ODragon

ODragon

Interviewed March 2008

Our Featured Geocacher this month is ODragon, aka Ben Rhoades who hails from Philadelphia.  In past editions there have been a few times when we have selected as our features geocacher a geocacher from outside of Delaware who actively participates in Delaware geocaching.  Ben certainly fits that description.

ODragon has found more caches in Delaware than just about anyone and has recently placed 3 Delaware EarthCaches. Additionally he has also hosted a Delaware event.  Lately he has been seen a lot in Delaware, often with RachelHead.  (Yes, they are officially a couple)

Ben has cached all over the US and fits the description of a Power Cacher.  He is a leader in the geocaching community and has many caching accomplishments, which will be covered in the interview.

How did you become involved with geocaching - and how long have you been doing it?
Some time in early July of 2004, I remember reading something on SlickDeals, a site that points you to good discounts, about someone looking for a GPSr to go geocaching. I looked into it and there turned out to be a cache in the wooded area behind work. The cache was CCC2: Pond.Edu II by Freeside and there was enough info on the page for me to go and find the cache without a GPSr. Then I purchased a Magellan right before I went to Montana. I DNFed on the first cache there but finding the second one I tried for hooked me. It was a big ol' ammo can hidden at a cool place. I guess right there I was hooked. I came back to Philly and returned the Magellan and bought the Garmin GPSmap 60CS.  

The obsession didn't set in until July of 05 when I did my cross country trip. Since then, I've cached a lot and have enjoyed it. I've met great people and visited many wonderful places.

How did you get your geocaching name? Explain the background on that.
Way back when everyone was on AOL I tried to pick the name Dragon. It was taken and it offered me suggestions, one of which was ODragon. I didn't really care so I took it. Since then I've been using it as one of my many handles. If I knew what kind of obsessive cacher I would become, I would have picked something easier to write like maybe "me". However, the name has taken on a life of it's own and everything becomes O-something. Stay at my house and you're at the 'Omestead (instead of homestead) and so on, much like people adding the letter 'i' to everything after iPods became popular.

How many caches have you found so far? How did you manage to get so many caches?
I'm currently at 6383 caches found, 937 of them are in Delaware. I find it interesting as my first cache in Delaware was just over 2 years ago. I'm not sure how I've managed to get so many caches. I cache often (at least one day a week) but often more. My caching strength is the ability to plan a good route maximizing the number of caches I can attempt to do. I also don't get hung up spending a lot of time on a cache I can't find. If I can't find it in about 5 to 10 minutes, I move on. I log the DNF and will be back. 519

Which type of cache do you prefer seeking - traditional, multi, puzzle or virtual?
II don't necessarily have a preferred cache type anymore although, I used to be a big puzzle fan. I still am as they are something I can solve at work during down time and then go out and find. It's like caching at work! Since becoming a reviewer, I don't have as much time to do puzzles as I used to but I still try to solve them when I can. I also love the grandfathered cache types (webcams and virtuals). I feel like a random ammo can in the woods isn't really that exciting anymore. I'm not a trader so stocked doesn't mean much to me. I'm leaning towards more interesting things like views, waterfalls, etc. One of the things some people forget is just because it's larger than a micro, doesn't make it good. I want something that entertains me or is interesting or is cool. Much of the time the exercise is enough of an excuse but when you hit the right cache that takes you to that spot, shows you that thing, etc, that's what makes caching for me!

Which find was the most challenging? Which Delaware cache was the most challenging??
My most challenging find was Geo MoJo #6 in the Shadow of the TITANS (GCTGF0). We all knew what is wasn't but we just couldn't find it. Finally I was able to get it from it's hiding hole. It was a great feeling to find this amazingly done cache.

In Delaware, the most challenging had to be Hart's Salt Marsh Spur cache (GCMV3D) in Cape Henlopen. It was a decent walk as well as a really hard first stage. We spent a lot of time looking for it before we found it.

Which was the easiest?
I'm not sure that I can point out an easiest cache.

As a side note, I don't equate easy as bad and challenging as good. While challenging can be satisfying, it depends on the challenge. A nano randomly placed on a rusted car isn't what I would call good challenging. At the same time, easy doesn't have to be bad. There are some great easy caches that take you to amazing overlooks, interesting objects and other odd things..

Do you have a your favorite or favorites from among the caches you have found?
Of course, I think we all do. I've made a quick bookmark of ones I really liked. I will update it as I do more caches worth adding.

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=fa9d8e7e-4c0d-4550-9c4a-96a63faff686

What's the most unusual thing you've found in a cache?
Actually, I'm not much of a trader and rarely look into the cache container other than to find the logbook. I'm more interested in what's surrounding the cache site and the people I'm with.

Have you had any memorable experiences while seeking a cache?
I cache because of the memorable experiences I've had doing it. Sometimes it's the sites you see, sometimes it's what you find, many times it is about the company you're with, I cache for all those reasons. In the end, I like how I feel after a long day of caching.

What advice would you give to a beginning geocacher?
Log your DNFs, don't feel bad about not finding caches, we can't find them all, all the time. As you find more, it will get easier. And wait a while before putting out some caches. Make sure you understand your GPSr, the surroundings and include parking coordinates!

You just placed 3 earth caches in Cape Henlopen. How did you become interested in Earth Caches. What's required to make an Earth cache.
Earthcaches are probably the hardest type of caches to put out at the moment as you need to do research and get specific permission. Putting them out is a bonus for an area as their difficulty to get published means they will be rare. I became interested in them when I was into having every icon on both sides of my stats page. I care less about that now but am interested in seeing shifts in caching diversity from 90% traditional to more non-traditional caches. To get an earthcache published, you have to find something of geologic interest, do some research, get permission from the land owner and finally have it judged by Geological Society of America.

The other thing is I feel that earthcaches show you things that you might take for granted every day. You could walk on the beach 1000 times but not really know anything about the beach. I tried to make Delaware earthcaches that would explain the ins and outs of something you see all over but not too scientific that you are confused or bored.

For more info on earthcaches, see http://www.earthcache.org/.

Beside geocaching, what other things do you like to do?
I like to horseback ride, read, scrabble, crossword puzzles, cook/bake, play video games, watch tv, go to the movies and try exotic food.

Which Delaware cache site would you'd like to see featured on the web page and why?
The Don, EazyMulti, Milton Mystery tour would be great. These caches are all that are well done and don't get nearly enough visits for as cool as they are.

What question did you expect us to ask but we didn't? And, what's the answer?
I expected you to ask me what I plan on doing in the future. I plan on putting out more non-traditional caches when I find locations I want to take people to (or have them do something fun and/or unexpected). I am working on a challenge type event much like the Delaware Cache Hundreds which I've gotten Groundspeak approval for. It would be a theme different from anything I've seen before and would have cachers take a different look at things around them.

No secret that you are a Cache Reviewer for eastern Pa. How did this occur? Is it a lot of work? Any info or great stories on this that you can share?
Back in March of 2006, I was asked if I would be willing to help out with reviewing in Pennsylvania. I wasn't 100% sure what I was getting into but it's been one of the most rewarding things I've done. I've made friends with a new group of people I might never have met before. It is a bit more work than I would have expected and the old business adage is true, "10% of your clients take up 90% of your time". There are always funny stories of where people try to put things, what cache pages are named and what they try to do. However, I can not give you any specifics. I can say, if you imagine funny or worse case scenarios, I've probably seen funnier or worse! :-)

Thanks ODragon for sharing these responses with us.