Meet Doctor Doolittle

We've recently done a bunch of great geocaches in Wisconsin that were all put together by Ron, aka, Doctor Doolittle.  They have been such fun to do that I asked Ron if he'd answer a couple of questions about his amazing geocaches.  If you missed yesterdays post about 6 of his caches, you have to go back and take a look at it here.

Let's see what Ron has to say.....

I got the idea for a Take a Deep Breath from my friend Tim Eggleston in West Virginia.  I used his idea for the internal mechanism.  The Snoopy and Woodstock idea is all mine.  When I built Geocaches I want them to have broad appeal.  I chose Peanuts characters because they are known and loved by all generations...and people in other countries to boot.  I have had people from around the world find it and comment about how much they love Peanuts.   Take a Deep Breath has well over 200 favorite points, so it's my most favorited cache by other geocachers.

My inspiration?   I like building elegant gadget caches. They must be challenging enough to provide fun but not too much so to cause stress. Sometimes I watch videos on Youtube to spark inspiration. Sometimes ideas just come to me when I'm in the hardware store.

I have about 60-70 active caches.  I have hidden more than 500 myself and as part of team efforts.

Building the caches is a relaxing diversion.  I work about 50 hours a week and working with my hands is therapy.

The Slinger Fire Department cache has been my most labor intensive and costly to build. I can only guess, but it probably took 70-80 hours over 6 months and $300 to build.  

You asked about placing caches on private property.  I ask lots of business and other places for cache placement and they decline. However, some do say yes.  I explain what it involves to the property/business owner in detail.  I also tell them it will bring more traffic to their business.

Private property is the only place large costly caches are safe from vandalism. I would never hide my gadget caches on public property.  They are also listed as Premium Member caches as an added security measure.

I have experience much vandalism over the years.  I had 25 caches stolen at one time on the Glacial Drumlin trail in Waukesha, Wisconsin. After that, I started listed my hides as premium member only so they could not be viewed by everyone on the web.

My most recent Geocache creation is always my favorite one. I like my cache hides that strike a cord in people.

I have been Geocaching since September of 2007.  I started without a GPS for my first hundred finds or so.  I used Google satellite images on my desktop at home to sketch hiding places on scratch paper and then go find the caches in the field.

My friend suggested Doctor Dolittle as my Geocaching name because I'm a veterinarian. I  couldn't think one.

I don't have a favorite cache that I have personally found.  I rarely find caches anymore since I work so much and I don't like having to drive to find caches either.  

Best regards!

I'd like to thank Ron for taking the time to chat with us today.  It's interesting to hear about his caches.  If you're in Wisconsin and anywhere near his area, I highly urge you to go do a bunch of his caches.  I promise that you will not be disappointed.