Disaster Weekend

[Palujia]

We decided to take our Border Terrier to be stripped and beautified down to the lady that "does " him in Hythe, near Southampton. Having a couple of days off we thought we would take the caravan down to the great Caravan Club site at Black knowle in the New Forest."She who must be obeyed" said that she would stay with him and I could do a bit of caching by the sea-side. Trusty Oregon "charged", mobile internet dongle paid up. New Android phone ready, as back up. Cache bag loaded, dogs in car, wine bottles loaded (oops almost forgot food!)Caravan hooked up and away ! Nice easy two hour drive A34 and M27 etc booked in and legs down by 1430 hrs. Right - fire up lap top ! No Signal - strike one. Fire up phone - No Signal - strike two. Drive in to Brockenhurst for chips. Got a phone signal but no connection on Groundspeak ! Strike three. Back to van - At least I've got a good TV signal and plenty of wine. Up nice and early Saturday. In to Hythe - drop off "she who must be obeyed" Park up by the sea front - Elderly dog out and "frisking" even (just a bit). Hurrah
have signal on phone. log on to groundspeak "find nearby geocaches" and
WOT !Q! run out of phone battery !!?~@""%%++!! How did that happen ? Try and get one of those emergency quick chargers - no luck ! Any inernet cafes - Naah = Quick, try the library - got there just as it closed !
Soooo Here I am in a new town with no way of finding or downloading caches, Oh why did I not prepare properly at home as I used to by printing off caches, maps etc before my fancy new paperless system
Completely wasted caching weekend - Still we got the dog stripped, elderly dog got some sea air and we had a quiet weekend in the caravan
Rats Rats Rats

[border caz]

I take it you weren't a Boy Scout? Be Prepared and all that?

Have done similar myself, but most of the time I go over the top - PQ on to my Nuvi (for paperless and getting to the locality) & Legend (for going in for the kill), plus streetmap printed off and the relevant OS map, a notebook full of hints and notes from the logs of previous finders.

This is all in addition to having a phone, and the netbook in the car.

Modern technology is wonderful when it's working well, but a PIA when it doesn't.

Still, you had a nice weekend away.

[Maple Leaf]

Oh no!

However, I am just wondering why you are using your mobile phone to connect to Groundspeak to search for the caches when you have an Oregon. You mention paperless caching, but obviously didn't have many (or any) downloaded.

I see you are a premium member ... so thought I would just check that you are familiar with running PQ's (pocket queries). This is a very quick way to transfer up to 1000 caches (customised how you want) via a USB cable from your PC or Mac to your Oregon.

Apologies if you do know ... but just didn't have time to do it before you left home.

[martybartfast]

Well when I saw "Disaster Weekend", followed by "We decided to take our Border Terrier...." I thought maybe it was going to be something REALLY bad.

Hopefully you enjoyed the other activities over your weekend,
After all it's only a game

[Palujia]

I know, I know. Having gone "paperless" I placed too much faith in technology! Our geocaching friends the Beauchiefs had got a new I phone with all the fancy bells and whistles and I was impressed with the fact that as soon as we got somewhere Beauchief in chief whipped out the phone and dialed up "nearby caches" - entered co-ords into the GPS for accuracy and off like long dogs. Not being on contract I bought a cheaper android phone on the O*****ge network. Spent most of the holiday in Norfolk trying to get it to work (no signal) and found out why there are very few O****ge shops !! (No network) After getting home and managing, after a lot of trials and errors, to get it working I was so taken with my success that I didn't download to paper as I always used to (the phone gives descriptions, logs, hints etc. Being the ultimate technophobe I have trouble with the oregon downloading GPX files. When I started I downloaded GSAK and if I do a PQ it goes to GSAK and when I try to load it on to the Oregon I only get the cache and co-ords - nothing else. So I download each page one at a time. I now can't get rid of them on the GPS as when I plug it in I don't get a GPX file folder - all I get is "offline Data base" which doesn't want to upload. So at present I am, to say the least, a little discouraged !!

[Fermentum]

Sounds like a bad weekend!

I am not rubbing anything in but I had a personal record caching this week end!

[nobbynobbs]

sorry i didnt read this before as that's where i live..... could have made your weekend much easier.

[Maple Leaf]

..snip....

Being the ultimate technophobe I have trouble with the oregon downloading GPX files. When I started I downloaded GSAK and if I do a PQ it goes to GSAK and when I try to load it on to the Oregon I only get the cache and co-ords - nothing else. So I download each page one at a time. I now can't get rid of them on the GPS as when I plug it in I don't get a GPX file folder - all I get is "offline Data base" which doesn't want to upload. So at present I am, to say the least, a little discouraged !!

I can't help with the GSAK/PQ problem, but I would have thought it would be worth manually creating a new GPX folder if your one is missing.

If you haven't already .... it is worth reading the Garmin Oregon Wiki page as it has some great tips and may answer some of your questions.

[Palujia]

Thanks peeps - When I spoke to the Beauchiefs they said that they also had a good "finding" weekend, Drat and double Drat !. Next time we come down that way (probably in the spring now as Black Knowle is closing till Easter) I Will let you know "O Mighty Leader"(at least till after the elections !!) She who must be obeyed and I are now plotting our next cache placing series and, having been up to the Geocaching shop have bought some really cunning containers and will make the series as hard as possible to cheer us up !!