family vacation

[+rookieraes]

I am planning a family trip from the central texas area down to the coast of Texas, Port Aransas Texas to be exact.

How do I go about loading all the caches along our route so that we can enjoy the long ride down. I realize it might make a 4 hour trip more like a 6-8 hour trip but I think the kids will enjoy it much more if we take our time caching along the way. ALthough I do want to stay on route, I am sure there are plenty for us to find on the way

[+DiamondDaveG]

The easy way (for some) is set up a PQ for your route & download from there.

 

Personally I can't figure PQs out & get the info I want. If you are similar, there are plenty of people here that would walk you through them.

 

I would do a cache search from home coordinates, when the list comes up switch to map and scroll & choose from there. Yes that might take a bit longer but you can eliminate single caches that might meet your criteria on a PQ but when you look at the description it just doesnt appeal to you.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[+Fairchase]

-download google earth

-go to directions page and enter your start and end points

-the map will show you your route - make changes if that is not the way you are going

-once you are satisfied with the route - save it as a .kml file in your documents (make a geocache route folder)

-go to geocaching.com page and select pocket queries

-select caches along a route

-you can upload your saved .kml route intot he querie request

-follow directions once you get to the querie selection page ie. what types of caches, how far off the route to look, etc.

 

You can do it - if I figured it out anybody can.

[+JohnnyVegas]

You will also want add to your travel time, for every hour of travel with geocaching included add three hours. I no longer use cache along a route, it take to long to get to were you are going

[+Snoogans]

I am low tech and a few hi-tech folks I know will sometimes employ the method I use which is to click on the geocaching.com google maps from any cache page and drag them down your route picking and choosing and uploading ONLY those caches that are convenient or worth your time to stop.

 

Personally, I don't stray more than 1 mile from my route to get a cache UNLESS it's a cache that has excellent word of mouth or already on my TO DO list.

 

Sure it's more time consuming, but the result is a more rewarding cachin' and travelin' experience. IMO.

 

 

-download google earth

-go to directions page and enter your start and end points

-the map will show you your route - make changes if that is not the way you are going

-once you are satisfied with the route - save it as a .kml file in your documents (make a geocache route folder)

-go to geocaching.com page and select pocket queries

-select caches along a route

-you can upload your saved .kml route intot he querie request

-follow directions once you get to the querie selection page ie. what types of caches, how far off the route to look, etc.

 

You can do it - if I figured it out anybody can.

 

I'm going to try that, I really need someone to hold my hand or I'll probably mess it up.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I am low tech and a few hi-tech folks I know will sometimes employ the method I use which is to click on the geocaching.com google maps from any cache page and drag them down your route picking and choosing and uploading ONLY those caches that are convenient or worth your time to stop.

 

Personally, I don't stray more than 1 mile from my route to get a cache UNLESS it's a cache that has excellent word of mouth or already on my TO DO list.

 

Sure it's more time consuming, but the result is a more rewarding cachin' and travelin' experience. IMO.

 

Okay. I'm a rather low-tech dolphin.

1) Where am I going, and why am I going there?

A) Ah. Going to Maine to visit my sister. Haven't found any caches/benchmarks in Rhode Island yet. Hmm... Good motel in Rhode Island. Got it. Route from here to Rhode Island. Check for caches and benchmarks along the route, versus driving time. These look good! (Well. Those I fed into the Gupy by hand.) Here's a great looking park near Providence Airport, and some benchmarks along the way! Print out the sheets. Time allotment.

Got a new Gupy, premium membership. Helping sister with Maine DeLorme Challenge. Plot routes on geocaching google maps, for the best way to get all the pages needed for this trip. Find four caches per page. Bookmark them!!!! Get GPX for bookmark list. Gupdate Gupy! Only need one cache per page. Need this number of caches today on trip from Bath to Houlton. Got it. My brother, of course being super geeky, downloaded all of the caches in Maine. Once we fulfilled our DeLorme requirements for the day, he was free to run wild being a numbers ho. Our requirements: At least one cache per page, and get to the next motel by 6 for dinner. 26 DeLorme pages. 183 caches! In only five days. Plus finding 2 benchmarks in Kennebec, 2 in Aroostook, and 4 in Washington Counties. We had a great time!!!

Okay. It did take me a week to plan this trip. But you need to plan what you want to do/need to do. Plan the caches to fit along your route. Check out a lot of caches that fill your requirements. Decide which "twice as many" fill your needs. Then plan your trip accordingly. Found two of the four for this segment? Ignore the rest, and move on to the next segment.

Not terribly techie dolphin

[+Dread_Pirate_Bruce]

I have been using my iPhone with the new geocaching application for caching along a route or anywhere else with great success. It will find the nearest 20 (or so) caches to wherever you are at the moment. So, drive for a bit, pull over check on nearby caches and either grab one or two or drive for a bit more and repeat the process. I am not sure the gps on the phone is as good as my Garmin, so once I get near, I put the coords into the Garmin. A great thing about this is that I get the description, recent logs and the hint.

 

If there are any "must do" caches on your route, be sure to get cache pages and coords for those separately and mark them on a map (or put them into a gps so you can verify your approach).

[+angevine]

I agree with some of what has been posted ... I think it's counter-indicated on a vacation to look for all the caches along your route (unless you're just going for the numbers, of course, then I suppose that anything goes). A vacation is for fun and relaxation. Find caches that are unique to the area, that you wouldn't find at home; find caches that have interesting write-ups (always a weakness of mine) that can help you learn about the place you're visiting, or that enable you to see something that tourists don't normally see. Be as discriminating (or even more so) as you'd be at home.

 

... And have fun!

 

-- Jeannette (angevine on Cape Cod, Massachusetts)

[Skippermark]

I"m kind of in the middle tech-wise. If it's somewhere I'm familiar with and I know the roads I want to take, I'll use the Geocaching Google Maps to zoom into the highway and then drag my way around the map to see what caches I want to do.

 

If I'm not sure how to get where I want to go, I'll create a cache along a route and load it into GSAK. Then I'll preview it in the Geocaching Google Maps and then do the same thing as above because even though a cache could be near the highway, it could also be 5 miles from an exit.

 

As I see ones I want to do, I mark them in GSAK and then only send the marked ones to the GPS. That's to get to my destination. For the caches at the destination, I do it differently.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I have been using my iPhone with the new geocaching application for caching along a route or anywhere else with great success. It will find the nearest 20 (or so) caches to wherever you are at the moment. So, drive for a bit, pull over, check on nearby caches and either grab one or two or drive for a bit more and repeat the process.

 

Ug, just shoot me. Really. This sounds like removing a screw with a hammer!

[+GrnXnham]

Double post deleted

Edited November 14, 2008 by GrnXnham

[+GrnXnham]

We always cache while on vacation. We don't go very far out of our way to look for caches, however.

 

Usually, we have several places that we are planning on stopping to see anyway like historical sites or just touristy areas. I look to see if there are any caches within about 1/2 mile of these areas and I load those on the GPS.

 

If we feel like looking for them or if we have a little extra time we look for them but rarely do we get them all. It's nice to intersperse a few caches with your vacation.

Edited November 14, 2008 by GrnXnham

[+SerenityFound]

I'm thinking that all of those weekend soccer games along the east coast just got a whole lot more interesting... we're in a different state every week.

[+Rev Mike]

You will also want add to your travel time, for every hour of travel with geocaching included add three hours. I no longer use cache along a route, it take to long to get to were you are going

 

How true...

 

I stretched a nine hour drive into a three day trip once.

 

- Rev Mike

[+NYPaddleCacher]

We always cache while on vacation. We don't go very far out of our way to look for caches, however.

 

Usually, we have several places that we are planning on stopping to see anyway like historical sites or just touristy areas. I look to see if there are any caches within about 1/2 mile of these areas and I load those on the GPS.

 

Ya know, one of the problems with the elimination of virtual caches and moving them to waypoints.org is that one can't do a "Waypoints along a route" like we can on on geocaching.com. I'm sure that there are lots of interesting historical sites that are along a travel route that have waymark entries but the Waymarking site doesn't have a good way to select them based on their proximity to a route.

[Skippermark]

You will also want add to your travel time, for every hour of travel with geocaching included add three hours. I no longer use cache along a route, it take to long to get to were you are going

 

How true...

 

I stretched a nine hour drive into a three day trip once.

That is the one drawback of caching on the way to somewhere. You think the trip will take 5 hours, but it really ends up taking double that I've found unless you limit yourself to the caches that happen to be at the rest stop where you need to stop and stretch. Getting off the highway, driving through town and all that really does add significantly to the time.

[+CanadaKate]

[

That is the one drawback of caching on the way to somewhere. You think the trip will take 5 hours, but it really ends up taking double that I've found unless you limit yourself to the caches that happen to be at the rest stop where you need to stop and stretch. Getting off the highway, driving through town and all that really does add significantly to the time.

 

Although caching adds time to a trip, we've found it to be a wonderful alternative to the mind-numbing highway rest stops. With an 8 and 10 year old in the back seat, a cache or two during a 3 to 5 hour drive adds a whole lot of interest.

 

First they have to read the cache description, then decrypt the hint, then monitor the GPSr as we get close and then ... time to run, stretch everyone's legs, hunt and (we hope) find. Plus, some chewing over the hunt and find once we're back in the car.

 

It's almost become a reflex action to plug in the postal (or zip) code of anywhere we're going and see what interesting caches might be nearby.

[+Dread_Pirate_Bruce]

I have been using my iPhone with the new geocaching application for caching along a route or anywhere else with great success. It will find the nearest 20 (or so) caches to wherever you are at the moment. So, drive for a bit, pull over, check on nearby caches and either grab one or two or drive for a bit more and repeat the process.

 

Ug, just shoot me. Really. This sounds like removing a screw with a hammer!

 

It may sound like removing a screw with a hammer, but its not. the iPhone gives me internet access so I can seek caches on the fly. I don't know what route I may be taking or when I feel the urge to stop, so having internet access gives me good options and it is paperless.

 

BTW: I sometimes find that hitting a stuck screw with a hammer makes it easier to unscrew with a screwdriver. And, don't even ask what to do when the head is mangled from someone else trying to remove it with the wrong size screwdriver.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I have been using my iPhone with the new geocaching application for caching along a route or anywhere else with great success. It will find the nearest 20 (or so) caches to wherever you are at the moment. So, drive for a bit, pull over, check on nearby caches and either grab one or two or drive for a bit more and repeat the process.

 

Ug, just shoot me. Really. This sounds like removing a screw with a hammer!

 

It may sound like removing a screw with a hammer, but its not. the iPhone gives me internet access so I can seek caches on the fly. I don't know what route I may be taking or when I feel the urge to stop, so having internet access gives me good options and it is paperless.

 

BTW: I sometimes find that hitting a stuck screw with a hammer makes it easier to unscrew with a screwdriver. And, don't even ask what to do when the head is mangled from someone else trying to remove it with the wrong size screwdriver.

LOL, I do know what you mean, I did the same thing when I got my BlackjackII phone, which does basically the same things. Now I use the BlackjackII to run Cachemate and my 60CSx for mapping and caching.