Within minutes of each other....

I recieved an e-mail from Silver Eagle saying he'd been at the Watermelon Thump box on Sunday at 12:05 and he'd seen that I'd been there earlier in the day. The funny thing is, I'd been there between 11 and 12! If I'd have taken a little longer to get into Luling, we may have run into each other on our respective trips. Isn't letterboxing fun?

Letterboxing Excursion (What other kind is there?)

(LL at the Luling Rest Area)

On Monday, I had some personal business to take care of near Victoria, so I made a decision on Saturday afternoon that I would go down a day early and do some letterboxing in Goliad. I started out by making a stop in Waco on the Baylor Campus. I'd deciphered a clue and thought I could get pretty close to the LB. AND...I thought....College campus...early Sunday morning...I'll probably have the place to myself WRONG! When I got to the intended place, there was a young man there enjoying the beautiful morning and doing some reading. ACK! I walked around for a little bit, but the guy was determined to stay. I had to leave sans letterbox.



I made my way down to Luling so I could get the WATERMELON THUMP LB and the LULLING IN LULING LB. I realized before I got to Luling that the Watermelon Thump festival would probably be going on while I was there. However, I was on a letterboxing mission and may not stick around for long. As I pulled into Luling, my suspicions were confirmed about the festival. I'm guessing they must have some sort of Watermelon Queen because there were some signs saying, "Vote for Suzy" and "Vote for Molly". I'm hoping the contest was fair and not seedy in any way :-) Anyhow, I made it to the box and moved away all the spider webs and stamped into the box. This is a great stamp! After this, it was getting close to lunch time, so I decided to make my way to the LULLING IN LULING LB and to eat lunch at it's location.

I got onto I10 and made my way to the designated rest area. This is a REALLY nice place. I found the box, and stamped in, then went back to the picnic pavilions to eat my lunch. It was nice under the shade and there was a breeze blowing. Thanks to Dewberry for taking me here! After cleaning up my lunch mess, I headed back toward 183 to make my way to Goliad.

Goliad SP is only about a half mile from Hwy 59 and is extremely simple to find. I checked in with the very friendly staff there, then went to visit the mission. The mission is beautiful inside and out. It's rare in America that we are able to see architecture that dates back to the 1800's, so this was a treat. After admiring the mission, I hit the trail and found my designated boxes.

Boxes I found on 6-29:
Little Foot
Mission Espiritu Santo
Six Flags: Mexico (This was a fun one to stamp into because it's been in place for so long....I loved thumbing through the logbook)
I10 Box Stop: Lulling in Luling

(Mission Espiritu Santo)

New Box in Cypress

I wasn't able to find any boxes yesterday, but I managed to plant one. Hitchin' A Ride is planted on a nature trail that is in the middle of a suburban area. I even saw a rabbit hopping down the trail while I was there.

TODAY WAS FUN!

(Blue Butterfly stamping in)

Today, Blue Butterfly and I decided to hit the trail and try to make it to Barefoot Lucy's gathering. We knew we wouldn't be able to stay long (BB had prior commitments), but we wanted to have some LBing fun along with the rest of the gang!

We started out by stopping in New Summerfield and getting LAST FLIGHT and 4 FRIENDS. Both of these boxes have touching stories attached to them. After stamping in here, BB wanted to visit the Secret Garden NSISD box. We went by the school and she stamped into the box there.

Next, it was time for us to hit Jacksonville. We wanted to try to get two boxes near the Tomato Bowl, but ofcourse, with the festival in town, it was just too busy. We decided to eat some lunch, then headed to BEWARE: THE MYSTERY OF THE PICNIC AREA. This would be our first stop along our path of boxes to Barefoot Lucy's Secret Gathering Site. While we were stamping in, I noticed a van had pulled up behind ours. It looked as though someone was looking for the box! It turned out to be Maydelle Queen Bee and Bee Mom. Here we were...two sets of mothers and daughters stamping in to the box!

We chatted for a while and were able to exchange with Bee Mom, then we all hit the road to find the rest of the stamps along the trail to the gathering site. We finally made it to the site and BFL was awaiting us, along with Mother's Love, NacTrailCat, TX Pokey, SJZ....and probably some others that I'm forgetting (sorry!). Anyhow, it was a nice little gathering and we had a good time while we were there.
Stamps I earned today:
Last Flight
4Friends

BEWARE: The Mystery of The Picnic Area

Bee Mom-Exchange

Scout Hut
Pecan Picker
East Side
Some Tomato!
SJZ-Exchange
Event Stamp

(BB and Rosey the Hippo)

(Maydelle Queen Bee, Bee Mom, and Lucy Locket)

Possum??? Really??

Since I had today off, I decided to head towards Blue Butterfly's house. Of course, I found some boxes on the way and took my boxing buddy with me! I stopped in Frankston and found JB Kokopelli's POSSUM AND TATERS box.



After this, I stopped in Cuney and checked on OSCAR'S LUNCH. Rosey told me that she wanted to get a drink of water and stamp into the box, so I accomodated her :-)

Next, I moved on down the road to find SECRET GARDEN NSISD. This is a pleasant location for a box and I wouldn't have known about the historical marker there if JB had not led me to it.



This was a pleasant afternoon of letterboxing with my buddy Rosey!

A Boxing Buddy

This week, I received in the mail Rosey the Hippo from a Girl Scout Troup in New York. CathCainGwen set up Rosey's journey and I'm happy to host her for a couple of weeks. Today, I decided to go and check on a couple of boxes nearby and take Rosey along with me so she could stamp in, too. I started off by going to Community Park to Blue Butterfly's PITCH IN! However, the landscapers were around, so I had to move on down the road.



Next, I went downtown and stopped at the pocket park to check on WOLF BRAND. The fountain was working today, and it was just a beautiful setting. Rosey stamped into the box, then we moved on.

I headed for Petroleum Park to find the box there. I was saddened to see, however, that the bush where the box is supposed to be hidden has been cut down and the box is missing.

6-7-8

After several months of anticipation, it was finally time for the TA-DA North of the Lake Event. I was extra-excited about this one because it was sort of a "school's out for summer" party, as far as I was concerned :-) Anyhow, Blue Butterfly flew in on Friday night and stayed with me, and we headed to Denton on Saturday morning.

When we arrived, we saw a sign asking WHICH WAY IS NORTH? and knew we must be in the right place. We added our food to the bounty already set up on the picnic tables, greeted our friends, and headed straight over to the event poster. After signing in here, Gryzzled Gryphon shared his clue for his newly planted letterbox. I looked it over and hoped I would be able to decipher it with little to no problems!

I was able to stamp into the two event stamps, exchange, earn PT's and the like while chatting it up with various letterboxers. Blue Butterfly headed out on the trail with Perky P and EagleMeister, while I stayed around the picnic tables. I chatted a little more with some of the letterboxers and was able to stamp into another event stamp, MY KING? I DIDN'T VOTE FOR YOU!, which was cleverly carved. I'd heard Allyall saying that she'd hidden a box that day, so I copied her clue, then hit the trail.

The first box I found was WINCHESTER'S ROUND TABLE. I was surprised to see I was the FF on this box! As I was finishing up with the stamping process, GG came upon the scene. I told him I was almost finished, and he hiked down the trail a little farther so I could finish up and re-hide. Next, I headed over to find QUEEN OF GRAPES. I easily found this box, and just as I was about to begin stamping in, BB called me and asked where I was. She told me that she and Perky P were on their way to stamp into the same box. She asked if I'd seen EagleMeister, and I told her No, that I was the only one on this trail and that I didn't see anyone else. A few minutes later, as I'm pulling my LB gear from my backpack, EagleMeister happens up on me. We visited for a while as I stamped in and he waited for PerkyP and Blue Butterfly.

PerkyP and BB came along on the trail and we all stamped in, then headed off together to find a few more boxes. I really wanted to find CAMEL LOT. The three of them had attempted to find it already, so we found another box first, then EM and I put our heads together to try and figure out where this box could be. After stamping in to CAMELOT: THE ENCHANTER MERLIN, we headed out to find CAMEL LOT. We easily found this box and had a good laugh as we stamped in.

By this time, BB and I were ready to go get a cold bottle of water, so we headed back to the event area. Of course, there was some more "tales from the trails" to share. BB decided she wanted to head over to Corinth Community Park to hide her three new boxes. I really wanted to try again to find Artsy Fartsy #2, but didn't have the clue. Luckily, GG gave me excellent directions to the box and I found it easily when I got there.

After leaving Corinth, we went straight back home. It'd been a long day, and we were tired, but our fingers were inky and we were happy letterboxers!

The stamps I earned that day:

Strawberry6703-New Sig Stamp

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not-Viewfinder's PT

Here Comes the Sun (small)-Viewfinder's PT

Allyall-exchange

Smiley and the Boys-Exchange

Artsy Fartsy #2

TA-DA North of the Lake Event Stamp

Batty Girl-Got her mini stamp

Trillion Grams-Exchange

Soggy Cereal-Exchange

Arthur Recieves Excalibur-Event Stamp

Breath of Life-Exchange

Here Comes the Sun PT(large)-Viewfinder's PT

Trainboy-Exchange

Hiking the "Y"-Allyall's PT

Sir Lancelot and the Not-So-Fierce Dragon

Winchester's Round Table

Queen of Grapes

Lovely Lady

Camelot: The Enchanger Merlin

Camel Lot

My King? I didn't vote for you! -Event Stamp (4)

Fab Four #1 John

A Day in Denton County

Next week, there is a gathering scheduled for Saturday at South Lakes Park in Denton. I decided yesterday that it might be a good idea for me to go ahead and plant my box for the event early, then I will have that part done next week! I found an image and carved it yesterday, then went to Denton this morning to plant it!

I decided to stop first in Corinth to check out Beneficus Rex's Artsy Fartsy Series. This series of six boxes was very well done. I missed one of them because there was an audience near the hiding place, but the rest were a pleasure to find.

After spending most of the morning in Corinth, I made my way over to South Lakes park. After finally finding the entrance, I had lunch and then came back. I planted my new box, A Knight with a Tail. I was also able to find one more box before I headed back home.

The boxes I found today:

Camelot: Heraldry

Artsy Fartsy Series: #1 What a Scream, #3 The Rotunda, #4 Self Portrait 1907, #5 La Giocanda, #6 Self Portrait 1889