the day after

The day after the SOHT event, a letterboxing friend, JBBK, and I went to do a little letterboxing in Chillicothe. There were a few boxes all in the same cemetery, so that was our destination. The cemetery sat up on high ground, giving us a wonderful view of the town below. I only wished that the colors of fall were more prominent in the trees.

The weather was beautiful and we had a nice time following clues, driving all through the place to find certain landmarks...sometimes going back to where we had been before. Silly us. It was fun, and I was in good company, so the day was enjoyable.


There were plenty of interesting mausoleums, and sadly, some had been vandalized. I do not understand how a person can be so disrespectful of an other's burial place, breaking in, destroying the door and leaving trash thrown about. I enjoy visiting cemeteries, I enjoy the serene beauty of them, especially the older ones. I enjoy the history that thrives there, sometimes all too forgotten by too many people. I wish everyone could have more respect in these places. One reason I like to find and plant letterboxes in cemeteries is so people can remember other's pasts, and maybe a gravestone long forgotten will get a visitor now and then.

At the end of our letterboxing day, we came across this bug. A scary looking bug. I was kinda afraid the thing might jump on me. Usually I don't mind bugs too much, unless they have too many legs---don't like them, why on earth does a creature need that many legs? It's unnatural, millipedes, centipedes...they are the creepiest things out there.


Anyway, this bug...I have never seen one like it before. If anyone knows what it is, please share your knowledge. I would love to find out just what it is.

Arrg Matey, them trails be Haunted!

an adventure awaits at the Southern Ohio Haunted Trails letterboxing event....

SOHT is an annual tradition, though this was my first year. The place is amazing! Tucked back in the woods in southern Ohio, near Chillicothe, on privately owned land, a wonderful mixture of log cabins, woods, trails, and fun greet each visitor.

Our hosts for the event, R-gang, really out did themselves, the theme was Ghost Pirates...and ghostly and pirately is definitely was! Just check out that pirate ship (there is actually a bridge under that ship that lets one cross the water.) This is one creative group...but wait, it gets better!

R-gang took time (probably LOTS of time) to plant letterboxes on the trails that run through their woods for us to find...complete with treasure map! That's right, a hand drawn treasure map! And how appropriate that the first letterbox the group I was with came upon was a treasure chest...the treasure? A letterbox of course!

My boxing group was so much fun. Jokes were flying, laughter filled the air (there might have even been some pee-in-the-pants moments ;) We all stamped in together, sharing stories, making cracks at one another, and even caused some mischief. hee hee.

The trails were filled with all sorts of Halloween and Pirate-y decor. Skulls and skeletons, treasure chests and swords, spooky characters and funny set ups. And twelve stamps to find along the way! And what great stamps they were...all going along with the theme.

In the evening, one trail was set up for night boxing...something I had never done before. I laughed so hard, in fact, I'm laughing as I think about it. :)

I took a picture and it scared some of my boxing buddies, the young boys were jumping out of hiding places trying to scare us (and sometimes succeeding!) And then my group got the bright idea to hide in the dark, and wait on the next group so we could scare them....yeah, that wasn't such a wonderful idea.


We turned off all our flashlights, hid every part of white clothing we had, and, in the dark, tried to find a place to hide because the others were coming around the bend! Here we were, 4 adult women, hunkering down behind what we thought was good cover (mind you we found a place to hide in the dark,) and we waited.

Funny stories started to be told, and laughs and snorts started to escape some people...and then the other group came closer....we waited...and waited...waited a little bit more...

Then the group shinned their light in our direction and simply said, "Hi, guys, what cha doing?"

That's right, we didn't scare them. We weren't even hidden very well. Turns out we were all crouched down behind a sad little Charlie Brown tree...not really good cover. And we waited too long to jump out and say boo! So much for our masterfully contrived plan, eh?

Oh well, we all had some good laughs out of it!

After night boxing, there was time to hang out by the campfire before hitting the tent, or camper, or in my case, the back of the Blazer for bed.


Tomorrow there would be a wonderful breakfast, where last minute stamping and exchanging could take place, and then the goodbyes said as we parted, all looking forward to next year's SOHT event.

Slow Days are Not Always Bad

I took advantage of my day off on Thursday to do some letterboxing. I had a stamp I wanted to plant in Fremont and a seminar to attend in Maumee, so I figured it'd be a good day to get it all in.

Things didn't turn out quite how I would have liked them to, and the box finding part was not as productive.

Trying to figure out which route to take up to Fremont was my first delima. There were plenty of boxes that I needed to find spread out north of me. I had decided to try to get a few that were a little out of the direct route...bad plan.

One of the first ones I went after was in a small camping/fishing place near a lake. The place was not crowded this time of year...the weather has gotten too cold, I suspect. However, parked right next to the tree where I needed to look was a vehicle. Someone that had just parked there to sit. Maybe they were on a lunch break, I don't know, but they did not get out, they just sat there. So I waited a little bit, got out of my car and walked around a bit. I took a picture.

It was cold, and so I got back in my vehicle. That other person still just sat there. I got tired of waiting, I felt like my time was being wasted, and so I left...no box today. Oh well, there were more to be found. I went on my way.

Well, I didn't have any more luck at the next two places I stopped at for boxes. The first place, a cemetery, the grounds crew was at work, there truck was right next to the tree where I needed to search. The next place, another cemetery. I thought I would be fine at this one, it was way out of the way, and an older cemetery. There were three of them there, I was excited to get them. However, I was foiled again, when I drove up to the place I saw a truck parked right next to the tree I needed to look in. The place was pretty small, and there was no way I could go after the other boxes there without being seen.

I moved on, and drove further north, and made it to Clyde, were I finally was able to find a box! I then headed to Fremont, clues in hand to hopefully find some there. The day was slipping past me, though, and I still needed to plant my box and make it to Maumee for that seminar.

So I went to plant first. I found a wonderful old cemetery (at the suggestion of my friend, Bone Yard Recorder) and started to walk around and scout it out. It one area, there is a pile of old stones. I found it sad that these stones were no longer where they were meant to be. There are a lot of old military stones in this cemetery, some people probably long forgotten. I paused a moment to honor them.

Along the tree line, I found something very strange. Probably the weirdest thing I have ever found while letterboxing...a gas mask. I don't even know what to say about that.


I had just a little time left after planting my box before I had to head out of town...so I decided I would get a couple more boxes. And I'm glad I did, I ended up with two wonderful carvings, and one of them took me a short ways down the Buckeye Trail. Someday I would love to hike the entire Buckeye Trail, but at least today I was able to hike a little of it.

Adventures in Babysitting

I had Thursday off. I had to plant a couple boxes, find one before it was pulled (a box of the month) and check on one that someone had attempted but not found to make sure it was still there. I was also going to be watching my youngest niece (age 5,) she was so happy she was going letterboxing.

We started off at the park, the little one wanted to play on the playground. So, on the swings, down the slide, and across the monkey bars she went. Then we took a walk...time to plant. She did very well helping me choose which way to go on a path and as we were planting the first box, we found a buckeye nut. Very excited, she tucked it away in her letterboxing pouch. Off we went to plant the second box and when we were done we headed back to the vehicle. On the way we found a small snake skin. I explained how when snakes grow they must shed their skin, and she tucked that away into her pouch as well.

Our next stop was to find a box. This would actually be her first time finding one. We reached the park, no playground this time, and after a quick stop at the port-a-potty, down the trail we started. We had not gotten too far when I heard a truck pull into the parking lot, I could still see it somewhat, enough to notice the color. My first thought was it's a letterboxing friend of mine...

I was right...Pioneer Spirit had pulled in, and as he started down the trail, I called out that I knew what he was there for. He jogged to meet up with us, and we made the walk to the box together. My niece found the box, and we all stamped in. Pioneer Spirit had to take off to get to work, so we finished with the box and put it back. It was a fine opportunity to teach her how to re-hide well. We began our walk back to the parking lot, and along the way found a lovely rock, which my niece proudly placed in her pouch.

The last stop for the day was my own box, a maintenance check. I was happy to see it was still there, though the area has changed a little, it's still able to be found by following the clues. We took the box to a picnic table, and I helped my niece stamp in, and then it was time to return the box and return home.

It was a very relaxed and enjoyable day...and though I love my niece dearly, my next letterbox outing will be more intense, and will not involve babysitting.