OCCCS Do Not Log This Cache! Mystery Cache

Some people are just natural-born geocachers. If you're the kind of person that spent your childhood playing spy games, exploring the woods behind your house turning over every rock to see what you could find, or just hiding everyday objects in out-of-the-way places where nobody would know to look, chances are you were born to cache. Many cachers just naturally have personality traits that lead to easily becoming hooked on caching. Maybe it's the thrill of taking part in something that the average muggle never has a clue about; maybe it's the chance to get out and explore the world. Let's face it ... whatever the reason, geocaching is addictive! Are you hooked on geocaching? If so, this is your chance to overcome your addiction. How? Do not locate this cache, even if it is among the easiest around and right here in front of you begging to be found! If you can drive within a mile of this location and are able to not search for this cache, feel free to share your success story by logging a note below!

I can think of several cachers who will see this cache at the top of their nearest caches page, and their first reaction will be to go out and find it. I know who you are. You know who you are. We all know that it's easy to get hooked on this sport. But it's not an addiction if you don't want to quit, right? Well, what if you wanted to? I doubt you can do it! This is just one of the many warning signs of a geocaching addiction You must read everything if you really intend on logging this lame micro a find.

In order to do so you must state what stage of OCCCS you are and the reason(s) if not you guessed it no smiley for you It's not quite as bad as it seems but there is hope, barely It apparently has been in existence for a considerable time, but only recently has anyone identified this disease, and begun to study it.

It is called the Obsessive Compulsive Cache Craving Syndrome or OCCCS was originally thought to be caused by the satellite radio waves affecting the brain waves in a small percentage of geocachers, but after a team of researchers decided to become geocachers, to study this disease, it wasn’t long before they realized that they were dealing with a very serious and highly infectious viral disease. A few of them even became infected with it, and had to be quarantined, until they were cured. After a couple of years of research it was found that that satellite radio waves aren’t the cause at all, and that it is a virus passed from one geocacher to another. It is thought however, that the GPSR's may be the carriers of the virus. It has been further found that there are four stages of this disease and that there is hope if you have stages one through 3. If you progress to stage four though there is only one known cure, and it isn’t pleasant. Research has shown that in most cases those affected don’t usually progress past the second stage. It also seems that those exposed to the disease at a very early age become immune to it. Some people afflicted with OCCCS at Stage II and Stage III have close family members (children, husbands, wives) who have absolutely no symptoms at all, but in other cases both spouses can be affected equally. What can you do to prevent this disease from infecting you? Until a cure is found, prevention is the measure. Avoid anyone you see with a GPSR in their possession, since it is thought that their gpsr's may be carriers of the disease. If you hear of any geocaching events in your area, avoid them like you would the black plague. If you unfortunately come into contact with an OCCCS-afflicted person, make up an excuse to leave them, and if they start talking about geocaching, run away as quickly as you can. As soon as you get home call the GAA ( Geocachers Anonymous Association) and have one of our on staff experts make an appointment to get to you as quickly as possible. The following are the four stages, and the symptoms to watch for at each stage. If you or any of your loved ones has any of these symptoms pleas contact our hot line at once. Our trained professionals are on call 24/7.

(Stage I) You have early symptoms off OCCCS if:

1. You think it’s fun to spend a day crashing through underbrush, mud and muck to find a cache.

2. You go out on a Saturday for a day of geocaching and you feel you should have found more than 5 or 6 caches.

3. You tell your wife that poison ivy isn’t really a big deal, and its safe to go the bathroom over by the shinny leaves.

4. You can’t remember having a day with only one find.

5. You don’t really mind that it started raining cause you only have 3 more caches you want to get.

At this point the disease can be stopped. Simply don’t go caching or near any geocaching website for the next month. After waiting a month try it again and see if you can be a bit more reserved about it.

(Stage 2) Once these symptoms start showing up, if your not careful you could be in trouble.

1. You start thinking that it might be fun running for a First to find.

2. You hardly even notice the poison ivy itch any more.

3. You get up early so that you can grab a couple caches on your way to work, or you get home late because you “had to stop and pick something up”.

4. You think that driving 50 miles for a couple caches isn’t too far.

5. When you plan your next family vacation you don’t go to Disney world because there are only a couple of virtuals there.

6 You are spending more money on batteries and bug spray every week, than you would on a nice meal out with your wife.

7 You like the smell of bug spray on you wife more than her favorite perfume.

8 They know you on a first name basis at the dollar store.

You’re starting to get serious symptoms now, but there is still hope. You will have to stop caching for at least two months and stay away from the geocaching websites as well. Maybe after you have had a chance to get it out of your system, you can try doing one or two caches a week. If you can stay at one or two for a month or more, recovery is working for you.

(Stage 3) Luckily most people don’t go any further than stage two, but if you are having any of these symptoms you are starting to be seriously affected, and may need professional help.

1. After having a cast put on your broken leg (that you received falling down a hill racing for a FTF.) you seek out “park and grabs” and “virtuals” to get your cache fix.

2. You have more pictures of the caches hunts you’ve been on than you do of your family, or all of your family pictures have them holding a cache.

3. Your conversations all revolve around cache hunting, cache containers, cache bags, cache hiding tips, and where to buy geocaching accessories for the best price, or all of your co-workers shy away from you because they are sick of listening about geocaching.

4. You have to trade your vehicle in two years earlier than you planed on because some how the mileage has been “racked up”.

5. You think that any cache within 100 miles is near by.

6. You enjoy getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning to drive 50 miles to go to a mosquito infested bog to look for a FTF.

7. You tell the kids we’re going for a ride, and they ask if they can stay home with a baby sitter.

8. You start watching the numbers other cachers in your state have to see how many caches you need to move up a notch or two, or three.

9. You spend more time evenings in geocaching forums than you spend with your significant other.

10. You think you need a new GPSR because yours is a year old.

If you are in stage three, you need serious help. You need to get away from geocaching and get it out of your system, or it will take over your life. You need to sign up for G.A.A. (Geocachers anonymous association) immediately. Luckily for you the GAA offers meetings once a month. In extreme circumstances the specialist will see you on a one on one basis. The latter is quite expensive, but much cheaper than letting yourself get to stage four.

(Stage 4) If you have reached this point there is only one known cure.

1. You think you're being frugal if you spend less than $2,000 dollars this year on electronic equipment, cache containers, geo coins, and other caching necessities.

2. The most important factors when buying your new vehicle are: A) Is it 4 wheel drive? Will it hold all my cache gear, C) Does it get good mileage? (That’s not really important though) D) Does it have a 100,000-mile warrantee? And E) Does it come in camo.

3. You leave the house at 11:00 at night to go for a FTF run. - In a sandstorm.

4. You have to get a part time job, or dip into your savings because you need more money because of your addiction.

5. You make plans to go to geo-woodstock with your caching friends even though it’s your anniversary weekend.

6. You know all of your caching friend’s names, handles, and cell phone numbers, but have trouble remembering the name of the person that shares the house with you.

7. Your spouse tells you that they have found someone else and the first thing you ask is “how many finds do they have”?

8. You've been looking for caches so long that the only way you can get home is to punch your home co-ords into the gpsr and follow the arrow home.

9. The only way your spouse can get your attention is to instant message you through the geocaching forums.

10. You lie to your spouse about how much caching you do, or you lie to your boss about being sick so that you can cache today.

11. You don’t let your friends call your cell phone anymore because a new cache might come up and you don’t want to miss the chance for a FTF.

12. You get mad when your wife tells you that you cannot name the new baby Garmin.

13. You look forward to the day when you can retire and spend every day caching, but it’s driving you crazy because you are only 30.

Since you are now a risk to the general population you must be quarantined until you are completely cured. You will have to check into an institution (yes, that kind) and go through shock therapy and deep regression hypnosis. You will probably have to have at least a dozen treatments before you can again be released back into the public.

But by then, you will be numb to the world around you, (much like you were before the treatments) and a useless member of society, (much like you were before the treatments). There is one other possible cure that is being tested but is not yet approved by the FDA, and that is having someone drive you around and make you do 500 lamp pole micros. It is thought that this may be the permanent cure.

In order to prove that you have the willpower to resist locating a cache if you want to, I put out this cache for the sole purpose of not being logged!

This is probably one of the lamest cache-n-go micros you'll ever find … we’re talking no more than 5 minutes of your time! You don't even have to enter the woods. Matter of fact, you can drive within 10 feet of the cache. There’s just no excuse as to why you couldn’t find this cache. There's also no interesting history lesson, no trade items, no challenge. In fact, there's nothing to be gained from finding this cache except another check mark and numbers added to your stats. So there's really no good reason to locate this, except because it's there! Good luck and best wishes not finding this cache! PS! If you just can't resist finding the cache, bring a pen for the log. Remember if you really want that smiley you must state what stage of OCCCS you are in at the time and what reason or reasons, if not then no smiley.