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Mammoth Route 66 Trip Upcoming...sort Of!


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For those of you also on the 66 list - this is already posted there as well...

 

**************

 

OK, I'm not really taking a trip on the full length of 66 at this time!

 

But I will live vicariously through others traveling Route 66 in a most unique way. I have recently begun geocaching...for those who are not aware of it, in a nutshell, it involves finding various sizes of containers hidden by other geocachers using a GPS and following the coordinates. The containers might be large and hold various trinkets for trade or they may be tiny and contain only a log. Some are in urban settings and some are in remote locales. Many geocachers place their caches in interesting or historic places.

 

One aspect of geocaching involves an item called a travel bug (TB). It's a trackable item with a code that gets entered on geocaching.com. The TB may have a specfic destination or mission (or just travels from

cache to cache). Once it is placed in a cache, a cacher comes along, picks up the TB and moves it to another cache....and so on.

 

My TB has a specific mission: it's taking its place in a geocache in Speedway, Indiana tomorrow morning. Hopefully, it will quickly make its way up to the Windy City and then slowly wind its way to L.A., visiting as many Route 66 towns as possible. Once it reaches L.A., I'd like it to come back home to Indiana. I hope geocachers traveling the Mother Road will pick it up and post photos of the travel bug in front of various Route 66 sites, on the page I have started on geocaching.com: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=1228227

 

You can watch its progress and see any photos posted at that site.

 

If there are any geocachers on the group who happen to be near my TB, feel free to help it motor west!

 

Jennifer

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Jennifer,

 

Have a good trip!

 

Seriously, it sounds kind of like tossing a bottle in the ocean with a note!

 

Another thing I have learned at American Road! Do the goodies never end!!

 

BTW, I may need a break this winter from NW overcast and I'm thinking maybe a California/ Arizona/ New Mexico Rt 66 or Old Spanish Trail or.... trip may be in order. Maybe staying at old Harvey Houses and the like. How would I find your (or anyone's) geocache?

 

Does one sign up somewhere?

 

 

Keep the Show on the Road.

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Jennifer,

 

Have a good trip!

 

Seriously, it sounds kind of like tossing a bottle in the ocean with a note!

 

Another thing I have learned at American Road! Do the goodies never end!!

 

BTW, I may need a break this winter from NW overcast and I'm thinking maybe a California/ Arizona/ New Mexico Rt 66 or Old Spanish Trail or.... trip may be in order. Maybe staying at old Harvey Houses and the like. How would I find your (or anyone's) geocache?

 

Does one sign up somewhere?

Keep the Show on the Road.

 

It's kind of like that, only hopefully people will take it and bring it properly to accomplish its goal. WHat happens is, someone picks up my travel bug and logs that they picked it up from that cache. They do that by logging the code on the dog tag into the geocaching.com website. My TB is then no longer listed as being in that cache. The person should only pick it up if they will help it achieve its mission; thus, if they pick it up tomorrow in Indiana, they should do so only if they intend to move it to another cache closer to Chicago, within a couple of weeks. Then, when they drop it off in another cache, they log that they dropped it off. Now it's a part of the inventory in that cache. Then, someone else picks it up, and moves it along to another town, etc. Hopefully, my mission will be successful! It would be fun if many of the people who pick it up have fun with it, by taking photos of it at various 66 sites.

 

I'll post trip updates!

 

You can sign up for a free, basic account at Geocaching You can search for geocaches from the search page and you will find all types of caches. Enter the waypoints into your GPS, take down some basic information about each cache (size, type, hints etc.) Then just get out there and find them! I only have caches in Indiana - typically, the rule is to only place caches in places where you can reasonably maintain them.

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  • 3 months later...

A quick update...

 

My travel bug made its way from Speedway to Crown Point, Indiana. It sat for a couple of months with one person, now another picked it up last month and took it to Chicago and logged it in several caches between Chicago and Odell and took photos too.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...72-060771162807

 

If that doesn't work: http://tinyurl.com/2ljtmz

 

Jennifer

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Glad to see this guy moving along. I was all ready to drag it through Litchfield in June but it looks like that won't be necessary. It seems to be moving along pretty good now.

 

Maybe...it could sit for a while or it could get picked up in a week...who knows! Keep an eye on it and if you're ever through Odell, feel free to pick it up! :)

 

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