I’ve had varied success with travel bugs. Most of mine stall out after awhile, some disappear. Sadly, it’s the nature of the beast. “Crazy Like a Georgia Fox” was grabbed by a cacher, and after a prodding via e-mail he moved it to another cache that was a mere four miles from the one he grabbed it from. It took him eight months to make the move, but he did move it so for that I’m grateful. Unfortunately, that particular bug is now in limbo. “GeoStude” had the goal of reaching the great Northwest, making it to Washington and then into Canada; it then promptly disappeared. One could say that the traveling Studebaker pickup truck met his goal.

But I am most proud of “Rebel Debel!” The Debel had the simple goal of visiting pubs and bars and meeting new people and then coming back home after a year of travel.

I released the Debel at a Georgia Geocachers Association meeting in June of 2004. He was grabbed by Yjjohnston on June 12th and promptly placed in a cache soon thereafter. From Georgia the Debel went to Illinois, Nebraska, and then to Colorado. While in Colorado the Debel visited a pub or two and then took wing for Ireland!

After what I’m sure was an outstanding pub crawl in Ireland, Debel came back to Colorado to roost in “Chief’s Wooded Hollow” where on June 12th I posted a note asking for his return and offering an incentive to the cacher who retrieved him and sent him home. I was pleased to hear from ducksfly2gether rather quickly.

Ducksfly2gether mailed him to me rapidly and the incentive I promised was sent on June 20th. To quote Hannibal Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together!”

After all the disappointments and waylaid travel bugs I’ve had and heard of, I am proud to say the Debel came home to Georgia. A big thank you to all those great geocachers that helped Rebel Debel in his journey!

Rebel Debel is now on the wagon and a Geocache Event traveler. If you see me at an event, look for the Debel so you can become part of his success story. Who knows? Maybe some of his good luck will rub off on you!

See ya on the hunt!

Update!

**E-mail recieved**
There’s an interesting bit of additional story. I took Rebel Debel to the July GGA meeting so that folks could rub its butt for some good duck luck. I did this as a joke and as an ice breaker. The two geocachers who took me up on it were RainbowCache and Papageorgia.