TALE 7-Day One

On Friday, March 5, I was just too sick to go to work, so I headed down to Palmetto State Park instead. :-) Blue Butterfly had to work that day, so she would be meeting me down there. I stopped in Waco to try and find a couple of boxes. The only one I was successful in finding was Legends Crossing 2: Urban Hike. I will have to say that this is one of the tiniest boxes I've found. Luckily, no one was in this park, so I was able to stamp in without any eyes watching me.

My next stop was in Belton, where I tried again in vain for a box that I did not find. So, it was getting later and I needed to get to Palmetto SP. I finally arrived at the park, and I pulled in right behind Puddle Splasher and Viewfinder. We greeted one another, then they went on their way to hide a box while I checked in.

I checked in and started driving around the park, attempting to find my camp site. I spotted Sandibox, who was putting up her tent. We exchanged hellos and I continued my search. I finally found the campsite we'd been assigned, but I saw another one that I liked better. I called the front office and asked if I could change sites, and they told me to just talk to the park hosts in that area. No Problem! I went up to their travel trailer and the lady greeted me and helped me out with a smile.

I had a few things that I could set up, but the tent was Blue Butterfly's so I'd have to wait on that one. I set up the lights and the clothesline, then settled down to figure out what trail was near me that I might hide my box. While I was there, Lone Star Quilter and Boots Tex came by and said hello, and while they were doing that, Corazon stopped by. It was nice to see all of these great letterboxers.

At this point, I thought I'd go ahead and get my box hidden and write out the clues because it would still be a little while before BB got here. As I was at the head of the trail, Sandibox came along and was also going to hide her own box. I was glad to have the company, so we set off on the trail together.

As we headed down the trail, we noticed a large fallen tree that had been cut into pieces. Sandi suggested this as a hiding place, but I knew my box was too big. We walked around the area, and saw this HUGE box that was actually a geocache. We opened up and took a look, and went on our merry way. A little ways down the trail, I found a great place to hide my box. SandiBox and I went ahead and allowed each other to stamp into our boxes there on the trail. I hid my box in a tree stump, then we continued down the trail to find a place for hers.

As we continued down the trail, I saw a place that might be good for her letterbox, and SandiBox went over to check it out. I stayed on the trail with Meekah (Sandi's dog) while she hid the box. Well, she called me over to take a look.....there was a box already hidden there! So, we gladly had some Bear Stew right there on Friday night. After this, I looked at my watch and knew it was getting closer to time for BB to arrive, so I left Sandi on the trail and I went back to the campsite.

BB arrived about 20 minutes after I got back to the campsite. She was also greeted by Viewfinder and Puddle Splasher, as well as CanCan and SandiBox. We got to the task of putting up her big, fancy tent. Luckily, we got it all up just before dark.

As BB and I were sitting at the picnic table talking, and people started arriving back from the "Come and Get It" dinner. We said hello to Perky P and the Rodgers7, then later on, LSQ and BT stopped back by. Then....it was time....for us to stamp into...THE CIRCUS TRAIN!

We got out our backpacks and went into the tent. We set up our flashlights and head lamps, closed up the windows, and got to stamping. It was so much oooohing and aaahing over all of the stamps and the logbook pages. After this, it was past time for us to go to bed....so that's what we did.

Was I the ONLY ONE.....?

That DIDN'T see this sign?????????

(insert annoyed grunt here)

Food For Thought....

So, I was thinking about my little trip to the emergency room last night and I thought I'd share something with everyone. This may be something that most people do for themselves, but I never thought about it until now. When I was whisked away to the hospital, I had my letterboxing back pack, but not my purse. My driver's license and (more importantly) my insurance information were left at the camp site. I'm definitely going to make copies of these two documents and add a couple of emergency contact names and numbers to it so that I won't be caught without it again. I think it's a good idea for us to keep these items in our backpacks with our letterboxing gear....just in case!

Marshall, TX

The last weekend of February, Blue Butterfly and I decided to try once again to make it to Marshall to find a few letterboxes. We had tried the previous weekend, but I had problems with my vehicle and couldn't make it. So, after having to take my car BACK into the shop on this particular weekend and waiting for FOUR HOURS, they finally gave me a rental so that I could go letterboxing!

I met Blue Butterfly in Longview where we ate lunch, then headed to Marshall. Our first stop was for a Texas Governor. BB already had this one, so I stamped into this box, then we headed to find a Tin Lizzie. When we arrived at the roadside park, there was a man on a motorcycle there. We were trying to decide if he was coming or going before we got out of the car. We sat in the car for a few minutes, and he left, so we were able to get out of the car and go on our hunt. We found the letterbox, and used (of course) my black stamp pad for the color!

Now, it was time for us to head to a cemetery which contains a sculpture called Grief. Again, Blue Butterfly had already been here, but I needed (yes--NEEDED) to stamp into these boxes, too. There are two boxes in this cemetery-one by JB Kokopelli and the other by Boots Tex/Lone Star Quilter. We took our time finding the boxes and I was absolutely amazed at the details of Boots' carve. How does he do it? I can only imagine the time and care that goes into a carving of this nature. My hat's off to you, Boots!

After leaving the cemetery, we headed back into Marshall proper to find a few more boxes that Blue Butterfly has not stamped into yet. We found Fire Ant Festival, a very clever carve, and Marhsall, Capitol of Missouri. After these, BB took me to find JBKokopelli's Marshall Pottery LB. I really wanted to go to the real Marshall Pottery, too, because I've never visited, but they were closed. I did however, stamp into the letterbox on a peaceful bridge in a quiet cemetery.

All in all, a good fun day once I was finally able to go letterboxing!!