Visiting the Sunshine State...and a certain little mouse

At the beginning of May I took a little trip down to Florida along with my mother and one of my nieces...there's a place near Orlando where you can feel like a kid, and dreams really do come true. Y'all know where I'm talking about... ;) We were fortunate enough to have dinner in a certain princess's castle, and had the best seats in the house for some wonderful fireworks. The whole trip was great, but I had some side plans while we were there on vacation.

There has been discussions on Atlas Quest about the ability of a letterbox to be hidden, and more importantly, stay hidden on the grounds of W-D-W...and though others have hid and lost before, this did not stop me from hiding as well.

Luckily for me, someone else had the same thoughts before I took my trip, and I had a couple boxes there to find. When I travel to this central Florida dream World, I stay on property, which means I do not have access to travel off property. So I'm glad I could do a little boxing while there.

On my last trip, I had scouted out places that might be suitable for hiding a box. This proves to be extremely difficult due to the fact that the grounds are kept immaculately clean. I did find one spot at a Park that I thought might work. I made a micobox for it, and when I arrived on this latest trip, I carved my stamp, and went to plant. The spot was still exactly the same...so I think, as long as finders are not seen--which in itself will prove to be a display in how stealthy one is--this box will not be found by the grounds crew...or anyone else. I hope this is the case anyway.

I also had two other spots, both at different resorts, to place a box. Hiding a letterbox in Florida is quite different than hiding one here in Ohio. We have plenty of holes in trees, and stumps and such...in Florida, the fallen timbers are rotting so fast, there's no way to hide anything in them. Luckily, I found this out reading the message boards on AQ and had a heads up. So the one of my boxes which is hidden among the trees is lying safely next to a live tree. Hopefully it stays there. Hopefully, they all stay where they're planted!

I was also able to meet Sits N Knits while down there and do an exchange...and take a couple HH (hitchhikers--small letterboxes that a finder picks up in one letterbox and then leaves in another.) She is such a nice lady...and I truly appreciated her taking time to come into one of the parks to meet up with me.

So it was a good trip all around.

Richmond Deja vu, part 2

I drive to Richmond for a second time, in two days. This time I have an almost 100% guarantee that I'll find the elusive Box of the Month that I desperately tried to find the day before. (By 100%, I mean I'll be going there with the planter, so the only way I wouldn't find it if it's missing!)

So I make plans to meet up with speedsquare, a local letterboxer and planter of the BOM...she will be my tour guide to Richmond for the day. What a wonderfully nice lady speedsquare is! It was like we had been friends for years when I walked into her home. We chatted and did exchanges, and she showed me some stamps she had, and let me stamp them into my logbook. And then soon we took off to letterbox around Richmond. I was able to learn so much about the area and local history from speedsquare...it really was interesting.

We headed for the park where the BOM was located, picking up a couple other stamps that were nearby first. Then the search for the box that haunted me overnight...not really, but it was a frustration the day before when I could not find it to save my life. Speedsquare and I went through the clues together, and after explaining how I read it, and how it may be interpreted, she took some notes and contemplated changing the wording. Maybe it was just confusing for out-of-towners...others seemed to have found it fine. Maybe it was just me. Anyhoo, after a little searching, the box was found (YEA!) and we were on our way.

Next stop was a quiet, beautiful, tucked away cemetery...loved it! And then on to a mystery box. The photo is from the trail we walked along, but I shall say no more, for I do not want to give anything away. I will say this however, it was fun, and clever. Thank you to the planter. ;)

We traveled off to a ball diamond, and then went to find another box I was unable to locate the day before. The clues referred to an "X" and I could not find one. Turns out, the X was made of two limbs on the ground, needless to say they were no longer there, and so the exact point from which to begin looking for the box was too ambiguous. Luckily, speedsquare has a good memory, and we found the area, and then I found the box.

By then it was beginning to get late, and I had a nice drive ahead of me. We said our goodbyes, and I took off for home. Just a little ways into Ohio, the sun began to set. This drive home was much more satisfying than yesterday's. I only wish keepin up with the Jones' was there to enjoy it with me.