Volunteers for AP news story?

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 10:36 am

Hi,

I'm a reporter with the Milwaukee bureau of The Associated Press. We'd like to do a story on geocaching, preferably from the eyes of experienced participants.

What I'm looking for are:

* People who live in or around the Milwaukee or Madison areas who would be interested in geocaching sometime in early November. [I know, that's late in the season, but we won't be able to get to the story sooner.]

-- I'd like to tag along with you and write about the hunt from your perspective.

-- Going with a group, preferably co-ed, perhaps with kids and/or a dog, might be fun just because it'd give the story more color, but we can be flexible. You would also have to consent to being photographed in action.

* Experienced people whom I can interview over the phone who have good anecdotes, for example:

-- Hunts you've gone on that were unique or challenging in terms of terrain or puzzle

-- Interesting trinkets you've found or left

-- Spectacular views you wouldn't have seen otherwise

-- How geocaching has changed your life (maybe you never used to get exercise before, or you met a special someone while geocaching)

* People who have achieved milestones or done noteworthy things in geocaching:

-- Founded an association or organized large group events

-- Started new trends

-- Hit the century or millennium mark in geocaching outings

-- Won awards or recognition from your peers for something

-- Created and/or hidden caches that for some reason have become legendary

-- If you're a senior citizen who keeps young and fit by geocaching, or if you have a physical challenge that you don't let interfere with your geocaching

I'd like to talk to as many people as possible to get a breadth of experiences. The main story will revolve around the group with whom I tag along, but I'd also like to include anecdotes from others with interesting experiences.

If you'd be interested in participating, please e-mail me at dramde AT ap DOT org, with the word 'geocaching' somewhere in the subject line. Please include your contact information.

The story will run sometime in the second week of November, so I'll be looking for participants through about Nov. 6.

Thanks so much, and happy geocaching,

-- D Nation

[This message has been edited by Dnation (edited 10-13-2005).]

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:54 pm

quote:
Originally posted by Dnation:
* People who live in or around the Milwaukee or Madison areas who would be interested in geocaching sometime in early November. [I know, that's late in the season, but we won't be able to get to the story sooner.]

It's NEVER too late to geocache!

------------------
Team LightningBugs
* * * * * * * * * *

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:41 pm

There you go Tami!

[This message has been edited by Miata (edited 10-07-2005).]

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:16 am

if you'd like to come along on a morning geocache, i'd love to take you.
djwini
contact djwini at wi dot rr dot com

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:18 pm

I would be more than happy to help you out. Contact me at dwunrow at wi dot rr dot com

Uncle_Fun

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:23 pm

Hey everyone...I think he wants you to e-mail him and not the other way around?
Tami
Thanks for thinking of me Miata....you know how shy I am. LOL

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:37 pm

duh, i didn't see his email address. guess it pays to read all the way to the end.

Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:55 am

I'm just hoping he's not getting spammed to death, for revealing his email without "coding" it (to avoid automated email address "catchers").

Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:04 pm

Just wondering if anyone has gotten a reply from email sent to him. We're curious about how his planning is progressing.

Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:48 pm

I happened to catch the posting when it was fresh, sent an email, have not heard a thing either way.

Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:59 pm

My apologies for not responding sooner.

Thanks to those of you who have replied -- I'll be contacting you individually within the next day.

FYI, my editors would like to move the story up a bit. Given our timing and our photographer's availability, the best day for me will be Friday, Oct. 21 during the day.

I'm sorry, I know a weekend is more convenient for most people, but if any of you might be available on a Friday, I'd certainly like to follow up with you ASAP.

Even if not, there are many of you with whom I'd like to speak to get some good stories and anecdotes, so you'll hear from me as well.

Thanks, all, and thank you to the person who advised about not putting my e-mail address up. We have pretty good spam filters here, but I changed it in my post nonetheless.

[This message has been edited by Dnation (edited 10-13-2005).]

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:35 pm

You contacted me via email before posting here, so let me know if you're still interested in talking. Thanks!

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:25 pm

Our family would be available on Friday, October 21st. (Including the kids and dog.) Feel free to e-mail me or post here.

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:27 pm

There's been a walk in the planning for over a week now. Sorry I didn't post a note sooner.

Commander Bob and I will be walking with these guys on Friday. A couple of other Team Badger members will be along as well. E-mail me if you're interested in joining us and I'll let you know once the plan is complete.

MajorBrat

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:45 pm

Now that the weekend is over, and we've had some time to recover from the excitement of the past few days...

We met up with Dnation Friday morning and gave him a quick run-down of what our idea of Geocaching is and what he could expect from his day.

Dnation was accompanied by a friend from California (Spark) who had also not been on the trails via a GPSR. This made for some very interesting and fun moments throughout our day.

Since Dnation was writing, he was more of an observer than participant (that's his story and he's sticking to it!). After giving Spark instruction on how to use the GPSR we headed down the trail for cache #1. They needed a bit of gentle nudging to make the find on the first stop and soon we were joined by a photographer (Ron).

A few hours and at least as many caches later, we found ourselves playing host for some good old Wisconsin brats at a nearby eating place.

The bottom line is this: The day went very well. Wisconsin Geocaching will be shown in a very good light. The WI DNR, WGA, and cachers across the state will be smiled upon once the article goes out.

As for WI Tourism...as it turns out, that's how this whole thing started, and now there are some great stories and trail photos to hopefully inspire travelers to cross the cheese curtain.

On a personal note, Bob and I have some new friends and Geocaching partners. We'll be out on the trails together very soon! Also, next time we make it to California we'll be caching with our friend Spark (He's hooked too and planning his GPSR purchase already!).

Thanks Dnation for posting your note and getting us off our bums on Friday! Thanks to Spark for being such a willing participant and for making it very easy for us to share our love of this sport with you. And thanks to Ron...hope that wide angle lens worked well for you! LOL!

MajorBrat