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Hey all you cool froods out there in the Bay Area -

 

I'm calipidder, and I'm in awe of all these 4000+ cachers. I'm honored to be in the same forum as you. I'm new, with, ahem, 35 caches found. See, it all started when I got a new GPSr a few months ago for backpacking and wanted to learn all of its amazing functions before taking it out into the wilderness. Thought I'd give this geocaching thing a go. You know, find 3 or 4 of them, get used to my new GPSr, that would be it. Well, no one warned me that this was an addicting activity and now I find myself secretly working on The Rat puzzles at work and stealthily sneaking around playgrounds in the middle of the night. But I'm not addicted. Nooooo.

 

The only thing that takes up more of my time (as I segue into an introduction) is my obsession with backpacking and related gear. I help run the website backpackgeartest.org and am always scrutinizing every last ounce of weight I carry on my back to make sure that I don't waste a single gram on unnecessary supplies.

 

Fortunately the two hobbies go together quite well and I can backpack and cache at the same time. Bliss.

 

I live in Los Altos and work in Palo Alto. Hubby is on the home stretch of his PhD at Stanford so we may not be in the area much longer. Therefore I feel this crazy need to find every single cache in California as soon as I can (heyah right!). I'd love to make it to the BADGES dinner but it looks like we may be heading out backpacking. I'll try to make one in the future!

Edited by calipidder
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Please help us welcome Elin to the Bay Area (GCJHHV)

 

Just an informal get together to greet "EMC of Northridge, CA" who will be mega-caching the bay area this weekend. (Elin is one of the pre-eminent SoCal cachers.) This way we can slow her down and get her off the streets (don't draw any implications) at least for a few hours.

 

Saturday, May 29th - 9:00 pm

Chili's Grill & Bar

4801 Hopyard Rd

Pleasanton, CA

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Please help us welcome Elin to the Bay Area (GCJHHV)

 

Just an informal get together to greet "EMC of Northridge, CA" who will be mega-caching the bay area this weekend. (Elin is one of the pre-eminent SoCal cachers.) This way we can slow her down and get her off the streets (don't draw any implications) at least for a few hours.

 

Saturday, May 29th - 9:00 pm

Chili's Grill & Bar

4801 Hopyard Rd

Pleasanton, CA

Have fun! Nurse Dave, the boyz and I will be caching up Portland, Oregon over the long weekend. :lol:

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Congrats Ms 1K (Bykenut) and Team 4K (TeamAlamo). Keep on caching!

 

--Marky

Congratulations to Team Alamo - 4,000 caches. It was an honor to be there so see your milestone find. What an excellent adventure! I'm still sneezing out bricks from all the Nevada dust. Lucky for me, none of the dust came from TA. :lol: Congratulations!

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I'm calipidder, and I'm in awe of all these 4000+ cachers. ... I find myself secretly working on The Rat puzzles at work and stealthily sneaking around playgrounds in the middle of the night.  But I'm not addicted.  Nooooo.

 

I live in Los Altos and work in Palo Alto.  Hubby is on the home stretch of his PhD at Stanford so we may not be in the area much longer.  I'd love to make it to the BADGES dinner but it looks like we may be heading out backpacking.  I'll try to make one in the future!

Calipidder,

It's good to have you aboard. You shouldn't feel awed by the 4000+ crowd. I know them all, and they're the ones who are odd. (Groan - bad pun - :P ). As a Los Altan you are in the neighborhood of PhilippeGPS, Truckeegal, and me - although we're all in the southern part (South Central L.A. as we are referred to by the posh northern half). If you need a hint on one my puzzles, just e-mail. The only one I'm not giving hints out on right now is the new one - Slobinovich.

 

Rat

Edited by The Rat
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Please help us welcome Elin to the Bay Area (GCJHHV)

 

Just an informal get together to greet "EMC of Northridge, CA" who will be mega-caching the bay area this weekend. (Elin is one of the pre-eminent SoCal cachers.) This way we can slow her down and get her off the streets (don't draw any implications) at least for a few hours.

 

Saturday, May 29th - 9:00 pm

Chili's Grill & Bar

4801 Hopyard Rd

Pleasanton, CA

The event has been rescheduled for Sunday 'cause Elin has a movie gig!!!

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Hey, I've seen the 4000+ crowd stumble around in the weeds just like everybody else. There's a certain satisfaction that comes from finding a cache that they can't.

 

Not that that happens very often, mind you, but when it does, it feels good.

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Caltrain will be resuming weekend service June 5. As a thank-you, the service will be free June 5-6 and June 12-13. This sounds like an excellent opportunity for South Bay cachers to load up some bicycles (which are allowed on the trains) and do some San Francisco caches. There is a great swath of caches leading from the Caltrain station, up the waterfront all the way to Fisherman's Wharf and Fort Mason.

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I was looking in the palo alto recreation catalog (www.paenjoy.org) and came upon this:

 

GPS Tour of Palo Alto Open Space

 

Description:

Bring your own GPSR on a self-paced tour of open space areas, seeing places and things selected by Ranger Rich, while filling out a quiz form. Anyone who correctly answers the quiz questions wins an invitation to a 'burgers&dogs' BBQ on June 27 from 11 - 1 pm. Contact Ranger Rich at 650-617-3100 ext 1696 for information packet after registering.

 

Sounds interesting, I was wondering if anyone else has heard about this or is doing it.

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The event has been rescheduled for Sunday 'cause Elin has a movie gig!!!

Hmm, speaking of movie gigs. Anybody who wants to see me in a movie can join me at the Roxie in San Francisco for the Thursday 6pm showing of Word Wars. If you want the group-ticket price of $6, let me know before Thursday morning, as one of my coworkers will be buying a bunch of tickets.

 

You can also see me in one of the scenes by clicking the "Watch a Trailer" link. I'm actually only in about four brief scenes in the movie. I'm not one of the featured participants.

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Hey all, I've registered a meeting-up place for ClayJar's AlaskaQuest, coming this summer. We'll be meeting at the site of an entertaining virtual in Lathrop. I have asked CJ for at least an hour and a half notice (that's about how long it'll take to get there from where I am in San Jose). So I imagine he'll call me when he is getting close to there.

 

I was hoping to get other interested Bay Area people's cell phone numbers so I can notify them when it's time to head out there. Anyone who would be interested in being notified, please email me through geocaching.com. I already have Kablooey's and Marky's cell numbers. Keep in mind that this could happen in the middle of the night! Let me know if you would rather be contacted during the day only.

 

Don't miss out on this opportunity to meet up with our globe-trotting, #geocache opping, interesting cacher type person ClayJar! :)

 

Ta!

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"EMC of Northridge, CA found at 5/28/2004: Came up for a long weekend of speed caching in the South Bay and, despite an interruption of plans while I dashed back to LA for a last-minute job, I managed to put in 64 hours of caching over 4.3 days, and ultimately returned with 278 finds!! I found 80 today, and was joined by bthomas, who still had quite a few left on his list in the San Jose area."

 

Even with the event in her honor on Sunday, we weren't able to slow her down at all. ;)

 

;) Go Elin! ;)

 

She's now found more than 300 in the Bay Area. Should she be added to the leader board?

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The first batch of Jeep TBs shipped today. In that the contest thread, WalruZ had posted that we should contact BADGES for distribution requests in this area.... So I'm curious about what plan is in place to get these out to people. Anyone? I plan to place some new caches very soon and wouldn't mind having one or more of those to help kick things off.

 

- Dave

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The first batch of Jeep TBs shipped today. In that the contest thread, WalruZ had posted that we should contact BADGES for distribution requests in this area.... So I'm curious about what plan is in place to get these out to people. Anyone? I plan to place some new caches very soon and wouldn't mind having one or more of those to help kick things off.

 

- Dave

Let us suggest that you actively participate in the Bay Area geocaching community by attending events. You'll get to meet some great folks and sometimes there are surprises at these events. For example, the 2004 Cannon Ball Run TBs were distributed at a River City (Sac) Dining Society event.

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Let us suggest that you actively participate in the Bay Area geocaching community by attending events. You'll get to meet some great folks and sometimes there are surprises at these events. For example, the 2004 Cannon Ball Run TBs were distributed at a River City (Sac) Dining Society event.

Thank you for the interesting reply.

 

Unfortunately, the next BADGES event is scheduled for tomorrow and I have summer drill which has priority over my geocaching. It's also difficult for me to free up large blocks of time in my schedule these days.

 

I'd love to get together and meet other geocachers, but for now I think my question has been effectively answered. Thanks.

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Let us suggest that you actively participate in the Bay Area geocaching community by attending events. You'll get to meet some great folks and sometimes there are surprises at these events. For example, the 2004 Cannon Ball Run TBs were distributed at a River City (Sac) Dining Society event.

I'd have a hard time getting up to Novato this weekend -- it's a bit out of my way. I am interested in attending BADGES events but unfortunately none of them have been doable for me yet.

 

Does anyone know if the Scott's Valley event tomorrow will have jeeps available? Or could someone pick one up for me there or at the BADGES event?

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My guess is no on the Jeep TB's. I signed up for some, but considering I'm not part of any organized group, I'm probably pretty low on the totem pole, so to speak.

 

I think the first batch just went out a day or two ago, so unless they're mailed overnight I doubt anyone would have them in hand yet.

 

See ya at the picnic <_<

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my own suspicion is that the jeeps will be all over the area in short order. After all, they're just travel bugs - you move them, right?

 

I've thought some on them as well. In my opinion these are not 'real' travel bugs.

 

I have a TB right now called "Patty's Mr Bill". It is owned by a real person, on it's way to another real person (patty), who is undergoing chemo. When the TB moves, a real person who cares about it sees it move and is happy. If I spend time on that TB, that real person is even happier. Were something to happen to it, that person would be sad. We've all been there, pretty much.

 

The yellow jeeps aren't owned by any 'real' person. if the move or get muggled, who really cares? the owner? the owner is some advertising agency. Their logs get printed and scanned by some guy looking for something that would make good ad copy - that's it.

 

The more I think about it the more I come to think that although cute, they lack what so many things in the world today really needs, a person on the other end. Travel bugs are an organic growth within the Geocaching body. The Yellow Jeeps are bio-engineered growths, and they're just not the same.

 

I'll still take one and move it though. <_< There are a whole bunch dropped into the Marin event.

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I think Hemlock has not approved a N-CA cache for the last 3 days. He must be out of town, or at least off-line. Did anyone notice that too ? Is there a GC.com procedure to have other approvers take over the back-log when this happens ? In the past I saw out-of-state approvers work on CA caches, but I haven't seen this lately.

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My first cache (a couple of weeks ago) took 3 or 4 days for approval and wasn't approved by Hemlock, unless his admin and forum names are different. I have another one that has been waiting for about 36 hours now. It's not a big deal to me but I can see why people are eager to have them approved.

 

In fact I'm kind of hoping that they don't get around to the next batch of approvals until later tomorrow afternoon, which would give me a chance to get another in the queue. :unsure:

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"I managed to put in 64 hours of caching over 4.3 days, and ultimately returned with 278 finds!! I found 80 today, and was joined by bthomas, who still had quite a few left on his list in the San Jose area."

 

I'm in awe - 80 finds in a single day is beyond the reach of all but the geocaching Gods let alone 278 in a 4 day span. Some quick calculations show that given a 20 hour day your team still managed a 15 minute find cycle with no stops for a potty break along the way!

 

Still, I'm starting to worry about you guys. Are you SURE the group didn't start the day by signing a contract with a guy in a red suit with horns and a long tail? :unsure:

 

Pretty heady stuff - congratulations on a great weekend caching.

 

/Lefty

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I think Hemlock has not approved a N-CA cache for the last 3 days. He must be out of town, or at least off-line. Did anyone notice that too ? Is there a GC.com procedure to have other approvers take over the back-log when this happens ? In the past I saw out-of-state approvers work on CA caches, but I haven't seen this lately.

SoCal Admin, who is normally responsible for approving Southern California caches often approves for all of California if Hemlock is not available. If you have questions about something related to cache placement or approval, you could probably e-mail that account.

 

--Marky

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The yellow jeeps aren't owned by any 'real' person.  if the move or get muggled, who really cares?  the owner?  the owner is some advertising agency.  Their logs get printed and scanned by some guy looking for something that would make good ad copy - that's it. 

 

The more I think about it the more I come to think that although cute, they lack what so many things in the world today really needs, a person on the other end.  Travel bugs are an organic growth within the Geocaching body.  The Yellow Jeeps are bio-engineered growths, and they're just not the same. 

I agree with Walruz. The Jeep TBs aren't anything super special.

 

Before I found one on Saturday, I thought that finding (and logging a find) would somehow increase my chances of winning a prize in some sort of drawing. You know, if I could find and log 10 different Jeeps, then I would be more likely to win a new...car!?! (say compared to someone who only found 2). That's why I was excited, but now that I know what it really is, it's more of a hohum thing.

 

All in all, they're still neat bugs.

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I'd like to grab at least one at some point to get the icon on my profile stats page and to say I had done it. It's also hard to resist the appeal of a Jeep TB while you're driving around geocaching in a Jeep. :rolleyes:

 

I haven't gotten an email about any being dropped in my area yet, although I see at least one was dropped (and retrieved soon after) on Saturday in East SJ. Perhaps I'll switch to manual search mode...

 

Update: Looks like my notifications rolled in starting around 1640hrs today, one of was gone the second it was dropped though, pretty funny. :P

Edited by Team Nazgul
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In San Francisco, I've noticed one Jeep TB dropped so far (in one of my premium member caches that isn't getting much action) which was then picked up that day. I'm grateful to the person that dropped in in my cache, as I don't think my cache would have gotten that visit without it.

 

I wanted to go to some of the events last weekend where the bugs were being distributed, if only just to see what the hype was about, but was out of the state ... and Iowa is not necessarily a caching mecca (particularly with most of the TB-sized caches in the Des Moines area flooded out right now). Team Alamo was nice enough to send me a photo, so I had some idea of the tag design and size (Yea!). I think the event in Novato was probably the best way to get your eyes on them. Not meaning to start a flame war, but I think that since there is a separate "stat" for them on the profile, people will be "grabbing" them from their geocaching friends for a while (or group-cachers will effectively pass them around as they go from cache to cache) -- at least until all the local ones have been passed around. My hope is that they will get "ho-hum" soon so that we can run across them in a cache.

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In San Francisco, I've noticed one Jeep TB dropped so far (in one of my premium member caches that isn't getting much action) which was then picked up that day. I'm grateful to the person that dropped in in my cache, as I don't think my cache would have gotten that visit without it.

Maybe there aren't that many members in San Francisco? It can often be a lot harder for me to find caches without coordinates or cache details.

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Maybe there aren't that many members in San Francisco? It can often be a lot harder for me to find caches without coordinates or cache details.

 

I've had quite a few looks, from the audit log -- mostly on the day the Jeep bug was dropped in. But I suppose that could mean anything, really... I know some of the people looking are reasonably far away from SF.

 

As an aside: I planned on opening the cache to others after a month, largely because my FTF prize was worth more $ than the average cache-trinket. I'll still do that, and replace the container with something more sturdy when I do. The original ammo box was changed out (at the request of SoCalAdmin) to the plastic container that's there now, and I've since found a better plastic container that can handle increased use.

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Maybe there aren't that many members in San Francisco? It can often be a lot harder for me to find caches without coordinates or cache details.

 

I've had quite a few looks, from the audit log -- mostly on the day the Jeep bug was dropped in. But I suppose that could mean anything, really... I know some of the people looking are reasonably far away from SF.

I think what Kablooey was trying to point out is that Members Only caches tend to get visited less often. Also, if you have a members only cache, send Kablooey the coords if you want him to hunt for it, since he isn't a premium member and can't view the cache page.

 

--Marky

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No worries.

 

My initial point was that the Jeep TBs seem to be incentive to look at or visit caches that may not ordinarily get visited, and are also likely to get passed around rather than left in a cache.

 

I also wanted to explain the MOC -- the prize was worth double what my other FTFs are, sort of a test on plundering and maintentance ability since it was my first non-micro in the City, and until I switch out the tupperware it probably couldn't handle a lot of action anyway. Even after 6 months, I'm still learning this game...

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Congratulations!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

 

Perhaps the MegaCachers in the area could compile a Top 10 List of their all-time favorite caches? That way when visitors are in the area or when people are looking for a memorable cache to visit for their 1,000th (or 100th or whatever) find they'd have some suggestions available. Just a thought.

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No worries. 

 

My initial point was that the Jeep TBs seem to be incentive to look at or visit caches that may not ordinarily get visited, and are also likely to get passed around rather than left in a cache. 

 

I also wanted to explain the MOC -- the prize was worth double what my other FTFs are, sort of a test on plundering and maintentance ability since it was my first non-micro in the City, and until I switch out the tupperware it probably couldn't handle a lot of action anyway. Even after 6 months, I'm still learning this game...

So where have all the Jeep TB's, from the Badges 3 Dinner event, disappeared to? I did a search for 20 miles from the event and the only cache with one in it had two log entries stating it has been picked up. Sounds like they became souvieners?

Edited by wornout
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So where have all the Jeep TB's, from the Badges 3 Dinner event, disappeared to? I did a search for 20 miles from the event and the only cache with one in it had two log entries stating it has been picked up. Sounds like they became souvieners?

It's my assumption (uh oh, that word...) that a lot of the cachers there drove in from more than 20 miles away, like those from here in the south bay.

 

I'd gotten exactly 20 of the email notifications (within 50 miles of my home coords) in just the first four days, June 7-10. After that I picked up one and touched another, so having got the YJTB monkey off my back I unsubscribed from the notifications.

 

I am going to keep an eye on those that were listed in the notifications I did receive, and the ones I logged are on my watchlist, because I'm curious to see if any of them that were grabbed *don't* get placed again in the next couple of weeks. Looking over some of those, I think most are in the hands of cachers but some are out there in caches. One is on the way to Oregon, another to Michigan. Several were grabbed recently and the logs indicate that they'll be dropped elsewhere soon. A couple have been held for over a week now...

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I think the Jeep TBs are being carried from cache to cache. I've come across 3. One I gave to a cacher in Marin. Two I put in "Alum Rock Overlook". Both have been picked up, as far as I know.

I grabbed one (and touched the other) and dropped a USA geocoin, then two days later geowal701 grabbed the other YJTB and the geocoin.

 

I dropped the one I picked up into Once a Bridge yesterday and kablooey pounced on it.

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No worries. 

 

My initial point was that the Jeep TBs seem to be incentive to look at or visit caches that may not ordinarily get visited, and are also likely to get passed around rather than left in a cache. 

 

I also wanted to explain the MOC -- the prize was worth double what my other FTFs are, sort of a test on plundering and maintentance ability since it was my first non-micro in the City, and until I switch out the tupperware it probably couldn't handle a lot of action anyway. Even after 6 months, I'm still learning this game...

So where have all the Jeep TB's, from the Badges 3 Dinner event, disappeared to? I did a search for 20 miles from the event and the only cache with one in it had two log entries stating it has been picked up. Sounds like they became souvieners?

If you look at the BADGES profile, you can track the 65 Jeeps. It appears that 10 have not been picked up as yet. Perhaps BADGES could send out a reminder to the attendees.

 

In addition to those, 5 were placed in the South Bay before the event, one recently in the East Bay and two more were placed in Marin.

 

It also appears that some are on the move out of the area, so hopefully some will start arriving here from elsewhere sometime soon.

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I've only had a handful of YJTBs pop up that were within "a quick trip out to grab one" (~25 miles from SF down the peninsula) -- and those were all taken by the time I got the email. I've since changed which email address I'm being notified at so that I get them more quickly (don't tell the IT guys at work!). To be fair, because of work-related issues and doing additional training on the weekends lately, I've pretty much only been able to do urban hunts (e.g. micros) which really decreases my ability to find a TB...

 

That work thing keeps getting in the way of my caching, darnit!

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