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This is the picture of my unusual TB that has now fulfilled its goal after travelling 6,384 miles to California! This is its story:

I was a student at Jesus College, Oxford from 1977 to 1984 and from 1979, I lived at Flat 7, Stevens Close with 2 friends . After one vacation (I think around summer 1980) we returned to the flat to discover a letter addressed to a Maximillian E Novak. Rather unscrupulously we opened the letter to find it contained a cheque in the name of M E Novak for a couple of pounds from a utility company. I think it was because of an overpaid bill. Not knowing what to do and because the cheque was for such a small amount we threw it away. We thought that Maximillian E Novak was a fantastic name and we still all remember it nearly a quarter of a century later.

In August 2004, I decided to do a search on the internet and came across Emeritus Professor Maximillian E Novak of UCLA. I emailed him and found out that he was indeed the M E Novak who had stayed in our flat all those year's ago. I wanted to, finally, pass on the money that we so thoughtlessly threw away. So I have created a travel bug in his honour. It contained the money I owed him- plus some interest.

After lots of help from UK and US geocachers the TB reached its goal in June 2005:

6/28/2005

Team Perks posted a note for Emeritus Professor Maximillian E Novak (Travel Bug Dog Tag)

At long last! I was able to place the bug in the hands of Professor Novak himself! What a fantastic experience; Max is a very friendly guy. We met in his office this afternoon and, after I explained a little bit more about geocaching, we had a nice chat about his experiences in London (which I hope to visit soon) and how we both came to work at UCLA. We, of course, also marveled at the absurdity of how we came to meet. I discovered about an hour before our rendezvous that the combination opened the lock shackle--but not the compartment in which his money was kept...Whoops! A quick response from Pieman provided me with a number that will hopefully be correct; I guess Prof. Novak will find out. Well, it's been a long journey, but it looks like your debt has been repaid. Cheers! -Andy

Click on the thumbnail to see when Andy met Max.

Many thanks to the Professor for entering into the spirit. He kindly sent me this email after he opened the TB:

Dear Paul: We opened the cache to find the treasure. The two-pound coins with their golden color seemed like coins from a pirate chest. Thank you for the delightful gift after all these years. Max