[Az-Geocaching] Food for Thought

Wed Jan 26 23:41:33 MST 2005

I have a cache in Laughlin Nevada which many of you have found.  It is
called Bus Stop Cache, GC47CC.  In March it will enjoy its 3rd anniversary
with it's original container in tact.  That's a lot longer than a lot of
caches that were placed and looted in remote spots.

I placed this just a few months after first starting Geocaching when we were
in Laughlin over Easter.  At that time, there weren't more than 6 caches
within 15 miles of this spot, that's why I placed it - to give cachers a
little fun while they were there.  I intentionally placed it on a busy
corner near a bus stop that is in on Casino Drive directly in front of the
Flamingo and directly across the street from the Ramada Express.  It is very
close to a busy mini mart store as well.  I figured it would be a challenge.

If you have a few minutes, read the logs from the first 6 months of the
cache, you will see that there are more no finds than finds...micros were
new then, and a lot of people had no experience in what is an easy cache
find now.  It still gets the occasional no find.  I believe this is because
in Laughlin it gets a lot of traffic from retiree's  who may not have that
many finds to begin with.

This cache has lived through people finding it - or if you read the logs -
trying to find it through 3 Laughlin River Run Motorcycle Events.  From the
description the streets are lined with people then.  In the logs people have
often described getting looks from onlookers and having people turn their
heads when the group of people let out a great yell when they "finally"
found the cache.

I did put this sentence as the last sentence of the cache description:  "The
cache is in a very high traffic area, so please be careful and discrete
while retrieving. The high traffic should not be a reason for you to refuse
to do the cache".  This is, however, a clue for finding the cache.

This cache has given me a lot of pleasure watching and reading the logs.
People swear it is missing, yet it always turns up.  I have someone in
Laughlin watching it for me and if there gets to be a few no finds, they go
to check on it for me.

Is this a great cache?...no, like I said it was placed at a time when micros
were new, but if you read the logs it has given people a challenge both in
finding it, and being discrete and the remarks are usually upbeat.  I've had
a lot more "caching stories" written in the logs of this cache than I see in
most.

It's probably been very lucky that it has lasted so long.  But I would say
that close to 3 years is a pretty good test of time for this or any other
cache.

I placed another cache, now adopted by TEF called Rocket Men and Machines
Cache, GCB95F.  This is a puzzle cache that is also a multi and involves a
1.6 mile hike with elevation to a wonderful view on two sides.  People talk
about wanting adventure or a challenge.  The HANDFUL of people who have
found this cache have all left fairly complimentary remarks about how they
enjoyed it, both the puzzle, the intermediates, and the hike to the
cache...except RTW & TEF who attempted it in a deluge...LOL.    However in a
little over 2 years this cache - very accessible in the East Valley and not
that remote - has only had 8 finds.  It went 20 months between
finds...though I know that Lazy K has been working on it for about that
long...are you ever going to complete this one Dan?  This cache is one that
makes me kind of laugh when I see posts about people tiring of Urban caches.
If that's true, give this one a try...I originally put a lot of good things
in there - however if you read this post from the 2nd log, it goes to
another recent Listserve Topic having to do with the quality of things
people put in caches "took mini mag light and sun glasses (needed those
cause I forgot mine) left a hot wheels car from another cache and a
keychain"   That person took about $20 worth of stuff and left about $0.45.
But because of the low number of finds, a lot of the original stuff is in
it, and I believe the original contents came to about $50 or so...so the
odds are high that this cache still has better stuff in it than most caches.

The one thing said by a few people on this topic is that there are plenty of
caches out there for people to enjoy.  Enjoy them.  Since I have moved up
here, the hours that I spend with my job hasn't allowed a lot of time to go
Geocaching.  The time I spend doing it is special, especially now that my
son who I used to carry on my back to most caches can walk most places that
we go.  That's always been the fun part of it for me, the time that I have
spent with my boys doing it.

Joe
TeamBlunder

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roping The Wind" <arizcowboy at hotmail.com>
To: <listserv at azgeocaching.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 10:53 AM
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] Food for Thought

> If you have to put in the description of your cache:
>
> "please use stealth" or "be discrete as there may be people around" or
> anything to that extent....
>
> Maybe it isn't a good place to put a cache (if you want your cache to
stand
> the test of time).
>
> ??????  Comments? Discussion?
>
> Scott
> Team RTW
>
>
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