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zamboni · 12-28-2004, 04:03 PM

I was wondering if any of you that Airstream also Geocache?

I just got a GPS unit for Xmas from my wife and kids and the weather here in St. Louis broke enough to get out. We found five on Sunday, the kids had a great time.

If anyone was interested, I would like to start a Airstream themed cache in the St. Louis area.

cosmotini · 12-28-2004, 05:19 PM

Hi Zamboni!

Could you explain what Geocache is? I think I've heard of it but am not sure. Is it where you give coordinates to something you hide and have others find it?

Dennis

troubleskeep · 12-28-2004, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmotini

Hi Zamboni!

Could you explain what Geocache is? I think I've heard of it but am not sure. Is it where you give coordinates to something you hide and have others find it?

Dennis

Geocache is a like a fox hunt or scavenger hunt game. There are three types I know about. One is someone places an item in a public area and provides clues to it's location which include the GPS routing to find the cache. Another is even 'easier' in that you locate old survey markers and log your visit. The coolest, in my opinion, is a two person challenge. One person hunts the cache location as in the first challenge but the second person must access a web based camera to capture a picture of the first person at the cache. This one can only be done where a webcam exists for this challenge.

Check out this link for more details or Goggle it

I'm still looking for mapping software that will talk to my Garmin without spending another $200.00

59toaster · 12-28-2004, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmotini

Hi Zamboni!

Could you explain what Geocache is? I think I've heard of it but am not sure. Is it where you give coordinates to something you hide and have others find it?

Dennis

High tech hide and seek with a GPS.
http://www.geocaching.com/

Yeah I do it when I have time. Been a while though. I'm Grimmy on the geocache site.

Tin Hut · 12-28-2004, 07:38 PM

We got started on it a couple of months ago. My wife and son look up caches for wherever we're camping and they grab the gps and go hunting. It's addicting.

thenewkid64 · 12-28-2004, 08:06 PM

I have also seen where there is a weatherproof box that is the cache. You are supposed to leave a trinket, and take a souvenir from the box. That way the cache is always got something new in it.

**Stefrobrts** · 12-28-2004, 11:03 PM

Most of our local caches are the waterproof box type. Though some folks around here have been getting very creative about what kind of containers they use. A bird house in a refuge was one of my favorites. The entry hole was blocked so birds wouldn't use it, but that hadn't stopped a HUGE spider from moving in!

I've found over 50 caches around here, but have never had luck finding them while on trips. I enjoy the caching because it has led us to many parks and public areas we didn't even know existed!

My favorite thing about geocaching is Travel Bugs. These are trinkets with a special numbered dogtag. People pick them up, log them and move them on to another cache. I had a stuffed shark I sent out with his intended destination a friend in IL. Took him almost two years to get there! Her son had a great time following his progress on the website! Another TB, a Scully action figure, has travelled all the way to FL and back, and even ended up back in the original X-Files themed cache in Portland that I had dropped her off in a year or so earlier, so I picked her up and brought her home for a visit before sending her off again. I think she's in CA now. I get a huge kick out of it everytime I get an update that one of the bugs has moved again.

59toaster · 12-28-2004, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thenewkid64

I have also seen where there is a weatherproof box that is the cache. You are supposed to leave a trinket, and take a souvenir from the box. That way the cache is always got something new in it.

Thats a traditional cache. Usualy people use a small AMMO can and lock it to something. The trend is micro cache now. 35mm film container and just a log. some a little bigger like 2 inch diameter containier so you can get small itmes in it. I live in a area with a very high concentration of them zip code is 30066 on the site. There is over 140 within a 10 mile radius.

Safari Tim · 12-28-2004, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troubleskeep

I'm still looking for mapping software that will talk to my Garmin without spending another $200.00

Try Street Atlas , you can get it for around $40-$50.

Street level detail with gps routing.

Karyn · 12-29-2004, 09:05 PM

Quote:

My favorite thing about geocaching is Travel Bugs. These are trinkets with a special numbered dogtag. People pick them up, log them and move them on to another cache. I had a stuffed shark I sent out with his intended destination a friend in IL. Took him almost two years to get there! Her son had a great time following his progress on the website! Another TB, a Scully action figure, has travelled all the way to FL and back, and even ended up back in the original X-Files themed cache in Portland that I had dropped her off in a year or so earlier, so I picked her up and brought her home for a visit before sending her off again. I think she's in CA now. I get a huge kick out of it everytime I get an update that one of the bugs has moved again.

Did you see the brief article on Gnomads in the last Airstream newsletter? It sounds similar to your Travel bugs, only geocaching is not involved. It seems like you just mail it off to a friend who logs it's adventures online and then sends it on to someone else. I think geocaching would add a more exciting and challenging element to the whole experience, but following your gnomad's wanderings online as it travels around the world could be fun too. Just don't name it "Mr. Bill."

**Stefrobrts** · 12-29-2004, 09:41 PM

I must have missed that one. It sounds like fun though. One thing that is exciting about the travel bugs is when you see there is one in a cache and get there just to find the person ahead of you grabbed it. I'm surprised at how often that happens!

Unfortunately TBs also get lost. People pick them up and never go Geocaching again, I guess. I lost a Mulder TB that way. About a year later I got an email from someone saying they found him in their backpack when they were moving! So I emailed and asked them to send him home or put him in a cache, and haven't heard back from them. Oh where, oh where has my Mulder gone? Many of the bugs I've picked up, I go to check on their travels later and find they dissapeared after only a step or two past where I dropped them off. It's sad!

Sugarfoot · 08-30-2006, 05:26 PM

I'm throwing this thread back out here since I'm sure there are lots of new forum members since the last post. It seems that geocaching activity would go so naturally with Airstreaming. Yes, I geocache when there is time, which isn't very often. I've checked out the Hiawassee, GA area for the Georgia Fall Leaf Ralley. Not heavily populated with caches, there's one 4 part multistage in the general area and a couple more caches further southeast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

. . .Unfortunately TBs also get lost. People pick them up and never go Geocaching again, I guess. I lost a Mulder TB that way. About a year later I got an email from someone saying they found him in their backpack when they were moving! So I emailed and asked them to send him home or put him in a cache, and haven't heard back from them. Oh where, oh where has my Mulder gone? Many of the bugs I've picked up, I go to check on their travels later and find they dissapeared after only a step or two past where I dropped them off. It's sad!

Yes, TBs get lost. I'm sorry about your Mulder missing in action.

My TB Bugsy Flamingo is supposed to be on the way to Sweden this month, we will see . . . hope he writes soon.

maxandgeorgia · 08-30-2006, 05:46 PM

What make or quality of GPS is needed for someone to join in on the geocaching? When I look at these devices at Big Box stores, I find everything from $50 up to several hundreds of dollars in cost, but I don't know what criteria are needed. Any advice? ~G

Sugarfoot · 08-30-2006, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxandgeorgia

What make or quality of GPS is needed for someone to join in on the geocaching? When I look at these devices at Big Box stores, I find everything from $50 up to several hundreds of dollars in cost, but I don't know what criteria are needed. Any advice? ~G

I have friends that use nothing more than the simple Garmin E-Trex, I think it is the Garmin base model and runs no more than $100, usually much less if you can catch a sale. One friend uses a very old Magellan unit. I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CS, but I use it for more than geocaching. It has more memory and I use it for SAR work and for road navigation like a Street Pilot. Garmin, Magellan, and Lowrance are dependable brands and industry leaders, but most people are familiar with Garmin (http://www.magellangps.com/ & http://www.garmin.com/ & http://www.lowrance.com/ are the websites).
Any GPS into which you can enter cache waypoint coordinates will work. Being able to download the waypoints from your computer directly into your GPS makes it easier. The http://www.geocaching.com/ site has links to software to make this easier. The point is to use the GPS to get in the area of the cache (within a few meters or yards) and then use your investigative and observational skills to locate it. Big boy hide and seek, so to speak. Some GPS units have more bells and whistles. Nice, but not really necessary for caching. It all depends on what you want to spend. If you want to download mapping software into a GPS, you have to go for a higher end model. Hope this helps.

LuminumTraila · 08-30-2006, 06:53 PM

We tried geocaching for the first time at a rally scout out in Vermont. The kids loved it, so we're going to do more.

Another form of this is letterboxing.

Description from website: LETTERBOXING is an intriguing pastime combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming "treasure hunt" style outdoor quest.

After we do a few more geocaches, I think we'll give letterboxing a try too.

-J

**Stefrobrts** · 08-30-2006, 07:30 PM

Letterboxing sounds like fun. I've worn out my local geocaching scene. I've found them all, except a series of really hard ones that require things like waypoint projection, which my old GPS can't do. Also there's a lot of micro caches being hidden now, and my old GPS doesn't have the accuracy to get us close enough to find many of them. Many fruitless hunts have taken some of the fun out of it.

Letterboxing looks like fun, but I can't imagine when I would get around to making my own rubber stamp! That would require creativity!

LuminumTraila · 08-30-2006, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Letterboxing looks like fun, but I can't imagine when I would get around to making my own rubber stamp! That would require creativity!

I was thinking of buying an Airstream rubber stamp and adding my WBCCI# to it.

-J

kramynot2000 · 08-30-2006, 08:43 PM

Had a slight GPS malfunction, but just got a new Garmin for my birthday and just spent an hour or so loading up some geocaches. We're going up to June Lake, CA for Labor day (no airstream, just an Aliner) and will be trying to find some cache's with the new GPS. It is addicting!

GO Bob · 08-30-2006, 08:48 PM

I enjoy geocashing. I am airstream1. The last time I went the family found about 6 or 8 on weekend trip. When I came back I found out that while I was gone the plant that I work at had almost burned down. We all work about 2 month staight nad I for got till just now that I have not logged those finds. The extra money alowed me to buy another AS. Thanks. Maybe with the weather fixin to cool off we can go cashing some more. Would like to get together locally for a weekend. Vacation almost gone.

Sugarfoot · 08-30-2006, 09:31 PM

GO Bob, sounds like you have some catching up to do! Both camping and caching since you've been working so hard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougjamie

. . . Another form of this is letterboxing. -J

I looked at this once, sounds facinating and fun. Like Stefrobrts says, "That would require creativity!" Maybe one of these days. Since I see there are a few cachers in the forum community, maybe I'll run into some of ya'll during a ralley someday. Happy caching!