Missing Travel Bugs

[djwini]

i got a bagful of tb’s from a friend who got them from a friend. seems that person was collecting them, not logging them. at least they didn’t throw them away. some of them had been out of circulation for over a year. i still have a few of them to place in caches, but i emailed all the owners letting them know the bugs were back in the game.

[gotta run]

Bumping due to this happy TB resurrection:

TB14RGN

😀

On the Left Side of the Road...

[furfool]

Well, I finally released my first coin while I was in Germany. I dubbed it my “Heritage Geocoin” with the mission of visiting all of the countries of my heritage along with any other countries along the way. The name of the cache was Erdfall (GCX0VP) in Heidelberg. I placed it May 22 and the cache was found again on May 24. The cache owner did some maintenance today and reported the coin as missing.

Now after reading about others’ trackables, especially coins, disappearing, I didn’t really expect to see it again. I did expect to see it move along to at least a few caches though. This one didn’t even make it to the next finder. My only hope right now is that maybe someone found it and will move it when they can. Like me at the time, maybe that person is a visitor and has no internet until they return home.

My guess is that the next finder after me took it. It was in between some rocks on a muddy hillside in the woods. Unless one climbed down there and stood in just the right spot, it wouldn’t have been seen. I guess if I ever release one again, it will be a TB instead of a coin.

[koolma_k]

I think it is just horrible for people to hoard coins and TB’s… on the other hand, I have a TB where I have found no way to contact the owner, and the owner only had 43 finds, the TB is way off course, but I could mail it to my brother so that it is back where the owner had wanted it…. does anyone have a clue as to how proceed?? (I am holding it for now, but if I can’t get ahold of the owner, I am just going to move it on)

[glorkar]

I honestly think I would just move it along from where you are. Sure, TBs have goals, but the side trips are half the fun imo.

[sandlanders]

I agree, glorkar. You can move in in the right direction, if you have a choice. Otherwise, put it in a cache and hope someone can help out with the mission.

[cheezehead]

Ya, just drop it in a cache and it goes where it goes.

[labrat_wr]

@furfool wrote:

Well, I finally released my first coin while I was in Germany. I dubbed it my “Heritage Geocoin” with the mission of visiting all of the countries of my heritage along with any other countries along the way. The name of the cache was Erdfall (GCX0VP) in Heidelberg. I placed it May 22 and the cache was found again on May 24. The cache owner did some maintenance today and reported the coin as missing.

Now after reading about others’ trackables, especially coins, disappearing, I didn’t really expect to see it again. I did expect to see it move along to at least a few caches though. This one didn’t even make it to the next finder. My only hope right now is that maybe someone found it and will move it when they can. Like me at the time, maybe that person is a visitor and has no internet until they return home.

My guess is that the next finder after me took it. It was in between some rocks on a muddy hillside in the woods. Unless one climbed down there and stood in just the right spot, it wouldn’t have been seen. I guess if I ever release one again, it will be a TB instead of a coin.

Don’t give up hope on this young traveler. it has only been 4 days since it was thought to be picked up. Four days of potential travel time for the cacher to have forgotten they picked it up. four days for them to realize they didn’t write down the tracking number before they dropped it into another cache. many things can happen with travellers. I have a handful of coins that have gone missing and hope they will turn up. it is when a cacher is known to have picked one up and hasn’t moved it for 12 months, that is irritating. I recently sent emails to 8 cachers that have my coins or TBs in their possession (according to the logs). Two actually responded and said they had forgotten they had them and would move them on soon. the other 6 have been silent 👿

since that cache has only been found once since your coin drop, you could email that cacher and inquire if they grabbed the coin or not.

I do find that those overseas tend to be better at moving them properly than many in the states.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[koolma_k]

yeah, that is probably what will happen… I have had it for almost 2 weeks looking around and leaving messages to no avail, so it will move on with in the next week or so unless I hear different from the owner 🙂

[koolma_k]

I am guilty of having picked up a TB, forgot to copy the number and then drop it in a cache… fortunately I knew of another cacher who was planning on visiting the cache and asked them to document the bug, which they gladly did for me. There is a good chance that it will pop back up 🙂 (I also find that (IMO) it is better to place bugs and coins in premium member caches, my assumtion being that they are more likely to be more serious about caching and respecting the guidelines 🙂 )

[Sagasu]

I always look at a cache’s log history for red flags with trackables before I drop a trackable in a cache, our own coin or TB or one belonging to someone else, premium cache or not. I have seen some caches with incredible repeat mugglings before owners move or archive such caches.

As for “trusted hands” moving trackables, I, too, have seen some better fortune for our TBs in other parts of the world and in some parts of the states. An example is with one of our own green jeep TBs that went to Scotland and the Czech Republic in two stops, and has now seen almost the entire country in over 35 caches. The moves are almost weekly sometimes and the logs always timely. I don’t think it’s ever going to leave the country though. The Czechs love the traditional jeep look-a-like and take and post photos. It’s seen some great caches, but I don’t have time to use a translator on all of them so I look at the location, sometimes with a satellite view and glean what I can. That’s just one of forty or so trackables we have out there, so we have plenty of glimpes of caches throughout the country and world.

With regard to helping trackables get back on track, I have done that sometimes, as it seems even reliable and trusted hands that move trackables on, and at least help them survive, don’t often consider a trackable’s goal, if there is one. So, in a few cases, I’ve helped some trackabes get connected to someone going back in the right direction, in a couple cases to another continent. I know how thrilled I’ve been when someone does that with one of ours. Some more great stories there.

Most of all, I hope people do look at a cache’s history and don’t move trackables through caches that have been muggled and not moved, or have logs that say repeatedly: “We didn’t see the geocoin or TBs in the cache like the last finder a few weeks ago. Maybe the owner needs to mark them missing.” or worse yet: “The travel bugs that have been listed in this cache haven’t been there for a long time, but we dropped this cool geocoin, and we don’t think the kids playing across the street were watching when we were at the cache.”

[glorkar]

@Sagasu wrote:

I always look at a cache’s log history for red flags with trackables before I drop a trackable in a cache, our own coin or TB or one belonging to someone else, premium cache or not. I have seen some caches with incredible repeat mugglings before owners move or archive such caches.

I’ve actually got a cache that seems to be very muggle prone. I put a warning in very large letters at the top of the page to not put trackables in it. It seemed like the right thing to do.

[bartrod]

I bought two Wisconsin Geo-cows a couple of years ago, placed one in a cache nearby and it disappered immediately and hasn’t been seen since. The other one I placed on the other side of the state, it made it’s way back to this side of the state, and has bogged down in a cacher’s hands who hasn’t responded to my requests to move it. Coins sure seem to have a limited life…I too think that I’ll stick to tb’s from now on although some of those have gone missing too. The coins that I’ve acquired recently are “Discover Only” now…how sad 🙁

Oconto...the birthplace of western civilization:)

[The Happy Hodag!]

@bartrod wrote:

I bought two Wisconsin Geo-cows a couple of years ago, placed one in a cache nearby and it disappered immediately and hasn’t been seen since. The other one I placed on the other side of the state, it made it’s way back to this side of the state, and has bogged down in a cacher’s hands who hasn’t responded to my requests to move it. Coins sure seem to have a limited life…I too think that I’ll stick to tb’s from now on although some of those have gone missing too. The coins that I’ve acquired recently are “Discover Only” now…how sad 🙁

I don’t think I’d be worried about those two at all, but you know you’re in trouble if the one you brought to KKF2 goes missing. 😯

The buck stops here. . .and gets entered into Where's George.

Where's George? Stimulating the economy one EMS'ed dollar at a time.

[Grandma & Grandpa]

We just had another school TB resurface that had gone missing back in October ’09. 50 miles after our TB’s were launched, a brand new cache was totally stolen. And of course, no sign of our TB’s. We had two 11 year old boys pretty upset.

A week or so ago, logs started popping up for one of the TB’s. It had gotten grabbed and then lost under a car back seat. Now in just a few short days it’s been to Texas, and in & out of a whole bunch of caches. And one of our sixth graders is smiling again.

cYa, Jim

[Author]

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