[Az-Geocaching] Travel Bugs revisited

Jim Scotti listserv@azgeocaching.com
Thu, 14 Nov 2002 15:50:35 -0700 (MST)


On Thu, 14 Nov 2002, Scott Wood wrote:

> I have been giving this a lot of thought, particularly after finding a
> cache out in Vegas that had a bug in it.  I didn't take the bug, but I
> did write down the number so I could find out about it when I got back to
> a computer.  This bug was in a cache out in Red Rock Canyon, which have
> some very active caches.
> 
> I got to the internet cafe that I used to log my finds, and when I
> checked the bug's history, I found that it hadn't been logged into the
> cache that I found it at.  Infact, it was supposed to be in a cache
> almost 1000 miles away.

Just a thought: Have you checked back (maybe again sometime in the future
too) to see if perhaps the cacher who moved the TB hasn't finally logged its
travels?  I can imagine a scenario where someone grabs a bug while on
vacation and places it elsewhere and then is still on vacation before finally
logging his cache activity at some point later.  One of the flaws in the TB
system is that if someone logs their finding a TB before the cacher who
placed it in the cache he found it in has logged his arrival, it screws
things up - perhaps that works differently than I imagine?  I recall one such
instance with a TB where I had to wait a day or two for the previous cacher
to log the TB before logging my finding it (but I did wait rather than
logging the TB as soon as I got home).  The last time I placed a TB while on
vacation (also up in Vegas and then CA before returning home), I
intentionally saved the TB I had with me to place it the day I returned home
so I was able to log it within about 12 hours of placing it in a cache, but
still, someone could have grabbed it and logged it in that window of
time.....  I also logged it's visits to some of the caches I hit during the
trip, adding to it's travel mileage.  Anyone else out there do that
sometimes?

> I sent a message to the bug owner who replied to me that he thought that
> the bug had been lost since he hadn't heard from the bug in months.  I
> have since heard from him that the bug has apparently been moved from
> that cache and still has not been logged.  There is no way of knowing
> where it really is now.
>
> As I said, this has gotten me thinking about my involvement in the travel
> bug game.  Am I doing more harm to the system by not being a responsible
> player and actually entering logs for bugs and just leaving them in
> caches when I find them?

I think you're doing a good thing to note the IDs of the TBs you find so you
can check on them.  I wonder how many other TBs are in limbo like that and
having someone like you check on them when you find them at least gives the
TB owner a clue as to what happened and where their little bug is.

> Is the answer to the problems with the travel bug system to make sure
> that those of us who will log them do?  Does this help to set a good
> example?

I don't understand cachers who don't log TBs or who keep them for excessively
long times.  I noticed one of the TBs that I had for a short time spent
almost exactly 6 months in someones cache bag or wherever before finally
being placed in another local cache.  At least he finally moved along, but
that was almost 6 months the TB owner must have worried over if he'd totally
vanished.

I think there are enough of us responsible cachers who do the right thing
with TBs that the system works at all, but it doesn't take many irresponsible
cachers to muck up the system....

Jim.

Jim Scotti                              
Lunar & Planetary Laboratory         jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu 
University of Arizona                
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA                 http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/