Might have lost a TB

[Ltfightr]

:cry: I know I shouldn't be upset about and this is the risk you run with letting them out in the world bur still.......

The guy who is holding on to it has had it for almost 2 months. I sent the first e-mail last week. When I didn't hear anything I just thought that it was because it was a hoilday weekend. So I sent the other one last night.

How long should I wait before I send another e-mail? What would you do?

I think I'm more mad that the guy who has it hadn't answered either of the e-mails I have sent him. And it's William's TB.

Any help?

Diana

[BACKPACKNJACK]

I had one go mia/undropped and after a long time, plus lots of tracking of her movements to see if she had dropped it off somewhere, I contacted this person…got no response …contacted again…got no response…contacted them again and was told “I will check my back pack”. It has never be released by her and I assume will not. I was hoping maybe it would because the TBs she dropped off when taking mine had been held by her for about a year. I don’t know if she never was going to release it or if my asking her to release it made she decide to never release it but…
TBs, like GeoCoins and Jeep-TBs have a way of disappearing.
Sad to say but that is why there is a (very full) TB Cemetery at the G.C. forums. Not because of muggles who just don’t know what to do but mostly because of cachers who do know what to do with them. Sorry about Wil's TB. Mine was going to be given to the girl scout troop leader who owned the cache I started it out in, along with framed pictures of the sandcastles and maps of it's adventures. I was a lot more naive back then I guess.
On the otherhand though, some folks don't cache as much as others and not all caches are suitable for dropping off TBs so I would just wait. The last cacher who had my TB "RUNNING WITH SCISSORS"had it for awhile but it was just to complete it's mission, and he did complete it's mission and even took some nice pictures doing it so if it goes mia I still have the proof that it actually did make it. Hope for the best, right?

[topkitty98]

I picked up 3 bugs and a coin to take on a trip last week. I wanted to place them all in separate caches. It took me finding the last cache on the way home to drop the last one. There just weren't alot of bigger than micro caches along the way that were accessable. I also wanted them where they would be picked up and carried fairly quickly. Three were picked up pretty fast and the other two are sitting. The 1 in a cemetery cache done in the rain in the dark left the next morning. The 3 in rest stop caches - 2 are still sitting. In all of the 18 caches we did, NONE had TBs there for me to pick up to bring here. I thought that was odd. True, we did do several virtuals but the others had none. Weird. You just never know!

[cachecrazies]

We've pretty much given up on setting out travel bugs. It's so disheartening to lose one!

We've contacted the last finders over & over - finally resorting to every six months or so, then finally giving them up as a lost cause. None of ours have ever "resurfaced" so we just give up on them. It's a shame when all the fun and expectation are thrown away so carelessly. But it happens over & over so we just don't expect a heck of a lot anymore!

[Gaddiel]

I suppose my expectations have diminished over time, as well. We've only really owned one TB, which was apparently muggled in the first cache it visited. If we ever purchase another one, it will be released under the assumption that we will most likely never hear from it again. I realize that this sounds pretty cynical, but I don't think it's realistic to expect too much.

At least a couple of times, we've been guilty of holding a TB for over a month. It wasn't that we had forgotten or that we didn't know the proper procedure. We simply don't get to cache that much, and when we do, it seems that full-sized caches are hard to come by. It's for these reasons that we (generally) don't bother picking TBs up at all.

As for contacting the person that's holding it, I'd probably give up after a couple of attempts, each attempt seperated by two or three months. I figure that if a person is holding a TB, they either have a good reason or they don't. If they don't have a good reason, then nagging probably won't motivate them to take action. If, on the other hand, they DO have a good reason, they'll eventually move it along regardless. (Just my $.02)

Wayne

[cachemates]

Our first TB had a cute black lab with his foot in the water bowl attached to it. It went from Daisy State Park to Little Rock and was lost in a cache that was muggled.

I started another one last year at the Clarksville Event. It was a little Armadillo I had picked up in Eureka Springs. It went as far as New Jersey and was lost, or kept. I won't be putting any more cute items on a TB. Make them so ugly you can hardly stand to pick it up, and it might survive.

I used my copy tag on the black lab and sent it out again. It was picked up in Utah on 12/25/04 it was finally released 10/14/05. The cacher would not return my emails. I just figured it was lost again, I sent one last email, my third, and he replied to that one and placed it in a cache.

We have a TB in Germany that is being moved quite often. We have another TB that "Rich Faith" was kind enough to take to Hawaii, place in different caches, and post pictures to the TB page. Cachers like that make TB's lots of fun.

[BACKPACKNJACK]

Oops, I messed up the color code on this link and when trying to fix it I ended up adding another post. :oops:
I'm sure glad this is the first mistake I've ever made. :lol:
Anyway, see the link below to see what I was trying to do the first time.
PS. I think we need a delete button on our edit page.
BPNJ

[BACKPACKNJACK]

Here is a link to the TB cemetery that I mentioned above.

:( TB cemetery :( (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?pf=&ID=29352&decrypt=y&log=)

Edit: Still just working on the broke-down code. There was a digit missing before. (Like I'm only one digit shy of being alright? ) :roll:

[Ltfightr]

Thanks, I've seen to TB graveyard before. Well, I guess if worst comes to worst I'll just put the copy tag and another whisle and let William "find"it the next time we go to a cache.

The thing that really makes me mad is that this guy won't email me back! I hate it when you ask someone a question and they ignore you. It is beyond rude. Be it a "Can you give me a hint" or "Have give me my TB back!"


Diana

[DEEZER]

My very first TB was picked up and taken to Chicago over two years ago. The guy who picked it up posted a picture of his son with the TB, using it as a teddy bear in bed. He never released the TB. I waited probably 6 months before I emailed him the first time. I've emailed probably 3 times total and have never got a response. I've looked at his profile and he hasn't visited the GC website since he posted the picture to the TB page. It is very irritating.

[SpankytheWizard]

OK, here is my tale of woe. I released 2 TB's (Brother Sun and Sister Moon). Brother Sun made about three pit stops and was lost due to park maintenance muggles who probably removed the container because their instructions were to "toss anything that doesn't belong in the park". I have not put him in the TB graveyard but I should. Sister Moon has made a herky jerky journey towards the west coast. Sometimes she moves 2-3 times in a month; others, she will idle either in a cache (normal) or in a cacher's possession (rude).

At the same time I released my 2 bugs I helped my youngest son release his 2 TB's. They were taken from their first cache and promptly held for a total of 4 months! I was new to the game. After the first month, I emailed the guy. I emailed again a week later. I think he finally answered me after the 3rd email. He explained his intentions. It was cool. Until he didn't follow through. I emailed again. I finally arranged to pick them back up. I had to physically meet him and get them back. This person was not a novice cacher. Everybody has a story, an excuse or a reason. After a while you get a bit disenchanted and just kind of hold out hope they will resurface. Good luck. STW

[BACKPACKNJACK]

I doubt that we as a group are any weirder then any other group so if very few of us have listed our M.I.A.T.Bs then I doubt if most cachers, hopefully the others have just as many members rowing with one oar and hoping for the best as we do, have listed their Tbs as MIA.

So just for fun…..how many Tbs or what percent of your Tbs are you missing and how many of those do you have listed in this one TB cemetery that contains about 2100? I have a sneaky feeling that the real number of Bug Collections is staggering even if you don’t count the Jeeps and GeoCoins.

I doubt the numbers will exceed that of the double hands full of napkins that are taken from fast food places but I bet it would be an eye opener.
Lets see, an average of $5.75 per tag, times thousands and thousands and thousands and......???

I think instead of buying any more tags and just wasting my time, I will just buy wooden nickels and drop those for those who collect stuff.

As for me, 3 out of 3 are missing, none are listed. (not counting the new money mouse TB that I'm keeping to make the hunts trackable)

[Gaddiel]

We've lost 1 out of 1, so I guess that's a 100% loss rate. Our TB is listed in the graveyard to which you referred above.

Here's our log for that sad day:


April 19, 2004 by Gaddiel and OrangeDanish:

So long, Big Guy. We only knew you for a short while, but we will miss you forever. You were our first TB and will always be our favorite. We'll always remember how popular you were at the cache event in Clarksville, Arkansas where everyone wanted your number so they could say that they had known you, even if only for a few seconds. Hope you enjoyed the view at the lake where you were last seen.

We would also like to say "thank you" to cachecrazies for being such a good friend to WorldWide. It means a lot to us in this hour of our loss.

[BACKPACKNJACK]

April 19, 2004 by Gaddiel and OrangeDanish:

So long, Big Guy. We only knew you for a short while, but we will miss you forever. You were our first TB and will always be our favorite. We'll always remember how popular you were at the cache event in Clarksville, Arkansas where everyone wanted your number so they could say that they had known you, even if only for a few seconds. Hope you enjoyed the view at the lake where you were last seen.

We would also like to say "thank you" to cachecrazies for being such a good friend to WorldWide. It means a lot to us in this hour of our loss.
Gaddiel, <<sniff, sniff>> That was the dad-gumdest, <<sniff>>, nicest <<sniff>> thang you done said so I’ve just added you to my will.
No, it wasn’t to leave you my favorite cammo boot socks, (ma sister is a gettin those) it was to have you give my eulogy. :lol:
PS. So far that is 1 listed out of 4.

[cachemates]

We have lost 2 out of 6 with 2 more not looking so good.

"Best Friends" TBG3C3 hasn't been moved since Feburary. "Whitetail Deer" TBG7RD is not in the cache it is suppose be in. (maybe it just hasn't been logged)

Crater of Diamonds TBG2VM is still doing ok. We have a new one that hasn't been released yet. If we release any more I think I will just attach a rock from the Caddo River to it.

I gave a TB to my nephew and he attached an old rusty Railroad Spike to it, and it has done pretty good. Yea you guessed it, He named it "Spike"

[BACKPACKNJACK]

We have lost 2 out of 6 with 2 more not looking so good.

"Best Friends" TBG3C3 hasn't been moved since Feburary. "Whitetail Deer" TBG7RD is not in the cache it is suppose be in. (maybe it just hasn't been logged)

Crater of Diamonds TBG2VM is still doing ok.
The first Lab is MIA, Digger is MIA, Whitetail Deer is MIA, Gorgie is MIA. That is 4 more missing but only one of them (Gorgie) reported missing.

Of course this is without all the precincts reporting in but that works for the expert predictors, :D so that’s 8 to 2 so far and that is just about what I expected the numbers to look like, 80-90% missing and 10-20% (maybe as low as 5%) reported as missing.
Maybe the high mortality rate just makes them more fun for some folks, sort of like making a hole-n-one playing golf, but as for me…...I have one left and I think I will just keep it with me.

[arkhiker]

Misery loves company. I knew I wasn't the only one having TB woes.
I released my first TB that consisted of a hotel key found very randomly in LR while caching. I thought that would make the perfect TB. It made it from Conway to GeoWoodstock 4 in Houston! What a cool beginning! From there it landed in Colorado and promptly vanished from the radar. The owner of the cache where it supposedly is temporarily disabled it. The previous post was a 'Found It,' so I can't imagine what happened. That was almost a month ago.
I bought the four pack of tags and have two others going now. They seem to be doing well. I will probably release the last when I find something I care to make into one and then call it quits on the TB's.

[walkingshadow]

I have put out one travel bug and it was moved to washington state ( I was thrilled it moved so far) and burned up in a forest fire. 8O :? :roll:

walkingshadow

[BACKPACKNJACK]

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,….bah hum bug.
Who said positive thinking works?
I’ve been positive thinking until I’m blue in the face (would that make me a blue-beard?) about my TBs and now that I’ve given up, one is on the move and I found another one traveling around in Europe with the cacher who picked it up back in 2004 and got a promise to drop it.
Maybe TBs are so positive they need, or are drawn to, negative polarity??? :D

[wardengland]

:oops: I hate to say it but my family and I carried a Mickey Mouse Bobber TB to Orlando and took a pic of the kids in front of one of the parks with it. It was lost on the return trip. I emailed the owner and told them I was sorry. I also moved the Black Lab that cachecrazies had from south Arkansas to Jacksonville where it was muggled along with the cache it was in. I guess my luck has not been the best with TBs either. :cry:

[nonnipoppy]

Just a bit of a different outlook on travel bugs. Our first to disappear was Diog (http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=35236).

He did not get much play and then he disappeared. We repeatedly emailed frogdoodle and never recieved an answer. I let my knickers get twisted a bit until I realized that someone that I had never met was controlling my attitude.

Then we discovered this posting in GC.com forum by Snoogans linky thingy (http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=64691). That has helped us a lot.

Our best advice is cut all emotional ties with your travel bug BEFORE you release it. If it travels fine. If it gets lost, muggled, or stolen sayonara baby. It was good to know you.

If you accept that the tag is about the price of a burger and you are just going to do something different with that money it becomes easier, at least for us........poppy