Sorry I could not make the Cape Cod Caper, but I was making a frantic
attempt to reach SLO before the Great SLO Gathering. As much as I'd
love to have visited all you folks at Cape Cod, but hey, the first
annual letterboxing gathering in my hometown? Nope, I couldn't miss
that....

So I found myself Friday morning, packing up all my worldly
possessions, running through the Boston subways, to the airport.
First flew to Philly, where I met up briefly with Amanda from
Seattle. (And, despite finding her, while she was at WORK!, I didn't
get her "working letterbox" stamp! *shaking head*) Then I dashed
off to another plane headed to LAX. After landing there, I browsed
around in the bookstore reading selected passages from A Walk In the
Woods and a few hours later, wouldn't you know it, I bumped into
Amanda again. Bizarre coincidence, if you ask me. =)

As it was getting late, we were on east coast time, and tired, we
slept a few hours at a hotel before driving up to SLO the next
morning, arriving in town a mere 20 minutes before the letterboxing
festivities were to begin. =)

Everyone seemed quite shocked to learn I was there--mostly since I
didn't tell anyone and they assumed I'd be at the Cape Cod gathering
instead. ;o)

Oh, the times we had.... I don't know if anyone made an official
count of how many boxers showed up, but it seemed like hundreds. Or
at least a couple of dozen. =) We laughed, we told stories,
exchanged stamps. A few presidents visited, sent by Just Beth, and I
got to say, "Yeah, I met Just Beth once upon a time in my younger
years. Interesting and classy lady.... The woman that made the
presidents possible." ;o)

A couple hours later, we broke up into groups to hunt down the
letterboxes hidden within the park. Oh, the stamps that we found!
Beautiful carvings! At times, twisted and wicked clues! The fun
didn't end until hours later, when we were tired and sunburnt on this
beautiful, sunny day.

After the official gathering, Amanda from Seattle, Princess Lea, and
I went off to eat dinner then hunted down a few more drive-by boxes
around town before calling an end to our day and breaking up.

Thanks for a great time, everyone! And a special thanks to Sir B,
Juggler Mouse, and anyone else that helped to organize the event!
You did a great job! =)

-- Ryan, thru-hiker