Tb Rant

[+Uno Mas]

OK... I know many people have complained about this in the past, but I just have to comment on it again.

 

I live in So. Florida and found a travel bug wanting to see Nasa (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=53501). I happened to be going to Daytona soon, so I took him with me and managed to locate a cache on the way home to drop him off at. He was probably 15 or so miles from Cape Kennedy at this point.

 

Then... someone picks him up with the following log entry:

 

retrieved this little fellow and I have a special purpose in minf for him. I will be starting a new t bug hotel and he will be one of it's orignal inhabitants.

 

(his spelling mistakes, not mine).

 

Now... I'm all for TB hotels, but I think picking a TB up that was so close to his goal and then move him 83 miles in the wrong direction is just not nice. He's not even MY TB, but I feel I let the owners down by putting him in a place near this person.

 

OK.... Just had to say something. I realize that this is a "dead horse" topic but I just had to vent people that understand!

[+Eric K]

Yep, it's just 'one of those things'

 

I've had some TB's of mine get close to their goal and then someone picks it up and takes it in the complete opposite direction.

 

I just look at it as at least it's still moving. :-)

[WH]

I find alot of people just grab and move TB's around to increase their TB count. Some dont even read the TB page, they simply grab it and relcate it to wherever it suits them.

[+Trail Buzzards]

Moving bugs is all part of the game. We would rather move a bug than let it sit doing nothing. In fact, last weekend we picked up several bugs that were sitting in caches for more than a month. Would you rather have the bug stuck in a cache, or moved to a cache that is more likely to get someone's attention. It isn't always about the bug count!!!!

[+S&G.Davison]

it helps if the TB has its goals with it - Now in this case I dont know if it had a goal sheet with it, so this post may be off

 

If a TB has a goal sheet we always read it and if we can't help we dont take it. If a TB does not have a goal sheet and we know we will be caching again soon (like within a week to 10 days) we may take it home, print out the goal sheet and then release the TB again. If we don't think we will be out again soon we would leave it

[+Uno Mas]

I just felt really bad because the owner had e-mailed me thanking me for the photos I uploaded. Seems his kids really enjoyed them. I guess that when kids are involved I like to see things go well for them.

 

I do agree, movement is better than nothing! I have 3 travel bugs that have 107, 11 and 8 miles. The one that moved 11 miles was left in a cache that gets visits about every 2 months or so. Actually I'm just happy that I'm pretty sure they haven't gone missing, which in the end is the only thing that would upset me.

 

Thanks for listening!

[+JegMag]

It's a game, and I admit it, I grab all travel bugs! We once picked up a bug on his way to Florida. The next person that grabbed him promptly took him to Canada. Oh boy, I thought. But guess what -- the very next person was on their way to Florida and promptly delivered him. So, just because they take a detour does not mean they are lost.

And my evil twin thinks sometimes it is fun to move the bugs in the opposite direction. Now if they had a very specific goal and reason, I probably wouldn't. But if the goal is general, I try to have fun with the bug and the owner.

Lighten up and enjoy the game.

Life is way to serious.

 

JegMag

[+Sparky-Watts]

I picked up a TB a few weeks ago whose mission was to visit all 50 state capitols. I did my part in moving it toward our state capitol, but the next finder grabbed it and hauled it 3 states away! I know, that's different in a way, but it was a heck of a lot closer to our capitol than it was to the other state's capitol....I think that person should have read the TB page and left it alone until it actually reached the capitol here, then they could have moved it afterwards.....oh, well....some people have the attention span of a gnat......

[+Imajika]

Some bugs don't have goal tags attached to them and the finder has no means of accessing the web from the cache site.

 

I recently picked up a bug that had no goal tag. I got home and realized it was much better off in the cache I found it in. I apologized to the owners and moved it the next day to a cache within 3 miles of it's original location.

 

Now someone has picked it up and it is moving towards it's goal again.

[+brad.32]

I would rather most of my bugs not go into TB hotels because they are not in any hurry to get anywhere and I want them to move from cache to cache and eventually get to where they are "supposed to" go. Time in a TB hotel waiting for the perfect ride does not fit into this scheme, neither does flying the bug across the country. That's why most of my bugs have "travel by ground" on the instruction tag, but don't actually state their goals.

 

The web page has the goal, but if everyone only moves it a little bit (using a ground-based wheeled vehicle for you Cannonball Runners) then a little bit in any direction is okay, and the bug should make progress toward the goal. Kind of a directed random walk. I am thinking of changing the phrase on the instruction tag to something like "please move at most 200 miles" instead of "travel by ground".

 

I've had people add goal tags to some bugs and fly some bugs cross country to help achieve the goal, but the goal is primarily to travel from cache to cache, not to make a speed record getting to some spot, which is secondary. Now Genii, Carl, Carol, and Lou, on the other hand, are racing bugs. They are different and TB hotels could help them.

[+TruckerGeorge]

I tend to agree with the rant on this, as I have a travel but that was 70 mile + or - from the state capitol of that state. now it in the hands of some one taking it to another state.

 

oh well that the way the travel bug travels at times. but the goal of my bug is to visit the state capitol cities of the continental USA.

 

right now I am trying to find a map or just to do it in html listing the state and capitol of each state that it needs to visit. this was my first tb and am not sure if I had a sheet attached to it or not

 

TruckerGeorge

[+Sparky-Watts]

I tend to agree with the rant on this, as I have a travel but that was 70 mile + or - from the state capitol of that state. now it in the hands of some one taking it to another state.

 

oh well that the way the travel bug travels at times. but the goal of my bug is to visit the state capitol cities of the continental USA.

 

right now I am trying to find a map or just to do it in html listing the state and capitol of each state that it needs to visit. this was my first tb and am not sure if I had a sheet attached to it or not

 

TruckerGeorge

This is your bug, the one I mentioned earlier in this thread! Ain't that a crock?

[+TruckerGeorge]

I tend to agree with the rant on this, as I have a travel but that was 70 mile + or - from the state capitol of that state.  now it in the hands of some one taking it to another state. 

 

oh well that the way the travel bug travels at times.   but the goal of my bug is to visit the state capitol cities of the continental USA.

 

right now I am trying to find a map or just to do it in html listing the state and capitol of each state that it needs to visit.  this was my first tb and am not sure if I had a sheet attached to it or not

 

TruckerGeorge

This is your bug, the one I mentioned earlier in this thread! Ain't that a crock?

Yuppers that is my TB.... know this not really the place to ask or post. but did I have a tb travel sheet on the bug??? it was my first one to place out in the wild. and now I make sure I have a sheet attached to my bugs from this point out.

 

TruckerGeorge

[+Sparky-Watts]

I tend to agree with the rant on this, as I have a travel but that was 70 mile + or - from the state capitol of that state.  now it in the hands of some one taking it to another state. 

 

oh well that the way the travel bug travels at times.   but the goal of my bug is to visit the state capitol cities of the continental USA.

 

right now I am trying to find a map or just to do it in html listing the state and capitol of each state that it needs to visit.  this was my first tb and am not sure if I had a sheet attached to it or not

 

TruckerGeorge

This is your bug, the one I mentioned earlier in this thread! Ain't that a crock?

Yuppers that is my TB.... know this not really the place to ask or post. but did I have a tb travel sheet on the bug??? it was my first one to place out in the wild. and now I make sure I have a sheet attached to my bugs from this point out.

 

TruckerGeorge

Yuppers...it had a sheet on it......I didn't move it far from where I picked it up, maybe a few miles, but at least it was the right direction....still ticks me off about the guy that grabbed it a day or two after I dropped it taking it out of state......

[+Fritz_Monroe]

I tend to grab any bug that doesn't have it's goals attached to it. I'll take it home with me and look it up to see if I can help. If not, it goes with me to the next cache. If the cache hasn't been visited for months, I tend not to leave a but there. Don't want it to have to wait months more to get moving.

 

F_M