Hurray ! ! ! The troll has been vanquished. Rock Creek is safe at last !!!

You know, I'm almost certain that my car was one of the many buzzing overhead
during the search. I'm glad to hear Thom's search party enjoyed their quest.
I hope they had at least half as much fun hunting as I had making these two
most recent letterboxes.

As Thom has mentioned, I camoflauged these two. This was something new for me
that I stumbled onto, so maybe some of you would appreciate hearing the
details.

The Rock Creek Dragon has a military-style camo that I did free-hand with
spray paint. I was pondering the notion that the shiny beige lid of the
container I intended to hide was going to stand out like a road flare in the
wooded area where I wanted to hide it. Then I noticed that I had some near
empty paint cans left over from previous projects in dark green, black, and
brown. I masked off the clear bottom of the Rubbermaid container, so one
could still see inside and determine that the contents looked more like a
letterbox than a bomb. Then I applied blotches of the three colors to the lid
and the sides of the container.

The Rock Creek TROLL is the largest letterbox I've ever set out. It had the
same color of lid as the Dragon, and was REALLY going to stand out in the dark
area I had chosen to hide it in. This time, the surroundings were rocky, so I
dug around and found another remnant from a previous project... a can of that
Fleck-Stone textured spray that makes things look like they are made of
granite (sort of). I think it worked well for the dark recess that is now its
home, although it sounds like it may have a bit of a dandruff problem.

Just for the record, I fully expect The Troll to become the next Letterbox to
join Deborah's in Letterbox Heaven. I'm trying to look on it as an
experiment, of sorts. Perhaps this mind-set will ease my sorrow when it
disappears. It is sitting uncovered in a very exposed (though dark and shady)
area, relying entirely on its camoflouge to make it invisible. If found, the
contents (complete with stamp and matching bare-bottomed mascot) are very
tempting, as the younger members of Thom's party will reportedly testify.

Whatever the future brings for this letterbox will be a lesson in human
nature. I'm hoping it will be a lesson in how un-observant we tend to be,
rather than how greedy and self-centered we can be. Time will tell... my
advice is that you all hop on board the next flight to Portland, Oregon and
collect this stamp before it's gone!!! The prints will likely be collector's
items! :o)

Sincerely,
Der Mad Stamper
========================

In a message dated 12/10/98 8:36:04 AM Pacific Standard Time,
tcgrafx@imagina.com writes:

> Ahah!! The waters of Rock Creek subsided enough to allow passage
> through bridge #2 on our quest for Mitch's latest offering "The Rock
> Creek Troll." Our search party included my son Brian, his friend David
> with a borrowed stamp, Maggie the Wonder Beagle and myself. It was
> nearly dusk here along the 45th parallel as I punched the time clock,
> turned off the computer and walked into the living room at 4PM. We
> would have barely an hour to decipher the clues, make our journey and
> vanquish the troll. We loaded into the truck with one stop for David to
> trade his new Vans for some mud boots.... just in case. We arrived in
> the vicinity and began our march at a grueling pace to get to bridge #4
> on Mitch's map. As we neared the bridge I could hear a rumbling
> sound... had we awakened the fearsome troll? naw... it was rush hour
> traffic going overhead. No matter.... we would find this troll. Upon
> arrival, we were met with the sight of a large embankment of rock.
> Surely the troll could be ANYWHERE!! We spread out to begin our search
> in the fading light. Maggie headed straight for a trash can to check
> that out. Wait now... let's use our heads.... Mitch is a sneaky
> fellow.... let's think like Mitch... I won't go into detail here, not
> wanting to spoil the final agonies of the search for anyone else making
> the journey. Needless to say, we found the box... again interestingly
> camoflauged...at least I hope that was what came off on my hands!! The
> resident troll is a friendly type & I had to convince the boys that he
> needed to remain in the box. We did our stamp thingy & still had time
> to revisit the Rock Creek Dragon so David could find & stamp that one as
> well.
>
> Great outing... all in one hour on a damp December evening.
>
> Thanks Mitch! We'll return the favor soon.
>
>
> --
> Thom Cheney
> tcgrafx... among other things
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