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preform soda bottle
Caches in this series on Kings Ferry Road begin to be unavailable
when the Mississippi River gauge at Vicksburg reaches 35 feet.
Caches along Long Lake Road begin to be unavailable when the gauge
reaches 38 feet. Caches along the Yazoo River on the north and
western portions of this series begin to be unavailable when the
river reaches 41 feet.
Copied from a featured cacher interview: Between Louisville and
Philadelphia is the small town of Noxapater. This town lent part of
its name to this month's Featured Cacher, Pater47. Pater, as he is
commonly known, is one of the "founding fathers" of geocaching in
Mississippi. Known for word-plays on naming his hides, his
all-around good nature, and his sporadic "Ask Pater" series, Pater
has helped define geocaching in the Magnolia State. How long have
you been geocaching, and what was your first find? My first hide
came before my first find - both back in October of 2001. Our
headquarters sent me a GPS as a test project in mapping out sewage
problems in the county. And in typical government fashion, they
sent the thing without any directions or manual. So I'm on the
Garmin website trying to figure out how to turn the blasted thing
on and there was a link to something called "geocaching". Well, I
read up on it and thought it was just about the geekiest thing I'd
ever heard of - no one could possibly actually do that. So to prove
my point, I hid a geocache right outside my office window. I didn't
realize at the time I'd just hidden the state's first micro!
However in my defense, it's not under a lamp post skirt! The cache
is still there - Little Brown Bottle. I guess I was proved wrong
since it's been logged almost 200 times now. My first find was also
a First to Find - The Nox Box (Yes, I really picked one that
required bushwhacking through a Wildlife Refuge for my first one.
)Typical of newbies, I went after my first geocache before really
understanding the gizmo. I knew how to operate one screen - the one
that showed the coordinates to where I was standing. Since the
numbers showed I was NW of the cache, I walked SE. Now I'm E, so
walk W. The last 100 feet were literally on my hands and knees
through thicket. When I finally stood up, the cache was in front of
my nose. Coming back out, I played with my GPS a little - oh wow! -
would you look at that? - this thingy has an arrow pointing back to
my car! What town/ areas have you most enjoyed caching in? Every
area has it's appeal - the creativity of Starkville hides, the
history of the Natchez area, the quick lunch grab in Jackson, and
so on. How long will you work on puzzle caches before you give up?
Normally, not long at all. If I can see the solution right off, I
might work it on out, but I'm not going to waste time solving a
puzzle. I'm into geocaching, not working on puzzles. How long will
you look for a cache before calling a lifeline? It really depends
on the situation. If I find the spot that looks like this is where
it should be, I'll decipher the hint. If the hint agrees with what
I'm thinking, I may make a call or two to try to confirm it.
However, most of the time, I just walk away after 20 minutes or so.
Who usually goes with you when you go caching? Most of my caching
is solo. My bride, altofunny, often accompanies me. When we first
started dating, I thought she pretended to enjoy geocaching because
she knew I liked it. However, the day she stole my GPS while I was
at work and went and found one I couldn't find, I knew she was
hooked too! Do you use paperless caching? If so what method do you
use? I've recently gone back to paper caching. I no longer go on
mega-runs (not that I ever was into seeing how many I could do in a
day - I think my most finds is 19 or so). I typically won't do more
than 5 or 6 in a day. And most trips are 1 cache trips now.
Printing it out is just simpler now. Plus now that so many have
gone puzzle-crazy, which often don't translate well electronically,
it's often not practical What sort of caching rig do you use? I
alternate between an eTrex Yellow and an eTrex Legend. I cracked
the screen to the Legend 3 or 4 years ago, but it still works. I
sometimes use a Garmin iQue for navigating, but a lot of the fun to
geocaching is trying to figure out how to get there on your own.
Why would you recommend anyone else to take up geocaching? A lot of
my caching is done while out on overnight business trips. It's
beats the heck out of sitting around a hotel room. Are you
originally from Mississippi? Yes, lived here almost all my life. I
spent a short time in Memphis and 6 months in the Mt. Vernon area
(dang- I wish geocaching had existed then!) States you have
geocached? Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana,
Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, as well as
Washington D.C. and Costa Rica. Our honeymoon was actually a
geocache run from Mississippi to Maryland. We tried to hit at least
one cache in each state we passed through (somehow missed S.
Carolina). A couple of highlights were the gravesites of Chang and
Eng (the original Siamese twins) and a place called Foamhenge -
DavidMac can tell you about that one! What was your first event
ever attended? MidSouth Hotwing Gathering , 12-3-02 (GCAB3E) How
many caches have you found? A little over 1000 Which type of cache
container do you prefer over the rest? My favorite always has been
and probably always will be the full-size cache after a long walk
through scenic woodlands.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)