The Tale of Trackables and Travel Bugs
One of the fun elements of geocaching is finding trackables. These objects contain a unique code that can be entered online to track its journey. Some have very general goals (e.g. visit many caches) and some have very specific ones (e.g. travel to a specific location). It's fun to participate in their adventures along the way! Frequently these are found in the form of "travel bugs" which are metal dog tags frequently tied to another object.
One of my first travel bugs I found was in a large ammo box near Scappoose. It was a set of bells with a stated goal of traveling to the North Pole for Christmas. After noticing it was last picked up in Seattle, I was determined to push it north, so I set it free later that week while visiting my folks in Olympia.
I noticed it was picked up soon afterwards by a brand new geocacher who held onto it for about three weeks before dropping it in Germany! Unfortunately it was quickly relocated to Canada after that! Oh well!
Later I found a Charlie Brown and Snoopy toy on my way to agility class. It had a stated goal to take pictures with pets!
Later I found a Geocoin that wanted its picture taken in front of this specific building in Seattle.
I realized after taking it though that the mission had been accomplished eight years after it had been released and that its current mission was to travel home to San Francisco!
I last saw it was in Nevada. Hopefully it will arrive home shortly!
This guy I found once wanted his picture taken in front of various fire stations and fire trucks.
Pete was able to help me accomplish this mission!
But sometimes trackable finds can be moving objects as well! Have you ever seen stickers such as these on a car? If you enter the code online you can claim your "find" this way as well!
We've even seen trackable wearables as well! Check out this fun cap.
You can even find several "Travel Bug Hotels" locally as well. Pete and I found this one after we stayed at a McMenamins in January.
The geocache description included the code to unlock the box. Inside we found several "rooms" where a variety of travel bugs were resting.
Last week I found this fun one in Longview between a popular restaurant and a Starbucks.
The code to the lockbox underneath was part of the cache description and contained a key to unlock the padlock.
I couldn't think of a better setting to place this "chicken" bug that I'd found in Auburn last week.
One of my first travel bugs I found was in a large ammo box near Scappoose. It was a set of bells with a stated goal of traveling to the North Pole for Christmas. After noticing it was last picked up in Seattle, I was determined to push it north, so I set it free later that week while visiting my folks in Olympia.
I noticed it was picked up soon afterwards by a brand new geocacher who held onto it for about three weeks before dropping it in Germany! Unfortunately it was quickly relocated to Canada after that! Oh well!
Later I found a Charlie Brown and Snoopy toy on my way to agility class. It had a stated goal to take pictures with pets!
Later I found a Geocoin that wanted its picture taken in front of this specific building in Seattle.
I realized after taking it though that the mission had been accomplished eight years after it had been released and that its current mission was to travel home to San Francisco!
I last saw it was in Nevada. Hopefully it will arrive home shortly!
This guy I found once wanted his picture taken in front of various fire stations and fire trucks.
Pete was able to help me accomplish this mission!
But sometimes trackable finds can be moving objects as well! Have you ever seen stickers such as these on a car? If you enter the code online you can claim your "find" this way as well!
We've even seen trackable wearables as well! Check out this fun cap.
You can even find several "Travel Bug Hotels" locally as well. Pete and I found this one after we stayed at a McMenamins in January.
The geocache description included the code to unlock the box. Inside we found several "rooms" where a variety of travel bugs were resting.
Last week I found this fun one in Longview between a popular restaurant and a Starbucks.
The code to the lockbox underneath was part of the cache description and contained a key to unlock the padlock.
I couldn't think of a better setting to place this "chicken" bug that I'd found in Auburn last week.