Planning a Geocaching Camping Trip

It's summertime in the US of A and that means it is time for heading out on the road and enjoying all the wonders this land has to offer. Now that I think of it I shouldn't be so localized in my thinking. We have readers all around the world so let's change it for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere - better? No matter where you are on this planet there will be a time you are going to want to go camping and I have a few thoughts that might be helpful for you as you plan your geocaching adventure.


First off it is very important to know all the destinations you are going to want to visit on your trip. Places like historical, scenic, hiking, biking, boating, etc. There will also be the actual camping areas and also all the side trips as well. Make a list of where they are and how far around those areas you are going to want to venture. Then check out your favorite geocaching listing site and generate the needed .gpx files for each of those areas. For those who don't know a .gpx file is a collection of GPS data that can be incorporated into different devices like GPSr units, computers and smartphones showing where individual geocaches are hidden. Here are a few listing sites you might want to check out.

Geocaching Listing Sites:
     - Geocaching.com - Pocket Queries
     - Opencaching.com - .gpx files
     - Opencaching.us - gpx files - multiple formats

Now that you have your geocache ducks in a row for areas you are going to visit during your trip you might also want to figure out where some geocaching finds are while on the road getting to your camping destination. To do that you need to plan some routes.

How this works is pretty simple. You have the route, which is the road you are travelling on. You can set the route to find geocaches that are close to the road, say half a mile for example. A .gpx file is created with all those geocaches that then can also be loaded into GPSr units, computers and smart-phones as well. That way while you are going from point A to point B you can pick up geocaches along the way. Below are some ways you can plan geocaching routes.


Plan Routes
     - Geocaching.com
     - GSAK  (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) -  http://www.gsak.net/   
     - GPS Mapping Software

Plus don't forget that with many of the modern, fancy-dancy technology out there you can do real-time geocaching. Simply by using your smart phones and tablets with cellular capabilities you can be anywhere that has a signal and go geocaching.

Some favorite spots during a trip could include:

Geocaching on the Spot (Unplanned Geocaching)
     - Rest Areas
     - Places of Interest
     - Getting supplies in a nearby town

So no matter if your travels takes you to private campgrounds, RV parks, State Parks of just out on the open road. Geocaches are bound to be close by for your geocaching pleasure.

Be safe out there and see you out on the trails.

-HHH



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Geocaching World (RVNN.tv) Meet and Greet Episodes Rock!

Over the past month or so we have had a slightly different format to our Geocaching World show. Normally we offer a 30 minute show which is broken up with three, eight minute, segments and the rest is filled with commercials, show bumpers and other necessary stuff. It is really a lot of fun to do but one of the things we noticed was how Creative Director Dave Dufour, Producer Courtney Wallin and myself Andy "HeadHardHat" Smith kept discussing a ton of Geocaching stuff in-between segments. Many times we answered questions from the chat room which is full every time we record the show and none of this was recorded. A terrible waste of content in my opinion. We needed a way of getting almost all of our discussions recorded and so the Geocaching World "Meet and Greet" was tried.

If you go to iTunes you will see the Meet and Greet style shows are a bit longer. Usually running a good 45 minutes in length or more. We do commercials but they are done live right as we record the show. As an added bonus a lot more of the adhoc discussions are kept within the show as well. This gives Geocaching World a much more relaxed "let's hang out and talk Geocaching" kind of feel to it.

Now we get a lot more interaction with the chat room, more photos from geocachers and LOTS more chances for people to win cool prizes from our Cache Stash. The Geocaching World Cache Stash is a sponsorship program where Geocaching based companies can donate prizes that are given away during the show in exchange for a mention of the company and their product. It is becoming very popular with more participants getting into the program every month. A nice win-win in all of our books.

So if you are interested in Geocaching and want to learn more, want to get in on the fun of hanging out with a whole bunch of very interactive and helpful geocachers in the chat room or just want to participate in the making of a live TV show. Geocaching World is the place to be.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

- HeadHardHat

Geocaching World is recorded each Thursday at 6:30pm EST and you can come to our LIVE Chatroom and participate in the show by going here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rvnn-live

If you are interested in participating with our Geocaching World Cache Stash you can contact us by emailing  Geocache@RVNN.tv for more details.

If you have any comments, questions or photos you would like to share with us, please email us at geocache@RVNN.tv


GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Behind The Scenes of Geocaching World (RVNN.tv) Geowoodstock IX Editions

Andy McCaskey, HeadHardHat, Dave Dufour

I tell you what. There is nothing like doing a LIVE recording in front of an audience and you couldn't ask for a better group of people than the ones we met at Geowoodstock IX. That's right the RVNN.tv gang packed up our equipment and headed out to Warren, PA for the largest geocaching event of the year. We taped two shows which were #23 and #24 in the Geocaching World roster. Lets go over the highlights.

Show #23 was so much fun. We started out with Dave Dufour and myself welcoming everybody and basically explaining what Geowoodstock was and all the things you can do and see there. Then we had some audience participation. For example we had a lucky contestant come up and try to find the winning log out of an ammo box filled with 35mm containers. Loads of fun with that one. Our special guests for this episode were several members of the Geowoodstock IX committee. They put so much work into this amazing geocaching event that it only seemed appropriate to shine the spotlight on them. In our final segment we had another audience participation  contest with two contestants. It was informative because we talked about a really neat geocache that I made and then we used it for a nano log roll up contest - muhahahahaha! Loads of cool fun you will have to see the episode to appreciate.

Show #24 was a blast as well. We liked the ammo box bit so much we did it again and you will have to see the last seconds of this to believe it. No spoilers today - sorry. Our special guest for this episode was an RVing Geocacher who also was attending Geowoodstock IX. Since Geocaching World and RVNN.tv is such a great combination, this was a perfect interview to show our viewers how geocachers use their RVs to travel the country and enjoy our game, sport and obsession. You don't want to miss this episode either, then again why would you want to miss any of them?

Before we go we want to thank Darrylw4, Firefly03 and TheBadCop for all their contributions and setup of the Media/Podcast building. Managing Director Andy McCaskey did the camera work with help of my daughter Amanda Geoness Smith who also did camera work and assisted us all day long.

We most likely will be airing these particular episodes a bit early so keep an eye out on the RVNN.tv website.

See you back in the studio next week!

-HHH

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Keep Up With Andy HeadHardHat Smith via his websites:

Geocaching World - Internet TV Show (RVNN.TV)
http://geocaching-world.blogspot.com/
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Behind the Scenes: Geocaching World (RVNN) - GPSr Breakdown and Darrylw4 Talks GeoWoodstock IX

Tonight was a real treat for me. We were recording Episodes #21 and #22 of Geocaching World (RVNN.tv) which were a whole lot of fun to discuss but the real enjoyment was being able to have my very good friend Darryl Wattenberg aka Darrylw4 as our special guest.

In Episode #21 we discussed at great lengths the different varieties of GPSr units. The main focal points were examined from a geocaching Flash Mob Event I held last year. It was HeadHardHat's Great GPSr Experiment and it was a really great example of how geocachers accuracy really is in the wild.

The other interesting part of this episode was Dave Dufour's encounter of a geocache within a long forgotten cemetery that was only a few hundred feet off of well traveled road. Another example of how geocachers find places no one would know existed if it were not for geocaching.

Episode #22 featured my good friend Darrylw4. Darryl is co-host of the Cache-a-Maniacs Podcast, co-host of the Geocaching Podcast with myself and XpunkX and the head honcho of the Cachers of the Round Table Podcast.  Tonight's episode discussed the Media/Podcast setup and schedule of GeoWoodstock IX. Since Darrylw4 is pretty much single handily equipping the entire effort. It seemed more than fitting to put his efforts into the spotlight.

The series of media and podcasts being made available has never been done before. This episode will be put to the head of the line so we can make the GeoWoodstock show. Be sure to watch RVNN.tv, Itunes and the blogs to catch the episode A.S.A.P.

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Behind The Scenes: Geocaching World (RVNN.tv) - Geocaching with the Family and Series Geocaches

Greetings fellow geocachers. Last night's tapings of Geocaching World were a bit exhausting. Not because of the really extensive amount of cool video we used during the show. Not because of the explanations of why we were up in trees, climbing down cliffs or even hunting for geocaches in three foot cement tubes under busy North Carolina highways. Nope. The real reason I actually felt a bit drained is because there weren't as many fans in our Ustream chat room last night. Oh sure I know we have been moving the nights around a lot the past month because of the holidays and scheduling and stuff but it really was last night that I noticed REALLY how important it is to have you their watching and participating with us while we record the show to make it fun! YOU provide the energy that keeps us pumped. So please do us a huge favor and be there each and every week on Mondays at 6:30pm EST. It's not the same without you!

So what happened with the show? Yesterday was just kind of weird all way round. There was issues with Skype and some really poor performance. This made it difficult to do the show because sometimes the screen would lock up and I could not see what was going on but yet still had to continue because we are recording LIVE. Sometimes weird stuff would happen on RVNN.tv's end like running out of disk space half way through a segment or they had connectivity issues. I mean it happens but maybe we had sun spots or something.

The shows themselves turned out great where the first episode was about taking the family out geocaching. We had a lot of good GeoSnippits video for you to see and enjoy. The second show was about a series of geocaches that dealt with phobias. Dave and I both had a lot of fun with that one as well. You will be able to see these shows in about a month on Itunes. Look for shows #15 and #16 respectively.

Well that's all for now. Please be sure to come and visit while we record Geocaching World each and every week. We have contests, prizes and a whole lot of great discussion about geocaching. Join us, won't you?

Cya next week!

-HHH

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
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Behind The Scenes: Geocaching World (RVNN.tv) - Geocaching Routes and Number Runs

I have to be straight with all of you. My head is still reeling from taping Geocaching World episodes #11 and #12. We had a really great time and had a huge amount of chat room and viewer activity. Thank you so much for joining us!

The evening started early when Dave Dufour the Creative Director of the show asked if I could come on RVNN Live. This was about half an hour before the normal start up time for Geocaching World. I really enjoy going on RVNN Live because it is just a bunch of us talking about pretty much everything and anything. You really don't get to see that LIVE interaction too much on television anymore.

After doing a short session on RVNN Live it was setup time for Geocaching World. Things started a tad later than usual but the chat room and viewers were having a good time as usual. The first show was #11 and dealt with Geocaching Routes and also how RVrs can utilize auto GPS units to find geocaches. We actually went on Geocaching.com and made a route to use as an example. Intermixed we talked about the benefits and pitfalls dealing with different GPS units while geocaching and I feel it gave some really great insights. We also had a bunch of questions from the chat room. Excellent show.

As usually inbetween each of the taping segments we talked about all things geocaching and conversed with the chat room. Our show absolutely rules the chat room while taping and I wouldn't have it any other way. Show #12 was about doing Number Runs. Why we do them, what they are like and what do you need to do to pull a successful run off. Great information and again a lot of interaction with the chat room.

You will have to watch the shows when it comes out on Itunes and all the other distribution points in a few weeks but be sure you do, you don't want to miss it.

Geocaching World: Geek of the Week!

I almost forgot! The RVNN crew came up with a really great challenge for everyone who comes to our chat room. The Geek of the Week Challenge. This is really cool and you can win some really great prizes.

It goes something like this. You need to get a Ustream login by going to http://www.ustream.tv/  which takes about five seconds to do. Next you need to send Courtney Wallin an email (cw@rvnn.tv) and put the word "geek" in the subject of the email and then give Courtney your Ustream login name. Courtney will then email a special code back to you.

Now the fun part. You recruit people to come to the Geocaching World chat room when we are taping our shows LIVE. You then give your recruits your secret code (don't give your code to anybody else except your recruits!). Each week we will tally up all the people in the chat room and see who recruited who. We will also keep track of how many people you recruited. When you eventually recruit 10 people to come to the chat room with your secret code. You will win a prize. If you eventually recruit 100 people you get better prizes. There will be other special prizes as well but this is how we are starting Geek of the Week. This is going to get huge so start your recruiting right away!

And don't forget to enter with Courtney!

See you next week. Keep an eye on my blog and what day we are recording Memorial Day week. It will most likely be Wednesday instead of our normal Mondays!!! -HHH

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
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