The Great Storm Goes Virtual

One of our Galveston letterboxes, "The Great Storm" had as part of its clues, a code that had to be deciphered from an historical marker on the Seawall at Galveston. Since the box was gone and the marker was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in September of 2008, I'd changed the status to "retired." I then realized I had a photo of the historical marker and decided to post it on the clue site and make a virtual version of this box. Click here to see how to find this now virtual box!

Texas Gulf Coast Boxes

Just returned from a trip to Port Aransas and want to thank the Boxhounds08 for all the boxes they've planted in the area. We found "Aransas Pass Shrimporee", "First Class Petty Officers", "Gem City of the Gulf Coast", and "Mr. Dewey's Curlew." Like many good letterboxes, these took us to great places we never would have otherwise encountered. In particular, we really liked Mr. Dewey's Curlew a lot. What a nice way to honor a friend and what a beautiful spot. We also looked for "Golden Fronted Woodpecker", located at a Nature Sanctuary, but the area where the box was supposed to be had been burned recently and we found no sight of the box.

Speaking of Gulf Coast boxes, we had two planted at Galveston ("The Great Storm" and "Just Off the Strand"), that we'd had mixed reports on, and dewberry was kind enough to check on them for us this past week and confirm that indeed they are both missing, likely casualties of Hurricane Ike, who followed the unnamed and terrifyingly damaging hurricane of 1900, 108 years later.

Bird Takes Flight

Our Twitter-based "Bird Takes Flight" box had a wonderful trip to Santa Fe and has now returned Central Texas for a bit. You can follow her travels at: http://twitter.com/birdtakesflight.

The Ups and the Downs

A definite "up" in our letterboxing adventures was the recent get together with friends in Santa Fe. Coming home and doing some checking on some recent boxes we'd planted provided some "downs" though. First stop was to a couple boxes in a cemetery that we'd received a message about some letterboxers unable to find them and a lot of clean up happening in the cemetery. Fortunately after checking them today, both boxes were still safely hidden away and we were able to clarify some clue issues for the finders. After that it went downhill though! A box planted recently by our six year old has had a handful of visits and lots of very kind words from finders, but the last one said the logbook was soaked. When I opened the LockNLock box, it was dry, but inside a baggy, the logbook was drenched like it had fallen in a river! After a closer inspection, the logbook smelled like beer! Not sure if someone thought it would be funny to pour one in there or what, but we'll try to dry out the logbook (to preserve the first few finders) and rehide in another place not so susceptible to beer spills! Our next check was on a box that we hid right before leaving town and one I really liked ("Davy Jones' Locker"). Received a note from a finder saying the container on this one was messed up and they found the contents sort of hidden nearby outside the container. We couldn't find it at all at first and then after some more looking, found PART of the container, the logbook and the stamp in an overflowing nearby trashcan!!! UGGGH! Well at least some of the pieces were salvageable!

Santa Fe Gathering

Santa Fe is one of our favorite towns and letterboxing locations and we were thrilled to return there this summer. While there, Astro D and The Great Wuga Wuga were kind enough to host a mini gathering along with Lionsmane, rubberpeace, and rbrhorno, and Thomas. Our first letterboxing trip to Santa Fe, two years ago, we met our dear friends Astro D and Lionsmane and we were glad to see them again and to meet several new friends. The evening was filled with great food and great company. We brought the "Bird Takes Flight" letterbox with us and it nested in town for a short visit- long enough for our Santa Fe friends to meet it.

Return to Santa Fe

While in the area, we had a chance to visit a few boxes in some wonderful spots with beautiful scenery ("Blue Dot", "The Art of Ebru", "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK", and "You're so vain you probably think..."). For those of you who have a chance to visit Santa Fe, you'll be amazed by the hospitality of the local boxers and blown away by the wonderful letterboxes in this area. Definitely enough to keep you busy for a week of solid boxing!

West Texas Letterboxing

We just returned from a great trip to New Mexico (more on that in the next post) and wanted to say a special thank you to several letterboxers who made the drive through west Texas (going and coming) much more enjoyable thanks to their letterboxes. Thank you to Lionsmane ("Muleshoe" and an attempt on "AT&SF"), flat tire ("Out of gas"), Astro D ("Seminole"), jj kokopelli ("Barry Corbin"), and Maybelle QueenBee ("A Granny's Love" and "I CAN"). Your boxes were a welcome change of scenery!

New letterbox planted today

Actually worked on three letterboxes and hope to plant the other two tomorrow. The one we planted today is a good hike in a magnificent municipal park (Cameron Park, Waco, Texas). It's an amazing hidden gem of over 400 acres of beautiful and varied trails along the Bosque and Brazos Rivers. The box is called "Rock Hopper" and tips its hat to the many mountain bikers that enjoy the park. This letterbox is bikeable if you're a hardcore mountain biker, otherwise hike it. There's a LOT of elevation gain (and loss and gain and loss and gain, etc.) on this trail.

Two other boxes for tomorrow that we're excited about: "Davy Jones' Locker" and "Bird Takes Flight." I'll post more info as soon as we get them planted, but the second one, will be a migrating box whose location will be updated on Twitter. See http://twitter.com/birdtakesflight.

little letterboxer

Our oldest son (who just turned six) has always been interested in letterboxing. The part that interests him is always shifting - sometimes it's following the clue, sometimes retrieving the box, sometimes seeing the stamp, and often investigating the logbook to look for familiar trailnames and signature stamps. Recently he really wanted to try his hand at carving and so he free handed some drawings on some pink stuff and worked on carving them. I can't guarantee that finders will be able to identify what the carvings are, but his interest enthusiasm brought a smile to my face! I helped him with the logbook and he wrote the name of the letterbox and a description of the multiple stamps. He then wanted to go right out and hide it, even though it was almost dark. He was so cute and his eagerness was infectious. He decided on the location and even came up with the clues. The letterbox is called, A Few of My Favorite Things. We asked him if he wanted to come up with his own trail name (we've always just used a family trail name for everything we've done so far). He was so cute - he asked "does mom have her own trail name? does dad have his own?" When we told him we didn't have our own, he said, "well then I want to use the family one too."

Quiet Angel Revisited

Planted another box today for one that went missing and that I really liked (Quiet Angel). The placement is different and it because it's a micro, it doesn't have a logbook. To see the clues, click here.

New plants and replants

We planted some new letterboxes this evening - three microboxes at the park in the new Legends Crossing area in Waco. They're all on Atlasquest.com and use photo clues. None of the three have logbooks (if logbooks could fit, you'd need a microscope to read them!). We're hoping folks will log their finds on Atlasquest so we'll know who's been there. I have mixed feelings about logless boxes. They're certainly much easier on the planter and have less issues, but there's a sense of community in seeing the other boxers who've found a box before you (unless you're Gryzzled Gryphon, who I think is ALWAYS the first finder around these parts!). There was no way to even consider a logbook for these ultramicroboxes though. I also put a small F count on these three, which I also had mixed feelings about. I've always enjoyed new folks finding our boxes and having boxes to find in this area - an area that just a few years ago had very few boxes (three that I can think of when we started?). However, I've seen too many of our boxes not rehidden well (or not rehidden at all!). I guess boxers with high F counts can be careless too, but I hope that in making sure folks that look for these three have at least had a little bit of experience, maybe these won't go missing quickly. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this if you have a chance.

We also replanted two of our first boxes, the Waco Creek ones. Both of these had sustained considerable water damage to the logbooks. In fact, one finder left a note saying they had removed the logbook because it was damaged and were planning to mail it to us, though we never heard from them and were unable to track them down. Because this area is prone to a lot of moisture, we decided to replant without logbooks rather than just retire them completely. We did have to find a new location for the second Waco Creek microbox.

I had another Waco Creek addition to add tonight, but couldn't find a good place for it (even though I could have sworn I had a great place in mind the last time I checked!). I also carved a replacement for "Quiet Angel" which was one of my favorites that went missing a while back. It'll be in a different but nearby location so it can use part of the previous clues.

The Bookworm

New letterbox planted today! The Bookworm is fittingly located in a library and involves delving into a number of books to solve the mystery. Click here for the clues.

Road Trip!

I took Carter, my five year old, skiing for the first time to Taos, New Mexico and on the drive between Taos and Santa Fe, we stopped for a wonderful box placed by our friend AstroD in honor of another friend, Lionsmane, to celebrate his 1000th letterbox find. It was in the beautiful and scenic Orilla Verde Recreation Area. This box, called Road Trip!, contains an amazing array of stamps contributed by lots of letterboxers (fourteen stamps at our visit).

Letterbox Lunch

Had a great visit yesterday with letterboxing friends AstroD and Lionsmane of Santa Fe and BellMotel of Austin. They were in Waco on their way to the annual letterboxing event TALE. In honor of their visit, we did a private launch of a soon to be released box "Letterbox Latte."

more boxes missing

I just received an email from Buckeye5 that, thanks to Hurricane Ike, our two Galveston boxes "The Great Storm" and "Just Off the Strand" are gone, as well as our "Jolly Roger" contribution to Hoppers' "Long Lost Treasure of the Pirate Jean LaFitte." I'm not surprised, but still sad about. I figured the one right on the seawall was doomed, but had hoped that the magnet box farther away from the water might still have a chance. I'm really bummed about Hopper's "Long Lost Treasure." That was such a great treasure trove of really nice stamps contributed by a lot of folks. That was the first time we'd encountered a jackpot of community effort or a lock n' lock box that big or one that was camo painted! I think you could have put a loaf of bread in it! I don't know if other boxers do this, but I think I might scan the images of the stamps of our boxes that have gone missing and add them to our website.

visiting letterboxers

I got a phone call from Bell Motel saying that she and fellow Austinite letterboxers (Can Can and AnnaBee) were coming to Waco as part of their Saturday boxathon.  The advanced warning was wonderful because I'd been meaning to check on in some of our boxes and this gave me a good excuse! 

I Checked several on the Baylor that were doing fine, though somebody thought it would be a good idea to take one of our boxes (Zuni Bear) and deposit it inside a nearby hitchhiker hostel of ours (Just Passing Through). That one I pulled and will replant in a new location. Behold the Power of B's, Baylor History Walking Tour, and Ducky Duckles were exactly where and how they should have been. Sadly, Sailor Bear has disappeared as has Quiet Angel. Trying to decide if we should recreate those or let them be. Any advice from you veteran's who've lost boxes is greatly appreciated.  Another one that I was really sad to discover had gone missing was Pilgrimage, a photo clue box in a great cemetery. I've marked these as "retired" rather than deleting them so we can remember what we've planted and what the clues were.  I was relieved to find that three other cemetery boxes of ours were still there: The Draped Urn, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, and Tempus Fugit.  Two boxes were clearly not where they were supposed to be. Will the Circle was laying out on the ground in plain sight (I think it fell victim to groundskeeper weed wacking...though still perfectly intact). Tiny Texas Ranger was still there and doing ok, though it was also out in the open. Uggh! is it THAT hard to put stuff back where you found it?  

I was pleased to learn that the Austin group found a number of boxes in Mother Neff Park. I was afraid many if not all of these had gone missing in the massive flooding experienced by the park this last year.

I need to get back in the letterboxing swing of things. 4Armstrongs and us need to get cracking on this big series we starting working on last summer for Cameron Park, a series for which several of you guest carvers have already submitted stamps!