I've discovered (OK, tripped over) a really enjoyable ... uh hobby, sport, past-time, part techno, part environmental, part exercose. They call it ... "geo-caching." As in geography, and nested stuff. The concept, I explained to my 6 year old grandson, is to find hidden treasures, using a satellite GPS unit, or a geek's walk in the woods. Of course, levels of difficulty make it more interesting. There doesn't seem to be a huge after-market of commercialism attached to this ... and it works for all ages ... and is global. It appeals to my gecko side, So ... off to my first cache .... a mile from the house in the woods. Cool ... found it INSIDE a tree stump, sealed in an ammo box, including a traveling "bug" with dogtags for proof of identity via a registration website ... the next guy who finds this can remove the dogtag and diary and re-plant it in a cache somewhere in Washington or Arizona, whatever. I also left a toy in the box. So, what's my GPS? A VERY cool Magellan Explorist XL, with big bright screen, streets software and 3D, good battery life and handheld or car portability. Anxious to take it on a trip.... especially to Europe. Another plus ... unlimited (??) smartcard memory for maps ....Only downside is the limit on map area file size (65Mb) ... so it requires transferring one state or area at a time from computer (disk) to the GPS via the smart card. No big deal ... don't need the entire country anyway. Has improved my map reading -- never to be lost again. Hmmm, I can't rcall ever being lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment