And what a great trip it's been! Best part was meeting the wonderful
letterboxing people, like Scoutdogs, Franzsolo, Ed, Ace, and all the
other fine folks who make us feel like "family" wherever we go! And
the letterboxing was pretty impressive, too! In spite of many boxes
being washed away in the recent floods and mud slides, plus some
being inaccessible to me because of excessive overgrowth, poison ivy,
work projects, weddings, and other factors, I still managed to find
nearly 200 boxes in Ohio, and passed the 100 mark in PA as well! Most
interesting to me were the "camo-boxes" and "non-traditional hides".
With well over 2500 traditional finds following the basic formula
of "look under rocks, behind tree, or at end of log", it was really a
blast for me to find boxes like Buckeye Furnace, Metamora Mill,
Yoctangee Baden, Loffelstein Challenge, and Pigs Can't Fly in some
rather unusual hiding spots! Thanks for this delightful burst of
creativity and some great stamps, too!

Speaking of stamps, though, here's a funny story. The night before I
left Scoutdogs' home in Indiana, Chris finally got me to try my hand
at carving some PZ-cut under her magnifying glass setup - how cool!
I carved a little oaken clip art image and placed it in western Ohio
the following morning. Then the next day as I was heading back east
to Eastfork, I came upon that very same carving, only slightly
larger, in one of Franzsolo's boxes, Up the Tree! Now, what are the
chances of that happening? My very first carved clip art stamp image
and it ends up being a "clone"!!! Anyway, for anyone who might want
to find my "smaller version", clues will be available soon on our
webpage. I also brought back a couple of hitchers and an example of
Scoutdogs' fantastic carving called "The Warrior" to be placed soon
in RI. I actually had a place in mind, and it just happened that
someone else recently put a box there, so stay tuned for another!
And have a safe 4th of July weekend, happy letterboxers everywhere!

Wanda from RI
P53 F2831 X374 = PFX 3258

P.S. Just for the record (for the new folks out there or others that
don't know us, or need to somehow think that our count is inflated),
please be assured that our count is actually considerably LOWER than
what it would be if we counted the way we've heard some folks do! For
example, when we find a box with multiple stamps, we still only count
it as ONE FIND, even if there are a half dozen or more different
stamps in it! Secondly, we do not count stamps relocated to different
areas or most types of replacements. Thirdly, we wouldn't DREAM of
counting the same hitchers( or boxes or persons) again if we came
across them more than once! And, finally, Pete and I do keep separate
counts, so his count contains quite a few boxes that I haven't yet
gotten to, and vice versa. If we did the "composite thing", I'd
probably have well over F3000 by now, but hopefully I'll get there
soon enough as it is - especially with all the new boxes popping up
like crazy lately!

P.P.S. And looks like I'll be getting a golden crown after all, for
that broken tooth of mine! It broke while Chris and I were eating
salad at our last night celebration dinner at the Olive Garden in
Cincinnati(the very same one that Pete and I ate at on our way out
west about 10 years ago!) Anyway, here I was thinking that I'd bitten
into an olive pit or something, and suddenly there's this hole in the
back of my mouth! Amazingly, I was able to get all the way back home
without pain and my dentist just took care of it right away. Thank
God for little mercies - and big ones, too!!!