Well-traveled travel bug!!!

“Picked up 11 geocaches around Hannibal, MO over New Year's weekend. I got a travel bug called the "Moral Compass." It's a compass that a person is supposed to RETURN to a geocache previously visited, where an important decision was made, etc.

This is the kind of thing that you stumble upon while geocaching that is really neat. This travel bug started in the Northeast, had been in the UK and in Kuwait, and now is in my hands! Great travel story!

Here's a link to the the travel bug logs and a map of its travels, which you can get to if you're a geocacher registered on the site. Will also copy the logs below.

http://www.geocaching.com/map/bugtrack.asp?tid=2909

Owner: GadgetMan
Released: Sunday, July 13, 2003
Origin: Delaware, United States
Use TBB5D to reference this travel bug.
How do Travel Bugs Work?

Recently Spotted: In the hands of lizs

Current GOAL: Take it to a cache you previously visited that had a "special meaning" for you.

About this item:
This bug is unusual. It doesn't look forward to new places. It should be taken BACK IN TIME to a geocache that held a special significance to you, a point in your life when you either made a good or bad moral choice. Reflect upon this, and think about if/how it has affected your life since then. For me, it was a choice between love and committment. Unfortunately, my healing journey is long from over. But, perhaps this moral compass will bring better guidance to others.


THE LOG OF ITS JOURNEYS

Travel Bug History (14111mi) View Map
12/31/2004 lizs retrieved it from Riverview Park Cache #3 Missouri [visit log]
Found this as the final of four caches in Riverview Park in Hannibal, one of 11 found over New Year's Eve day and New Year's Day. What a great story with this travel bug! This is the type of thing I love about geocaching!! It also seems appropriate that the Moral Compass ended up in Believer's cache! :-)
It traveled home with me to Minnesota. I will put some consideration into its next stop.


11/8/2004 Le-roy placed it in Riverview Park Cache #3 Missouri 91.3mi NW [visit log]


11/4/2004 Le-roy retrieved it from CSI: Manchester Missouri [visit log]
Picked this up this afternoon and it will be heading for Mark Twains hometown on Monday, if I can tell where north is.
Le-roy

11/4/2004 Strider placed it in CSI: Manchester Missouri 14.4mi W [visit log]


10/16/2004 BAJA Clan posted a note for it [visit log]
We decided to drop this TB at the St. Louis Area Geocachers Association (SLAGA) Fall Picnic. While we technically did not re-visit a cache, because the picnic locations vary, we attended the Spring picnic and it seemed appropriate to "return" to this cache.
Upon first joining this group, we were leery, as most parents are these days, about meeting other cachers--strangers with whom we and, more importantly, our children were coming into more and more regular contact. We have come to find the members of SLAGA to be a fun-loving group of folks out to enjoy the outdoors, who challenge each other to think outside the box and definitely provide and promote a family-friendly atmosphere.

When BAJADaddy was out of the country for several months, group members helped herd the mini-cachers along the trails, playing tag and offering piggy-back rides as necessary, and then waited patiently for the mini's to select their 'treasure' from the cache box. They have rendered minor first aid, let the mini's hold their dogs' leashes on the trails, taught us to recognize poison ivy and stinging nettle, shared their campsites, tolerated the mini's on long car rides to caches and even named a travel bug after one of our mini-cachers.

While there really isn't a moral 'dilemma' attached to this cache, the group as a whole has allowed us to comfortably give our kids more free rein in a secure environment. Allowing children that freedom in today's often scary world, can be a dilemma for parents, but one we are slowly overcoming with the help of this wonderful group.

Thanks, SLAGA!


10/16/2004 Strider retrieved it from SLAGA 2004 Fall Picnic Missouri [visit log]
I will take this one with me to a cache or two that meet the requirements, then send it onward.
Strider
Glendale, Missouri


10/16/2004 BAJA Clan placed it in SLAGA 2004 Fall Picnic Missouri 7059.3mi NW [visit log]


9/9/2004 BAJA Clan retrieved it from Camel Country Kuwait [visit log]
BajaDaddy found this cache and TB while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Took a co-worker along to introduce him to the world of geocaching. Easy find, best done in daylight due to the snakeholes, etc. Left 30th Aerial Port Squadron coin (courtesy of the co-worker).

3/8/2004 rwolfer placed it in Camel Country Kuwait 32.2mi S [visit log]
In an effort to emphasize the true nature of this travel bug, I brought it to my cache here in Kuwait. Many moral and personal dilemmas present themselves to deployed soldiers. We leave behind loved ones and friends to come to a foreign and sometimes hostile environment. I volunteered to be in the U.S. military. Serving your country means making sacrifices. No one can tell you what sacrifices you might be face. It could be loss of loved ones, damaged or destroyed relationships at home or even the loss of your own life. I reflect on what I volunteered for and what I may have lost because of my decisions. I love my country and accept my losses for the glory of God and for the freedom we have in America. Thanks for the travel bug.
[This entry was edited by rwolfer on Monday, March 08, 2004 at 11:30:51 PM.]


3/6/2004 rwolfer retrieved it from Ya Darina Ya Kuwait Kuwait [visit log]
I picked this bug up while dropping another bug off. I will place it soon.
Rwolfer


1/28/2004 sleepless42 placed it in Ya Darina Ya Kuwait Kuwait 2993.3mi E [visit log]
Couldn't take the Moral Compass back to a previous cache because we picked it up on our first outing! My partner took it out to Kuwait. He had been there before in a time when things weren't quite so peaceful.
[This entry was edited by sleepless42 on Saturday, January 31, 2004 at 10:32:29 AM.]


1/3/2004 sleepless42 grabbed it [visit log]
This was my first ever cache at Catrigg Force and I just couldn't resist picking up the travel bug. Obviously I hadn't researched where it wanted to go and being my first cache prents something of a dilema! I have a couple of ideas though...
[This entry was edited by sleepless42 on Saturday, January 03, 2004 at 10:12:45 AM.]

[This entry was edited by sleepless42 on Saturday, January 03, 2004 at 10:13:27 AM.]


10/4/2003 marmota monax placed it in The Hunters Stones United Kingdom 3577.9mi NE [visit log]


9/20/2003 marmota monax retrieved it from Slippery Rock Creek Pennsylvania [visit log]
picked up from slippery rock gorge cache, it will be on its way to a cache in Wales UK soon

9/20/2003 Moss Man and The Pets placed it in Slippery Rock Creek Pennsylvania 1.2mi SW [visit log]


9/20/2003 Moss Man and The Pets retrieved it from McConnell’s Mill Pennsylvania [visit log]
some times morals have to move into the back country!!! So after a good run in the woods we'll let someone else have the moral's TB

9/14/2003 snaffers placed it in McConnell’s Mill Pennsylvania 43mi N [visit log]


9/14/2003 snaffers retrieved it from Boyce Wetlands Cache Pennsylvania [visit log]
found it at boyce wetlands cache -moving it north

9/6/2003 Cableman placed it in Boyce Wetlands Cache Pennsylvania 4.8mi W [visit log]


8/24/2003 Cableman retrieved it from Scouting for the Cache Pennsylvania [visit log]
Did not know that this bug had spical meaning when I picked it up. I will be leaving it at the Boyce wetland cach later this week. It has been a hard summer for me and my family and geocaching as a new activity has halped me through it.

8/16/2003 Lost@See placed it in Scouting for the Cache Pennsylvania 293.3mi NW [visit log]


7/31/2003 Lost@See retrieved it from Pirate Treasure Island Delaware [visit log]
Worked hard to get to the cache. Will take it to a nice place.

7/20/2003 GadgetMan placed it in Pirate Treasure Island Delaware
last edited: 1/03/05 2:08:38 PM”

“BOO!”

“Boo? Who??

hahahahaha...

I see I screwed up. Found TWELVE geocaches in Hannibal. Nice selection of virtuals, history, even a pain-in-the-@-s-s one using nautical miles. LOL!

You oughta like the nautical mile one, Stovey. Where were YOU when I needed to know just what distance that was, hmmm??!?!? ;-P My, my, for god's sake, I had to GOOGLE!! Oh, the horror! LOL!

Have now found 84.
last edited: 1/03/05 3:16:07 PM”

“You mean the book "the moral compass" or is it some sorta geo-cache slang thingy? Pretty cool travel bug deal. Don't you feel like you need to take it someplace far away though?”

“Hey, no one cares about travel bugs??? phhhhhhhht!! lol

Sass, I suppose it could be a take-off on that. People name their travel bugs whatever they want, sometimes cute, sometimes "punny."

A lot of times travel bugs will sit in someone's house for quite awhile. I now have two, including that "Moral Compass." lol... They just kind of bog down till a person gets enthused about geocaching again (or, until decent weather comes. Glaze ice is not conducive to geocaching, to say the least! lol)

And no, I don't need to feel I must take it far away. Was that a question just for this travel bug (as in, it has traveled around so much...) or travel bugs in general?”