The Jeep® Travel Bug Geocaching Challenge
By now you’re thinking, what the heck is a travel bug, and what the heck is geocaching? Let’s take the second part first on that one. Geocaching is an emerging sport that got started about six years ago and is really the modern day treasure hunt as sport. A treasure chest or ‘cache’ (usually there’s nothing valuable inside, remember this is for the love of sport, not greed, folks) is hidden somewhere in the world, and the hider than takes a location reading using a GPS tool. Those coordinates are then posted on a website for other geocachers to use to locate the cache. If this isn’t quite clear, check out the official geocaching faq.
Now, on to the first part. From the contest website:
What is 2006 Jeep Travel Bug?
This year, it’s a green die-cast Jeep Rescue Concept vehicle with an official metal tag attached. We’re enlisting geocachers nationwide to hide approximately 5,500 Jeep Travel Bugs in caches located in the lower 48 states. Find one and the adventure begins!
When you find a green 2006 Jeep Rescue Concept Travel Bug, enter the unique tracking number into the Jeep Geocaching site at https://jeep.geocaching.com to log its movements in the real world. You can then move it to the next cache you find so others can help it on its journey.
And most importantly:
What is the 2006 Jeep 4×4 Geocaching Challenge?
The Challenge officially starts on August 1st, 2006. After that date, when you find a green 2006 Jeep Rescue Concept Travel Bug you have the opportunity to sign up for the 2006 Jeep 4×4 Geocaching Challenge. Each month, this site will provide a goal for the green Jeep Travel Bugs. You may enter the challenge by completing the goal each month – by taking a photo with the 2006 green Jeep Travel Bug and the goal in the same photo. (If you do not find a Travel Bug in a registered cache, there are other options on the contest page.) Each month, we’ll award a new Garmin GPSMAP 60CX GPS unit to the first prize contest winner!
If this contest sounds a bit too convuluted for you, I suggest picking up a GPS unit, and get acquainted with the sport by finding a cache in your state. You can search for nearby caches on geocaching.com. Good Luck!