We've had a stamp carved and the box ready to plant for a while but
no time to get out to place it. This past Sunday, we decided to put
it on our "must do" list.

We ran into two problems. First problem: it was dark (imagine
that!)but we knew exactly where we were going to place the box so
didn't think this would be a problem. Secondly: The tree we were
going to use had been removed along with all of the others near it.

Now, we had to find another hiding place. We looked in possible
bushes and under rocks, but this was a well maintained landscaped
urban area and nothing seemed permanent enough. We walked up and
down and all around the area several times before settling on a
spot. We came home feeling pretty good about where the box was
placed. In fact, it was in a better spot then the original one
would have been.

By the time we came in to post the clue, we had an e-mail from
someone saying he/she/they was/were the first finder of our box and
wanted to know where to find the clue. What a surprise! How did
this happen? The only thing we could think of was that someone had
been sitting in a darkened car and watched us roaming around; our
movements had piqued their curiousity and they went to investigate
after we left.

We responded to the e-mail and had to wait until the next day for a
reply. Turns out that this was a geocacher. There seems to be
quite a few, possibly 25 or more, caches within a mile or so
around this box. The geocacher suggested that we leave it where it
was and make it a hybrid. We didn't want to do this, so we had to
go back out last night and rehide the box. It is still in the area
of all of the geocaches but we have placed very noticeable warnings
on the box. All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope that
other geocachers that stumble upon this box are as knowledgeable of
letterboxing and as respectful of our box as the first one was.

This is not the first time that something like this has happened to
us, but the other box completely disappeared before we could get
back home and post the clue.

Now that we've gotten your attention and you're wanting to see what
all of the hoopla is about, we hope to have the clue up by this
evening.

Carole of DKK