Wonderland

I had been eyeing the ALICE IN WONDERLAND series, which was placed in Eagle Mountain Lake Park by Black Widow. So, on April 25, I made my way to the park and got started! The clues are written in the style of a story, and the finder must use their imagination to get to the boxes. However, the carvings are spectacular and well worth it. It was a beautiful day to wander around this wonderland.

Roarin' Lion Turns 9

Last week, Roarin' Lion had his ninth birthday, so we headed out to his house to help him celebrate the big day. We didn't go letterboxing, but Blue Butterfly and I brought our cooties, hitch hikers, and yet-to-be-planted boxes for them to stamp into. We had fun!

Roarin' Lion getting help from Blue Butterfly

Should Stinky Monkey join the circus?

Blue Butterfly with Baby Sister, who is sporting her "swimmin' soupt"

Spring Break-Day 4

On Wednesday morning, I got up, had a bit of breakfast, then packed up the camp site. I'm glad that, once again, there was no rain! I got everything loaded up, then left the beautiful Palo Duro Canyon.

I decided to go through Conway because I wanted not only to see the slug bug ranch, but also to get the letterbox that JBKokopelli had left there. I easily found the "ranch" and got out with my camera and clues. I didn't bring any spray paint, so I wasn't able to leave my mark for the rest of the world to see, but future letterboxing visitors will know I was there. :-)

After leaving Conway, I headed down 287. I usually don't letterbox much on the way home, because I'm usually ready to get back to the house. A few hours later, I stopped at one of the nice rest stops, and decided to take a look on my phone at what boxes might be nearby that I hadn't attempted on my first pass through here.

According to AtlasQuest, there was a box in Doans, TX. I looked on the big map that was displayed, but didn't find this town there. I looked at the clue and saw this was a Boots Tex box. How could I pass this up? I read his clue and saw it was north of another town that was on the map. No problem! I hopped in my car, headed south on 287, then followed Boots' directions. I easily found the Up The Trail letterbox. Even though it has been here for over a year....I was the first finder! I was so excited to find this box! I even called Blue Butterfly to tell her that I was the first finder of this treasure.

I continued on toward Navarro County and decided to stop in Decatur. I found a box by Black Widow there, then headed on home. It was a fun trip and I enjoyed ALL the boxes that I found! Thanks to all of the carvers and planters for a memorable trip!!

Spring Break-Day 2 and 3

I woke up Monday morning and looked out the window.

Yep, it was raining.

I turned on the weather report.

1000% chance of rain today.

Well, this would certainly make things more....interesting today......

I got loaded up and checked out of the hotel, and made my way to Palo Duro Canyon SP. I checked in and drove down to my camp site. Did I mention that it's still raining???? I knew there was no chance of the rain ever stopping before dark, so I donned my pancho and started setting up the tent. I managed to set up the tent and unload the necessities in the rain.

By this time, I was hungry and cranky, so I ate a bit of lunch in the car and attempted one letterbox in the rain, but I couldn't find that one. Grrrr...... I remembered seeing that the feed time for the State Longhorn Herd was around 1:00, so I headed back up to the feeding area to see what this was all about. When I got there, I saw only one longhorn eating his lunch. I decided to wait and see if the others would come along, but I never saw them. Maybe they were as irritated with the rain as I was. Anyhow, I took a few pictures of this guy, then visited the information center.







After visiting the information center, I just spent the rest of the day trying to stay warm and dry. :-)

Cold, windy, and rainy. This was in the parking lot of the visitor's center.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up to the sound of....NO RAIN! Yee haw! I loved seeing those blue skies. I decided to make my way to the famous Lighthouse Trail. I really wanted to get a few letterboxes that are placed on the trail as well as see the actual landmark itself.


When I got to the trail head, I was the only car in the lot. I headed out to find three boxes. The trail is 3 miles one way, and every tenth of a mile, there is a marker indicating how far along the trail you are. I found it interesting that given this information, people that I met on my way out would ask me, "how much farther?".



Anyhow, my first stop was for Chili Bowl-TX Symbols Series #2. This was an easy find and there is a nice covered bench to stamp in on. After I replaced that one, I discovered that Blue Bonnet Blues-TX Symbols Series #1 was very near here, also.







After finishing with these two letterboxes, I continued on to find Silver Eagle's Palo Duro Mouse 2. Due to the rain the previous night, I could not retrieve the logbook, but I did manage to get the stamp and record it in my own logbook. Thanks to Silver Eagle for planting this one!


As I continued along the way, the trail became more and more muddy. I did manage to fall one time and had to crawl up the hill! My poor camera had to be cleaned up later. There was a man who was going back toward the trail head and said it might be best to "stop at the picnic table. It's beyond dangerous right now". I thanked him and went on. When I got to the picnic table, with only 3/10 of a mile left to the light house, I realized how steep and muddy the remainder of the hike would be. Since I'd just spent three days in the hospital, I decided to turn around. I'll have to visit the light house rock formation another time.



After going back to the camp site and resting a bit, I decided to head into Amarillo. I visited the famous Ozymandias and found JBKokopelli's box there, as well as the Floating Mesa, where she has another box. This was the final box of the day, and time to head back to my camp site.

Spring Break-Day One

I'd decided several months ago that I wanted to visit Palo Duro Canyon over Spring Break. So, I took the Saturday to clean up and pack up, then headed out on Sunday morning. I knew it was going to be quite a drive from Navarro County, so I wanted to drive most of the way on Sunday, stay in a hotel, then drive the rest of the way on Monday.

I loaded up 90% of my supplies on Saturday night, then hopped in the car bright and early Sunday. I stopped in Midlothian for a couple of boxes. The first one, I didn't find, but I did find Gospel Series: John letterbox. I continued on my route toward the Panhandle, and stopped in Wichita Falls for V-TX Governor Series box. Of course, this was another terrific box by Boots Tex.

After Wichita Falls, I stopped and made attempts at a few more boxes, but came up empty handed. I finally stopped for the night in Clarendon. I watched the weather report, and saw that rain was in the forecast for Monday. Yuck. I was hoping they were wrong.

From Nitrocat

A Poem By Nitrocat....

http://sitstaywrite.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-pick-ticks.html

Thanks, Nitrocat!

THANK YOU!

I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone who helped us through the snake trauma. Blue Butterfly and I appreciated the emails, posts to boards, phone calls, text messages, and everything else that we received from not only Texas Letterboxers, but others from around the country that we have met at letterboxing events or that we have only corresponded with.

I told one of my fellow teachers (he knows about my secret letterboxing life) about all of the things that were done for us and his comment was, "It's nice that your community is so close that they would come together like that for you. " Indeed it is.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I can't say it enough.

A Few Days Later....

A few days later, I came home and found a package on my front porch. Hmmm....I don't remember ordering anything......

I looked at the return address and it was from SandiBox. This put a smile on my face. I came inside and opened up the package. SandiBox and Beach Bum visited the gift shop at Palmetto and found a couple of things for me. They just couldn't resist purchasing a Snake T-Shirt and Snake Patch with the Palmetto SP logos on them. NICE! I got a good chuckle out of that.

They also sent me a letterbox commemorating the snake bite, which I can either plant as a traditional or use as a PT. What more could a letterboxer ask for?

Thanks Beach Bum and SandiBox! I LOVED this gift!

TALE 7-The Rest of The TALE (at least for us)

Baby Bear and Silver Eagle

Saturday morning, Blue Butterfly and I got up and began preparing for the day. We were lucky enough to have been invited to eat cinnamon rolls with Boots Tex and Lone Star Quilter, so we were preparing to go to their campsite when Baby Bear and Silver Eagle stopped by. We talked with them for a few minutes and they mentioned that they missed us at dinner the previous evening. We explained that we weren't able to make it due to our time constraints Friday night. (We were touched that they missed us).

We made our way over to BT and LSQ's camp site with the Circus Train in hand for Baby Bear and Silver Eagle to stamp into. We explained to the gang that we were planning on writing the clue on a sheet cake. The clue would direct the letterboxer to our campsite, where the train would be "hidden" on our picnic table. They agreed that this was a good idea.

After eating the best campsite breakfast known to man, the famous brothers needed to get to the pavilion and we needed to finish getting our clue ready. While we were loading the clue, the Rodgers 7 stopped by, so Blue Butterfly had to do some quick maneuvering so we wouldn't give anything away. (That was close!) We finally made it to the pavilion.

The clue for the Texas Circus Train.

We added our dessert to the dessert table and watched carefully from a distance. A couple of people asked Blue Butterfly about the Train, and she told them to check the dessert table. Finally, Beach Bum and Pink Cookie picked up on the clue and claimed the train. We were glad that they were able to take it home and enjoy it!

After exchanging, getting personal travelers, and eating lunch, it was time for the famous group picture. After the picture, Blue Butterfly and I were anxious to actually "get out there and box". We wanted to start on the hiking trail because Blue Butterfly wanted to have some Bear Stew (sorry Baby Bear!) AND I definitely wanted her to be able to grab my box, too. We looked at the clues and saw that Bell Motel's box would be the first one we would pass, so we hiked down the trail to the dedicated spot. Since we like to kill two birds with one stone when possible, I said, "My box is just right over there. I'll go grab it while you get Bell Motel's. "

I went to the stump and was pushing the leaves out of the way and saw the box, but felt a sharp prick on my finger. I said "OW!" and pulled my hand out. At first, I thought it was just from a thorn, but it seemed to hurt more than a usual thorn. I thought the thorn might actually be IN my finger, so I was squeezing it to see if I could get it out, but I wasn't seeing anything. Blue Butterfly came over and asked if I was ok. "Yeah, I think I got a thorn in my finger". As I was saying that, she looked at the stump and said, "You were bit by a snake."

At that point, I was no longer calm.

I dropped my binder, BB dropped what was in her hand, and we ran to the trail head. There, BB found Barefoot Lucy who called for Fearless Fox. Fearless Fox was good enough to drive us to the hospital. We first stopped at the Ranger Station to ask for directions, and the Ranger came out to look at my finger. He said he'd recently been bitten by a copperhead and I should be ok.

The Offender

FF took us to Luling to the ER. I went in and told the nurse and doctor what happened. They gave me a bed and took a look at my hand. They put me on an IV with anti-venom, gave me a tetanus shot and FINALLY gave me some pain medication. My hand was starting to swell and it was certainly hurting by now. They decided to take me to Brackenridge in Austin and they used the ambulance to get me there. We loaded up, BB sat in the front of the ambulance, and we made the trip to Austin with full-on lights and sirens.

After waiting in the Austin ER for a while, (did I mention I still had my Lucy Locket name tag on my shirt?), they said they would keep me for at least one night. They finally took me up to the intermediate care floor. My mom called Barefoot Lucy and told her we'd be there for the night.

Between the pain and the nurse coming in every couple of hours, I didn't get much sleep on Saturday night. When Sunday morning rolled around, my hand was still swollen, but the surgeons had come around and said it didn't look like surgery would be necessary (whew!).

Sunday afternoon, I got a special package from Dewberry and Mother of 5. Later on that day, Bloomin' Gramma Jo came to visit. She also brought one present for me and two more "presents" that I would later find in my bed. You should have seen the look on the Nurse's Assistant's face when we pulled back the blanket on the bed as he was helping me back in it! Bell Motel, Whiz Gee, and Can Can also came to visit. They brought Blue Butterfly her suitcase, and they brought me my letterbox that Beach Bum and SandiBox had rescued from the vicious snake's nest! Our camp host had also sent a nice card wishing me well. It was great having all of these visitors! It meant SO MUCH to me that they would come to the hospital to see me.

We were also told that several letterboxers had pitched in to pack up our campsite. We were also grateful for that since that meant Blue Butterfly could stay at the hospital. I think it was Barefoot Lucy and Fearless Fox who drove BB's van to the hospital for her, too. (Please forgive me if that's wrong). It was great of everyone to pitch in to help us out. Again, we are forever indebted to all of you!

Earlier that morning, the docs had said that I might have to stay another night. We got word on Sunday afternoon that I would, indeed, be staying Sunday night, too. I had to make a couple of calls to work to let them know that I was stuck in Austin with a snake bite wound. After all the excitement of the visitors (and the cooties), I took a rest. Around 10:00, they said I was doing well enough to go to another floor. This meant I wouldn't be hooked up to the machines any more! Yay!

On Monday morning, I was visited by a couple of more surgeons, who said everything was looking great and the swelling in my hand had mostly gone down. I was finally discharged around 1:00. Lucky for us, Barefoot Lucy and Fearless Fox took a detour on their way home and dropped my car off at my house in Navarro County. This was a great relief, especially since I still had limited use of my left hand and was generally in no shape to drive.

After finally getting discharged, we left Austin and headed to my house. Blue Butterfly stayed with me on Monday night, then she went home late Tuesday afternoon. I went back to work on Wednesday and was welcomed by my students.

The wounded area. Luckily, the swelling was mostly gone by this point. However, see the pink ink on my fingers? Some of the nurses were also concerned about that. :-)

What did I learn? Well, a couple of things. First of all ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS poke with a stick SEVERAL times before using your GLOVED hand to reach into any type of hidey hole. Secondly, the letterboxing community is filled with AMAZING, CARING people. BB and I don't know what we would have done without all of the extra special attention we were given by Texas Letterboxers. We don't know what we did to deserve it, but we are genuinely grateful!

THANK YOU TEXAS LETTERBOXERS! WE LOVE YOU ALL!