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The Official Travel Bug Obituary....


Go JayBee

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Well "THE DREADED E_MAIL " come today !!!!! WHERE"S MY BUG ????. :D:D .....I was hopeing they would never ask !!!!! Well i"v got to face the music.. :):lol: ........I just hope its not some little girls fav. bug ;):) ....... Excuse.....hummmmmmmmm lets see !!!!!..... I had my car painted and the bug and coin was at the body shop in the car.......prob. get a coin e-mail tooo...... :D:D .......havnt see them since then....stolen ?? maybe !!! I gave the bug owner my home & cell # to call me ......Hope theres no BOUNTY on a Bug loser !!!!! :D:)

Edited by ervind
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Allright.....calm down now, take a DEEEEEP breath.....the "Little Tommy Monkey TB" was your first, I know it's rough.

 

For anyone who's had the mis-fortune of sending out that "cute" little plushy with a tag around it's neck, and a note saying "DisneyLand or Bust".......we really feel for you.

 

Follw this link:The TravelBug Graveyard and give your bug a burial at sea.

 

Why did this happen?, What did I do wrong?....I should have listened to Snoogans. (But that's another thread)-------------->Snoogan's TB Longevity Clinic

 

May it Rest In Peace,

 

JayBee

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BUT IT WAS OUR FIRST......WAAHHHHHH.....LOL

 

OK, HERE IS OUR BI**H AND GRIPE :mad: .....WE RELEASED 3 AT ONCE, ONE FOR EACH OF US. :D BASEBALL BUG(HAD A BASEBALL ATTACHED) FOR THE MIDDLE OUTLAW... :ph34r: .CACHE MUGGLED AND DESTROYED BY HEATEN VACATIONERS. :yikes: FISHING BUG(HAD A FISH ATTACHED) WAS IN A CACHE THAT WAS IN THE WAY OF A BUSHHOG. , CACHE AND ALL ONBOARD WENT TO THIER GRAVES IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT , THOSE PESKY GERMAN SUBMARINES....AND DAH DAH :D ...THE YOUNGEST OUTLAWS....BIG BEN BUG( HAS A BUSTED WATCH ATTACHED)IT'S JOB IS TO GO TO THE TOWER OF LONDON AND BACK. WE LIVE IN N.C. AND IT IS NOW IN WASHINGTON STATE, MAYBER IT IS GOING BY WAY OF HONG KONG.

 

SO, I LIKE THE EVENT THING. :mad: HOW DO I REMOVE THE CACHE AFTERWARDS? DROP ME A LINE IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS OR YOU ARE A CACHE WIDOW.....LOL :D

Allright.....calm down now, take a DEEEEEP breath.....the "Little Tommy Monkey TB" was your first, I know it's rough.

 

For anyone who's had the mis-fortune of sending out that "cute" little plushy with a tag around it's neck, and a note saying "DisneyLand or Bust".......we really feel for you.

 

Follw this link:The TravelBug Graveyard and give your bug a burial at sea.

 

Why did this happen?, What did I do wrong?....I should have listened to Snoogans. (But that's another thread)-------------->Snoogan's TB Longevity Clinic

 

May it Rest In Peace,

 

JayBee

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:P So if there was a non member cache with a history of killing TB's, is there a listing to qualkify it as a black hole? :P:);):D

 

Allright.....calm down now, take a DEEEEEP breath.....the "Little Tommy Monkey TB" was your first, I know it's rough.

 

For anyone who's had the mis-fortune of sending out that "cute" little plushy with a tag around it's neck, and a note saying "DisneyLand or Bust".......we really feel for you.

 

Follw this link:The TravelBug Graveyard and give your bug a burial at sea.

 

Why did this happen?, What did I do wrong?....I should have listened to Snoogans. (But that's another thread)-------------->Snoogan's TB Longevity Clinic

 

May it Rest In Peace,

 

JayBee

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Lately we have run into so many TB's and coins that are listed in a cache, and are not in the cache! Yet the previous cachers or cache owner have NOT taken the time to notify the owner that it is not where it is supposed to be. we have also been finding quite a few TB's/coins, in the incorrect caches and have had to move them to the correct cache before we could pick it up, as to make sure that the travel distance gets properly logged. Any ideas on what we (I) can do to get the word out to cachers that if they come across something that is not there or is there and isn't listed to just take 2 minutes out of their day and notify the owner, i'm sure you would appreciate it if it was your TB/coin... I have had to do a lot of this in the past two months, :laughing: and it makes me sad because someone out there took the time to but thte tag or coin, and launch it for others to enjoy, and then other cachers don't respect their effort

 

Team CeDo

Edited by Team CeDo
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I need some help. On 8/8/2008 we took a race car travel bug #GC8E8H from "Little Woods TB Hotel" # GC1DHPN and placed the travel bug in GC19DVQ "Right in Plainview TB & GC Exchange". So we get to the hotel to log the day and the darn race car TB does not show up. I've searched race car travel bugs, i've searche d the number adn still i can't find anything. Someone is missing their travel bug and we just want to let them know it is still out traveling but have no idea how to track this travel bug down.

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It's frustrating that 15 of the 25 travel bugs I've placed are either no longer in the cache they are listed in or in the hands of folks. I contacted the eight folks that logged they had grabbed them.

 

Only one bothered to reply. :)

 

I doubt I will make up any more travel bugs once my supply of tags runs out. :)

 

It seems that properly logging travel bugs is no longer the norm.

 

Too bad, it was a fun run.....

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...I'd be happy to re-release your bugs....

Thanks for the offer, but that's not my point.

 

My frustration stems from the lack of courtesy and effort displayed by taking a travel bug and not following the rules clearly stated on each travel bug.

 

Even if we re-create the travel bug, odds are that too will get sucked into the vortex.

 

We need to address the problem and not the symptoms.

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Even though I do not own any TB's or coins at this point I understand your frustration, because I too feel the same way about trackable items. even again yesterday when I got home to log a TB, wouldn't ya' know it wasn't in the correct cache, so not only did it appear to be somewhere it wasn't, no miles were logged. So I once again moved it to the correcct location and notified the owner that their bug was not lost. I have been trying to help TB/coin owners find their missing items as I come across them. What do we need to do to make other cachers accountable for what they pick-up? I know that for quite some time I didn't realize you could just discover a TB/coin, maybe we need to make more people aware of that, so that way they can get "credit" for seeing it, and not taking it if they have no intention of followling the corrent goal or rules of TB/coin's. I admit I was not the best person at doing this myself in the past, but then we started seeing a major trend and I starting thinking... if that was mine I would be disappointed and frustrated. So now it is time to do something about it!! I am open to suggestions to try to help solve this problem and would love to be an advocate for this! I just don't know where to begin...

Edited by Team CeDo
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...I'd be happy to re-release your bugs....

Thanks for the offer, but that's not my point.

 

My frustration stems from the lack of courtesy and effort displayed by taking a travel bug and not following the rules clearly stated on each travel bug.

 

Even if we re-create the travel bug, odds are that too will get sucked into the vortex.

 

We need to address the problem and not the symptoms.

 

Okay, but I don't see the point of not enjoying your bugs until after we address the issue. Personally I think your overall frustration comes from either disappointment, or the effort involved, or both.

 

I don't disagree with you, but I counter that angst by educating other cachers as I often do here in the TB forum and by keeping bugs in circulation by any means possible. Even by re-releasing lost bugs for cachers who need to know that a huge majority of the community really does want that bug to survive.

 

If you are ever disappointed that your bug is lost, come talk to me and we'll both share in the success that can happen, even if it's only for a while.

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I went to the travel bug grave yard and it is closed. How come? My poor little Commissioner, our first TB has wandered off out of his very first drop. Hopefully he will find his way but sure is a bummer to die in your first cache.

 

They are closing down some graveyards after providing the option to move a bug to an Unknown Location. Access your bug and under the pull-down menu option to Recalculate Distance is the option for Mark as missing.

 

Edit: It's too soon to declare your bug is missing. Give it another week.

 

I'll bet it's currently sitting in another cache.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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SOB!!!!

We've lost probably our most expensive (and cuddly) TB :unsure:

I've contacted the 'finder' many times with no response. After researching the cacher's profile a bit, I've found that they were the 'final finder' of MANY TBs.. A TB collector?!?! Who does that??

 

Quoting ourselves, woo... How long do we have to wait before marking our TB as missing? This seems difficult since we know who is supposed to have it...

Augh! Whine, complain, b***h!!!!

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Allright.....calm down now, take a DEEEEEP breath.....the "Little Tommy Monkey TB" was your first, I know it's rough.

 

For anyone who's had the mis-fortune of sending out that "cute" little plushy with a tag around it's neck, and a note saying "DisneyLand or Bust".......we really feel for you.

 

Follw this link:The TravelBug Graveyard and give your bug a burial at sea.

 

Why did this happen?, What did I do wrong?....I should have listened to Snoogans. (But that's another thread)-------------->Snoogan's TB Longevity Clinic

 

May it Rest In Peace,

 

JayBee

[/quote....ok, here is an idea that another cacher had. break out the paddles....clear....beep beep beep...bring it back to life. i picked up a tb that was an aluminum ingot with the tb #'s stamped in.

 

i read the description and saw that it was on it's third life. when the first got lost, he got a pice of metal , stamped in the #'s and rereleased it, it happened again and he released it again. it has been moving for a while now.

 

i have two that we are going to try this out on. baseball bug, and fishing bug. we will keep you up to date on how this works/ outlaws1....cya in the air

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This is my first post as a new cacher (3 days) (can't remeber what I did for fun before"), nad I hope this won't be one of the stoopid annoying questions by posters too stoopid or lazy to read all pages but:

 

I went to a cache this morning which was supposed to have a TB inside. Alas, distinct absence of TB. What do I do? Can't collect it, but feels wrong to have it attached to the cache. :blink:

 

Thanks in advance

 

P.S. The name of the TB is being withheld until the family has been informed...

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I know the pain,

I dropped off four TBs, three of them went traveling while the fourth never went anywhere. I asked my buddy to go check up on them as I dropped them off in Germany about one week before I left country. Needless to say the one TB that should have been in the cache....wasn't. It wasn't even a fancy TB, just a small metal stack of books with the tag attached.

Meanwhile my retirement TB went north to Finland and is still hanging out in the cold (and I hated the cold when I was active military, and now my TB must suffer)

Oh well

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Ok, I'm new and very interested in this TB- and Geocoin-Stuff and I'm sorry for every bug or coin that is MIA. So I looked at your TB, nameless301 and looked at the team you mentioned. I know that Groundspeak is against a Blacklist of geocachers, and I think thy have good reasons, BUT:

 

In this case the team seems to keep every bug, coin wahtsoever they find and therefore ridicule the whole idea of travellers. I don't know why they do it. Could it be they haven't understood the concept?

 

Would it be a solution to nominate a view "TB-Reviewers" or something? My idea is the following and NO BLACKLIST:

 

- you as a TB-owner discover that your bug is for months in the hands of a geocacher who seems to collect TBs instead of letting them travel

- you report this fact to the "TB-Reviewer"

- the "TB-Reviewer" sends a polite mail asking to please let the poor things go

 

My idea behind that is that for you as a TB-owner it is very hard to stay polite. And: if the cacher who has your TB doesn't speak the same language what sounds polite to you might sound harsh to the keeper. If you have "TB-Reviewers" in every country a native speaker could write the Mail (or have a standard mail he always sends).

I don't know if this would work, but for me if it works in one of twenty cases ist would still be great for the Travellers. I think of this in the way some librarys do it by not saying "you haven't returned book xyz, this will cost you..." but saying "please return book xyz because there are about 10 people who are desperately waiting for this book to read".

 

Just my thoughts.

Edited by forkliftcat
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Ureeka!!!! After more than a year, Good News Bear 1 is back in my possession. I found the ones who had taken it on IM and asked about it. They had recently moved and found it in their stuff and didn't know what it was........

 

Also, another travel bug, Larry the Travel Bug Cucumber, went missing when a cache was muggled. I recently received an e-mail from a "newbi" who said they found it on their stairs.

 

Anyway, don't give up hope. You just never know.

Edited by Dooley the Clown and Joy
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Normally my response to negotiating with terrorists is, "Nuts." And I don't really want to violate the spirit of our hobby. But for my son's sake, just this one time, and only because it was his first TB, I will make an exception and offer to pay the ransom. If anyone has the Runs Like A Deere Travel Bug (see info below) contact me and I will provide a mailing address, and pay $50.00 US upon its return.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=216887

 

Last reported in Wind Dancer, a cache that was de-activated, near Yakima, WA, over a year ago.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

LostButMakingGoodTime

 

:D

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You folks that 'poo-poo' someone being upset because their Travel Bug goes missing are really something else! How do you think most people would feel if their geocaches were removed? Would they just say, "Oh well, I'll just place some more." I doubt it!!!

 

People go to some lengths to design and place a Travel Bug, including the cost of purchasing the tag, just to have someone pick it up and NOT move it to a new location. This shows disrespect for the person doing the placing AND the entire intent of Geocaching.

 

For example: On 8/7/07 my one and only travel bug, 'Mr. Scorpon,' was picked-up by 'Big J71' and has yet to be placed anywhere. On top of this, I have attempted on several occasions to email this person asking when they planned to replace it but have yet to hear from them. True, something may have happened to this person that would keep them from responding but as yet, I don't know what that may be. I'd even be happy to drive to this person't location to retreave 'Mr. Scorpon' but I'd have to hear from 'Big J71' to do that.

 

If you are one of those who think that this is just 'crying over spilled milk' I say that maybe I'll be the one who goes out and removes your geocaches and see how you feel about that! But don't worry; It's just a minor thing, that is, according to you...

 

I'll be happy to hear from any of you who can condone and justify what is at worst stealing, and at the least being a butthead.

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I assume you've read the forum guidelines, specifically the one that says:

 

3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?act=boardrules

 

I suspect you are addressing the position of "Never release anything you are not willing to lose".

 

If so, you can open a new thread and give your opinion. Remember this is a family friendly forum.

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When a person buys a Travel Bug, the number becomes his property. One of my caches is "Pandora's Box" it requires a cacher -or- group of cachers to find five keys (all TBs) and combine the info to get the proper coordinates. :sad: Red has gone missing three times, Yellow four times, Green twice and Blue once. I just laminate another Travel Bug and send out another one...Big deal if it shows up again, I retrieve it if I can or let it add to the evil of Pandora's Box. :blink:

Edited by Hirum
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My son was a Miltary Dog Handler in Iraq. He was severly injured and his dog was killed by a roadside bomb on Dec 11, 2005. I've set out two travel bugs for his partner Dak, and lost both travel bugs.. The Travel bugs were identical. My son has recovered from his injuries, and is now Geocaching(Well Done). I'm going to make a Third travel bug for Dak, but I'm goint to let my son release this one.

Dak TBVQQ

Dak Fallen Hero TB17EFW

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Don't know where to start. So, please anybody, point me in the correct direction.

 

We are a group of people who would like to concentrate on TB's with a religious theme. How do I find out which TB's would fall in this category. Otherwise, we will start our own TB with such a theme.

 

Thanks

 

Johan Botes

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Don't know where to start. So, please anybody, point me in the correct direction.

 

We are a group of people who would like to concentrate on TB's with a religious theme. How do I find out which TB's would fall in this category. Otherwise, we will start our own TB with such a theme.

 

Thanks

 

Johan Botes

 

There is no screening process for bugs. You may release a TB with a religious theme.

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I released a TB at our clubs fall event here in NEPA. I am trying to get the TB to Mass. The very first place it went to.... WEST VIRGINIA !!!! I guess the directions went unread. Now, it's stuck in limbo in a questionable cache that warns of law enforcement intervention if you don't follow the caches directions carefully. Why me. I was thinking of sending our three TB's as a search and rescue for my TB. I had such high hopes for my little traveler.

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My son was a Miltary Dog Handler in Iraq. He was severly injured and his dog was killed by a roadside bomb on Dec 11, 2005. I've set out two travel bugs for his partner Dak, and lost both travel bugs.. The Travel bugs were identical. My son has recovered from his injuries, and is now Geocaching(Well Done). I'm going to make a Third travel bug for Dak, but I'm goint to let my son release this one.

Dak TBVQQ

Dak Fallen Hero TB17EFW

 

That's really cool that you are releasing TBs in honor of your son's partner. And really cool that your son is doing geocaching and so glad he's recovered! I will keep your TBs on their course if ever I happen run across them!

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I assume you've read the forum guidelines, specifically the one that says:

 

3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?act=boardrules

 

I suspect you are addressing the position of "Never release anything you are not willing to lose".

 

If so, you can open a new thread and give your opinion. Remember this is a family friendly forum.

 

Well, I can see that you have great concern (NOT) for those of us who have had their Travel Bugs removed by someone. Remember the old saying about the "...one bad apple"? Well there seems to be a LOT of them in this barrel.

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I assume you've read the forum guidelines, specifically the one that says:

 

3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?act=boardrules

 

I suspect you are addressing the position of "Never release anything you are not willing to lose".

 

If so, you can open a new thread and give your opinion. Remember this is a family friendly forum.

 

Well, I can see that you have great concern (NOT) for those of us who have had their Travel Bugs removed by someone. Remember the old saying about the "...one bad apple"? Well there seems to be a LOT of them in this barrel.

 

Sir, I have helped scores of people with their lost travel bugs and not just here in the forums. Many people have contacted me off line to specifically help them get their travel bug back. And when that fails I have even re-issued the bug for them. So you might want to get to know a person a little better before you start judging them.

 

 

 

edit: flipped two words.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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Our TB "Ridin' the Range" disappeared one month after we placed it. Someone logged that they dropped it off in a cache and it didn't move again...for a long time. A while later we checked that cache (it had actually moved CLOSER to our home!), and it wasn't there. It hasn't shown up since. That was 2005.

 

It really put my kids off Travel Bugs and provoked a discussion about selfish people who don't follow rules. Ah well, another hard lesson in life that they learned along the geocaching trail. The lesson in common courtesy is very well received when one is the victim of another person's failure to display it.

 

So, RIP TBHK5C

 

Babawooziedah

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It’s always sad and a shame when a Travel Bug or Geocoin goes missing, no matter what the cause.

Although I do believe that you shouldn’t release something that you are afraid to lose, I was not prepared to have so many become “lost” and never be seen again.

 

I have released about 50 TB’s and 50 coins. About a third of the coins are still being moved around, a third have been marked as missing, and the other third have been in someone’s hands for quite a few months and sometimes up to a year or more. The TB are doing better: about half are still going and the other half are either marked as missing or is in somebody’s hands.

 

What is most disappointing is that most of my Travel Bugs have had a lot of thought, humor, and work put into them. After spending my time and money to send them out, I find it sad that a very small but seemingly active minority of the geocaching community has no problem taking other people’s property and depriving the owner and all other cachers the enjoyment of the travelers. They must think that people send out these items for the purpose of adding to someone else’s personal collection. But, in reality, they really are just petty thieves. I don’t think I could enjoy looking at something if every time I did; it would remind me that I stole it.

 

Now having said that, I do believe that the vast majority of geocachers love caching and would not think of doing anything but moving coins and TB’s along. Also, stuff happens. I placed one TB in a TB Hotel the day before it was bulldozed by the state weed abatement crew. Another cache was washed away by a rain storm. Like I said, stuff happens…oh, well.

 

I know that I am preaching to the choir, but I do hope that the folks that keep coins and TB’s come to realize that when they do that they remove the joy of geocaching for a lot of people and replace it with anger and frustration. Let’s all encourage each other to do the right thing with Geocoins and TB’s.

And please, don’t lose the fun and enjoyment of geocaching because of the actions of a few.

 

;) I’ve rambled on long enough.

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One other thing. I sent out a really neat Travel Bug (The Maltese Pig: TB1F457) that I really was disapointed to see go missing.

If any one can help, forever will I be in your debt.

Thanks.

 

Well, the next cacher at that location after your bugged was dropped happens to have a Missing bugs thread here in this forum. I doubt he was the guy to take it. Perhaps he can go back out to the cache and see if someone signed the log book who didn't log on line. You might be able to find someone who knows them.

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I posted this message on another thread earlier today mainly because I didn't know that this one was accepting new entries - I guess I'm not exactly sure what "pinning" a topic entails! Anyway, and with my humblest apologies to those of you who might have seen it before, I offer this personal tale of woe to you as a final and lasting tribute to my one and only TB ever, Roy.

 

You see, when I started geocaching three years ago and first learned about TBs, I was very excited. I decided that I'd buy the biggest and cutest TB I could and send it out on a journey of wonder and discovery. And so, for $17 (or was it $13?) and the cost of a TB tag, "Roy the Globetrotting Golden Spider Monkey" was born. His mission was to "swing from cache to cache" around the world! So, I wrapped the TB tag around his neck (there was no mission statement attached), took a couple of pics, and dropped him into my first puzzle cache that I'd dubbed Jungle Fever! Come to think of it now, Roy was selected as my first TB primarily because he kinda fit the jungle theme of the cache. Anyway, he was immediately picked up by the FTFers and I imagined that this would be the start of an amazing adventure. Unfortunately, poor Roy lasted less than two weeks in the wild. He made it to a total of two new caches before swinging out of sight forever. I still harbor a few suspicions about what happened to him but he probably fell victim to the excessive cuteness factor (see pics below). How could anyone resist such an expression?! Poor Roy, I still mourn his loss. :blink:

 

8c1a8914-ee25-4e94-9288-f7efde7c4533.jpg

 

cd0bdbce-608e-405a-994f-eb574f92532d.jpg

 

Anyway, having learned my TB lesson the hard way, I switched my attention to geocoins. Over the next year or two, I purchased a number of pretty geocoins, dutifully drilled holes in them (with a cheap electric drill bought specifically for this purpose) and attached them to blank keychains (bought specifically for this purpose). I released a total of 15 such coins before my drill began to lose its effectiveness (or they began to make geocoins out of harder and harder metals!). Anyway, as of today, only two of these can be accounted for and the rest have (or will soon be) moved to that most dubious of TB destinations, the "Unknown Location".

 

And so, within the past few months, I've resorted to just leaving unactivated geocoins that catch my fancy in caches that I've enjoyed finding (especially if I was FTF!). This simple activity has already given me more pleasure and satisfaction than I've otherwise had in trying to determine where my missing coin is now or where it was last, or who might have discovered it and who might have picked it up and not logged it, etc, etc. :)

Edited by JamGuys
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It is sure sad to see that TB's are having a hard time getting around. I (we) are new to this game and want to make sure we play by the rules. I have seen a number of very cute TB's in our travels, but won't take any unless I know I can move them a good distance from their present location. I believe that is one of the rules. If players would only remember this and not take any TB unless they know they can move them on in a short period of time the owners wouldn't have all of these mentioned problems. Thanks for the helpful hints on what we should and shouldn't be doing in our new found love.

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I have seen a number of very cute TB's in our travels, but won't take any unless I know I can move them a good distance from their present location. I believe that is one of the rules.
That is not one of the rules of travel bugs. You are encouraged to pick up any travel bug that you see in a cache and move it to another cache, even if that other cache is nearby.

 

If you ignore a travel bug and let it languish in a cache, then that increases the chances of the travel bug becoming lost, because the cache could be muggled or the travel bug taken by someone who does not log its find. In my opinion, as more responses geocachers fail to pick up a travel bug left in a cache, the odds of the travel bug becoming lost increases.

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I posted this message on another thread earlier today mainly because I didn't know that this one was accepting new entries - I guess I'm not exactly sure what "pinning" a topic entails! Anyway, and with my humblest apologies to those of you who might have seen it before, I offer this personal tale of woe to you as a final and lasting tribute to my one and only TB ever, Roy.

 

You see, when I started geocaching three years ago and first learned about TBs, I was very excited. I decided that I'd buy the biggest and cutest TB I could and send it out on a journey of wonder and discovery. And so, for $17 (or was it $13?) and the cost of a TB tag, "Roy the Globetrotting Golden Spider Monkey" was born. His mission was to "swing from cache to cache" around the world! So, I wrapped the TB tag around his neck (there was no mission statement attached), took a couple of pics, and dropped him into my first puzzle cache that I'd dubbed Jungle Fever! Come to think of it now, Roy was selected as my first TB primarily because he kinda fit the jungle theme of the cache. Anyway, he was immediately picked up by the FTFers and I imagined that this would be the start of an amazing adventure. Unfortunately, poor Roy lasted less than two weeks in the wild. He made it to a total of two new caches before swinging out of sight forever. I still harbor a few suspicions about what happened to him but he probably fell victim to the excessive cuteness factor (see pics below). How could anyone resist such an expression?! Poor Roy, I still mourn his loss. :anicute:

 

8c1a8914-ee25-4e94-9288-f7efde7c4533.jpg

 

cd0bdbce-608e-405a-994f-eb574f92532d.jpg

I don't know if you noticed this...well, your story tugged at my strings enough I went to see the cache an TB to get to know Roy a little better. Did you happen to catch that he was spotted in a cache this October? Maybe you should contact the discoverer...Roy may be still out there!

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I have seen a number of very cute TB's in our travels, but won't take any unless I know I can move them a good distance from their present location. I believe that is one of the rules.
That is not one of the rules of travel bugs. You are encouraged to pick up any travel bug that you see in a cache and move it to another cache, even if that other cache is nearby.

 

If you ignore a travel bug and let it languish in a cache, then that increases the chances of the travel bug becoming lost, because the cache could be muggled or the travel bug taken by someone who does not log its find. In my opinion, as more responses geocachers fail to pick up a travel bug left in a cache, the odds of the travel bug becoming lost increases.

Quoted for truth. I like to think of this way: it's a chain reaction. The next cache you drop that TB into just might be the one that has a cacher come along who picks up the TB and takes it five states closer to its mission. So, even if I only move it 2 miles to the next cache, that may be all it takes. The more a TB sits, it just increases the likelihood of being lost/stolen.

 

Bruce

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