A Great Day for Geocachers and Letterboxers

Titusville Space View Park -- Gemini Section
GPS: 28.614506, -80.804373

The scene of the party

Just to close the loop, here is the link to the original posting that appeared in geocaching.com and AtlasQuest.com.

Thanks to all who attended. You made it a great day. I estimate the total to be close to fifty people. While I had most on my RSVP list, there were a few who showed up looking for Titan's Passenger (GC4QRCW) not knowing there was an event going on. They seemed happy to stop and visit for a spell. There were more Geocachers than Letterboxers but the Letterboxers won over several Geocachers. Maybe the other way too. So now there are a few more "double threat" people.

These are the attendees. If you know of someone who snuck in under the radar, let me know in the comments section below this post, and I will add them to the list. I don't want to miss anyone.

All Hat	KissimmeeCarolyn	Teejaylm
Bootscootin70	Malachite Dragon	tiggermama
CyberLizard	MrsBoots	ttocshsoj
DM Scuba Brat	RonC	volkssporter41
flyfishercacher	rperry401	wd4kaq
Genghis_Green	Seastar255	WeCacheAlot
Jerann	SHBOOM
Kingsnu	Svsummerwind

My wife Michelle had to be out of town attending to some family business. She regrets not being here and looks forward to the big letterboxing event in St Augustine next weekend. This will be our first event of this kind. If you are curious or interested check out AQ3195 and AQ3245 on the Atlas Quest website.

Our letterbox followthecougar, Atlas Quest Box AQ244271, was here today and got it's first stamp. All Hat gets "First to Find" honors.

followthecougar is a "Traditional Personal Traveler" letterbox. Don't try to look that up. You won't find it. We invented that box type for ourselves. You can read that story at Our Letterbox Clue. While you're there, look up the answers to our clue questions so you can get our stamp next weekend in St Augustine.

Speaking of clue answers! tiggermama was the only person to approach me with answers to the questions before she stamped in. followthecougar was sitting out on the table and most others just stamped in. Congratulations to tiggermama and shame on the rest of you. That won't happen in St Augustine. Regardless, I am happy to finally get some stamps in the logbook.

followthecougar -- our "Traditional Personal Traveller" letterbox

How about Trackables? I brought four. I have been picking them up for several days from GC4652A The Camo Bug Inn a travel bug motel near my home. I use it a lot. It is my favorite place to launch travel bugs. Kingsnu brought a bunch too. Thanks for that. (I also love your dog).

For Letterboxers, the travel bug equivalent is the Hitchhiker. I picked one up from AQ233458 Remembering The Challenger. That letterbox is at the Space Shuttle Inspiration outside the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The Hitchhiker, #136608 Hungry Travelling Apple, has been on the road since 28 Dec 2008. I think it has been at its last location for over a year. Anyway I brought it to today's event. It was on the table all day and Malachite Dragon was the only person to stamp in. It will get a new home next weekend in St Augustine. Maybe I will also learn the differences between Hitchhiker, Cootie, and Flea.

Hitchhiker 133608 Hungry Travelling Apple

I left the event with two travel bugs. TB645YY Dio's Signal Tag is trying to get to Germany. I can't help with that so he goes to The Camo Bug Inn. TB29Z46 Meyers Manx is trying to go to Denver. My grandson lives in Denver so this guy will go in the mail to Denver to be deposited in a geocache somewhere near his home.

TB29Z46 Meyers Manx will go to Denver

While preparing for this event and looking at the RSVP list, I thought there could be a few geocachers who would like to try letterboxing but would be unprepared. So I made up three Letterboxing Starter Kits. The kit consists of a brief instruction sheet, an inexpensive stamp pad, a decent quality logbook, and an inexpensive stamp. Two folks were interested. I still have the third.

Letterboxing Starter Kit

One of attractions to letterboxing is the art form of carving rubber stamps. Today I met DM Scuba Brat and saw her collection of hand carved rubber stamps. This is the first time I have seen such a collection and I am impressed – WOW!. Maybe I can get her to carve a Meet and Greet stamp for me.

Late in the day we had a situation involving Titan's Passenger (GC4QRCW). Our event site is very close to this geocache (on purpose) and folks had been logging it all day long. Suddenly two groups turned up two containers simultaneously. One container was the one I knew to be the proper one; the second was a tupperware lock'n'lock container with a logbook but no identification. Several of our folks had logged into this container thinking it was Titan's Passenger (GC4QRCW). We sorted through the contents of both containers, put the two logbooks into the one official container and took the second one out of service. I will post a "Needs Maintenance" log for the owner to consolidate the logbooks.

I saved the best for last. I want to give a special shout out to Debbie. Debbie is an experienced Geocacher. She started in Sep 2006 and has found 2,165 caches and logged 648 trackables. She geocaches under the handle Bootscootin70. She letterboxes under the handle MrsBoots. Her first letterboxing adventure was today and she picked up seven finds.

That's Debbie in the center

She is the only one to post pictures to the event log.

Finding a Geocache

A 2fer Geocache and Munzee

Letterbox Log pages

Debbie gets my vote (the only one that counts) as the person who had the most fun today. Here is the quote from her log entry for today's event:

"I had a great day. Loved learning about Letterboxing. Thank you for having kits available to buy. What a wonderful day to be outside. I started my day going to a Triple Event. Letterboxing - Geocaching - Munzeeing. I started letterboxing today and met some people who letterbox. The gave me all kinds of information and tips. Then I was kidnapped by Seastar255 and WeCacheAlot to go do some Geocaching and have a treat at Twisty Treat. I went back to the event and talked with the host Bob for awhile and he told me where to go and what to do. So off I go to letterbox. I talked to a fisherman for awhile. Gave him some water and let him use my phone. Then at my first letterbox there was two men and I said hello as I was looking. I asked them if I could ask them a question. I said are you homeless? They said we are in transition. We talked for at almost an hour. I found out their situations and they told me how I could help. Very interesting. I continued on to finish Letterboxing, Munzeeing, and Geocaching. I had a great day!"

Before today I had resolved to take many pictures. I took NONE. I am ashamed. Debbie saved the day. If you took any pictures, you can post them with your log entry and I will put them into this blog.

When I talk to Geocachers who say "I don't do letterboxing", or Letterboxers who don't do Munzee, or Munzee Seekers who do neither, I ask why? Why not do all? I want to see new places, solve puzzles, read maps, find treasures. I geocache with my grandkids. They are motivated by trinket treasures not realizing they are learning geography, GPS, history, and navigation. Waymarking should be a way to find interesting places but the website is a disaster. Come on Groundspeak. Letterboxing leads to interesting places through clever puzzles while enjoying neat art work. Munzees occasionally take us to interesting places but are mostly a waste because it is just plastering up light poles in shopping mall parking lots. I play it for fun while Michelle does shopping. Get a quick synopsis of each of these games here.

Here in Titusville Space View Park are two geocaches, three letterboxes, half a dozen Munzees – all within a few minutes walk and findable easily within half an hour. Appreciating what the park means is worth two or three hours and the nearby museum is worth another two. By just grabbing finds, you usually miss the real meaning of the place. Geocaching, Waymarking, Letterboxing, and even Munzee can take you to neat places but it is still up to you to take time to smell the roses. Titusville Space View Park is a tribute to the greatest human adventure of the 20th century and the people who made it happen. I love this little place and the story it tells. I hope our event today enriched your life a little and made you a bit prouder to be an American.

Titusville Space Park Geocaching (GC5JA03) / Letterboxing (AQ3376) / Munzee Meet and Greet

EVENT:

• Date: Saturday, 31 January 2015
• Time: 10AM to 3PM
• Location:

  Space View Park – Gemini section (28.614506, -080.804373)
  Orange St & Indian River Ave
  Titusville, FL 32780
  Brevard County

Directions: Enter the Gemini section from Indian River Ave and proceed to the picnic table near the monument.

Event and Parking locations
Note: The Mercury and Gemini sections are separated by a small body of water. You have to get it right at the street – you can’t cross over.

Amenities:

• Parking: Ample free parking nearby at Veterans Park
• Restrooms: Nearby in Mercury section
• Handicap accessible: Yes
• Kid Friendly: OK, not great, educational for older kids
• Pet Friendly: Yes
• Fees / Charges: None

This is a combined Geocaching, Letterboxing, and Munzee “Meet and Greet” to get you out to shake the post–holiday blues. There are seven geocaches, four letterboxes, and tons of Munzees within one mile of this location.

Host “flyfishercacher” will be there to meet you, greet you, and hear about your Geocaching, Letterboxing, and Munzee adventures. Arrive and leave as you please anytime between 10AM and 3PM. Stay as long as you like – there is no formal program. We will have some SWAG and Trackables for the Geocachers, including the new QR Code tag and three unusual trackables you can’t grab.

For the Letterboxers, “followthecougar” (AQ244271) will be there with a stamp and stamp book. Flyfishercacher has a stamp for your log book if you answer the questions in our clue.

Many Munzees in the area and we have deployed two new Virtual Munzees for you to find.

We will have an Event Log for you to sign, also an event stamp. We’ll take lots of pictures to post.

ENJOY A DAY OUT WITH YOUR GPS OR SMARTPHONEBRING A FRIEND OR SIGNIFICANT OTHERSTOP HERE DURING YOUR ADVENTURE

Park Entrance

Gemini Monument

Event location
Picnic table near Gemini Monument
(28.614506, -080.804373)

Restrooms nearby in Mercury section

RSVP in comments would be nice. Thanks.

Lewisburg Meet and Greet Recap

Lewisburg Area Recreation Park
Lewisburg, PA
GPS: 40.964347, -076.899345

Our first event is in the books. I consider it a success although my universe for comparison is very small. Everyone who responded showed up and we had some interesting discussions. They represent a total of 15,143 caches found and the two hosts are way behind the other folks.

Dig Teamsters (Gale) -- 9,280
2catsnj (Nancy and Jay) -- 4,614
trscorbin -- 413
the brawlers -- 188
C-Squared Pirates (Clare, Chris, and Callie) -- 439
pacardshark (Burt) -- 134
MnsfldDad (Bill) -- 8
flyfishercacher (Bob and Michelle) -- 67

All attendees were Geocachers. trscorbin arrived first, so she gets the FTF honors. No Letterboxers showed up. Shame. Our letterbox "followthecougar" is still waiting for its first stamp.

I put out my first Munzee right at the event coordinates. No one came prepared to find it, in fact no one even knew what MUNZEE was all about.

2catsnj brought TB 5Z2X7 "Eva's Wave Rider Racer" to our event. Here is the description for this TB

I'm in a race with 4 other travel bug cars! We started in York, Pa. and we are racing to the Pacific Ocean and back. Please help me on my journey and help me finish first! I must touch the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and then make it back to a geocache somewhere in York County, Pa. I get extra points for every photograph that gets uploaded of me with a different geocacher, so please document your part of my journey and share it. Thanks for your help!

This TB was launched in York, PA, just 87 miles south of here, on 10 Nov 2013. It has made zero progress west. MnsfldDad will take it to Texas in a couple weeks. That should help.

trscorbin picked up my TB61D99 "Wounded Warrior 2", but my three remaining Healing Waters TBs are still in the nest.

Michelle's and my name tags got discovered, as did car window decals belonging to me, MansfldDad, and the brawlers.

I was very surprised to learn that none of these local geocachers had met each other. They all knew each other's handle and had found each other's caches but never met in person. It took two out-of-towners like me and MnsfldDad to make that happen. Someone local needs to step up and sponsor more events.

I learned a lot about putting on an event:

Pick a public location with parking and restrooms and not requiring a permit
Get the listing up early
Make up signs to assure that your site is easily found
Make a checklist so that you don't forget anything
Check the site the day before to verify condition and availability

Here are pictures of some of the folks who attended

trscorbin

the brawlers

C-Squared Pirates (Clare, Chris, and Callie)

Dig Teamsters (Gale) with 2catsnj (Nancy and Jay)
We published two pictures in the geocache listing to lead people to the event.

Park Entrance

Event Location
Maybe we'll do another one in Florida.

Lewisburg Meet and Greet (GC5CKED)

Date: Saturday, 27 September 2014
Time: 10AM to 3PM
Location:
Lewisburg Area Recreation Park
N 15th and St Mary Streets
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Union County

Directions: Enter from N 15th Street past the tennis courts.

Coordinates (all three formats):
N 40.964347* W 76.899345*
N 40* 57.8608’ W 76* 53.9607’
N 40* 57’ 51.64” W76* 53’ 57.64”

Parking: Ample free parking.

Description:

This is a combined Geocaching and Letterboxing “Meet and Greet” to get you out on an early autumn Saturday. There are twelve geocaches and nine letterboxes within one mile of this location.

Hosts “flyfishercacher” and “MnsfldDad” will be there to meet you, greet you, and hear about your geocaching and letterboxing adventures. MnsfldDad is the big guy in the wheelchair. Arrive and leave as you please anytime between 10AM and 3PM. Stay as long as you like – there is no formal program. We will have some SWAG and Trackables for the Geocachers, including the new QR Code tag and three unusual trackables you can’t grab.

For the Letterboxers, “followthecougar” (AQ# 244271) will be there with a stamp and stamp book and flyfishercacher has a stamp for your log book. See our letterbox clue at this site under the topic Letterboxing.

There will be an Event Log for you to sign, also an Event Stamp. We will take lots of pictures to post.

We might even deploy a MUNZEE for you to find. There are none anywhere nearby, so this will be a first. Check out the smartphone game of Munzee.

ENJOY A DAY OUT WITH YOUR GPS OR SMARTPHONEBRING A FRIEND OR SIGNIFICANT OTHERSTOP HERE DURING YOUR ADVENTURE

GPS Games

GEOCACHING     WAYMARKING     LETTERBOXING    MUNZEE

Four different outdoor activities that use a GPS receiver, a compass, and clues to find interesting places and things. All four rely on interaction with a website to get information, post results, keep score, and communicate with participants.

GEOCACHING

is a real world treasure hunt. There are over 2.3 million active caches spread over the planet and over 6 million cachers searching for them. Geocaching is supported by a well-developed user friendly website.

A unique aspect of geocaching centers on the concept of a “Travel Bug”. The physical manifestation of the travel bug can take many forms but to the computer it is a unique alpha/numeric code that can be moved from cache to cache by participants. “Drops” and “Pickups” are recorded by participants, mileage is calculated, and all interested parties are informed by email. The website keeps track of the location of all travel bugs.

http://www.geocaching.com

WAYMARKING

is a spinoff of geocaching and one account, user name, password, and profile gives you access to both. The objective is to visit, catalog, and mark interesting locations around the world. Waymarks exist in categories (over 1,000) and can be in more than one. When you discover a place worthy of being a waymark, you submit it for inclusion in the database. There are over half a million recorded waymarks (some duplicates due to listing in multiple categories). If the waymark already exists, your encounter can be recorded as a “visit”. Your score gets credit for both. The waymarking website and database is less developed and user friendly than the one for geocaching. However, waymarking is more comfortable and rewarding for those interested in places rather than trinket treasures. Waymarking does not accommodate travel bugs.

http://www.waymarking.com

LETTERBOXING

is a mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic places. Following word clues, directions, sometimes riddles or puzzles leads you to the hidden letterbox. Rudimentary compass skills are a plus. The trek to the letterbox should provide some learning experience or enjoyment. Carry a personal rubber stamp and stamp pad to play the game right. The letterbox should also contain a rubber stamp and pad. Logging your find is done by swapping stamp images – your stamp in the letterbox log and the letterbox stamp in your logbook. The take a stamp image/leave a stamp image concept in letterboxing replaces the take an object/leave an object concept in geocaching. The Letterbox counterpart to the travel bug is the Hitchhiker.

Letterboxing is complicated by the fact that there are two competing websites: “Letterboxing North America” and “Atlas Quest”. I try to use both.

http://www.letterboxing.org           http://www.atlasquest.com

MUNZEE

"is the next generation in global scavenger hunt games. Simply download the free app, scan the munzees you find, and score points. No munzees in your area? You can grow the map by simply obtaining game pieces from the Munzee store, or printing out and deploying your own. Collect points when you place your munzees on the map or when they are captured by other players. Your points accumulate and you gain levels.

Munzee has something for everyone, whether you are a casual player, an avid explorer, or a hardcore competition enthusiast. The intensity of play is up to you. With over 1 million deployed worldwide, there is bound to be a munzee hiding nearby."

The above is a quote from the Munzee website. I have been playing Munzee for a few months but have yet to answer the fundamental question – WHY?

http://www.munzee.com