It has been my good fortune to call Dave "Little David" Ulmer one of my two best friends since we first met at age 6 in Jacksonville, FL., where we are both from. We have just about done it all together since that time. One thing in your article is very, very wrong. You stated that from ordinary men come extraordinary ideas. Let me assure you Dave Ulmer is NOT your ordinary man. When we were in early grade school Dave was building transistor radios in band-aid boxes. This was in the early 50's! Dave built mini-bikes, but with a difference, Dave's mini-bikes had 25hp outboard motor engines and would do over 100 mph in the 1/4 mile...if you had the balls to ride it that fast! At age 14 Dave completely overhauled a Buick automatic transmission...with no manuals or training. He reassembled the lower unit from an outboard motor which a graduate mechanical engineer friend of ours had taken apart and could not get back together WITH THE MANUAL. Dave had it back together in about 30 minutes with no instructions of any kind! He was working full time in early high-school as a fully qualified outboard mechanic at a Jacksonville shop. If no one else in town could fix it bring it to Dave! Dave's whole life has been on the leading edge of things. He is a forward thinker and just about the smartest guy I have ever known. If I recall correctly, he made the front page of the Wall Street Journal when he was about 35. Dave is truly a mechanical and electrical genius. He is also a helluva great friend and a hell-raiser from way back. Get him to tell you about his invention of a high-output "still" made from a household water heater! There are many, many "Little David" stories and they are all fascinating. Dave Ulmer, ordinary? Not on your life!

Since this past November I have visited waterfalls, streams, swamps, rivers, lakes, ponds and oceans. I’ve also visited caves, fields, hills, mountains, state parks, conservation preserves, islands, bridges, rest areas, capital cities and recreation areas. I’ve seen birds, snakes, gophers, beavers, fish, deer and a fox.

My doctor said that the winter months are the most difficult period of time to lose weight when living in New Hampshire. I lost 10 pounds and got my blood pressure under control.

I did all this while perusing hidden containers with my GPS. On November 1st, my 11-year-old son came home from a science club meeting with information about a GPS and Geocaching. Immediately I was hooked.

When I started Geocaching, I would hit the trail with only the GPS, cache sheets and a few trinkets to trade. After about 20 finds I realized I was really unprepared! I went to caches that had no pen or pencil, full log books and some that were damaged and/or filled with water. More important, I found I was unprepared for any mishap. I then packed a backpack with water, compass, batteries, first aid kit, hat, gloves, snacks, pencil, sharpie, pen, bug spray, three flashlights, rope and a multi-purpose tool.

Another invaluable tool I discovered was to read the logs posted for each cache. Come to find out, there are many cachers who are generous enough to use these logs to share their experiences and offer advice. There is this one cacher in New England name Walden Run who has achieved legendary status. After reading through a few of WR’s logs, I noticed he carries with him an extra container. WR explained that he carries this mainly to replace a container he might break while trying to get it open. Since then I have been carrying two Tupperware containers in my pack as well as 100 golf pencils, log books, pencil sharpeners, tissue, zip lock bags, zip ties and duct tape.

I have replaced, fixed and restocked many broken containers. I attempted a river cache recently that could only be done by boat, canoe or kayak. I found that the cache got swept away by very high water conditions. I did not want to go through all that trouble for a “no find,” so I replaced the cache, complete with: container, logbook, three golf pencils, pencil sharpener, zip lock bag and a dozen trinkets.

There is some controversy in New England that I feel deserves worldwide attention. Some cachers feel it is the cache owners responsibly to maintain his/her cache. By fixing a cache, I will perpetuate laziness. In other words, “We enable irresponsible people to hide caches and then not maintain them.” (Mopar, Posted: May 11 2004, 07:25 PM, Groundspeak Forums -> Geocaching Groups by Region / State -> New England-> Now That's Caching)

The question I am now asking myself is:
1) Do I let the cache owner maintain the cache?
Or
2) Do I fix the cache while I’m there?

Every time I fix, restock or replace a cache, the owner sends me an email filled with glowing praise for what I did. I also feel a sense of pride knowing that my effort will benefit those next to find that cache. I do acknowledge Mopar’s point of view. I surely do want to help my fellow enthusiasts and certainly not create harm. My gut tells me to continue helping my fellow caches; because who knows what circumstances or issues a cache owner is dealing with that would prevent them from maintaining his/her cache.

I have had two of my TB's go MIA (one in New Jersey and the other in Germany. One bug had over 10000 miles and the other around 5000 miles. I have listed the one in the tb graveyard ("surfer dude" TB). The other one the owner is still got a posting for and is going to send a family member over to check it out.

I have also found a TB that was placed beside a cache and when I got home to log it I saw the the last cacher had not logged it yet (neither cache or log). I waited for a couple of weeks, I saw where she picked it up in Arkansas then nothing. Till a few weeks ago I tried to log it and noticed that she had deleted the log where she picked it up and still had not logged the TB or the cache where she put it.

I then just logged it as I grabbed it from her, even though we never met, and logged it properly. I just found that very strange for her to do that. I like to keep tb moving and I usually ask the owner if it is ok to hold on to it for awhile. I have had people ask me about my TB's before and I say that I don't mind where they go as long as they are logged properly.

This is one of my pet peaves of geocaching, the other is the problem I have had recently with the caches I have hidden, NOT BEING PUT BACK THE SAME AS I LEFT IT!!! I have posted a note on all of my cache pages stating that, But I don't like to do that because it sounds like I am being a #$@@&*(!.

I just read your article on regarding cache containers and the type of tape to use and what not, I have been caching for only about 2 months but I have found that J.B. Weld will hold any magnet to a metal container and not ever have to worry about it coming off even in extreme heat or cold, and that primer spray paint will hold up better than just flat enamel alone.Thanks, GeoFD