Confession

[+Trudy & the beast]

Hello,

 

My name is the beast, and I’m a cachaholic.

 

It started innocently. At first it was a casual cache here and there. But, it didn’t take long and I was hooked. I was sneaking out for a quick cache after church, at family gatherings, weddings and funerals. To save time, I would skip packing a lunch for work so that I could use those few extra minutes of daylight before work to grab a quick cache. I began sneaking out of bed in the wee hours of night to study the work of Eule Gibbons so that I might skip any semblance of a lunch and just snack on my way between caches. I know I wasn’t eating right, I was in trouble. Soon the caches were getting further from home and work and caching was consuming more and more of my time and I was getting to fewer caches. So, I began placing caches close to home and work. Now if I wasn’t able to get to a new cache, I could at least do some cache maintenance with the time I had available.

 

One day my boss caught me sneaking out during a break to check one of my nearby caches. He said “beast, we need to have a talk.” I thought I was finally going to get the help I needed. When he started to express his concerns, I realized that there was no use being defensive. So I explained what I was doing, and showed him the cache and my GPS. Soon he was hooked too. Now, we are taking two-hour lunch breaks together to cache. We are caching after work. I am getting home at a later hour every week. My family has all joined cacheanon and they are considering an intervention. Trudy has stopped fighting it and now joins me in the fields and woods every chance she gets. I think she is only doing it to save our marriage.

 

I no longer believe I can stop caching. It is too late for me. I share my story in the hope that it may serve as an example. Perhaps some beginning cacher will see where these trips to WalMart, K-Mart, Target and the Dollar Store are leading. Please, young cachers, swap your GPS for a metal detector before it’s too late.

[+carleenp]

LOL. That was fun Trudy and beast!

 

[weRlostNDwoods]

ROFLOAO Wonderful tale! Mr. Lost and I are also cache-aholics...we feel your pain! Or, is it the pleasure??????? There really should be a chach-a-non meeting someplace! hehe

 

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cache.

[Jomarac5]

Darn, I was hoping that this was a sock puppet coming out of the closet.

 

But this is pretty funny too.

 

*****

[GeoFerrets]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jomarac5:

Darn, I was hoping that this was a sock puppet coming out of the closet.

 

But this is pretty funny too.

 

*****

---

Which is funnier? I don't think coming out is funny.

[Jomarac5]

quote:

---

Geoferrets wrote:

Which is funnier? I don't think coming out is funny.

---

I think a sock puppet exposing himself (i.e., coming out) for being a sock puppet would be funnier. As for your second sentence, I think you've misunderstood -- so relax -- there's nothing controversial about it.

 

*****

[+canadazuuk]

Hi, my name is canadazuuk. I'm a geocacher. I've been a geocacher for 10 months. In a way, obsessions have also been driving me. Mad sometimes. I can be mean when I geocache. But normally, I'm pretty fair. Bad company corrupts they say, and I try to get people into geocaching.

 

I usually cache alone, and sometimes go on extended binges. Caching in the morning is not uncommon. Caching into the wee hours of the night is typical. I am frequently foregoing other simple pleasures in order to cache. I sometimes spend my mortgage money geocaching.

 

Geocaching gives me confidence. After a few geocaches, I feel invincible. Until the caches run out. Or I can't find any.

 

I know that I need help. Fellow geocachers sometimes say I need to take my meds. I have become delusional. I see things in a different light. Sometimes my socks start talking to me like puppets. I often confuse perceptions with reality.

 

When I geocache, I'm looking for a new high. That's why I've taken to geocaching on mountains. Or am I just hiding from my problem? I can see for miles around me, but I've forgotten to look inside.

 

Geocaching consumes me. It's not just a game. It's every waking moment. I incorporate it into my daily routine. I even have to hide geocaches in my car, so they are always at hand.

 

I know I can't change on my own. I need help. That's why I'm here. Please.

[+DocMagoo]

ROFLMAO - Trudy and the Beast, what a way to start the day! Thanks for the humour (or shall we say, truth to the matter). It's already too late for me...ten caches in and I'm already dreaming of my 1st FTF and my fiftieth cache. My son is hooked now too. What kind of example am I setting? At every moment, he asks, "Are we doing another cache today?"

 

Wherever you go, there you are.

[+The Gowen Family]

Just so Trudy and the Beast, knows getting a metal detector won't help. You will only get hooked on something diffrent, we have both a gps and a metal detector, and we take turns using the both of them.

[+canadazuuk]

no other takers?

 

I'm disappointed

[+Moosiegirl]

I'm at 599 and still in denial ... witness my tag line.

 

Happy Trails,

 

quote:

---

... I can quit any time I like ... really, I CAN!!

---

 

Candy (Moosiegirl)http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CentralTexasGeocachers/

[+The Cheeseheads]

Just ask my wife how hooked I am. We just got back from a trip out east. Before the trip I generated about a dozen GPX files along the route and used ExpertGPS to condense those down to caches along the route we were taking, just in case we stopped at a rest stop and there was a cache hidden there.

 

I had the map on the GPSr going while I was driving. She quickly got sick of me pointing out woodsy areas every ten minutes and saying "Hey, there's a cache hidden right in there!"

 

I also kept a detailed listing of caches in the areas we were staying, so I found a few nice ones in PA and NY. The trip was culminated with a trip through customs so I could find my 200th in Canada. Once I found that one, my wife all but forced me to hand over the GPSr for the rest of the trip.

 

No matter where I go now, before I leave I always have to check to see if there is a cache nearby that I could find if I had some extra time.

 

Oy.

 

- - - - -

I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.

[Jamethiel]

Almost at the year mark and my husband and I were so desperate for a truck that we have agreed to let my brother move into our spare bedroom and take him caching!

I confess, we only have the long, hard caches left that are either further than we will drive the car up forest roads, or longer than we will walk in the summer heat. Bro thought he was getting a good deal...until his first cache involved 4 creek crossings, his second an 11 mile hike, and his third a 6.5 mile hike in 95+ degree weather. He isn't sure if we aren't just trying to kill him for the truck.

And, what is worse is that work keeps getting in the way of caching and I barely have time to even wander the forums anymore. But we have completed step 9 of the 12 Step cache by Skydiver and are well on our way to offically having GAS.

-Jennifer of Jennifer&Dean

 

Age does not bring wisdom, but it does give perspective.

[+Right Wing Wacko]

Hmmm..... a Metal Detector! That might help me find those well hidden Ammo Boxes!

 

[+camp637]

If we did not already know you two people, we would say that you are absolutely nuts! Oh wait, your'e Geocachers--all Geocachers are nuts, aren't we? Enjoyed the post, sure does fit a lot of us. I think many more of us will need to get into a 12 step program. The other half of the team actually suggested we take the two week vacation coming up and go caching somewhere in Minnesota or some other God Forsaken state! And I agreed! Who knows where we will end up. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, we were in Las Vegas, and since we had a car for only one day, we hit 13 caches-7 with the car, and 6 more the next day by foot. Help us--were addicted.! camp637

Jim & Pat