I wasn't feeling so great today due to the turmoil at work and tomorrow's big, horrendous court appearance, so Joe and I ran out for two quick LBs. We managed to find and stamp in to Dex Dogs and Charli Dogs. It was a pretty cloudy and chilly day, but it was good to get out and walk around (and around and around!). The stamps are really cute too. We left a little surprise in one of them ;) I feel safe saying that, too, because I know no one reads this :-p

What a glorious day for letterboxing! Joe and I parked in Collegeville and road our bikes along the Perkiomen Trail to just south of Green Lane. We picked up our final PT letterbox, Sunrise, and found a hitchhiker! Butterfly came to us all the way from Maine. Hopefully I can release her within the next week or so. In any case, the PT between Collegeville and Green Lane was great! The prettiest part was near and next to Grateford Prison - a bit of irony, I guess. Some of the hills just about killed me - Lance Armstrong I'm not! I think in the future, I'll stick to the flatter part of the PT.

On our way back from Sunrise we passed by 3 other PT boxes that we'd already stamped in to earlier in the year. We re-stamped into some of them (unless there were a lot of people around) since The Raindears have since replaced their store-bought stamps with fun hand-carved ones!

And finally, at some point today ;) I released my first ever hitchhiker, the Ace of Spades (mentioned in my previous post). I hope the card has good luck along its way and that I get to hear about it from time to time.

I am so excited!

While making the logbook for my new Ace of Spades Hitchhiker to be released this weekend, I thought of an idea for those people who manage to collect the other Aces (Diamonds, Hearts, and Clovers) - I will soon plant a Joker letterbox, and clues to this box will only be accessible to those who have found all of the Aces.

I'm still working it out in my head, but I think I'll definitely plant one or two Aces as standard letterboxes, and leave the other two as hitchhikers.

I'll have to see how this plan continues to form - it'd obviously be quite difficult to access all of the stamps if one or two of them are randomly floating around. But that might make them more coveted....

I decided to spice things up a bit on our letterboxing bike ride tomorrow - I'm going to create my first hitchhiker. I just printed out my design, and thank goodness Mom sent me some tracing paper to work with - I'd been freehanding since I started carving.

I also have to run to Michael's tonight to get some more carving material, as I'm almost out. I want to carve my personal stamp myself, instead of using the store bought one I've toted around since I started this hobby. Mom sent me pages and pages of Fleur de Lis she'd drawn on the computer, so I just have to trace and carve. It's nice having an artistic mother, since I certainly don't have the artistic talent in the family!

What an absolutely gorgeous day! 77 degrees - not at all used to this type of weather. We took advantage of it, though, and went searching for some letterboxes. We headed up to Tyler State Park and had a bit of trouble along the way - we had to take some major detours because of streets closed for regattas. Then we got lost. When we finally made it it was such a nice walk! Despite the massive amounts of horse manure everywhere, it was a nice new "find" as far as places to go.

Unfortunately, Joe and I didn't find Covered Bridge #1, but from looking at the LBMA list, it seems we're not the only ones. We found what we thought were the right spot(s) but to no avail. We had more luck with Covered Bridge #2 and left a little surprise :) We'll have to head back up to Tyler to try again for CB#1 and the other box in the main area of Tyler State Park.

If I have time this week I'm going to try to plant some microboxes - I have the spots, just have to carve the stamps.

I made a new box last night, before we went to visit Joe's parents for Easter. The carving came out okay...especially since I free-handed it and didn't trace anything. And considering I'm such a bad "artist".. :) In any case, I was going to plant it this morning and then check on Black Diamond, but I was so exhausted this morning that I didn't get the chance. And then we left. Next time, I guess, although I'm itching to get out and plant!

I also have to mail Mary her filled VA I-95 microbox log, though I first want to look through it myself! :)

Rhode Island boxing was so easy and so much fun...things down here in PA are not that way - boxes are spread out, far driving everywhere...'tis a bit frustrating!

I bought a lot of new plastic boxes yesterday so now I have no excuse to not start planting. I just have to make the logbooks on my series of 5 and then figure out where to plant them. I have so many new ideas for new boxes that I'm constantly having to email myself just to make sure I don't forget. Does this ever happen to anyone else?

In any case, the weather is getting much nicer and warmer now in Philly so I should be able to find some (hopefully) good spots. I just get nervous because it really is urban letterboxing, and I don't want any malicious people finding and destroying a box I've put so much time in to.

Just got back from our long day! It was mostly drive-by boxes, in a nice secret series :), but it took us awhile! One of the boxes was missing, which is sad, but the others were beautiful! My mom's favorites so far, and they definitely top my list for creativity! On our way back into Bristol we stopped off and quickly got Cool Librarian's READ box, which is also a bookcrossing junction - a "sport" I should definitely get into, being the avid reader that I am.

Tomorrow is Westerly, I think...we shall see if my ideas about a few mystery boxes are correct. Probably not, but we shall see....

So tomorrow we'll head out, in between shopping, for a WoM series where Mom can rest her tired feet and drive me around. Should be fun, hopefully with little traffic, and we can collect 7 boxes!

I think I'm giving up (temporarily) on Dancing Men. It's frustrating me too much. And I'm sure, as is my habit, I'm overanalyzing the clues. So what do I do? I start looking at some of the Mapsurfer boxes. As if Dancing Men wasn't hard enough! The Library really interests me...I'm already thinking about it too much! On a happier Mapsurfer note, Joe found a letter in a box down south for Wordplay - that makes two letters we've found! Lol...

What a windy day! Didn't get as many boxes as I'd like, but Mom is sick with bronchitis so it's a wonder she can get out at all. We found Fort Adams, Castle Hill, and Fast Passage today. Fort Adams was so windy I truly thought we'd blow into the water! The view from Castle Hill was breathtaking, and it was a nice (but big!) stamp. Fast Passage boasts a gorgeous stamp - I'm still in awe! We also found Wally Hitchhiker at Fast Passage - Mom's first, my third! Hooray! Now where to take it....

I'm thinking I might run out for another box or two..a couple of simple ones. I'm really itching to get some more!

Mom is now mapping out, on her computer, a WoM series that someone sent me. I think we're going to do it tomorrow in between shopping - must get in as much letterboxing as possible! I truly am addicted, as she keeps telling me... :)

Getting a late start again! Can't seem to wake up early - my mind knows I'm on vacation and is catching up on all the Zzzzs possible!

Heading out with Mom again for 5 boxes - hopefully we'll get all 5! More later when we return...

So here I am in Rhode Island, visiting the parents. I was aiming to get a LOT of letterboxes during my short week up here, but I'm finding that's not as easy as I planned. I am tired, beat, exhausted. It's not so easy to get up early and go boxing all day, just for the sake of getting more Fs under my belt. Mom and I did, however, get three today - her first three, in fact! We went to Mount Hope Farm - it was a much longer walk than I'd thought it would be but it was very beautiful. The stamps were really nice too :) I had a slight scare when we walked by some swans - I was attacked by a swan when I was younger so I'm pretty afraid! And our only weapon was Mom's inhaler - lol!

I'm thinking about going out for a short drive while Mom rests and getting one or two more..we'll see.