Summer Dreamin'

Saturday was the Summer Dreamin' LB Event hosted by JBKokopelli and Barefoot Lucy. Blue Butterfly and I made arrangements to meet at the Palestine RR Park before the event to stamp into the Jamboree on the Trail Series that was placed there recently. Blue Butterfly arrived to the park before I did and discovered they were having military festivities in the park that day. People were dressed up in various period costumes in honor of our military's history. There were booths and exhibits set up near the depot. Blue Butterfly was able to enjoy this while she was waiting on her slow-moving daughter to get there :-)

Once I got there, I easily spotted BB and we hit the trail. We really enjoyed finding this series. As we walked by the pond, a little boy felt the need to tell me, "We almost caught a rabbit!" I asked him what he would do with it if he caught it, but he didn't have an answer for that....hmmm.....

Anyhow, we headed out of the park at about 10:45 and headed over to Davey Dogwood Park for some real letterboxing festivities. We found the group and unloaded our vehicles. We were greeted by BFL and JBK who explained what was going on. BB and I got to work with the stamping in of the event stamp. After the event stamp was taken care of, I visited a little while with some of the letterboxers, then got to work on the Dreamin' Series. After taking a short break to eat lunch in the middle of it, I finally fnished it off.

It was a lot of fun visiting with everyone...some old friends, and some new. After leaving the park, and on the way home, I stopped and got the CSBF Letterbox. I'd noticed that I passed the launch site on the way in to Palestine, and took advantage of the route on my way home.

The stamps I earned today:

CSBF
Lighthouse Keeper-new sig stamp
Lighthouse Keeper's Favorite American Icon PT
The Carousel Collector-new sig stamp
The Carousel Collector's PT
Maydelle Queenbee-exchange
Rclank-Exchange
CA-Exchange
Jimpalestine-Exchange
Rachel-Exchange
Rachel's PT
Dreamin' To Revisit-Disney, Arizona, DC, New York, Yellowstone
Summer Dreamin' Event Stamp
Fishin' 4 LB's Traveling event Stamp
Peggy the Pug Boxing Buddy
Dreamin' Around The World-France, England, Egypt, Australia, Italy
Dreamin Around the USA-Alcatraz, Alaska, Salem, Seattle, Hawaii
Jamboree on the Trail Series-Tiger's Roar, Wolf's Howl, Brave Bears, We'll be Loyal Scouts, The World Crest, Jamboree on the Trail
CA's PT
The Rodger's 7-Exchange
Perky P's PT
Rclank's PT

Green Trees, Blue Skies, Red Barn

I got up on Sunday morning and headed back into Coldspring. I made my way to Lone Star Quilter and Boots Tex's Red Barn and was ushered right inside. I was able to enjoy chatting with them about LBing and trading stories from the trail. I was even invited to enjoy one of their famous cinnamon rolls and stamp into the cinnamon roll stamp.

I finally headed out to the Lone Star Trail to pick up a couple of LB's there, then headed back to Double Lake. I'd carved a stamp the night before, and wanted to make sure I planted it before I left.

I left my car and headed down a particular trail to plant my LB, only to discover that this was a short trail that headed straight back to the parking lot. I turned around and headed back to the trail head, found a few boxes, and planted my own. I spent the better part of the day here and probably left around 3:30 or so to head back home.

By the end of the day, my logbook was getting pretty full. I had to go back on some pages and try to squeeze a few stamps in on some holes that were left. I've usually been pretty good in the past about keeping an extra logbook, but this time I wasn't quite so efficient. I didn't have too many problems, but I definitely need to go shopping soon!

The strangest thing that happened to me on this day was that I encountered a ghost at one of my stops. I can't reveal the secrets of the encounter, but he was a nice ghost and even let me exchange with him. Maybe there really IS letterboxing in the after life....who knows?

Stamps I earned on May 4:

Dog Gone

Little Rabbit Fufu

Paws For A Laugh

Dogpatch, USA

Redbarn Cinnamon Rolls

The Joker

A Year In the Life of Santa-March

Mr. Bobbles

IRA Boxer-exchange

Muppets Take TX Series: Gonzo

A Doggie Delight

Dogwoods

The Hound's Tree

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Buried Treasure at Double Lake

Best in Breeds: Lovely Lhasa, St. Bernard, Brittany, Airedale Terrier

Letterboxing 911

I decided a week or so ago that I might take this weekend to go down to Double Lake and gather up as many of the boxes planted for the DOG DAYS OF SUMMER Gathering in April as I could. I made up my mind on about Thursday that I would follow through. I was hoping the weather would be beautiful, because I knew the boxes were plentiful.

When I got home late Friday night, I started making some preparations for the trip, then went to bed. I woke up on Saturday a little earlier than expected and rushed around to finish printing off the remainder of the clues and pack my over night bag. I left town at about 8:30 and headed toward Double Lake.

I'd decided I wanted to take a brief detour in Madisonville to find SARAH'S FLAG by Lone Star Quilter. I went down the gravel road to the entrance of the cemetery and was stopped by a gate. Luckily, the gate was not locked, so I opened up the gate and drove on up and into the cemetery proper. I later found out that the Grimes County line is along that gate/cattle guard that I'd just driven through. Anyhow, I easily found the grave of Miss Sarah and was once again impressed with the stamp and the history lesson. I left the cemetery, closed the gate, and headed back into Madisonville. I stopped for lunch, then headed South again.

I'd printed out a couple of clues for Huntsville, since I knew I'd be driving through there. I wanted to find a box by Silver Eagle and another by Boots Tex. As I was following SE's directions to the memorial, however, I was stopped because there was a festival in town and many roads were blocked off. I decided that I'd better wait and find these boxes another day. As I changed directions and headed toward Coldspring, I went through downtown Huntsville and saw that they were having THE AIRING OF THE QUILTS. They had beautiful quilts hanging from buildings and set up on hangers all around the court house square. I wondered at the time if Lone Star Quilter knew about this event.

I finally made it to Coldspring and to Double Lake. I started out by finding Silver Eagle's box, DOUBLE DOG DARE. I then hit another trail and was stamping in when I saw a couple of men come down the trail, but they quickly headed a different direction. A few minutes later, I see them again, standing down the trail a little ways and they are talking. The next thing I know, they are headed right toward me! As they get closer, one of them asks, "Which way is North?" and just as he is saying this, I recognize Boots Tex and Will's World. They were in the park and checking on few of their boxes. I chatted with them for a bit and was invited to stop by the Red Barn Retreat. I was definitely going to take them up on the invitation.

I got a few more boxes, then decided it was time for a break. I went back to the car and got a few snacks and some cold water, and headed to a picnic table. I wanted to search through my clues and figure out which ones I could get rid of and make a plan for finding the rest of them. As I was looking through them, I discovered that Baby Bear's MOM, GUESS WHAT I FINALLY CAUGHT was a two-page clue. I only had the first page. I searched through my backpack and could not find page two. This was definitely a letterboxing emergency. I called the Letterboxing 911 hotline and reached Blue Butterfly. She hopped online and found the clue, read it to me (laughing the whole way through) while I wrote it down. I knew I had a cell phone for a reason! Thanks BB for your help!!

After resting and snacking, I headed back onto the trail and found some more boxes. I finally left the park and headed to Cleveland at about 6:00. It had been a great day, but it was time to call it quits.

The letterboxes I found on May 3:

Double Dog Dare

Legend of the Dogwood

Sarah's Flag

Some Days Your the Dog

Elf Quest: New Moon HH

Blue

Know Your Swimming Hole

The LetterBOXER'S Companion

Four Legged Letterboxers Series: Best Buddy, Little Spot, Flutterby's Friend, Where's the Bone, Best in Show

Mom, Guess What I Caught?

Easter Egg Hunt