Godzilla's Heart

Last Thursday, I decided I'd drop off my GeoCoin I've had for the last couple of weeks. There was a travelbug hotel near by, so I thought I'd exchange this coin for one of those so I could play with it a bit. The hotel was off the road near a bridge. I parked in a city park near by and decided to walk to it from there. It was a nice walk. I discovered a really nice path that I didn't know was there along the Yellowstone River. I think I'm going to take my wife and son there next weekend for a picnic and hike.

At any rate, the ammo can was pretty easy to find. I was expecting a bunch of bugs in there, but only really saw 2. There was a laminated photo of a bridge. It was kinda a lame travelbug. The goal sounded cool as it would like to visit and get pictures of other bridges. But a laminated picture? I bet there's a better bug that could have been used other than a picture. It almost looked like it was cut out of a magazine. Needless to say, it didn't strike my fancy and decided to leave that one behind.

The other travel bug was this giant stuffed cartoon heart. The thing is massive. Probably the size of a small cantaloupe. It was the only interesting travelbug in there, so I grabbed it in exchange for the coin. In hindsight, I shoulda left it behind. Something that big would be a bugger to find a cache to place it in. But since I have it, I'll play with it a bit.

I'm trying to think of a good place to take a picture that represents Billings. Problem with Billings is that it doesn't have any real landmark of note. The pictograph caves is just a hole in the cliff. Little Bighorn Battlefield is just prairie. Plus they're really not apart of Billings. I think because this travelbug is so big, perhaps I'll do some photoshop work and make it look like it's huge like Godzilla destroying Billings! That would be fun, I think. I guess we'll see.

On my way back, there was another cache near where I parked my car. I only had 10 minutes to find it. I decided I'd go after it. It was pretty easy too. This one was a Tupperware container that had a few items in it. The container had a hole in it. It cracked or broke somehow. The contents were completely dry. I guess that's the drawback to some cheap Tupperware containers. It's easy to break. But then again, it's easy to replace. The container had a few items in it. Mostly junk. I took a signature card and I decided I'd throw a few toys in there. A few bouncy balls and a few key clips. Just to boost up the swag a little for the next finder. I'm going to have to find some better swag myself. I'm going to try to avoid the cheap garbage and use something I'd enjoy finding. Probably geared more toward kids. Perhaps I'll put in a toy and a signature item. That way the adults would be interested in signature items, kids would be interested in the toys.

It was a fun lunch hour cache.

Campus Tours

Today, I decided I'd get those pix for the GeoCoin I have. The coin wants to visit a bunch of Universities. So I thought I'd take a picture of the coin next to university signs. I went to Rocky Mountain College first. Not technically an university, but it does a regular 4 year degree programs. While there, they had this really great tree. It must have been there for a 100+ years. Huge trunk and really great looking branches. There are a couple of places on that tree that has a hole where a branch use to be. I might look into putting a cache in there. I love cool old trees like that. I should have taken a picture. I had my camera, after all. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Then I went to Montana State University - Billings. The only sign I saw was kinda lame. It was in front of a parking lot. I wanted something with a bit more flair. I'll have to go by and see if I can find any other signs with a decent backdrop. I want to show off the beauty of Montana. Can't do that with a parking lot! Oh well. "At least there is a cache near by," I said to myself. So I pull into the visitor parking, pay my 50 cents for parking and went to track it down. First of all, I must say they have done some BEAUTIFUL landscaping since I attended the University. What a great area. If it wasn't a campus, I'd go there for a picnic and a bottle of wine and while away the hours looking at the sky. The area I was looking for the cache was in a water fall area. They had a really nice creek with waterfall. So cool. But there was maintenance guys hanging around. Fiddling with wires and valves and whatnot. So I couldn't go hunting for the cache. I guess I'll have to go back one evening to see if I can't track it down.

Moving Right Along

I decided to go after a cache from my favorite park. It's a clever idea. The idea was to put a quarter in the cache. If the cache already has 5 quarters in it, you take 4 of the quarters and the process starts all over again. It was pretty easy to find, but I really enjoyed finding it. I like these interactive caches. Something that asks you to do something in order to log it. Any of the caches that I plan on placing will have something unique to make it special. I have a few in mind, and they'll be interactive. I just want to log a few more finds before attempting a hide.

I also decided I'd go after this cache because it had a geocoin in it. I recently got a lot of interest in geocoins and would like to start collecting. This one is a Geocaching-U geocoin and already registered. It has a goal of visiting different Universities. I think I'm going to grab my camera and take some pictures of the coin with the local Universities. Namely, MSU-Billings, MSU College of Technology, and Rocky Mountain College. Then I'll move it along to another cache. I'm going to Bozeman, and I thought I'd get a picture of MSU-Bozeman as well, before dropping it off in a Bozeman cache for the next cacher to move along. I think I'm going to keep an eye on it for awhile. I'd like to see what happens with it. Besides, it's my first geocoin I'm moving along!

Since I was in the park, there is a multi-cache there as well. I got the first leg done, but it lead me near a place where young children were playing. I decided I'd come back when it was a bit more quiet. A grown man hanging out near playground equipment is not a good idea. Perhaps I'll bring my wife and kid along for the next leg.

Even though I only found 1 cache. It was still a good geocaching day!

Will Design For Coins!

I've been fascinated by geocoins and most recently, pathtags. I've been lurking in the forums, trying to find out how to get into the collecting aspect of this hobby. I thought it would be really cool to have some geocoins minted up. But that can cost anywhere from $500 to $1200 for a a bunch of coins! Wow! When people mint these coins, they more often than not, sell the coins for $7-9 each. Mostly to defray the cost of minting these coins. So starting out collecting, let alone minting, is quite an expensive endeavor.

I was reading that some designers offer their services in exchange for coins! I'm pretty good at photoshop and design. I thought this would be a great way to build up my collection. If I got a handful of coins, I'd have some for my collection, and some extra for trading with others. Very cool! I just posted on the forums asking about how many coins would be reasonable as payment for design services. I'm hoping to hear back. I've got plenty of time (usually) during my work day to do some design work. I hope someone will take me up on this offer. I'd like to start collecting. I think it would be great fun to design these coins. Plus, I'd have the designs finished in front of me.