miles. With the exception of Border Patrol #3 (more like Bother Patrol ....) I'm at 6.0 miles.

 

So, sorry Rat, no complaint from me to Groundspeak. I think it's an improvement.

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But I still can't figure out how to do filter searches some where else. For example, I'd like to do a filtered search in the South Bay (Markyland) since I frequently head down there for meetings. Doing the filter search from my home coordinates just gives extraneous noise from outlying areas (such as Marin and Sonoma) which I don't visit as often.

 

quote:
Originally posted by PhilippeGPS:

quote:
Originally posted by LilDevil:

quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

What's the deal with this new format for the Nearest To list? The first time I saw it, there were little boxes showing whether or not I had found the cache, ... Tonight when I looked, the little boxes were gone, ...


You have to be logged in to see the hidden/found status. Also, from My Cache Page, under Search for nearest caches from your home coordinates, you can click on 'filter finds' and it will only show caches you haven't found. Good luck clearing you first page now!

 

Lil Devil http://www.lildevil.org/images/smiley/lildevil.gif


 

I was actually happily surprised with the new format, because of the found/hidden filtering option. It is now so much easier to find the nearest caches, and the new ones, not only from my home, but from any search option chosen. Agreed with Marky that you can not anymore say that yo've cleared x pages, but we'll have to work with miles. With the exception of Border Patrol #3 (more like Bother Patrol ....) I'm at 6.0 miles.

 

So, sorry Rat, no complaint from me to Groundspeak. I think it's an improvement.


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Congratulations are due to a bunch of folks who have reached significant milestones in the last few days:

- TeamJiffy for making 500 b4 their anniversary

- Fizzy for 800 and solving all the puzzle caches

- bthomas for joining the 4-digit club

Keep it up!!!!

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I'm wondering if some of you can post/send your personal Top-5 list of "best" South Bay caches. Your experience would be of great help to those of us with fewer finds and a bit overwhelmed by the explosion of caches in the bay area. If that category is too broad pare it down - Best Caches < 4 stars, best micro's etc, best mountain caches, etc.

 

My family and I have been Geocaching for over a year now and enjoy it immensely. Nonetheless, we have found that we're not quite up to the herculean task of cleaning out the possibilities in the Peninsula/South Bay. icon_wink.gif

 

Here's our Personal "Best of list"(in no particular order).

 

Forest Stump

Magic Squares of a singly odd order

Eschew Obfuscation

Rock Top Hollow

PTFH

80 Million later

Pigeon's Roost

 

(Oh and if you get to the Redwoods try "Down on the Farm" an amazing little piece of history you might only see with Geocaching!)

 

As you can see some are there for the scenery, some for the adventure and some for the history. Any help would be well appreciated!

 

/Lefty and Kids

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quote:
Originally posted by KennyHannahJacob:

I'm wondering if some of you can post/send your personal Top-5 list of "best" South Bay caches.


 

Oh, I like this idea. I've only found 107, but in no particular order...

 

For cleverness of container:

 

Forest Stump

Yes Way, Jose

Travel Bug Trader II

Hope You Like Canned Fruit

 

For cleverness of hide:

 

Haunted Toys

Secret Trailhead #3

Urban Assault #11

Where the Teens and the Antelope Play

Haunted Toys

Don't Mess With the Army

 

For the unusual location:

 

Our Lady of the River

Under the Boardwalk (in Santa Cruz)

Arc of Art

Valley of the Serpent

 

-------------------------------------

Becky Davis

San Jose, CA

Buy Tupperware for cache containers.

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quote:
Originally posted by vdbalamo:

But I still can't figure out how to do filter searches some where else. For example, I'd like to do a filtered search in the South Bay (Markyland) since I frequently head down there for meetings. Doing the filter search from my home coordinates just gives extraneous noise from outlying areas (such as Marin and Sonoma) which I don't visit as often.


 

Go to your nearest cache page. Up at the top should be a link that says 'New Search'. Click on that and select 'By Postal Code' if you have the zip code or 'By Coordinate' if you have the coords or by 'Waypoint Name' if you have a cache waypoint. Fill in the data and make sure to check the 'Exclude Hidden/Found Items' checkbox.

 

Another fun thing to do is to select 'By Username (Found)', enter your caching name and then select a cache type, like '-Multi-caches' to see how many caches of a particular type you've found. Good times, good times... icon_wink.gif

 

--Marky

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

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Go ahead and flame me if I'm too far off topic, but does anybody remember the Tex Murphy computer games? They are/were remarkably geocaching-like, especially the first one. The graphics were crude by today's gamer standards, although they got a lot better in the later ones. You had a hovercar and went around solving puzzles, questioning people, etc. in order to get the coordinates to further sites that you then searched for small items like keys, etc. The searching screen was sort of bizarre in the rendering, but you could raise or lower yourself to look down into objects on high shelves, etc. They actually had a story line and decent acting. Most of the game was video sequences using real actors. I think the games are still available, but the original company doesn't exist. Access software was bought out by Microsoft (boo hiss - icon_mad.gif where's Pepper?) which only wanted its golf product and dropped the Tex Murphy line. IMHO it was the best computer game series ever. It held much of the same appeal as caching, so if anyone is laid up and misses the sport, I recommend getting a hold of one to occupy you during recovery. The two final titles were The Pandora Directive and Overseer, as I recall.

 

They play on a regular Windows PC. Although the first game had some bloodless shootouts with bad guys, the games were almost entirely non-violent, yet full of action and interaction. If anybody knows of any computer games that still have that kind of feel to them, please let me know. I haven't seen anything other than the Myst/Riven/Myst III games since them that are anywhere close. Those had the puzzle solving but almost no interaction with other characters. Today's games are just race and crash or shoot and splat exercises for illiterate juveniles.

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Hey Don - didn't know you reached any significant numbers yet!!!! icon_smile.gifBy the way, thanks for logging "Wait Until Dark" before I drove the 2 minutes to get home and post my FTF. icon_eek.gif Congrat's on the big 400, call me next time your down here & I'll buy you a drink.

quote:
Originally posted by forman:

Lee,

 

What about me? :-(

 

Don


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Hey Lee - you weren't even Second to Log on Wait Until Dark.

 

Btw, I think I'm only logging every other failure as a DNF nowadays; so maybe that will give some of you a chance to catch up, but I doubt it.

 

Hmm, some favorite South Bay caches (some may be archived)...

The Two Towers

San Francisco Bay Ghost Town

Operation Futari

21 Moore Cache

'A' Is for Alum

Forbes Mill Cache

Pfeiffer Stone House

Shark Hunt Cache

Geo-Ca$h

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quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

Go ahead and flame me if I'm too far off topic, but does anybody remember the Tex Murphy computer games? They are/were remarkably geocaching-like, especially the first one.


 

Oh my gosh, your post sure brought back some memories! Fy and I loved Access Software! We used to purchase every Links386 course (I still like the game) and eagerly awaited each new Tex Murphy game. They were wonderful. Both the humor and the stories were top notch - listening to Tex’s wry comments about each and every object on the screen was a pleasure.

 

We both thought that if Tex wasn’t in “Mutant-land” the series would have done better. After a while, it was annoying to look at the somewhat-melted faces.

 

Overseer was okay - but it seemed to be rushed for production, and the “Pandora” trilogy never was finished. Sigh!

 

But, back to your question - are there any other games like that?

 

Not that we’ve found. And we’ve looked. Of course, we sort of stopped looking a few years ago.

 

What we did want, and never found, was the animation for a Tex Murphy golfer, with his style of commentary, for the Links series.

 

-Jif

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quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

Today's games are just race and crash or shoot and splat exercises for illiterate juveniles.


 

HEY! Watch who you are calling juvenile! icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

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

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Back at ya Kablooey - I was busy composing a thank you post to Chuguy when your temporary

"Wait Til Dark" post showed up.

 

Also, why are you complaining when someone else has a head start on coordinates!! Fizzy gets the FTF prize for my McCarthy cache, an all expense paid vacation.......... icon_wink.gif

 

quote:
Originally posted by kablooey:

Hey Lee - you weren't even Second to Log on Wait Until Dark.


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Originally posted by vdbalamo:

Also, why are you complaining when someone else has a head start on coordinates!! Fizzy gets the FTF prize for my McCarthy cache, an all expense paid vacation.......... icon_wink.gif

 

I wasn't complaining. That's just a little inside joke I was trying to make.

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Just razzing ya. icon_biggrin.gif I placed two more today, go beat fizzy.

 

quote:
Originally posted by kablooey:
Originally posted by vdbalamo:

Also, why are you complaining when someone else has a head start on coordinates!! Fizzy gets the FTF prize for my McCarthy cache, an all expense paid vacation.......... icon_wink.gif

 

I wasn't complaining. That's just a little inside joke I was trying to make.


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We're going to Mt. Diablo for the first time this weekend. What are your favorite caches there? There seem to be a lot of them in the area.

 

We'll be hiking with someone who's recovering from a back injury, so we'll have to stick with easy hikes only, but we'll probably be back again in the future. So feel free to recommend more challenging caches, too. icon_smile.gif

 

Thanks!

Colleen and Andrew

 

Dralasites: biological, not geological.

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Okay, having a little difficulty with the forum today. icon_confused.gif I didn't see my original post, so I re-posted, but then they both appeared at the same time. So then I tried to delete the newer one, but it said that this forum doesn't allow message deletion. Ack.

 

[This message was edited by Team Dralasites on June 21, 2003 at 11:12 AM.]

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Most of the caching hikes on Mt. Diablo are very strenuous, but I'd recommend "Fog, Log, & Jog" and "Tiny Toys" as they are close together on a fairly level trail. For more fun on a much more strenuous and challenging day, I'd highly recommend: "Red Hot Fire Water", but be prepared for sweat and frustration. Good luck.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Team Dralasites:

We're going to Mt. Diablo for the first time this weekend. What are your favorite caches there? There seem to be a lot of them in the area.

 

We'll be hiking with someone who's recovering from a back injury, so we'll have to stick with easy hikes only, but we'll probably be back again in the future. So feel free to recommend more challenging caches, too. icon_smile.gif

 

Thanks!

Colleen and Andrew

 

Dralasites: biological, not geological.


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quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

With all the FTF fevor that goes on in this area, it is amazing that http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=65068 that I hid on April 20th is still unfound. With the right vehicle, this is a total driveby cache. icon_wink.gif


 

Yeah, that one comes up on my PQ. Unfortunately I don't have a 4WD vehicle or I could finally have my first FTF.

 

-------------------------------------

Becky Davis

San Jose, CA

Buy Tupperware for cache containers.

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quote:
Originally posted by beckerbuns:

quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

With all the FTF fevor that goes on in this area, it is amazing that http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=65068 that I hid on April 20th is still unfound. With the right vehicle, this is a total driveby cache. icon_wink.gif


 

Yeah, that one comes up on my PQ. Unfortunately I don't have a 4WD vehicle or I could finally have my first FTF.


This time of year, a car with reasonable ground clearance is all you need. icon_smile.gif

 

--Marky

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

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quote:
With all the FTF fevor that goes on in this area, it is amazing that this cache that I hid on April 20th is still unfound. With the right vehicle, this is a total driveby cache.

 

So, how you you know that someone has NOT been there??? icon_wink.gificon_razz.gificon_wink.gif

 

How do you know if you have a fevor?? or was that fervor?? icon_wink.gif

 

marwagsalot icon_cool.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by marwagsalot:

So, how you you know that someone has NOT been there??? icon_wink.gificon_razz.gificon_wink.gif


I don't, since I haven't been back up there to check. icon_wink.gificon_razz.gif

 

--Marky

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

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Caching Casey's human has a 4WD and will be available in July - if you are up to it.

quote:
Originally posted by marwagsalot:

It's still there icon_razz.gificon_razz.gificon_razz.gif

It has to be icon_smile.gif

By looking at the map it doesn't look like a fun drive icon_eek.gif

 

[This message was edited by marwagsalot on June 23, 2003 at 04:11 PM.]


 

[This message was edited by vdbalamo on June 24, 2003 at 08:23 AM.]

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Thanks Kablooey and Beckerbuns for your South Bay cache suggestions. We've tried several over the past week (Forbes Mill, Teens and Antelopes and Arc of Art scored high) and enjoyed them immensely. The Los Gatos caches in particular were a hit for my son and some guests on a birthday weekend.

 

Unfortunately some of Kablooey's suggestions have been archived but between the two lists we still have a few to work through.

 

Anyone else want to share their "Best of" lists?

 

/Lefty

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My car barely has any clearance. Anyway, I noticed that there's pretty much NO FTF fever down in Monterey. Of all those people who were at the picnic, none of them bothered to visit Cruise Ship, less than a mile away, either before or after the picnic.

 

Caveat: Not Yet Approved (Note: Error in page corrected 11am)

 

[This message was edited by kablooey on June 24, 2003 at 11:15 AM.]

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