Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site

About this item:
Originally this was Track 74 Travel Log Bug which actually got off to a good start, being moved by 7 teams and visiting 5 caches before being found by a GeoNewbie that apparently had little stamina for the sport, and who visited just one cache, grabbed just one travel bug, then seemed to lose all interest - without moving the bug along. You can click Trk74map below to see its movements to that point.

So, with Mr. SpiderTracks' love of flying (virtually on his flight simulator), this bug accompanied our team on an around the world journey of virtual flights. We had many adventures and took virtual pictures of interesting places along the way... some in the very same spots where geocaches are located in the real world. For those, we made Note Logs, dropping SpiderWings in and out, and posting simulator screen shots of the area. We tried to find at least one cache in every country, commonwealth, territory, province and US state using a random selection method so their locations would provide adventures of exploration, often away from the most effecient route.
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A virtual travel bug was a bit different to grab. But many cache owners, and other interested people along the way, emailed us for the number so they could "take a jont" aboard the current plane.

BELOW, you will see a MAP of our jouneys; followed by a collection of FLAGS in the order (left to right and down) of the places we visited (sometimes we had to revisit an area to get to a new one); several graphics showing the VARIOUS AIRCRAFT forms SpiderWings has taken; and a standard CACHES FOUND MAP showing most of the caches we virtually visited and some STATISTICS about the trip.
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NOTE: As of April 2006, it is no longer possible to log this bug as a find, or in and out of caches. Admittedly its virtual nature is a bit unconventional for the travel bug system, so it has become locked. But for now at least the page can still be viewed.

The last cache logged is near Las Vegas, just 386 miles short of home after nearly two years and between 196,091.3 and 327,000 miles depending on how we reckon our accumulated miles.

Although the last cache logged was in Nevada, we have flown back to the northern border of Utah via, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming where we did still looked for and found cache locations. We are probably going to finish up the trip by finding at least one cache in each Utah county with Uintah (our home) being the last. We'll not be able to log SpiderWings in and out of the caches but will still post notes and screen shots of our visit to the cache page.

The dates of the trip have been virtually behind the real calendar as it often takes longer in virtual time to fly, take and label screen shots, etc. We virtually arrived back in Utah (Dutch John in Dagget Co) on July 19th 2005 which was done in real time on April 11, 2006. The rest of the trip (through Utah) will use more current dates so the logs aren't buried down in last year's stuff.

As we've not been able to get out geocaching too much lately, this project has been a great pasttime - mostly for Mr. SpiderTracks who did most of the flying, all of the logs and picture taking, and has enjoyed learning a lot of things about graphics, airplanes, airports, air traffic control procedures, exchanging email with many other flight enthusiasts (real and simulated), and geography. While the sim usually doesn't do justice to most cities and towns, we believe that it does capture the shapes and character of the landscape very well. Once back in the western USA, Mr. SpiderTracks was often able to find our way by recognizing places on the ground from our real life travels down there.

Thanks to everyone that we buzzed along the way, for putting up with, and often embracing, our virtually crazy idea.

"Salt Lake Center... is type Skylane... requesting VFR clearence to here and there in Utah ... Sierra papa delta romeo."

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Tracking History (196091.2mi) View Map

3/17/2006	Candleman grabbed SpiderWings from Sitka Surprise	Washington	Visit Log
Thanks for visiting my favorite big tree! My other favorite has been cut down. Happy Caching, Candleman
2/22/2006	Pixie_Tracker grabbed SpiderWings from Army Air Field II	Nebraska	Visit Log
Nice idea for a travel bug! It made a virtual buzz of the downtown area and this is an acknowledgement thereof. Cheers, PixieTracker
12/23/2005	baloo&bd grabbed SpiderWings from Treetop Getaway	Iowa	Visit Log
Chicago Water Tower Thank you very much for choosing this cache.
10/30/2005	Insp Gadget grabbed SpiderWings from Underground Lake	New Brunswick	Visit Log
Interesting idea! I grabbed this TB while it was flying my Underground Lake cache.
10/29/2005	outforthehunt placed SpiderWings in First Post - Whitehorse	Yukon Territory	Visit Log
10/29/2005	outforthehunt grabbed SpiderWings from Underground Lake	New Brunswick	Visit Log
A day late on checking my emails. Great idea thanks for visiting my cache
9/7/2005	MiketheFiddler grabbed SpiderWings from Shemya Island - The Rock at the Edge of the Earth	Alaska	Visit Log
An interesting concept. Hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to the Marshall Islands and Micronesia as I did my actual visits. Best regards on your future V-caches.
8/18/2005	wagon wheel posted a note for SpiderWings	Hawaii	Visit Log
SpiderTracks...I am greatly impressed with your activity. It's fun and enjoyable reading your logs of visits to far away places. wagon wheel
7/18/2005	SpiderTracks grabbed SpiderWings from Playing the Slots	Nevada	Visit Log
Hiya Cubs! Glad you finally got to take a ride with SpiderWings. We really and virtually had fun hanging out over your cache waiting for the sun to set as we have often done while there at the cache site in real life. And just like in real we got some great sunset photos. Its funny that you grabbed the bug now as the very next cache we plan to visit with it is also yours... and will be the first in our tour of the 29 Utah counties as we wind up our around the world trip. Thanks again! - ST
7/18/2005	SpiderTracks retrieved SpiderWings from Playing the Slots	Nevada	Visit Log
Nevada is our 49th state and this is a revisit after flying down from the Oregon border to Lake Tahoe and then into California before leaving that state near Death Valley and flying down to Las Vegas. Even in virtuality, its easy to see how much the place has grown in recent years. We are happy with our choice for this cache for the state because we are familiar with the names of the owners from our real life geocaching up in Utah, and because it takes us (if only virtually) into an area that we've never taken the time to explore in real life.... the Valley of Fire It should be noted from the attached photos that our virtual visit to the cache was especially stealthy. [This entry was edited by SpiderTracks on Monday, April 17, 2006 at 6:07:56 PM.]

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