Hear ye, Hear ye, the HooHaa Travel Bug Race 2 is being plotted, planned and is almost ready to go!
This is the call for all people who want to participate in this year’s version of the TB race. I have a spot for a cache planned out and here is what I am planning on doing this year. Please let me know your thoughts, ideas etc. for this.
- All participants will mail me their TB. You can activate them but PLEASE don’t drop them into anything. I will “grab” them from you and drop them in the cache so all get the proper mileage.
- The cache location I have found is an easy on/off for an Interstate, so hopefully that will help these travel bugs get rolling toward either Albany or Binghamton and beyond.
- Prizes. Someone had mentioned everyone doing a $5 entry. I’ve come up with something better, I think. Because I don’t want to solicit donatins from outsiders as I will be keeping this race somewhat small, I want to propose this — each participant, when they send their TB to me, also gives an unactivated traveler — it can be a bug, a coin, one of those cheaper ones from Coins and Pins (slugs, ingot etc.) — as long as it’s a traveable item. Then, I will split everything up based on what is received and offer prizes for first, second and third. I’ll post all the photos etc. on the site blog. If someone feels like giving a little extra — a ready-made cache, swag, pathtags etc., that is also fine and will just be added to the vault. But ALL the prizes will come from participants, which should be fun.
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Now, here’s some dates to remember.
I am aiming to release the cache and the bugs on Jan. 1, 2010, weather pending. If there’s a ton of snow, I will change this accordingly. I want to make sure that people don’t accidentally stumble onto this cache as it’s going to be (hopefully) at the beginning of a state park. This will give me time to scout out a good spot and get all necessary materials I need to place this cache. It will also give me time to make sure it is winter friendly to the point that people won’t accidentally find it and pilfer it. We can cross our fingers, right?
I’m also, over the next month or so, also going to look at a few other spots as backups. But, the Jan. 1 date will be one I am aiming for to start. I will delay, if needed, because of the weather.
So, that means I’d like everyone’s bugs/”prize entry” by Wednesday, Dec. 30. That gives me time to take photos, grab everything, set everything up etc.
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I will have a full set of rules posted on my site here by mid-December. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, please post them to the comments section on this post and I can take things under consideration. I will be making decisions on things such as lost bugs etc. This needs to be fair for everyone, so I’ll come up with things (I’ve been looking at other TB races as well as ours last year to see ideas).
How about you guys reading give me some thoughts on rules you think are important? Should we go with straight miles? A points system? How about people picking up TBs and dipping — allow it or no? Should participants be able to move bugs? So many things to consider. Please give me thoughts in the comments section. Remember — this is your race, too. I am just the one putting it together!
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Being I don’t want this one too big — I like to keep it among some fellow bloggers and some other caching pals who enjoy things like this — I am going to keep it at about 25 people. So, if you are in, please let me know. I am making it so all of last year’s people have an entry until I hear from them – or Dec. 1, whichever comes first. If I haven’t heard from last year’s people by Dec. 1, their spot opens. I will be e-mailing everyone in the next day or so to let them know.
If you know someone who might be interested, please let me know or have them come here and post.
Everyone who is in the race will be contacted by Dec. 10 or so with my address and everything like that so they know where to send things.
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Throughout the race, I am going to hopefully try and give weekly updates. I think it will be more fin that way. I’m hoping, too, we might be able to get some others to post some things, talk smack on their blogs a little more than last year, and have fun with this race. That’s the point of it — have fun!
If you have any other questions, post a comment or e-mail me.
More later!
