Here at madcacher we love travel bugs, geocoins or as a general rule, anything trackable. They offer an element to geocaching that we absolutely love; the ability to interact with your fellow geocachers. People send these track ables on missions and monitor their progress – their story and path is literally in your hands! We ourselves have several trackables.

A few months ago we saw a car with a very familiar looking decal on it’s back window. As we pulled closer (without tailgating of course) we realized that yes that IS a travel bug decal on the back of that car! Scrambling in the glovebox we quickly wrote down the tracking number, gave a wave and allowed the car to travel on its way. Later that night when we logged onto geocaching.com we were glad to see that yes, the car was a travel bug. We entered in a note for the owner and then and there promised to turn one of our cars into a travel bug as well.

And we did! You can go here to find the log page for our Audi A3 travel bug.

So what does it take to make your car into a travel bug?

The first thing you are going to need is a travel bug tracking number – these are easy enough to get. You’ll need to order yourself a travel bug dog tag. There are a lot of stores that sell these, but here’s a link for ordering one through Amazon (and we’ll get an affiliate payment to help keep the site going). The Travel Bug.

Once you have a tracking number you can go one of two ways. The first, and the way we went (see the link to our log page above) is to have a decal made for you using your tracking number. We got ours from “Debbie Does Decals” on eBay, you can also find them by typing their name into google. You simply pay for the decal, send in your tracking number and within a reasonable amount of time your decal shows up and is ready to be applied to your car!

Never applied vinyl decals to a car before? It’s simple, check out this youtube video showing the process; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdPiPIDBPMc&feature=related

Or for a simple and cheap method you could print your own decal on a normal piece of paper. Just make sure you also include the tracking number and tape it to the inside of a window, facing out so that a passerby can see it.

Have you turned your car into a Travel Bug? We’d love to hear from you! Post a comment below OR send us your photo through our contact us tab.

I just came across this neat “Night Caching” geocoin and since Christmas is right around the corner I figured this would be a good time to send out a gift recommendation for that Geocacher in your life, or maybe a gift for yourself? =)

I’ve always been a big fan of Geocoins, but not so much the “generic” ones with no theme. ok, I even like them But a themed coin, like this one, to me, is much more fun. When someone finds it they know the goal isn’t to just move it from cache to cache, but to follow through with the theme.

So whether you’re a fan of night caching or not, this coin provides a great reason to get out and do a little night caching… it even glows in the dark.

Take a look at the coin at: http://www.cacheatnight.com/products/cache-at-night-coin

It’s only $11 CAD (nearly equal to the U.S. Dollar) so it’s the perfect low-priced gift.

Happy Caching and Happy Holidays!!

I have a sneaky little trick up my sleeve

Have you ever released a Travel bug or Coin into the Geocaching wild, only for a fellow cacher to lose it, a muggle to take it or for it to just go missing for one reason or another? If you have you’re one of many cachers who have. The fact is most trackable items do end up missing sooner or later and it’s very frustrating and sucks the fun right out of it. Fingers are pointed and there just isn’t anything fun about it.

I’ve only released 3 travel bugs in my time and only one is still accounted for and racking up miles. I attribute my sneaky little trick to it’s continued success

So what is my sneaky little trick for keeping travel bugs from going missing?

Leverage the power of superstition! My travel bug that continues to move from cache to cache and has been for over 1 1/2 years is a good luck charm. But if you don’t pass it on quickly, your luck may change Here is exactly what I state on the description:

“All who hold this 4-leaf clover will have good luck, but don’t hold on to it for any longer than a couple days or your luck may change”

I know what you’re thinking… it’s like a chain letter. No, it’s not. I’m not asking cachers to do anything they wouldn’t normally do, I’m not sending the TB to their mailbox (no requirment to pick it up) and I’m not making threats. It’s all in good fun and I’ve had nothing but good feedback from cachers =)

It works and who knows, maybe my little TB really is a good luck charm to some.

So what about you? Do you have any tips for preventing a TB or Coin from going missing? I would love to read them below.