What is your real name?  

Rob.

 

What do you do for a living?  

I’m on the faculty at UNC Chapel Hill and run the research lab at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center. The lab consists of technicians, graduate students and we usually have medical students / residents passing on through for lengths of time. It’s been pretty intense for a while as money for medical research is really feeling the pinch.  

 

Care to share any information on your family?

Married for 100 years to Laura, with a 6½* year old son (Seth) and almost-2 year old daughter (Katie).

 

* Seth maintains he is 7. Don’t let him fool you. 

 

If you have a family, are any of them geocachers?

I probably do about 50% of my caching trips with Seth, who has his own account on gc.com as Rock Cat, and was very proud to be featured on the GW5 DVD. I am dreading the day he wants to retro-log all of his cache finds… I can see quite a couple of long nights when I do that.  I took him out for his first cache when he was 1, which was also our first cache ever. He and I were hooked from then on :P. I also cache pretty regularly with the whole family, makes a great excuse for some long walks.

Seth at the Maryland Ape Cache

 

When did you start geocaching?

June 2002. But I gotta admit, I was very sporadic about it until 2004 or so when the bug really bit. I’ve seen quite a few do that, find a few, not cache for a while or very lightly and then suddenly the obsession hits.

  

Where did you first learn about caching?   If from another geocacher, who?

We were watching some local Time Warner Cable programming during the summer of  2002 and there was some show about local activities in the area and they featured some guy caching in the Triangle. Looked fun, went out that day, bought a cheap GPSr and found a cache that afternoon. I have yet to find out who that guy on the TV was.

 

What is the origin of your caching name?

Wellll… I was kinda sorta drunk at the time. And we were playing some game which needed character names. And well, I made up an anagram of “imaginary” only I kinda sorta spelt it wrong.  It stuck for many things and many years, and I naturally used it for gc.com.

 

What has been your most memorable caching moment so far?  

Too many to really narrow it down. Some high points; 1) being FTF during a 24 hour caching run as part of Team Dash (wsgaskins, Ranger Fox and I) on the High Point Furniture City Marathon…I’ve never done so many diverse caches in one stint. Those High Point boys can be creative ;) , 2) watching crocodiles in Wilmington with two of the fraygirls,  3) completing the Lord of the Rings series (by the Alethiometrists) with wsgaskns and NCBisuit plus some mangy old dog (and I don’t mean Biscuit!) that followed us all around that day, 4) completing the two wonderful night caches around here also by Alethiometrists with the owner, jcdecker and wsgaskins (first time I met wsgaskins, and the beginnings of the illustrious and multi-talented Team Gasmain), 5) completing as many of the local Challenge Caches as possible (these tend to be social events, involving lots of eyes and phone calls) and finally 6) braving a huge snapping turtle about a foot away from a cache in Durham. I assumed it was dead as there were flies buzzing around and it was covered in ants. As I reached for the cache it opened its eyes and moved towards me…I have never jumped so high in my life. I felt bad for the old fellow as it was clearly dying, but Zombie Turtle gave me the biggest scare ever.

  

What kind of caches do you most enjoy looking for? 

I’ll let my son answer that one...”anything LARGE!” I actually have pretty open tastes… my knee jerk response would be the regular ammo box in the woods, but I also enjoy park and grabs, solving long tortuous puzzles and doing long multis. I like the whole travel bug idea; I own quite a few TBs and geocoins (about 30 in total) that are in the wild. I will always try and move others on so a cache containing a traveler is always welcome. Cache style will depend on mood, as well as whether I’m solo or not...I personally think that any cache style is enjoyable with a group of friends. Sounds clichéd, but I’m glad I live in an area with so much choice.     

 

What kind of events do you most enjoy attending?  

All of ‘em, but in particular milestone events such as the 1K ones.  Very fun, I’m very proud to live in an area with cache diversity and where we celebrate each other’s achievements.     

 

Describe your ideal cache hunt. 

My ideal cache hunt is actually independent of the cache itself really, but rather one where a group meets up and we hunt. These are either spontaneous (“Wanna meet for lunch?”) or planned for weeks in advance. Love those hunts. With my son, I’ve devised a great game where he keeps tallies of the cache number with a set of stickers on a sheet of paper and writes something about each one. Solo, it’s likely a walk around any local park with a few caches hidden. Nice time to think about junk.

 

 What famous person, dead or alive, would you like to take caching?

Hurm. Whoever the current head of the State Park system is.

 

 

Maingray & son at a local event

 

Any other interests outside of geocaching? 

I so love those honey-do lists *shiver*. Work does take up most of my time as it’s such a 24/7 thing, but it also does give me the flexibility to vanish sometimes during the day. Weekends are otherwise taken up with various sports for the kids… but, heck as lot of those soccer fields have caches hidden in ‘em…  I co-run a website (http://www.calloffate.com) providing an online community for people that play certain online videogames which we started in 1999 and now serves some 3,000 people. That doesn’t need much hands-on time though and I don’t have time or inclination to play any of those games.      

 

Have you introduced other people to geocaching?  If so, about how many people?

Yes. I’m very keen on “spreading the word”. Number? No idea. Met plenty on the trail who we’ve talked to and they’ve expressed interest (if they didn’t back away slowly), plus some friends / work colleagues and families have taken it up. I do enjoy going on work conferences and snagging accompanying muggles to come with me and root around the bushes near the hotel  (image, me caching on a conference: http://www.calloffate.com/forum/uploads/Maingray/2008-01-24_181037_leader.jpg ).

 

What type of GPS do you use?  Do you use if for anything besides geocaching?

I quickly dropped my first GPSr, a Magellan 315, for one that took maps and had better “connections” so I bought (back then) a newly released Garmin Legend C. I also have a high sensitivity Bluetooth GPS in the car which I sometimes use with the Palm and laptop. I use GSAK to keep a nice database for all caches <100 miles around me, and I have a Palm PDA with Cachemate on to keep details of those caches for in the field. The screen of the Legend C has now seen better days even with a protector, the lanyard clip is broken off, the USB port needs some love and bribery to work each time, it’s a bit ropy under tree cover at times and I keep swearing I’m gonna buy a new one.. but I just haven’t. I love the damn thing. To pieces.

 

I’m navigationally-challenged (great for geocaching, eh?) so I do auto-route a lot while driving, usually just on the Legend C. Sometimes it sucks, especially when other people are following me and I end up taking an interstate exit only to come straight back down on the other side. I use the ability to find nearby restaurants etc a lot as well.

 

How often do you geocache?  

Highly variable and unplanned. Looking back over my stats for 2007, I spent 142 days caching with an average of 7 caches each of those days. I wouldn’t consider myself a “power cacher” rather a “binge cacher” … I’ll be busy and not cache for a while, and then go crazy for a while. Some months I do the opposite and take it steady. None of this is planned however, it kinda just happens. I’m a real sucker for people emailing and saying “Dude, you wanna come cache over lunch?” so that drives a lot of my caching. I do get antsy around big milestones, and will have pushes for those. While we know it’s not about the numbers, sometimes we know it *is* all about the numbers ;)

 

What inspires you to hide a cache?

Location. I have a few hides masked by puzzles, but my main motivation for a hide is to make a cache findable without too much frustration; I still see the plain joy in a simple hike + an almost-certain-smiley traditional ammo box hidden for families in mind. My hints are usually giveaways. I’m into a cache having a story as well, say, in a location holding personal experiences to me or in simply in a unique place. Yes, these can also be micros which I have no problem hiding if they are best suited for the location. No parking lot caches yet.     

 

If you could hide a cache anywhere on the planet (forget the guidelines for this one), where would you put it and why?

I’ve often toyed with the idea of epoxying an ammo box to the roof of my car.

 

Can you think of a theme song that would best describe your caching experiences or do you have a favorite caching song/artist? 

The theme tune for Benny Hill, aka Yakety Sax.  Watch a typical cache run at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spz8_rpE0e0 .

 

What do you want to be when you grow up?  

Hah. Geo13. Having fun, still traveling all over and caching like crazy.

 

If you were a cache, what kind would you be?  What would your name be? 

Sometimes I feel like a large Project APE cache, sometimes a storm drain micro. Mostly though I’d likely be classified as a simple skirt-lifter.  

 

Do you prefer a Cache run, long hike or something else?

No real preference.  Again, I’ve wholly enjoyed long 50+ cache runs with friends, the huge long hike for one cache, or even a brain twisting puzzle. I still get a buzz from FTFs but those are few and far in between as I take the kids to school in the morning and local competition is now too hot ;)

 

How long have you lived in the States?

Since late 1999. We came over as we were offered post-doctoral jobs at UNC Chapel Hill. We planned to stay for 2 years and didn’t even bother putting our UK house up for sale. Loved the area, house was sold, and it’s been 8 years and counting.

 

Do you go back to the UK often?

Not that often, and not often enough. We last went back early in 2007. Our families live at either end of the UK; mine are all in London, England; my wife’s are all in Edinburgh, Scotland with folks in between to visit. While it’s not a large island, it’s still a lot of driving with the kids in such a short space of time.  

 

How would you compare caching/cachers/caches between the US and the UK from what you have seen?

I’d say very little, if any. Caches are a lot less dense in the UK, London is pretty barren compared to some of the cities even here in NC. I think that’s a little to do with the culture; UKers have had a lot more exposure to small and large terrorism over the years and are likely even more careful than here. Saying that, London cachers have a GREAT relationship with the Police force with official guidelines for cachers. The guidelines are very relaxed but my favourite has to be for cachers looking for hides …. “Try not to looks suspicious while searching”. The only thing I miss really caching-wise is the public footpath network in the UK… an immense sprawling network of public rights of way that reach almost everywhere in the country and mapped in great detail. Great hides, great scenery and long hikes. Plus no ticks.

 

Are there any changes that you would like to see in geocaching?

Not really.

 

Are there any changes that you don't want or wish had not already occurred?

Nothing really springs to mind, but I do wish new webcam caches were still allowed =].

 

Anything else you would like to tell us about?

Keep on caching and having fun! North Carolina has great people, great scenery, a great mix of caches and great caching Organization… so get out there!