View Full Version : bug questions



JustPJ66
11-17-2009, 11:16 AM
They say no question is stupid....ill let you be the judge! hehe

Now I know I haven't read all there is to read about this sport, but I can't seem to find anything about this so maybe you long timers in the sport can answer this for me.

I have noticed a wide variety of items attached to travel bugs. Are there any things that are not allowed to be attached to a bug. Of course I dont mean something crude or inappropriate, I mean as to weight or size. I have seen some intresting choices to attach and just wondering in case I should ever get a travel bug of my own one day. The majority of them are related to the goal of the bug but some I admit confound me. Does there have to be a reason or can you just put any old thing on it??

Thanks in advance
Pam

brdad
11-17-2009, 11:18 AM
You are only stupid if you don't ask!

There are cars that are TBs, Cement blocks that are TBs, and People that are TBs, there was a TB which contained the ashes of a relative (but it was fake - or was it? :)) ! I have a TB that is 18 pounds. basically anything goes!

But, the more valuable or attractive a TB might be, the more likely someone will take it home and keep it. :mad::confused::mad::(

Here's a pic of Cindy the Cinderblock (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=27797) just before I did my alterations to it.
http://img.geocaching.com/track/log/fb3925da-fc8e-4da3-bcb8-692280c8ef18.jpg

Team V3
11-17-2009, 11:55 AM
The only limitation I can think of would be to not use anything that would not be ok to place in a cache.... Not size-wise but kid-friendly wise. One example is knives. Of course this is common sense (especially if you have kids).

Ekidokai
11-17-2009, 01:03 PM
I have a TB or two out there. I like this one...Ekidokai's Okeydokey Mobile (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1986743) It goes with me to most caches.

When I was at the Mega event in Ohio I saw a ton of TB. Refrigerator door with magnetic TB's on it, a 2 foot rubber ducky, Every kind of a hot wheels car you could think of. I saw huge model trucks and planes. I have seen cell phones and coins.

Use this link Midwest Geobash 2009 (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1eca857c-c73f-4241-8ad5-d2eb9b1b9f96) and go to the inventory and click on history to see the 2500 different TB's that were there.

Anything you can think of can be a TB. The mission helps out with the movement a lot. I picked up several TB's out in Ohio and brought them back to complete their missions.

Something to keep in mind, when you put one out it is goes on it's way. It might disappear from the first place you put it or it might do a lot of traveling. It is a real hit or miss kind of thing. I hear there is a TB about 2 miles under the ocean. Sometimes the TB's get stuck in caches that don't see a lot of traffic. Sometimes the cache gets muggled. Sometimes they just disappear. Then sometimes they go on fantastic trips around the word quickly.

JustPJ66
11-17-2009, 01:38 PM
WOW you folks just blew my idea of a travel bug out of the water !!! a cement block, a fridge door?!?!?!?!?! well i dont think anything I come up with would be that intresting hehe. Thanks for the answers. Way cool!

JustPJ66
11-17-2009, 01:40 PM
cant wait to discover the Okeydokey Mobile one day too!!

fins2right
11-17-2009, 01:51 PM
I've attached rubber parrots, challange coins and police patches. A few of them have travelled to the islands and off to Europe, but all of them have stopped or vanished. My expectation of TB's is that if you get a few good hops, you've done well. Don't get me wrong, I take a lot of pleasure in sending out a bug. I just don't expect them to last too long.

JustPJ66
11-17-2009, 01:53 PM
I know alot of the bugs "goals" i have read say to go around where ever and then come back to the owner....have any of you actually had that happen or is that a bit to much to expect in reallity

Sudonim
11-17-2009, 02:03 PM
I did a race in 2004 or 2005. 3 Matchbox cars, all had to reach their goal, then return to me. 1 to Washington or Oregon, 1 to Florida, 1 to Arizona or New Mexico.
The Washington car is still bouncing around the upper midwest, the Florida car disappeared 3 months after release, the Arizona car made it to AZ, then a camping cacher picked it up on his way to Ellsworth! He dipped it in caches all the way so I could follow the progress, then I drove to Ellsworth to meet him and his wife, very nice time.

JustPJ66
11-17-2009, 02:07 PM
oh neat ...love the race idea too. what fun. Wonder if the washington car will ever make its way home...that is a long time to be traveling.

pjpreb
11-17-2009, 02:38 PM
We left a lobster TB and a loon TB in Las Vegas to race back to Maine. One went to California and disappeared and one got muggled and went missing after 1 hop. We also had a wire mosquito that went missing after a couple of short hops. Not much luck with TB's here. We do have coins that have had some pretty impressive jaunts. Go figure the wire mosquito goes missing and the coins move along.:confused:

JustPJ66
11-17-2009, 02:42 PM
ya i wondered about the coins...some of those are quite expensive.

TRF
11-17-2009, 04:08 PM
I have a TB or two out there. I like this one...Ekidokai's Okeydokey Mobile (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1986743) ....

....

If I come across this TB should I move it to the next cache? Just want to do my part.:D

WhereRWe?
11-17-2009, 04:38 PM
WOW you folks just blew my idea of a travel bug out of the water !!! a cement block, a fridge door?!?!?!?!?! well i dont think anything I come up with would be that intresting hehe. Thanks for the answers. Way cool!

"Cindy the Cinderblock (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=13b1a541-9283-486a-b12e-c39d530aad70)" appears to be stuck. It's been in the hands of a cacher in Ohio since May. :(:(

Travel Bugs are one of our favorite parts of geocaching. Our "Geomaine Furby (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=55898)" TB (also currently stuck! :mad::mad::mad:), has been photographed on the Great Wall of China (see page 9 of the TB logs), and one of our "Maine Chickadee Plate (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=56870)" TB's has been photographed with the girls at Hooters in Shanghai, China (page 3 of TB logs). Sadly this TB is also among the missing...

firefighterjake
11-17-2009, 05:01 PM
I hand painted two wooden fire engines . . . one was a Unity FD Truck and the other a Bangor FD Truck . . . I then set them loose on a race to a cache near my sister in Alaska . . . I forget which one won . . . I think they're still out there somewhere . . . just wandering.

dubord207
11-17-2009, 05:44 PM
So, how long do you think the new Maine coin limited edition would last if placed into circulation? I have a lot of nice unactivated geocoins I'd like to put out but my average on coins is about 3 hops and gone. I do give away a lot of coins and actually enjoy that more then having somebody I don't know help themselves to them. Would it be an inappropriate request to request that certain coins are only to placed in caches available to premium members only?

pm28570
11-17-2009, 05:55 PM
Sounds reasonable. That said, I don't think it will make any difference though. Be willing to bet they will still go MIA. While I'm not really heavy into coins, I am enjoying the few I have. The Maine Pirate Quest event coin only travels with me to events. The new Maine coin, limited edition, travels with me cache to cache. I think I will produce a facsimile of the other Maine coin and send that out. Still can tracked, still can move from cache to cache. Can't remember who or how, but someone has already done this I think.



So, how long do you think the new Maine coin limited edition would last if placed into circulation? I have a lot of nice unactivated geocoins I'd like to put out but my average on coins is about 3 hops and gone. I do give away a lot of coins and actually enjoy that more then having somebody I don't know help themselves to them. Would it be an inappropriate request to request that certain coins are only to placed in caches available to premium members only?

Sudonim
11-17-2009, 06:27 PM
So, how long do you think the new Maine coin limited edition would last if placed into circulation? I have a lot of nice unactivated geocoins I'd like to put out but my average on coins is about 3 hops and gone. I do give away a lot of coins and actually enjoy that more then having somebody I don't know help themselves to them. Would it be an inappropriate request to request that certain coins are only to placed in caches available to premium members only?

I suspect that the LE would evaporate before you could even get the container closed!
I haven't placed many coins around here, but I did place a 2007 Maine coin
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=d98ed29f-fe8a-4fed-846b-c60a5866c69b
in a cache in Crete 1 1/2 years ago, it went to Sweden and now it's in Germany making the rounds at events. At least it's still getting logs. (Over 10,000 miles and 95 logs so far!)
Overseas coins seem to have a longer lifespan.

masterson of the universe
11-17-2009, 06:35 PM
I had some fun going through all the junk I had laying around the house to come up with an original idea or two. This (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1753718) was the funnest one I came up with. I really hope people will actually post some pictures with it, otherwise its not as fun.

brdad
11-17-2009, 06:46 PM
Would it be an inappropriate request to request that certain coins are only to placed in caches available to premium members only?

I think you should feel free to request what you want on your TB. I requested my last TB only visit Ammo can caches. But, I would not expect that cache to be honored.

This got me thinking - Since I do 99% of my caching via GSAK and PQs, I never know if the cache I am hunting is members only (PQs do not contain any information as to whether a cache is a MOC or not), does anyone pay attention to that?

EDit, BTW, there are currently 224 caches in Maine listed as MOC. I had to run a PQ restricted to MOC to check...

Haffy
11-17-2009, 06:58 PM
"Cindy the Cinderblock (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=13b1a541-9283-486a-b12e-c39d530aad70)" appears to be stuck. It's been in the hands of a cacher in Ohio since May. :(:(



I know it and I helped get it unstuck from a cache in NC after all that time too.

Haffy
11-17-2009, 07:02 PM
Would it be an inappropriate request to request that certain coins are only to placed in caches available to premium members only?

Not a bit, in fact when I placed the Cache Across America cache in Augusta I had it a members only cache for a while cause I had put in a few coins and TB's and figured they would at least last long enough to leave the cache and that worked pretty well. After they had all been taken I made it a regular cache.

fins2right
11-17-2009, 08:27 PM
I know alot of the bugs "goals" i have read say to go around where ever and then come back to the owner....have any of you actually had that happen or is that a bit to much to expect in reallity

I had a bug that was sent out from an Army Capt. in New Mexico with a goal to get from N.M. to Iraq and back. I did what I could and received an email from the owner just recently saying that it came back. Sometimes good things happen!!!:D:D:D

hollora
11-18-2009, 12:10 AM
Just had one of my first go MIA after 17,000 miles. Kind of sad but - maybe, someday it will reappear.

Ekidokai
11-18-2009, 01:20 AM
Something I learned is, before you send one out, printout, laminate and attach the information card to the TB. It makes it a lot easier for people to see what he bug is all about and makes it more likely to move along.

I probably shouldn't say anything because I'll jinx it, but I just looked and I have 22 out there and most are pretty active. One coin is in Germany and has been doing well out there. It's twin went out to visit Wyoming and then back to Mass.

JustPJ66
11-18-2009, 06:45 AM
I found SOMEWHERE online a travel bug passport thing free download. I have that and it is sorta what your saying Ekidokai. I thought it was a cute idea to let the person looking at it in the cache know what the bugs "goal" or aspirations in life were. It also had the sign up for each person who moved it to list and some other cute things too. I am sure you all have this little goodie tho but I thought it was cute.

Sudonim
11-18-2009, 10:56 AM
The passports are a great idea. If you release a TB to wander, fine. If you release one with specific goals and no passport, there's trouble. I've picked up TBs before, gotten home (sometimes 100's of miles away) only to find out that the bug was supposed to stay near "that lake" or county or whatever. Or it wanted to go north and I dragged it 200 miles south. Finding out the goal after you log on to the computer is too late for some TBs.

WhereRWe?
11-18-2009, 11:04 AM
I've picked up TBs before, gotten home (sometimes 100's of miles away) only to find out that the bug was supposed to stay near "that lake" or county or whatever. Or it wanted to go north and I dragged it 200 miles south. Finding out the goal after you log on to the computer is too late for some TBs.

YES! Add this to my long list of pet peeves... LOL!

TeamHorwich
11-18-2009, 11:52 AM
this is one of my favorites...
http://www.geocaching.com/track/log.aspx?LUID=376ec808-0d92-4404-b116-c0706ceb9e0a

Ekidokai
11-18-2009, 03:37 PM
That looks cool.

Moonsouth
03-06-2010, 12:24 PM
A lot of items I notice "go missing" are because of new cachers. They might not be familiar with the "rules" or they are just starting and really dont care, if they see something they like, they take it. I guess they dont realize the efforts and disappointment of the owner should it be taken. I always like to keep an eye on my tb's and will send a friendly note if I see its inactive for a while. While this doesnt help all the time I think it may a little.

fins2right
03-06-2010, 10:27 PM
I know alot of the bugs "goals" i have read say to go around where ever and then come back to the owner....have any of you actually had that happen or is that a bit to much to expect in reallity


I also came across A TB the other day whose goal was to go from Texas to Bangor, Maine. It belongs to a geocacher I've never heard of. The cacher has only 4 finds and has not been active for a few years, but I'm bringing it up to Bangor anyway. What the hey.

LaughingTerry
04-08-2010, 08:32 PM
The first bug I ever put out, Patryk, is still active and in Arizona. Patryk was logged in March. 27,702 miles. Honest I am just a Cow was logged in March and it is in California. 13,552 miles. The Official LaughingTerry TB was logged in March and is in Germany. 6,549 miles. Sitting Bear was logged in March and is in London. 8,510 miles. Of course I had have a couple TBs that disappeared before they ever logged the first mile. LOL If you are attached to it do NOT send it out.