Cachemobile name

Okay - you told us your thoughts on the decal. So lets have some more fun. We think the new Jeep deserves a name. We might be showing our age here, but we are leaning towards "NellyBelle". That is the name of the Jeep driven by Pat Brady on the old Roy Roger's show. Please share your thoughts on this name or throw another name into the hat.

Thanx-
Mike and Barb

The vote is in on the Jeep Wrangler Golden Eagle decal

We received numerous emails and several comments on the Jeep Wrangler Golden Eagle decal. There was an overwhelming response saying that we should not have the decal put on the Jeep. Being right on the fence we went with our friends and readership and have decided to not have it put on.

Thanx to all that gave us guidance on this decision.
Mike and Barb

Why can't we all be friends?

We have been hearing about some disturbing actions in the Geocaching community lately. It seems that some individuals think that it is their job to criticize how others on how to play the game.

At a small gathering of our caching friends one of them commented that he was going to hide his first geocache. After we congratulated him on his decision he told us that he was doing so because another geocacher sent him an email detailing that because he had found 200 caches he should obligate himself to hide one himself.

There was another discussion about another geocacher that temporarily archived one of his geocaches because some people had sent him an email about how he rated his cache and also questioning whether his "winter accessible" attribute was correct. The hider has proclaimed that they probably won't be hiding anymore caches.

We also heard that a new geocacher that has been hiding quite a few caches was thinking about dropping the hobby because at least one individual criticized him about one of his hides.

To begin with everybody determines how they themselves decide to play the game. And remember it is just a game. It is not a competitition. You are only playing against yourself. We know some geocachers that have more fun hiding than they do finding. Should they be criticized because they don't find enough? Rather than blaming the hiders of geocaches when you can't find one or don't even venture out because it might be too hard you should be thankful that these people are hiding caches for you to find. It is your job as a geocache hunter to determine which caches you want to find and how much effort you wish to put into each hunt. Some will be easy and others are harder to find. Choose what works best for you. Another thing to remember is that you will never find them all. There are just too darn many and the hobby is growing. If you are as obsessed with the sport as much as we are you shoud be happy about that. If we can influence just one geocacher to be less critical of a cache hider, we will be happy. Remember what grandma said; "If you can't say something nice, then say nothing at all".

So - Lets all be friends and have fun!

Review of the 2006 Jeep Wrangler Golden Eagle

After having a 1989 Jeep Wrangler for several years we decided we wanted one of the newer TJ models. Having found most of the geocaches in our general vicinity we have ot travel a bit to get to locales with a good cache density. The old Jeep was fun when you got there, but wan't much fun getting there. We did some research to find a good used Jeep, but they hold their value so well that we decided on buying a brand new one instead.

The new Jeep is a fantastic vehicle. Powered by a 4.0 Liter engine, it has plenty of power that seems to deliver a good amount of torque throughout the entire RPM range. The six speed manual transmission is smooth shifting. We selected the 3.73 gear ratio and the extra gear is great for keeping the engine RPM's at a reasonable level at highway speeds. It also has plenty of power to maintain highway speeds in sixth gear even when climbing the hills of New England. Another great thing with the drive train is that you can shift into 4 wheel drive on the fly. At any speed up to 55 miles per hour you simply take your foot off the gas and shift into 4 wheel high. We actually had to use this on the highway this past weekend.

The heater in the new Jeep actually keeps you warm on cold winter days and the seven speaker stereo system sounds great. The new Jeep has reclining high-back seats for extra comfort. Although the ride is not as good as a car, it is much better than the old Jeep. We really like the new windshield wipers as they retract all the way to the bottom of the windshiled when not in use. Wipers on the older models rested almost in the middle of the windshield. This Jeep even has a wiper for the rear window! The hardest thing to get used to is the autodimming rear view mirror. You can turn off the autodimming feature, but we will give it some time to get used to it. And, the mirror has a built-in compass. How cool is that for a geocacher?

As you read in a previous post we bought a Golden Eagle. It has a distinct look with gold wheels, a gold eagle decal above the Jeep logo on the fenders and the words Golden Eagle on each side of the hood. You can also have a decal of a large Golden Eagle on the hood, but we opted not to have it installed. In addition to the decals it comes with a spare tire cover with an eagle on it and two toned seats with the Golden Eagle wording along the top.

If anybody is looking for a great cachemobile we highly recommend the new Jeep Wrangler.