Replicated from the GGA EZBoard:

slayerette
Super Poster
(6/20/02 8:59:39 am)
Travel Bugs

Travel Bugs Issue:
I have come across instances (1 recently) of people picking up travel bugs and holding them for ...ohhh, lets say 8 months. That is just plain inconsiderate. I can see holding on to them for a couple of weeks or maybe a month (cause life hands you unexpected issues that can mess with your caching schedule). But 8 months is just rude.

I do have to say, that luckily the TB finally made it back into a cache and continue its journey.

I would like to remind people that If you pick up a travelbug you also assume the responsibility of Replacing it in another cache and abiding by the TB's Goal. If you aren't going to do it within a reasonable amount of time, DON'T PICK THEM UP.

I am not particularly interested in Travel Bugs, I have picked up a couple here and there. One in particular (TUG)was in my car on the dashboard waiting for the weekend so I could place him in a suitable cache, when I totaled my car. I cleared out of my car all the possesions I could see and off I went. I suddenly remembered I hadn't seen TUG in my stuff and the next day rushed to the junkyard to get him. I pryed the windshield back and there he was. I couldn't place him till I had a car so 2 weeks later I placed him. (See how life can get in the way of caching.) 3 weeks I had him, but I replaced him as soon as possible so others could enjoy him.
My point is... If you pick up a Travel Bug Place it in another cache as soon as possible so others have a chance at it.


My next issue will be in the next post!

Edited by: slayerette at: 6/20/02 9:00:29 am

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Da Rebel
Magnificent Poster
(6/20/02 5:16:01 pm)
Re: Travel Bugs

I hear ya. One of my bugs has gone walkabout it seems. I've emailed the cacher who grabbed him; nothing.

Travel Bug Page

I picked up the "Take Me to Your Leader" bug at the June meeting. He's gonna be heading to West Virginia next weekend.

I did have one that I grabbed and held for a couple/three months. Finally sent him on his way when I found him in the back of the car. Old age! Never heard from the owner, though.


"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain

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erik88l r
Administrator
(6/20/02 8:03:55 pm)
Re: Travel Bugs

Slayerette, firstly I hope you weren't hurt in the crash that totalled your car.

Secondly, I hope that GPS windshield mount wasn't hurt?

Seriously, you raise a good point re. people holding travelers too long. I know some people see a traveler posted on a cache page as an extra incentive to find that cache before someone else does. I used to be guilty of that but now I've reformed But I was always just as eager to move the traveler on to another cache. I can't imagine why someone would just hold onto the darn thing.

One thing that has frustrated me on a couple of occasions are travelers with specific criteria on where they should go. I found one once that had to be put in a cache created prior to the first aniversary of geocaching and have found others that wanted to move west (for example). If I had known some of those limitations up front I would have left the traveler for others. Maybe some folks delay moving a traveler to a new cache in an effort to meet direction requirements of some sort, but I'm sure the cache owner would rather it move in the wrong direction for a while then not move at all.

erik

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slayerette
Super Poster
(6/21/02 5:06:06 am)
Re: Travel Bugs

I certainly agree, sometimes the direction requirements can be a pain. But that is the risk that you take when you pick one up.
I just received an email from someone looking for the Elephant Travel bug. The person who picked up the traveler has not updated the TB page so it still shows on the page. At least they emailed before making a trip. They must have been disappointed a few times and have learned their lesson.

BTW - I wasn't injured too much and the GPS Mount made it without a scratch. It has found a new home in a more caching suitable vehicle.

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sparc77
Registered Geocacher
(6/23/02 9:41:01 pm)
Re: Travel Bugs

And yet another TB is gone. My poor little Dinky may have been too cute for his own good. He was taken from a cache in Alabama without being logged. I asked the cache owner to take a look and it seems that not only was Dinky not logged as being taken, but the person who took him did not log thier visit on the website either. The only info we have is that someone calling themselves "Sunrise" wrote in the cache log that they had taken Dinky and was giving him a lift to Louisiana. That was a couple of months ago. Does anyone know how to look up a member by thier nick so that I can send an email?

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Da Rebel
Magnificent Poster
(6/23/02 9:53:59 pm)
Re: Travel Bugs

Ya can get info on a cacher fairly easily. For instance, to get my info, go to:

web page

after ul= just type in the cachers nick. (Spaces are OK, they convert)

A quick check, though, didn't find a cacher named "sunrise."

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain

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AllenLacy
Super Poster
(6/26/02 7:12:52 am)
Re: Travel Bugs

Quote:
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One thing that has frustrated me on a couple of occasions are travelers with specific criteria on where they should go. I found one once that had to be put in a cache created prior to the first aniversary of geocaching and have found others that wanted to move west (for example). If I had known some of those limitations up front I would have left the traveler for others.
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I placed a laminated tag on my travelers which has their goal. That way when someone finds them they will know the goal before they take them instead of finding out the goal when they log it.

The first one I found (Baby's Bug didn't have such a tag and I asked the owner if he would mind if I put one on. However even with a tag saying it's goal is to reach Alaska, someone just took it to Europe.

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erik88l r
Administrator
(6/26/02 11:44:58 am)
Re: Travel Bugs

You can get to Alaska from Europe! I understand Columbus thought he could get to the far east by going west, so why not? It should make an intesting journey.

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AllenLacy
Super Poster
(6/26/02 3:00:40 pm)
Re: Travel Bugs

Ah yes, but Columbus was an idiot. Most educated people of the time knew the world was round and that you could get to the east by going west. However the question was how big was the earth, and what was the distance to the orient by going east. Columbus vastly under estimated the size of the earth and over estimated the distance going east, thereby making it look like it would be closer to the orient by going west instead of east. That is the reason the Portuguese and Italians wouldn't support his trip, they knew it was closer to go east.

If the American continents hadn't have been here he would have died, not by falling of the edge but by starvation. This is one of the reasons the continents were named after Amerigo Vespucci instead of Columbus. Columbus died thinking he had reached the orient. As I said Columbus wasn't very bright.

As for the travel bug you can get to anywhere from anywhere on Earth. But it had made it from Georgia to California, thereby getting closer and closer to Alaska I wouldn't have took it then increased the distance it needed to go. But in Travel bugs and regular geocaches you are trusting strangers. It is part of the game.

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AllenLacy
Super Poster
(6/27/02 8:02:38 am)

How did Amerigo Vespucci know it wasn't the orient
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He calculated the longitude of course.

rmbooks says

Quote:
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Vespucci performed his measurement on the Brazilian coast. He thought he was in the Indies because that is what Columbus had reported. Vespucci carried a book, called an almanac, which listed the exact times and positions of various planets. His book was made in Italy, so the times of the celestial events were based on the time as measured in Ferrara, Italy. At midnight on August 23, 1499, the moon would cross Mars in Ferrara. Vespucci watched the crossing in Brazil. He noted that the conjunction occurred 6.5 hours after it was seen in Ferrara. Using the difference in time and Ptolemy's value of the circumference of the earth, he was able to calculate his distance, or longitude, from Ferrara. The results convinced him that he was not in the Indies and that Columbus had discovered a new continent. Vespucci was the first person to know the truth about Columbus' discovery and only because he could determine his exact position.
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