A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

travel bugs

Creating proxy trackables is becoming a big necessity

For those who don’t know about geocaching, there’s a side game of sorts to it.

Trackables.

A geocaching trackable is either a coin, travel bug (dog tag) or something along those lines. On the trackable is a code, which you can enter into the geocaching.com website to log it. You take these from geocaches and place them elsewhere, helping them move around the world freely, or to a specific goal.

Trackables come up missing, including this one.

The reality is geocaching trackables have lives of their own.

Along the way, these trackables rack up hundreds and thousands of miles, visiting far off places or staying close to home. It all depends on who picks it up and moves it along.

I have some trackables that have gone for more than 20,000 miles. Others have barely moved. You just never know.

If using a travel bug or something along those lines, there are often things attached to it, such as a small toy, a signature item, or something completely different. It’s a way to help define the goal of the item.

For example, I have one travel bug that is attached to a bottle opener. Its goal is to reach a geocacher in Washington. It made it as far as Idaho, but then it ended up becoming a hostage.

What’s a hostage you may ask?

Simply put, geocaching trackables disappear.

The reality is this — if you put one in the wild, you are putting in other people’s hands. Geocoins — because they are so nice — are more apt to disappear than others. But many others disappear for no reason.

I’ve found that the majority of mine that disappear because of newer cachers. They grab them, then after 10-12 finds, they stop caching and so goes the travelers.

I had one the other day with some more experienced cachers who had it for a while, somehow misplaced it, dropped it in one of their caches and then marked it missing.

Is that annoying? Absolutely. Does it happen? Yes.

The reality is, when you send these suckers out, you shouldn’t expect to see them again. It’s, unfortunately, part of the game.

A heap of the proxy trackables I am sending out.

So what to do when your geocaching trackable disappears?

If you have the official Groundspeak travel bug dog tags, you can send out the copy tag. But if you have other trackables, you may be out of luck.

Unless you send out a proxy.

A proxy is basically you sending something else out with the trackable number on it. It can be anything from custom dog tags, to wood coins, to laminated items. There are some companies which will create proxy coins for you. Those coins are usually thick metal and are of quality. But that costs money.

Not everyone wants to spend that sort of scratch to replace a coin or tag that will likely go missing again.

There is a persona about these proxy items, though. If a coin is listed in a geocache, people will often hope to see the actual coin. When they see a proxy, some will leave it behind and not do anything with it.

But there’s quality issues, too.

Some proxy setups are bad. I’ve picked up many a laminated proxy that has been in ruins. The lamination was bad, it’s soaked and basically mud. If it’s not attached to anything, it gets lost in the shuffle, too.

The first few times I found a proxy, I hated them. I moved them (I’m a firm believer that if a trackable is in a cache, move it along), but didn’t like them.

Then I realized why people did it.

I understand that coins are expensive. Why would you want to send those out to be stolen? Or, if you already had sent it out and it was stolen, why wouldn’t you want it to continue to move?

I have more than 100 coins in my personal collection. Only a few (ones that came with proxy coins) are out in the wilderness. I have a lot of travel bugs, too. Add in a few items such as ingots and all and I have a bunch of travelers.

Not all of them are still moving.

I recently started thinking about doing up a proxy or 12 to release. But how to do it? I didn’t want them to get lost, stuck or in bad shape. That meant I wasn’t going to put out wood coins with something written or stamped, because it could fade. Maybe some custom wood coins could be made, but even then, I’d have to put the number on there somehow.

One of the proxy tags I made. The big white spot on the right is where the trackable number goes.

A basic lamination always feels cheaply done to me.

So, I did what I thought was best.

I created a small tag in Photoshop. It’s two-sided, with one side showing the goal of the item and the other side showing the trackable number, where to log and the icon the number gives. I then put it in a heavier lamination sleeve (half of a luggage tag), attached it to a key ring and an item and then put it in a smaller Ziplock-style bag.

It’s my hope these will get out there and move around.

My plan is to do many of these for my geocoins, too. That way, people can move them along, discover or whatever else and get the icon of said coin. It’s also a nice way to have them moving, yet know I have the original and they won’t end up in somebody else’s collection or pocket.

So I’m now a fan of proxy travelers, as long as they are done decently well and with quality. It’s the ones that lack quality which are tough to deal with. Hopefully this is a way to make sure the life of these travelers continue and get many miles.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Geocaching 101: Trackables

The Travel Bug is a popular traveler inside the geocaching game. (photo courtesy Martyn Wright via Flickr)

Not too long ago, I did a Geocaching 101 blog post for people who had asked for more information about the game.

I wanted to expand on that post with a few others about the game in hopes of giving new geocachers a place to see everything in the eyes of someone other than Groundspeak.

This edition of the 101 is about trackables, which is basically a game within the game of geocaching.

The basic definition of trackables is an item — either a travel bug, geocoin or other traveler — that has a unique number on it. That number is connected to the geocaching.com website. When a geocacher picks it up, he or she logs that they picked it up and will move it along soon. When that geocacher drops it off, they put it in a geocache and then when they log that cache as found, there’s an option to drop the traveler, too.

The traveler can be one of several things, so let’s go over each.

Travelers

The Travel Bug: The most popular is probably the official Groundspeak travel bug. The travel bug is a basic dog tag, attached to a small chain. That chain and dog tag can be sent out on its own, or it can be attached to something. It can be attached to anything — toy cars, key chains, sporting things, homemade crafts — whatever. Just remember that it needs to fit in a cache. Some items might be difficult to place, unless it’s a bigger cache. So keep all that in mind when sending a travel bug out or moving one along. The bonus about travel bugs is that they come with two tags — one to send out with your item and the other as a backup, just in case your traveler goes missing.

Geocoins are sought after, but come up missing more than most items.

Geocoins: Geocoins are more expensive, but more sought after. Geocoins are made by someone and resemble actual coins. They are metal and can differ in sizes. Most are designed and have a limited number made. Coins can range from $5 to more than $20, depending on the coin, its availability and if it’s even in production anymore. Because of their price, geocoins are often purchased new by collectors and never released into the wild. They are collected and the collector often lets other cachers check them out so they can be discovered instead of being moved.

Other travelers: In recent years, companies have come up with things that are basically in the middle of Travel Bugs and geocoins. They are usually the thinness of the Travel Bugs, but are more custom looking, such as in the shape of animals or something else. However, these come one to a package, so if they come up missing, you don’t have a backup. Some companies have, however, surfaced that offer a low-cost replacement for your missing trackable, should it happen.

How you can participate

First, let me give a little dose of reality when it comes to travelers — they don’t always survive. I placed one on my trip to Ireland last year and it disappeared before it ever left the cache I dropped it in. The reality is that people steal travelers (more likely coins than Travel Bugs) to add to their own personal collection. It’s sad, but true.

However, coins and travel bugs can still be found.

If you find them, don’t worry about what a cache description says (many will say to take a trackable, you need to leave one. Don’t believe it. A cache owner has no say over the travel bug. None whatsoever.) If you can help a traveler on it’s mission, take it and move it to another cache. If you can’t, feel free to discover it, which lets the owner know the trackable is still there and in the wild.

The rule of thumb is you should move it within two weeks. Alas, real life gets in the way. And with more and more micros being hidden, sometimes cache size makes it hard to move trackables. So just try and move it within a reasonable time and all should be OK.

When I grab a traveler, I love looking through the history to see where it’s been and see if anyone has added photos. A traveler can really have a history and can be fun to see what it’s done.

For example, I have one I placed in my father’s memory a few years back. It’s traveled more than 17,000 miles and has visited several states and has even been in Iraq.

A traveler page can really show a lot of things.

How to start one

My first time caching, I picked up a geocoin. I didn’t know much about it, but I did a search and learned about it. I realized I was supposed to move the coin within two weeks or so of picking it up. I found what I thought was the perfect cache and let it go back into the wild. For a while, I “watched” the coin as it moved all over. After a while, I didn’t want to watch it anymore. I wanted to set loose one of my own.

So I did.

And I’ve done it many times since.

It’s easy to set one out. Just buy a traveler (which you can do on the Geocaching.com website or buy from many, many geocaching online stores), attach it to something and place it in a cache. Then wait. Sometimes travelers will take a while before they move. Sometimes it will seem like it will never move.

Sometimes they disappear.

But don’t give up hope. There are stories of travelers that seemingly disappeared years ago and resurface.

My 2010 pathtag.

Other “Travelers”

Though not really travelers, Pathtags often get confused as travelers because of their number on the back. Pathtags, however, are signature items. People can register them on the Pathtags website. Pathtags look like small geocoins and are quite detailed. But in the end, they are normal swag one can trade for and keep. People do, however, place them back in caches for others to eventually find.

People also have signature items, which can range from wood coins, to pencils, to custom-made items to many other things. These, too, are swag items and are not travelers, unless of course they are attached to a travel bug or coin!

Final thoughts

Travelers are a great aspect to the game of geocaching. It gives people the chance to travel through something they have set out into the world. Many of these travelers have goals — to reach a different place, to see something, to get to another geocacher or something else. Others just have the goal of traveling.

When you pick them up, do your best to move them along as soon as you can. People love seeing their travelers move often! And when you send them out, have fun with them and realize these things can — and will — disappear. It’s an unfortunate part of the game. When you release them, you’ll likely never see them again, so try not to attach anything valuable. Have fun and see a different side of the game!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

 

Contests, contests, contests!

Contests are coming to a ‘lil HooHaa.

Over the past several months, I’ve been putting aside things I knew I could give away in contests. They might be things I’ve picked up elsewhere, won at events or something else. Some people have donated things to me, knowing I’d be having some giveaways.

Some of the items I will be giving away might include:

  • Geocoins
  • Pathtags
  • T-shirts
  • Disc golf items
  • Autographed/game-used baseball cards
  • Signed photos (mainly mine)
  • Author-signed books
  • Geocache containers (such as micros etc.)

I am working on other things, too. I might get some gift cards for things like iTunes or something else. I believe I have a couple of DVDs I have put aside, too. I am working on a few other things.

The reality is, many of these items will be random and can be of interest to a wide variety of people. So I hope, no matter what the prize, you, the readers, will get into these contests and join them.

The best part for you? It’s free!

There will be several ways to enter and win. Many will include working the social media (twitter, Facebook, your own blog) or commenting on my posts. Some might require doing something else — though none will be too hard. I don’t want to scare people away. I want to attract new and old readers to visit my blog on a regular basis. There will usually be a small task to do to enter the contest (usually something in the comments section), but after that there will be easy ways to earn more entries into the contest.

I am going to aim to to a contest once every two or three weeks (depends on my supply of things to give away!). The rules will be quite simple. The time frame will be from noon on a Sunday (the post will be published at noon) and will run until the following Sunday at 12:01 a.m. (In other words, just after midnight!) That gives me time to figure the winner (and any runner-ups if there is more than one prize) and have a blog post ready by noon on Sunday to announce the winner.

The times will be strictly enforced. People will have a full week to do whatever they need to do. I would encourage you to do things early, however, so you don’t forget!

Once the contest ends, I will have use a random way of selecting the winner (it might be a video of me pulling a name out of the hat or it might be me using something such as Random.org, which allows one to put a lot of names in and it randomly picks the winner.

Some notes:

  • If you are someone who would like to donate something to the contests, I would love the donation. It can be anything. If you have ideas on the contest to go with the item, I would be more than happy to listen to the idea.
  • I will be paying for all shipping charges. Some of the smaller things (geocoins, pathtags etc.) will be open to everyone and anywhere. But if I have larger items, I might make it for the United States and Canada only, just because it might be cheaper on the wallet and worries.
  • Full rules will be in EACH contest post. I might change little things, pending on the contest. So make sure to look at the rules!

The first contest will be announced this Sunday. Make sure to check back here. Better yet, like the blog on Facebook to get updates! (There is a Facebook “like” button on the right side of the page, toward the top).

I am also always taking ideas for these contests. With a lot of things to give away, I’d like to make sure I have some cool contests. Keep checking back for your chance to win!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Here’s a story… of several travel bugs…

If you are a geocacher, I hope you know what travel bugs are.

Or geocoins.

Or anything that one moves and is trackable.

For those of you on the outside looking in, allow me to give you the definition as described by Groundspeak:

What is a Groundspeak Travel Bug?
Simply put, a Groundspeak Travel Bug is a trackable tag that you attach to an item. This allows you to track your item on Geocaching.com. The item becomes a hitchhiker that is carried from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world and you can follow its progress online.
What does a Travel Bug do?
It’s up to the owner of the Bug to give it whatever task they desire. Or no task at all. Part of the fun in owning a Travel Bug is inventing new goals for the Bug to achieve. A Bug’s goal may be to reach a specific country, travel to 10 countries, or simply to see the world.
How do Travel Bugs work?
Each Travel Bug has its own unique tracking number stamped on it. This tracking number is used to prove that one found the item and allows finders to locate the personal web page for the travel bug.
Travel Bugs are tracked with the help of users who go online and “grab” them from caches, or receive them from users. The idea is by picking up and dropping off Travel Bugs on the web site you are mirroring the Bug’s real world adventures. Each Travel Bug has its own “diary” that follows its movements.

This was one of the coolest things, to me, when starting as a geocacher. It was cool to grab these items — whether a true Groundspeak Travel Bug, or a geocoin, it was a lot of fun to move them along to another cache in hopes of helping the traveler in its goal.

Sometimes, helping it isn’t possible, so one can either move it to another cache (which I often to to make sure the owner knows it’s still out there) or by discovering it, which also lets the owner know it’s there. That being said, I’d rather my TB moves a little bit in the wrong direction than just be discovered and left in a cache. These things are supposed to move.

Now, let me say this — I was once a newbie geocacher. On my first day, I picked up a geocoin. I held it for a couple of months as I learned about these items. They aren’t keepers — and I knew that — but I didn’t know if I should drop it away from its goal etc. But I learned and soon realized how cool it was. Of course, I wanted my own!

I bought a bunch of travel bugs (which come with two dog tags — the original and the copy. The copy is in case you need to eventually release the item a second time. More on that later). I sent them out into the wild. And then I waited for those e-mails to come pouring in telling me someone had picked it up and moved it along.

Sometimes I had to wait a while. Other times not long at all. After a few moves, sometimes the bug would stay with someone for a long time. And keep staying with them. Over and over and over. Phew.

The thing about travel bugs and geocoins is, well, many disappear.

There’s no rhyme or reason why. Sometimes, it’s because someone stole it. Or somebody grabbed it and forgot they had it. Or one of so many reasons. It’s just how things go. But when you get the official Groundspeak Travel Bugs, you get two dog tags — one to send out and then a copy. The copy is there in case you need to re-release it.

I’m one of those people who hold out hope that, eventually, my travel bugs will come back into circulation. I’ve seen stories where a travel bug is missing for years and then, out of the blue, come back into play. But, I have several that have disappeared in the past couple of years and I’ve decided to give up on them and re-release the copies. With GeoWoodstock this weekend, I figured it would be a good time to break these out and send them back into the world, in hopes of them getting some miles and moving along.

We’ll see how it goes though!

In total, I’ll have seven travel bugs being re-released this weekend and I also have a handful of other travelers that I am bringing with me to GeoWoodstock. I’ve changed some of the goals of a few of my travelers, so it will be fun to watch them as they travel again.

How about you guys? Any good stories — good or bad — about travelers?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.