+RDVH Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 How many of you have had people stop and ask what your reading on the gps and why. Seems more people like the idea and join geocaching. I'd like to find out what question people actually ask you? Quote Link to comment
+Shoebox Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 I have only been out a couple of weekends so far and and most of these outings were on cold or snowy days. On these occations I didn't run into anyone in the parks. But one day was like a spring day and three people asked about what I was doing just on one cache search. Good weather should be interesting. Maybe I should have some information sheets about geocaching with me? Quote Link to comment
+LoCache Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 People in general are a little shy about approaching me because of my size, height etc, but when they do, I love to tell them all about it, and even take them with me. Interestingly, older people are more apt to approach me than younger ones. I get more 50+ people willing to ask me a question than thirtysomethings. Geo ---------------------- http://www.geopolitan.net/geotrex Quote Link to comment
+Team Roman Geoskis Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 We haven't had anybody ask us, but we do talk to alot of people about geocaching. I bought two ammo cans off ebay ($8.50 for the pair) and found out the seller was only a few miles away. So when I drove up to pick up the cans, the lady asked what I would use them for. I explained it to her and her response was just like everyone else , "this sounds cool, I need to get into this". I'm sure that once warm weather hits wisconsin we'll have people asking us what we're doing out on the trails. I think I may throw a few info sheets in my daypack. Quote Link to comment
+Mikel & ErinsWeb Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 We really haven't had anybody ask us, but we have had a couple of lost GeoCachers try and tell us about it. (that was after my daughter slipped up and said `They look like they are doing a drunken bee dance!` a little too loud.) Quote Link to comment
+Tedoca Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 To date, only one person has asked me what I was doing while geocaching and my response was to lie... but there's a story behind that, read on. Some time ago my wife and I popped in on a neighbor friend of ours. Her mother told us she wasn't home but was baby-sitting across the street. We went across the street, knocked on the door, and were greeted and invited in by our friend. After sitting down at the kitchen table to visit for awhile, the two young brothers our friend was baby-sitting eyed my wife and I wearily. "Just what are you doing here?" the older brother inquired of us with a deadpan serious stare. Then, turning to his younger sibling he said with equal seriousness, "I don't know Jimmy, there's strangers in our house, what do you suppose we should do about it?" The younger Jimmy pondered his brother's question for only a moment and then, in a cadenced monotone voice, while slowly rising from his seat, he said... "I think we should kill them, I'll go get a knife." Needless to say, my wife and I left immediately and have never returned to that particular residence. It was the creepiest thing I've ever heard a five year old say. Getting back to your question... not too long after this event, as I sat upon a log perusing the contents of a cache I had just discovered, a mother, father, and son trio passed by on the nearby trail. When, in the same sort of creepy monotone voice, and eyeing me suspisously, the young lad asked... "Just what are you doing over there?", I lied. "Taking pictures" I said, and I held up my camera. I also had one other rather strange encounter at another cache. This time there was no place to sit and I was standing next to the cache location which was right along side the trail. A woman hiking the trail stopped and engaged me in a conversation. I made no attempt to conceal my actions and just stood there, cache container in hand, and proceded to peruse the cache, make my trade, write in the logbook, close the container back up, etc.... I waited til she was gone to replace the container in it's hiding spot, but not once during the entire time we stood there talking out in the middle of the woods did she ask me what the heck I was doing. I once met up with a fellow in the woods of a local State park who was lost and trying to locate a group of co-worker's at one of the group picnic shelters which I knew were located at the opposite end of the park. I was geocaching and had parked near the picnic shelters so I pulled out my GPS, did a quick 'go-to' back to where I had parked, consulted my compass, pointed off in the distance and said he needed to go 1.2 miles in THAT direction. Well, he had one of those woefully inadequate park maps in hand and was convinced he needed to go in the opposite direction, the direction I was headed in. He tagged along with me even though I assured him he was just getting farther and farther away from his intended destination. After a while we came upon an obvious landmark that was identified on his map and he decided that perhaps I really did know where I was going. Now totaly confused and disoriented, this gentleman asked if I would be kind enough to escort him to the picnic shelters, he even offered to pay me! I told him that I would be happy to guide him to his destination, but that I would not accept payment for it and that first I had to "find something." So, in the end he got his introduction to geocaching though it was not the result of a single question but rather a series of events that led to the discussion. Whew! That sure turned out to be a long post. Regards, Tedoca Quote Link to comment
+Tedoca Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 To date, only one person has asked me what I was doing while geocaching and my response was to lie... but there's a story behind that, read on. Some time ago my wife and I popped in on a neighbor friend of ours. Her mother told us she wasn't home but was baby-sitting across the street. We went across the street, knocked on the door, and were greeted and invited in by our friend. After sitting down at the kitchen table to visit for awhile, the two young brothers our friend was baby-sitting eyed my wife and I wearily. "Just what are you doing here?" the older brother inquired of us with a deadpan serious stare. Then, turning to his younger sibling he said with equal seriousness, "I don't know Jimmy, there's strangers in our house, what do you suppose we should do about it?" The younger Jimmy pondered his brother's question for only a moment and then, in a cadenced monotone voice, while slowly rising from his seat, he said... "I think we should kill them, I'll go get a knife." Needless to say, my wife and I left immediately and have never returned to that particular residence. It was the creepiest thing I've ever heard a five year old say. Getting back to your question... not too long after this event, as I sat upon a log perusing the contents of a cache I had just discovered, a mother, father, and son trio passed by on the nearby trail. When, in the same sort of creepy monotone voice, and eyeing me suspisously, the young lad asked... "Just what are you doing over there?", I lied. "Taking pictures" I said, and I held up my camera. I also had one other rather strange encounter at another cache. This time there was no place to sit and I was standing next to the cache location which was right along side the trail. A woman hiking the trail stopped and engaged me in a conversation. I made no attempt to conceal my actions and just stood there, cache container in hand, and proceded to peruse the cache, make my trade, write in the logbook, close the container back up, etc.... I waited til she was gone to replace the container in it's hiding spot, but not once during the entire time we stood there talking out in the middle of the woods did she ask me what the heck I was doing. I once met up with a fellow in the woods of a local State park who was lost and trying to locate a group of co-worker's at one of the group picnic shelters which I knew were located at the opposite end of the park. I was geocaching and had parked near the picnic shelters so I pulled out my GPS, did a quick 'go-to' back to where I had parked, consulted my compass, pointed off in the distance and said he needed to go 1.2 miles in THAT direction. Well, he had one of those woefully inadequate park maps in hand and was convinced he needed to go in the opposite direction, the direction I was headed in. He tagged along with me even though I assured him he was just getting farther and farther away from his intended destination. After a while we came upon an obvious landmark that was identified on his map and he decided that perhaps I really did know where I was going. Now totaly confused and disoriented, this gentleman asked if I would be kind enough to escort him to the picnic shelters, he even offered to pay me! I told him that I would be happy to guide him to his destination, but that I would not accept payment for it and that first I had to "find something." So, in the end he got his introduction to geocaching though it was not the result of a single question but rather a series of events that led to the discussion. Whew! That sure turned out to be a long post. Regards, Tedoca Quote Link to comment
Eric O'Connor Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 Being ever the shy type, when I'm walking around pacing back and forth trying to figure out the general area of the cache and someone notices me, I speak up right then and there and tell them I'm playing a globally based game that use satellites and yadda-yadda-yadda. My thinking is that their imagination is not my friend. Anyway, while at Tilden Cleft with MRP, we were assured by a hiker-gal that there had been many-many trees/bushes in that area, that surely it was someone who was partaking in this activity who'd removed them, and that she couldn't possible be wrong even though there was no evidence whatsoever that things had been disturbed. I looked at Mitch, he looked at me, we stared at her. We did our best to convince her that nobody would have a reason to do this, but she just huffed away. I sometimes wonder just what the heck we have in the water around here. Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 We have never been asked while caching, although one of my students saw a printout during a lab session I was teaching this week. When I picked it up, he asked if I Geocached. He had found the Geocaching site early last year, but hadn't checked to see how caches were appearing around the state. Good thing lab this week an open session for students to group up and decide on a final project. Richard and Tracy Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 We have never been asked while caching, although one of my students saw a printout during a lab session I was teaching this week. When I picked it up, he asked if I Geocached. He had found the Geocaching site early last year, but hadn't checked to see how caches were appearing around the state. Good thing lab this week an open session for students to group up and decide on a final project. Richard and Tracy Quote Link to comment
Zuckerruebensirup Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 I've always tried to be discreet about what I'm doing, so I try to keep my GPS out of sight as much as possible, so people aren't as apt to get curious, and discover the cache. Quote Link to comment
+Bluespreacher Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 quote:Originally posted by RDVH: How many of you have had people stop and ask what your reading on the gps and why. Seems more people like the idea and join geocaching. I'd like to find out what question people actually ask you? I did have a guy ask us what we were doing when we had missed the parking coords and were wandering around in an exclusive neighborhood. He didn't seem too pleased! Recenly, I was at a cache that required a photo of the cacher with a bag of trash that he had picked up. So I'm posing with the trophy and the camera is on self-timer when this jogger goes by. He didn't stop, but the look on his face was priceless! Bluespreacher Quote Link to comment
Geo Quest Posted March 8, 2002 Share Posted March 8, 2002 There's a cache here in Oregon called Tree Hugger. You are required to climb a tree to get to it. The tree is very close to a paved jogging trail and you get some real werid looks. My wife was at the bottom of the tree while I was logging our find about 40 feet up. Two female joggers approach my wife (who is looking up). "What are we looking at"? they said. "My husband" she said. "What's he doing?" they said. "Treasure hunting". she said. "God bless those pagans" - Homer Simpson Quote Link to comment
+mtn-man Posted March 9, 2002 Share Posted March 9, 2002 Here are a couple of good ones: 1) I usually carry cards I created and print on my computer with me to staple in log books (yeah, I carry a stapler in my goodie bag). The other day in the airport check-in line, I saw a guy playing with his GPS. I said "Hey, do you Geocache too?" He said "Huh?" I explained Geocaching briefly and handed him a card, which has the Geocaching web address on it. He thought it was a cool idea. Yet another future Geocacher! 2) I was close to a cache on a hunt and was down in a hole with some brush and stuff looking at my GPS. It is a Frisbee Golf Course Park. Some guys come over to the tee box that is near the cache and said "Hey, are you the 'Can you here me now' guy?" I laughed and said "Well, sort of!" Since I was so close to the cache, I did not explain Geocaching that time. I should have held the GPS up to my ear and said "Can you hear me now?" HEHE, very funny... Quote Link to comment
+mtn-man Posted March 9, 2002 Share Posted March 9, 2002 Here are a couple of good ones: 1) I usually carry cards I created and print on my computer with me to staple in log books (yeah, I carry a stapler in my goodie bag). The other day in the airport check-in line, I saw a guy playing with his GPS. I said "Hey, do you Geocache too?" He said "Huh?" I explained Geocaching briefly and handed him a card, which has the Geocaching web address on it. He thought it was a cool idea. Yet another future Geocacher! 2) I was close to a cache on a hunt and was down in a hole with some brush and stuff looking at my GPS. It is a Frisbee Golf Course Park. Some guys come over to the tee box that is near the cache and said "Hey, are you the 'Can you here me now' guy?" I laughed and said "Well, sort of!" Since I was so close to the cache, I did not explain Geocaching that time. I should have held the GPS up to my ear and said "Can you hear me now?" HEHE, very funny... Quote Link to comment
+KD7MXI Posted March 9, 2002 Share Posted March 9, 2002 at least 3 per year http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=KD7MXI ---------------- 73s from kd7mxi TERRA UTAH USA ---------------- 146.520 simplex frs-1 no pl cb-19 am ----------------- Quote Link to comment
+KD7MXI Posted March 9, 2002 Share Posted March 9, 2002 at least 3 per year http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=KD7MXI ---------------- 73s from kd7mxi TERRA UTAH USA ---------------- 146.520 simplex frs-1 no pl cb-19 am ----------------- Quote Link to comment
+Macro Posted March 9, 2002 Share Posted March 9, 2002 So many people will look at me like I'm from mars, but will never dare just ask me what I am doing wandering about the woods with a little yellow electronic gizmo. I guess its just NJ. People here keep to themselves, and while they have no problem staring at you like you must be doing something wrong, they never say a word to you. Oh well, I always wanted to move out west...that is just another reason. Quote Link to comment
+mrcpu Posted March 10, 2002 Share Posted March 10, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Tedoca: So, in the end he got his introduction to geocaching though it was not the result of a single question but rather a series of events that led to the discussion. Whew! That sure turned out to be a long post. Did he become a member?!? Sounds like he needs the nav practice!!! Rob Quote Link to comment
+mrcpu Posted March 10, 2002 Share Posted March 10, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Tedoca: So, in the end he got his introduction to geocaching though it was not the result of a single question but rather a series of events that led to the discussion. Whew! That sure turned out to be a long post. Did he become a member?!? Sounds like he needs the nav practice!!! Rob Quote Link to comment
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