WADI BASHING

SHARJAH ANIMAL INSTINCTS & JUNGLE FEVER

JOIN THE RAT RACE!

All interested cachers in the UAE that would like to join the Travel Bug "Rat Race" please listen up!
On 19 October 2007 UAE Geocachers will be meeting up at a Cachers-Event (GC15AGJ).
I would like to start a Rat Race on this day where interested cachers can drop their rat/mouse off in a cache that will be hidden directly after the event.
A few pointers for the Rat Race:
• Submit your Rat/Mouse with an active Travel Bug.
• ONLY Rats or Mice of some sort will be entered in to the race.
• Rats should not be bigger in size than the average TB's we come across in the UAE caches.
• Only ONE rat per Cacher will be entered.
• Very important: Cachers are not allowed to handel their own TBs for this race! You may not retrieve it along the way or even from the cache.

Additional Information:
• If you do not have a TB; not to worry! Liveonce (geocaching alias) will be selling some TB's on the day, however, it would be a good idea to let her know beforehand (email) that she should keep one for you.
• No Rats will be on sale though so please bring your own.
• It is important to note that it's not the distance of travel that will apply here, but the TO and FROM. Thus, previously activated TB's are welcome.
• To the cachers that will not be able to attend the event; kindly note that you are more than welcome to also submit your Rats to the race. You can make arrangements with either cachers you know to submit your rat on your behalf or if you do not know anyone, please feel free to contact me directly. I'm sure we can work something out.
Mission of the Rat Race:
Currently (but not entirely finalised) the race will start off from the Cache in the UAE that will be hidden on the day of the event, as mentioned earlier. The Rats will race to a specific Cache in Cape Town. The cache details will be posted closer to the time of the event on geocaching.com.

Happy Caching untill then!
Kind regards, Phoenixdxb

ORIGINAL LESLIE

The main geocaching mission of the day was to find the first multi-cache in the UAE, the Arabian Cache. (GC1582H)

We headed out to Hatta/Oman yet again; took our sweet time though, since US-A-RABIA already snatched the FTF sometime during the week. How he managed to do this smack bang in the middle of the week I have no idea, as it's hidden wayyyyy out in the middle of the desert off the border of Oman...

So we arrived at the first leg to find the hidden cointainer rather easily to get the coords of the final treasure. Truly the most impressive cache I've come across thus far in the short time that I've been doing geocaching! I had a field day with this one: Felt as if I won the lottery!

What I was searching for though was Original Leslie.

I heard about Original Leslie just the day before from a caching friend, geoCRAt who wanted me to grab this Travel Bug on his behalf. What was it? Well here's the story, but first, here is what I believe a poem that was written for Original Leslie:

The Dark Horse Lady: On the back of a stallion, over the fields of hay, The dark horse lady rode until that dreadful day. Braids of red hair blowing in the wind, Jeans that haven't been washed since I don't know when, She rode hard and steady, with courage and lots of guile. She was always rough and ready, definitely her style. A mouth that would rival a sailor's, she spoke the simple truth, To figure her out completely would take a well trained sleuth. This "Buffalo Gal" will be sorely missed by all who knew her well, And if she ain't in heaven I know she'll be runnin' the folks in hell. I remember her ridin' that black stallion she raised, Pure poetry in motion, and all were surly amazed. The folks who came to the "Rancho Not So Grande" remember her well, Because the ride they had was truly straight from hell. The world is better off that Leslie was once among the living, For she gave us all a lot, and just kept on a giving. So, to Leslie "The Dark Horse Lady" I bid a fond goodbye, May you keep on riding hard, that dark horse in the sky! By Saddletramp Lee, Lee Young.

About this item: Leslie died in June of 2004. Friends of hers created a Travel Bug in honour of her; a well-sealed container of ashes of Leslie Hicks, who was apparently an accomplished outdoorswoman and horse-handler that lived in the town of La Veta, Colorado USA.

Original Leslie's (TB) goal set up by her friends was to travel all around, especially to travel across oceans and see movie shoot sites for Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Lord of the Rings. Eventually she should be buried deep in the banks of the Arkansas River of Colorado.

Well at first when I heard about "the ashes of the dead woman" that I had to retrieve I thought.... Okay then, but after reading the story behind the story I kinda appreciated the idea behind it all. So this is for Leslie. May she live long as a TB and may she bring many a meaning to everyone that move her along to see the world!

(Reference to Original Leslie on geocaching.com: TB12046)

PAY IT FORWARD

As we grow "older" in Geocaching we tend to get a bit more creative with our ideas. Travel Bugs and Caches have improved as we come across ones that impress us, and from there I thought of the "Pay it Forward" Cache. (GC15JW4). By far my most impressive hide to date; not because of the location, but because of the meaning behind it all.

“Pay it Forward” refers to repaying for the good deeds one has received by doing good things for others. In this way the need to help one another can spread exponentially with the goal of making the world a better place.

The cache contains money only. The initial idea was to not have any cacher remove donations from the cache, but only donate, as we could very easily track the growth of the funds on geocaching.com. Eventually the cache would have reached a stage where it had to be emptied partly and from there on the money would have been donated to an underprivileged person. I was also hoping to sponsor a dog at K9 Friends in Dubai, but sadly the cache was not approved by geocaching.com due to rules and regulations of the game. Okay. Understood :(

So eventally the "idea" behind "Pay it Forward" had to be altered a bit. Cachers can deposit or exchange any amount and any currency they feel comfortable with. They do not need to mention the amount they deposit, take or exchange just as long as the cache doesn't run on empty.

Finally the idea behind it all is to believe in the goodness of human nature. Should it be that any cacher retrieves funds from the cache; my only hope is that they would do good with that money. Pay for someone's parking as you see the meter running out; give a big tip to a street entertainer or pay for the food order of the person behind you in the queue at McD's ;) I'm sure everyone can come up with something!

Also launched on this day: Phoenixdxb's Pay it Forward Travel Bug with a "do good-mission" of it's own! You can track this item with the following number on geocaching.com: TB1D1DJ

BELIEVE IN THE GOODNESS OF HUMAN NATURE