TX Boxcar LB Event--Coming Soon!

The 3rd Annual TX Letterboxing Event is quickly approaching us! Boxers all over Texas (and even from Oklahoma!) are preparing for the festivities. Blue Butterfly, Roarin' Lion, Stinky Monkey and I can hardly wait until the day arrives! Less than three weeks to go....yeeaaahh!

Monkey Business

There was recently placed a new box called Monkey Business in Nacogdoches, TX. This box is located in the SFA Azalea Garden. I was luckily the FF of this box! I can't wait to visit the garden again in the spring when the Azaleas are blooming.

New Companion

I have a new letterboxing partner named Tony. I adopted him (with the help of Blue Butterfly) in San Antonio. He has his own blog and his own stamp, so be on the lookout for Tony! Oh...don't worry...he's very friendly!

McAllister Park

On our way out of San Antonio on February 19, Blue Butterfly and I stopped in at McAllister Park to find a few boxes. We found Baby Bear's Peanuts first. Then we set off to find the Texas Memories Series placed by the Scoutdogs of Indiana. Though we were freezing (I can't imagine boxing in snow!), we scouted out each location and were rewarded quite well with the artistry of Longhorn, Cowboy, and Spanish Dancer.

By the time we were finished here, we went to lunch, then continued North to Holland and Florence. We've been just WAITING to finish out the Texas Passport Series and these were the last two stamps we needed to be complete. First we went to Florence. We had a little trouble finding the cemetery, but BB stopped the car in front of the police station and he directed us right to it. Finding the box itself to more time than we'd anticipated, but we were happy to stamp into Florence.

After leaving florence, we drove through to Holland. BB was gracious enough to get out in the cold and retrieve the box and bring it back to the car while we stamped in. We were so excited to have completed the TX Passport series!

We had a wonderful time in the central part of our state boxing last week. We are very excited about the upcoming gathering in March and can't wait to meet all our fellow boxers!

Only 200 Miles To Go.....(or is it?)

After finishing up with the cookie series, we headed to Austin to hunt down Baby Bear's Bevo and Oakwood Cemetery by Gingercat.

We found the one by Gingercat first. This was a great stamp and it's in quite a unique hiding place. It was great fun to find this hidden treasure. After rehiding, we headed to another part of Austin to find Bevo.

BB and I easily found the stamp. We were once again in awe of Baby Bear and his carving skills. We packed up our things and began to head South towards San Antonio, but before we got out of the parking lot...we had a flat tire. OH NO! BB turned the car around and we got to work. BB's car is fairly new, so we've never had to change the tire on this car and had a bit of trouble with part of it. I enlisted the help of a very nice young man who came to our rescue. Mystery guy helped us not only take the hub cap off, but finished up the job, too. After we thanked him over and over again, we headed south and hoped to find a garage who would repair the tire. We got just a few miles down the road and found a Sam's Club. BB whipped out her Sam's card and the gentlemen got to work on our poor pancake of a tire. While we waited inside in the technology section, the tech. sales person asked us if we needed any help. We politely told him, "no thanks", but inquired as to about how far we were from San Antonio, our final destination. He replied with, "Oh, it's about 200 miles." WHAT???!?!?! 200 MILES FROM AUSTIN TO SAN ANTONIO?? I'm not sure he understood the question.

San Antonio-New Boxes

This week, while attending the TX Music Educator's Convention in San Antonio, TX, Blue Butterfly and I took an afternoon to plant a couple of new boxes. We hopped on a bus and made our way to Brackenridge Park where the SA Zoo is located. We stopped at the train station to ask directions to the hiking/biking trails and made our way into the woods.

We walked together for a while, then went our seperate ways. After we were both finished, we met back at the start of the trail and exchanged clues. I went on the hunt for BB's Go Spurs Go!, a dedication to San Antonio's NBA team. BB searched out my box, Swingle Singers, which is in honor of the a capella singing group started by Ward Swingle in the early 1960's. I chose to do a Swingle Singers box because Blue Butterfly and I had the pleasure of attending one of their concerts last year in San Antonio.

Happy Trails!

Cookies! YUM!

Several weeks ago, the Busy Bees Family put out a series called the Cookie Caper Series. This was a series of boxes, some of which are cryptic, that could be found in/around Georgetown, TX. As you find each box, you are to pick up clues from the box in order to collect a bonus stamp and a special meeting with Batty B. This seemed like a very exciting opportunity fo Blue Butterfly and I and we worked out our schedules so that we could take a week day off and find those Girl Scout Cookie boxes!

We got to the Austin/Georgetown area on the evening of February 14. It was dark, but we decided to at least try and find the box located in Austin. What did we have to lose? So, we pulled up to the Girl Scout Council and saw only one car in the lot (phew!). We snuck around the back, just to see if there was enough light or not. THERE WAS! We snuck down and nabbed the box, then headed back to the van to stamp in. We were SOO excited now that we'd found the first box, we didn't want to wait to find the others! But, we decided to be patient and play it safe. We drove north to Georgetown and found a place to sleep for the night.

After we checked into the hotel, we got a local map and mapped out our course. We made a note on the map where each box would be located, then called it a night.

We got up bright and early the next morning and ran all over Georgetown chasing these fabulous GS Cookie boxes. Batty B did a fantastic job with carving, hiding, and writing the clues. We got more and more excited as the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. While we were hot on the trail of those delicious cookie boxes, we also found Silver Eagle's Pocket Wocket and North Star's King of the North. We were delighted to find these boxes, too.

After the last piece of the puzzle was in place, we made a call to Batty B. She wasn't available at the moment, but a left a short (though excited) message telling her we'd completed the series. She returned my call and gave us directions to her bonus box. So, Blue Butterfly and I were on the road again to meet the generous and creative Batty B.

We told Batty B how much fun we'd had that day and she told us stories about encountering other letterboxers through this series. She also told us that no one had ever finished so early in the day! We were pleasantly surprised to hear that!

Thank you SOOOO MUCH Batty B for creating such a great series and for sharing so much with us!

New Markers

One day last week, Blue Butterfly called to tell me about some new markers she found at a local arts/crafts store. As she was giving me the story of finding her new treasure, I was also pumping her for information.....what aisle were they on?.....how many markers are in the package? .....will they still be on sale next week? ....then she gave me the good news that she'd picked up a package for me, too!

Thanks for the great new markers, BB! I loved trying them out this weekend and I'm very proud of the results!

Adventures in NE Texas

Blue Butterfly, Roarin' Lion, and I enjoyed some time together yesterday by heading up to Greenville and Paris to stamp in with some of Catpawz' boxes. Our first stop was in Oak Creek Park. The wind was blowing pretty hard and we were having a hard time with our log book pages, but it was worth it for this nice stamp. After packing up from Oak Creek, we drove over to Forest Park cemetery. We found the area of the cemetery where the box is hidden, but there were some maintenance people close by. So, we decided that I'd hop out of the van and retrieve the box. I made an attempt at it, but had to go back to the van to re-read the clue. BB and I read it together and she pointed out to me that I was probably at the wrong bench, so I tried again. I went straight to the correct bench this time and nabbed the box. We went to a picnic table on the other side of the cemetery to stamp in. After we completed our mission and replaced the box, we headed to the Audie Murphy American Cotton Museum. This was an interesting place with memorials to American wars and an exhibit about cotton. As I searched for the box, I thought I might not find it, but it was just buried a bit deeper than I'd anticipated. This was another great stamp by Catpawz.

While we were at the Museum, we picked up a brochure about a local store/deli called Puddin' Hill. Our stomachs were growling, so we decided to try the local establishment. We made our way to the store and placed our orders, then went back to the eating area. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch there and would certainly visit this quaint little country store the next time we roll through Greenville.

After lunch, it was time to head to the Greenville Sports Park. As we pulled in, we saw a VERY nice playground that Roarin' Lion was just begging to play on. So, BB and RL played while I searched out the box. We were not disappointed with this stamp, either. After I retrieved it and stamped in, BB and RL returned once again to the castle to play and I returned the box to it's hiding place.

Next, it was time for us to leave Greenville and find Paris. BB and I already have a few of the Passport Series stamps, and we definitely wanted to add Paris to our collection. About an hour after we left Greenville, we pulled into the Paris Civic Center and were delighted that there weren't any tourists out by the tower. We easily found the stamp ..... which is now one of my favorites. RL enjoyed seeing this particular stamp. After stamping in, we took some pictures, then headed back to our neck of the woods. We had a great day together. Thanks to Catpawz for hiding these great boxes for us to find!