Lesson 3 Trade Items!
Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 8:14PM In our first two installments we talked about what geocaching is, how it started, and some of the things that are hidden in plain sight. In this episode we will look at trade items focusing on signature items and trackables. First of all just about anything can be used as a trade item as long as it will fit in the container. A little bit of common sense can go a long way here because some things just aren't appropriate. For example glass things don't work too well, sharp things for obvious reasons, parishable items like candy and produce. A general rule that I go by is that if I won't let Jack or Carly play with it then I won't use it as a trade item. Some things that work really well are kids meal toys, unique looking stones, plastic animals, and small rubber ducks. There are some caches that have themes which encourage the trade items for them to follow the theme like books or movies. As you can see trade items can be really simple.
Another kind of trade item is called a trackable and usually comes in the form of a Travel Bug or a Geocoin. These items have a unique tracking number on them which allows their whereabouts to be tracked from cache to cache. These items generally have a mssion that their owners want them to complete. For instance I own three travel bugs and Tina owns one which are named Long Haul, Rockabilly Rod, The Dirty Rat, and Thor the puppy respectively. The mission of Long Haul is to have its picture taken at truck stops, Thor wants to have its picture taken at animal shelters, and the other two are supposed to have their pictures taken with old hot rods. Let us back up for a moment so I can explain what a travel bug is. A travel bug is an aluminum dog tag with a unique tracking number and instructions not to keep it. The tag comes with a short chain which allows it to be attached to say a toy car or small stuffed animal. The travel bugs that i own are attached to hot wheel cars while Tina's is a small stuffed puppy we had laying around the house. There are some special travel bugs that help raise awareness and support cancer research and survivors. Some of the travel bugs I have come across have the mission go to specific race tracks then back to the place they were released, there was Vlad the rubber bat whose mission was to visit all places Transylvania like the college in Kentucky and the Vlad The Impaler theme park in Romania. Yes, it really does exist. For a series of years Jeep had a promotion going on where it released a bunch of travel bugs highlighting a new model they were releasing. Each years Jeep was a different design and color. One year it was a it was a red Commander, one year it was a metallic green Wrangler X, and another year it was a white Wrangler. When the Jeep bugs were fund the finder would log that they found it, perform a task, and be entered into a contest to win the featured model for that year.
Enough about Travel Bugs, now onto geocoins. Geocoins usually look like, usually, large coins wwith a design on one side and a unique tracking number on the other. Like travel bugs they usually have a mission that the owner wants them to complete. As I said they are usually coin shaped but can come in the shape of states and countries, pencils, animals, ect. Some of the designs can be really intricate and interesting. They can be as small as a quarter and as large as a silver dollar.
Now for the final order of business, the signature trade item. There are some geocachers that leave a signature item when they visit a cache. When I lived east of the Mississippi I came across a few of these signature items. In Indiana there was a couple who always left a custom business card that they had made up with their caching names on it and thanking the owner of the cache for the hide. There was another couple if my memory serves me correctly that left a custom wooden poker chip. In Tennessee there was a retired couple that left small ceramic necklaces that they made and another retired couple that made tiny knitted mittens (I was really impressed, Barbie would have paid a fortune for them). My signature trade item are these tiny plastic farm animals that Tina had found at Target in the bargin bins. I am sure that somewhere there is someone who leaves a playing card and another who leaves marbles. Until next time.
Reader Comments (3)
Geocasching looks like a very interesting thing to get involved in!
brandy c
I knew very little about Geocashing before this article. It really sounds like something fun to do! I can use another outdoor activity and have a great Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.
I wish I had a GPS unit to geocache after reading your great blog, sounds like a ton of fun.