LSU Mascot

When I came home from Baton Rouge and told Roarin' Lion and Stinky Monkey that I saw a tiger named Mike, they didn't believe me! Now, thanks to Mama Cache and Big M, I have a picture to prove it!

Yes, Junior 'boxers, there REALLY IS a Mike!

Logbooks, Tigers, and Stamps...Oh My!

After driving through the Atchafalaya Swamp, I finally made my way to the Greek Theater on the LSU campus. After having worn myself out with driving and looking for LB's, I decided to take a break. I ate lunch, then found a nice area to read while I waited for the appointed hour.

A little before 3:00, I returned to the theater anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mama Cache and the rest of the crew. MC arrived alone, greeted me and let me stamp into the event box. Soon after, many more family members began to arrive. While most of the family members were desperately trying to bust open a pinata to claim the coveted candy prize, I exchanged with a few of their 'boxers and earned a few personal travelers. I'm so thankful for Big M, who sang with me to earn Rubber Chickie and Rubber Chickie Returns. Humiliation is much better if you don't have to go through it alone! Thanks Big M!

MC staged a trick to get a closer look at the pinata festivities and planted a couple of cooties right on me! These cooties were on clothes pins, thus making it easier to just "stick" to the victim.

After meeting and exchanging with a few more folks, it was time to go attempt three boxes that are located on the LSU campus. We were losing daylight, so we had to hurry. I hitched a ride with Big M and we easily found TAKING ORDERS-ONE FROM COLUMN C. This box has been in place for over two years and had a great log book.

The next order of business was to find TAKING ORDERS-ONE FROM COLUMN A. We all hopped back into the vehicles and made our way to Atkinson Hall. By this time, it was dark and most of these boxers were smart enough to bring flashlights (unlike me). Unfortunately, this box eluded us. We think it may have gone the way of the landscapers.

There was one more box to find, and Mr. Cache took us to visit Mike V, the LSU mascot. We marveled at Mike for a little while, then it was time to get down to business. Again, this box eluded us, but we managed a few more exchanges and PT's while outside Mike V's domain.

When it was time for us to go our seperate ways, I was rewarded with the monkey leg from the pinata. I've been rolling a few ideas around in my head concerning a PT in honor of this leg.....if it works out, I may have it ready to go at the next event.

At about 7:00, I got back on the interstate and headed West. I decided to go just as far as Blue Butterfly's house, where I pulled in at about 1:30 a.m. It was a great day and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of my new Louisiana friends! I want to say THANKS to the whole crew for the fun I had with them!!!

Stamps I earned at the TALKK Event:

T.A.L.K.K. Event Stamp

Mama Cache-Exchange
The Carver Carved PT
Rubber Chickie PT
Rubber Chickie Returns PT
Triple Sister PT

Ampersand Son-Exchange
Big M-exchange
Duckie D-exchange
Mike V (the person, not the Tiger)-exchange
Chippy-Exchange
Mr. Monster Jr. - Exchange
Head Hunter-Exchange
Cottontail-Exchange
Dizzy Monkey-Exchange
Babadge-exchange

Moody Cootie
Tootie Cootie

Taking Orders-One from Column C

LaFayette

After spending the night in LaFayette, I got up and headed to Acadian Village to hunt down three boxes there. This is a historical village in which you take a self-guided tour. You can learn a great deal about this part of Louisiana by going through this village. They even have a nice little chapel and the very friendly lady who sold me my ticket said they'd had a wedding there the evening before. Unfortunately for me, there were certain parts of the village that were blocked off due to the Christmas decorations on the grounds. I think I was being closely watched as I tried going under ropes, so I had to abort the LB'ing mission.

In the picture, you can see woven blanket that was on display in one of the houses. They also had a school, a blacksmith shop, a music display, and lots of other things in the village.


Next, I went to try and find THE MIGHTY OAK. I marveled at this tree. I took a couple of pictures, but film will not do it justice. I wasn't able to find the box, but I think that I was still a little paranoid from my Acadien Village experience AND I was sort of in a hurry to make it to the T.A.L.K.K. event in time. The next time I drive through, I'll definitely be looking for it again!

Road Trip!

I decided on Tuesday or Wednesday this week that I'd try to attend the T.A.L.K.K. Event on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, LA. After the events from Thursday, I slept late on Friday, then left BB's house and headed South. I'd gotten a report that my LAND OF THE LITTLE ANGEL LB had a full logbook, so I wanted to replace it. I stopped in Lufkin and did a little box maintenance. Then, I kept going south to hit Beaumont. There are three boxes in the Botanical Gardens there. I attempted the MYRTLE TYRTLE box, but there were people taking portraits near the box, so that didn't pan out for me. I also attempted Silver Eagle's box, but couldn't find it. There are quite a few trees down on the trail there, so I'm not sure that the clues are still accurate...or maybe I was just lost! I tried to figure out where the SECRET GARDEN box might be. I went this way and that, and was just about to give up and be on my way headed East when I saw something that sparked my interest....it was the location of the secret garden! I was pleased to stamp into this special box.

After logging my find, I headed toward Rayne, LA. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to nab this box, since it was already dark by the time I got about an hour into LA. When I pulled into the park, though, the place was well lit by the Christmas lights and finding the box was no problem.

My final stop for the night was in Lafayette, where I found a place to rest for the night so I'd have plenty of energy for the next day's events!

A Thanksgiving Treat

This afternoon, after the Thanksgiving meal was over and most people had gone their seperate ways, Blue Butterfly and I decided to get out and find some new boxes in our area! JB Kokopelli had recently planted a series of the 7 dwarfs, and there are also two boxes by PurpleinTexKim that we wanted to hit.

We drove out to New Summerfield first, because I wanted to get the TRIBUTE TO CROCODILE HUNTER box. BB had already logged this find with Roarin' Lion and Stinky Monkey, so it was just my turn today.

After this, we headed to find DOC. We made our way to the cemetery and discovered we were the first finders! We claimed our prize-a figurine of Doc, and moved on to the next box. Our next goal was to find SLEEPY. After making a wrong turn, we found the cemetery and noticed there was two cars there. BB and I decided to get out and take a look at the headstones until it was clear. As we got closer to the gate, a man asked us if we were letterboxers and we struck up a conversation with him. BB put things together and figured out that this was PurpleinTexKim's family. We were thrilled to meet this fun family. This was also the first time we'd ever met another boxer on the trail, so it was a double treat. We were able to exchange with PurpleinTexKim as well as Tex, so that made the meeting complete. It turns out they were trying to find most of the DWARF series, also.

After we said our goodbyes, BB and I found SLEEPY resting peacefully under his tree, and then we headed back to Medford cemetery to find BASHFUL. We were the first finders on this one, too.

We wanted to try and find PurpleinTexKim's boxes, so we headed to New Summerfield. By this time, it was after 5:30 and getting dark. We tried to find COME GROW WITH US, but I think we were just missing it due to the daylight being gone....and of course we had no flashlight! We'll be trying for her boxes again soon, though.

We had a great day. The biggest treat was meeting Kim, Tex, and their family while out letterboxing. Hopefully we'll see them again soon!!!

Meese Hunt

Saturday was the Many Meese Mini-Meet on Lake Grapevine in Flower

Mound, TX. Blue Butterfly and I had been looking foward to attending this gathering for the past few weeks.

After I'd gotten home at about 1:00 a.m. from work on Friday night, we got up and left my home at about 8:00 a.m. We stopped and got some breakfast, and some cookies for the potluck, then made our way north.

We arrived at our destination and easily spotted our fellow 'boxers. We stamped into the event stamp, carved by the very talented Queen Beeloved. We also met a few new boxers while stamping in, and Ruby Tuesday gave us our complimentary Moose Charms to help commemorate the event.

Dewberry reminded us that if we wanted to find Batrick (Eye-man's) new box, that we'd have to sing for it. Blue Butterfly and I ...and a few others...sang his special song and he gave us the clues to this fun box.

We talked with a few more people, then I told BB that RL and I would go find the Mickey Moose box...and she wanted to join us. So, we made our way down to the beach and stamped in. We were the second finders. After this, we decided to hit the trail and find a few more. We found THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT MOOSE, and RATHER BE PADDLIN'. Then, we headed back to the group site in order to partake in the delicious lunch. My favorite dish was a Southwest BlackBean and Corn salad by Queen Beeloved...DELISH! We also found ZEUS AND ARTEMOOSE during lunch...what a fun box!

After lunch, we decided it was time to go find Silver Eagle's box, which he'd planted that very day. I copied down the clues and we hit the trail. As we drove into the designated parking lot, we spotted Dewberry there, who was already stamping in. We decided to let her finish up, then we'd look for it.

We had a couple of more that we wanted to check into before leaving town....one of which was Gryzzled Gryphon's box. We drove to the appropriate (we think) part of the lake, but we had no luck. We'll have to try again another day when we'll have a bit more daylight left.

It was a great event, with of course, great people. I had a great time visiting with my fellow letterboxers and can't wait to do this again soon!

Stamps I earned this time around:

Meese Hunt Event Stamp

Moose Tracks Event Stamp

Beneficus Rex-Exchange

Texas LB Event Stamp-I missed this one at the book gathering, so I was thrilled to catch up with it this time!

The Blues and the Abstract Moose

Rather Be Paddlin'

Mickey Moose

Just Married: Mr. and Mrs. Zeus Moose-thanks for the bubbles! Roarin' Lion really enjoyed them!

Happy Birthday Event Box

Pom Pom Bear Exchange-what a polite, enthusiastic young lady!

Monarch B-Exchange

Kantexan-Exchange

If You Give a Moose a Muffin....

Countdown to Moose Gathering!

Saturday is the big "mini" event in Flower Mound, hosted by the Celtic Lions! I'm very excited to be able to attend this event. The box I'm looking most forward to stamping into is the Moose-ic Man box, as this is one of my favorite movies.

Blue Butterfly and Roarin' Lion are going to come into town on Friday evening and spend the night with me, then we'll head north on Saturday morning. I'll have a nice, new, clean logbook and a new set of marvy markers to take with me to the gathering. I haven't looked at the weather forecast yet, but I'm hoping it won't rain!

2 New Boxes in Kilgore

Today, I was in Rusk County with Blue Butterfly. I wanted to find her MERRY GO ROUND box, since this is a newer box that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to stamp into. We made our way to the park and I was able to stamp into this fun box.

A few weeks ago, BB had prepared a couple of boxes to be placed in Synergy Park, located outside of Kilgore. As we pulled into the parking lot, I decided to stay warm in the van while BB hid her boxes. I kicked back in the passenger seat and pulled my jacket over my eyes. I took a little nap, then finally forced myself to get out of the vehicle...after all...there were boxes to find! As I started down the trail, I met BB, and she gave me the clue to the first box she'd planted....KILGORE OIL. I went down the trail and found the box while she went off to hide her second box.

After I finished up with the box, I walked around the lake to the pavilion. I saw BB there, and she was putting some finishing touches on her clues. I saw the fire going in the fireplace and wanted to take a moment to get warm while I waited for her. After she finished up, I headed down the trail and stamped into the ELDER HOUSE FIREPLACE box. The clues to both of these boxes should soon be available on LbNA and Atlasquest.

Synergy Park is a great new park, that I believe will be kept up nicely by the city of Kilgore. As of now, though, the bathrooms are still under construction, but there is a port-a-potty. They do have fishing available from the banks or the pier.

Moose Likely to Attend

There is another gathering coming up on November 18, which will be hosted by the Celtic Lions. The MANY MEESE MINI MEET will be held in Flower Mound, TX, and will surely be a lot of fun. I'm hoping to be able to attend, but I won't find out if I'm working that particular Saturday until the Monday or Tuesday before the event. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have to work on Friday night rather than Saturday so I can attend!