letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
A newbie’s thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
THANKS
First, I want to thank this community for providing, maintaining and escalating the scope of a great pastime. This is my first post here. We started letterboxing December 28, 2003; we’ve had a blast since then.
STORY
My wife and I had read an article several months ago that sparked our interest, and saw another article more recently that reminded us that we still hadn’t done it yet. Over Christmas break the kids were at their grandparents, so we decided to finally act. Our first trip was to Fort Yargo SP in Winder, GA. We were so anxious to begin that we couldn’t wait until we’d created our own stamp, but I did come up with a design so we made stickers. After getting our first four finds there, we were hooked and convinced that the kids would be, too. In a fit of enthusiasm, the next day I purchased the tools and material, brought it home and carved our personal family stamp that night.
For New Year's Eve we decided to take on some strenuous letterboxing at Stone Mountain, GA. This time our personal stamp was ready. We knew the kids would never make it on all those trails, so this would be our only chance for a while.
We printed up the clues for 9 boxes in the park, got a map from the park's online site, and sat down to form a strategy. We stopped at Kmart for a compass, spent too long there buying Christmas stuff on sale, and didn’t get to the park until 2:30. We found only three boxes out of the five we had time to search for, but they were good finds and the stamps were good ones. They were (In alphabetical order, so as not to give anything away), “Duck Duck”, “Gone With the Wind”, and “Stone Mt Squeeezebox”. We were excited to be able to put our new personal stamp into the logbooks there. By dark we were tired, achy and discouraged at our dismal 30% overall completion rate, but still enjoyed the park's Christmas lights displays on our drive out.
On New Year's Day, we decided on the spur of the moment to give it another go. We were saddened to discover that while near the summit we'd forgotten to seek out "Eagle's Home". None of the other letterboxes we were still seeking are near it, so we agreed it would have to wait for another time.
We did manage better this time, due to our earlier start and our newfound gusto. We collected (again, in ABC order), “Stone Mt Letterbox”, “Strength”, “Sun Over Stone”, and “Whiskers”. These great stamps and the beautiful hike were worth the sore feet.
("Strength" is out of pages, probably because of a nearby geocache, and we were forced to use the flip-side of an earlier stamped page. The clue page for this lb indicated the cache is near “Whiskers”, but “Whiskers” didn’t have any entries from geocachers. We decided that on future hikes we'll have spare parts for box repair. If anyone else is heading there soon, please bring a new logbook.)
We hiked back to the car with night falling quickly, very satisfied with our trip. We found seven out of nine. Later, we calculated our 2-day trek at over 10 miles of trails, not including all the backtracking we did.
But were 11 stamps in one week enough? Please. Of course not. On our way to pick up the kids Saturday, January 3, we nabbed the two “OndBay AmpSway” boxes near Macon, GA. We were able to avoid the bugs mentioned on the clue page – this hike is great for days like we had where the temperature is cool. With our new box repair kit, we were able to replace the baggies that had sprung holes and leaked. The “device” is in poor shape, though, and should probably be replaced with something more durable.
With the kids back home, we spent Sunday afternoon carving stamps with them. We drove back to Fort Yargo and watched them search for and find all four stamps. While there, we replaced the stickers from our first trip with the family stamp we made and the kids made their own entries. The letterboxing community now has two more small enthusiasts.
REQUEST
We’ll be in Franklin, NC this upcoming weekend for business. Coincidentally, we received an email about a Word Of Mouth Lb near Clayton GA, which is on the way. If anyone has another WOM or otherwise unlisted box in this area that is suitable for children ages 9-12, please write. The LbNA site has a few, and we may try the “Highlands Lb”.
PROMISE
This year we plan to plant several letterboxes in Georgia’s State Parks in an effort to further open up the hobby in this state. Thanks so much for the hunts, everyone!
"Red's Bunch"
Loganville, GA 30052
P0 F13 X0
Newbie thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
3 messages in this thread |
Started on 2004-01-06
Newbie thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
From: (redbng@aol.com) |
Date: 2004-01-06 10:57:22 UTC-05:00
Re: [LbNA] Newbie thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
From: (StDebb@aol.com) |
Date: 2004-01-06 14:36:36 UTC-05:00
redbng@aol.com writes:
> This year we plan to plant several letterboxes in Georgia’s State Parks in
> an effort to further open up the hobby in this state.
>
Oh, good, since I plan to pass through GA on vacation and was hoping to get a
box from each state we go through. Hopefully one of yours will be near our
route.
It's so nice to hear your enthusiasm.
DebBee
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> This year we plan to plant several letterboxes in Georgia’s State Parks in
> an effort to further open up the hobby in this state.
>
Oh, good, since I plan to pass through GA on vacation and was hoping to get a
box from each state we go through. Hopefully one of yours will be near our
route.
It's so nice to hear your enthusiasm.
DebBee
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Newbie thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
From: rubaduc2001 (Rubaduc@juno.com) |
Date: 2004-01-06 23:06:39 UTC
--Yea!! Georgia has more letterboxers and (more important) letterbox
placers. Plant them and I will come :-) (back)
- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, redbng@a... wrote:
> letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
> A newbie’s thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
>
> THANKS
> First, I want to thank this community for providing, maintaining
and escalating the scope of a great pastime. This is my first post
here. We started letterboxing December 28, 2003; we’ve had a blast
since then.
>
> STORY
> My wife and I had read an article several months ago that sparked
our interest, and saw another article more recently that reminded us
that we still hadn’t done it yet. Over Christmas break the kids
were at their grandparents, so we decided to finally act. Our first
trip was to Fort Yargo SP in Winder, GA. We were so anxious to begin
that we couldn’t wait until we’d created our own stamp, but I did
come up with a design so we made stickers. After getting our first
four finds there, we were hooked and convinced that the kids would
be, too. In a fit of enthusiasm, the next day I purchased the tools
and material, brought it home and carved our personal family stamp
that night.
>
> For New Year's Eve we decided to take on some strenuous
letterboxing at Stone Mountain, GA. This time our personal stamp was
ready. We knew the kids would never make it on all those trails, so
this would be our only chance for a while.
>
> We printed up the clues for 9 boxes in the park, got a map from the
park's online site, and sat down to form a strategy. We stopped at
Kmart for a compass, spent too long there buying Christmas stuff on
sale, and didn’t get to the park until 2:30. We found only three
boxes out of the five we had time to search for, but they were good
finds and the stamps were good ones. They were (In alphabetical
order, so as not to give anything away), “Duck Duck”, “Gone
With the Wind”, and “Stone Mt Squeeezebox”. We were excited to
be able to put our new personal stamp into the logbooks there. By
dark we were tired, achy and discouraged at our dismal 30% overall
completion rate, but still enjoyed the park's Christmas lights
displays on our drive out.
>
> On New Year's Day, we decided on the spur of the moment to give it
another go. We were saddened to discover that while near the summit
we'd forgotten to seek out "Eagle's Home". None of the other
letterboxes we were still seeking are near it, so we agreed it would
have to wait for another time.
>
> We did manage better this time, due to our earlier start and our
newfound gusto. We collected (again, in ABC order), “Stone Mt
Letterbox”, “Strength”, “Sun Over Stone”, and
“Whiskers”. These great stamps and the beautiful hike were worth
the sore feet.
>
> ("Strength" is out of pages, probably because of a nearby geocache,
and we were forced to use the flip-side of an earlier stamped page.
The clue page for this lb indicated the cache is near “Whiskers”,
but “Whiskers” didn’t have any entries from geocachers. We
decided that on future hikes we'll have spare parts for box repair.
If anyone else is heading there soon, please bring a new logbook.)
>
> We hiked back to the car with night falling quickly, very
satisfied with our trip. We found seven out of nine. Later, we
calculated our 2-day trek at over 10 miles of trails, not including
all the backtracking we did.
>
> But were 11 stamps in one week enough? Please. Of course not. On
our way to pick up the kids Saturday, January 3, we nabbed the two
“OndBay AmpSway” boxes near Macon, GA. We were able to avoid the
bugs mentioned on the clue page " this hike is great for days like
we had where the temperature is cool. With our new box repair kit, we
were able to replace the baggies that had sprung holes and leaked.
The “device” is in poor shape, though, and should probably be
replaced with something more durable.
>
> With the kids back home, we spent Sunday afternoon carving stamps
with them. We drove back to Fort Yargo and watched them search for
and find all four stamps. While there, we replaced the stickers from
our first trip with the family stamp we made and the kids made their
own entries. The letterboxing community now has two more small
enthusiasts.
>
> REQUEST
> We’ll be in Franklin, NC this upcoming weekend for business.
Coincidentally, we received an email about a Word Of Mouth Lb near
Clayton GA, which is on the way. If anyone has another WOM or
otherwise unlisted box in this area that is suitable for children
ages 9-12, please write. The LbNA site has a few, and we may try the
“Highlands Lb”.
>
> PROMISE
> This year we plan to plant several letterboxes in Georgia’s State
Parks in an effort to further open up the hobby in this state. Thanks
so much for the hunts, everyone!
>
>
> "Red's Bunch"
> Loganville, GA 30052
> P0 F13 X0
placers. Plant them and I will come :-) (back)
- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, redbng@a... wrote:
> letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
> A newbie’s thanks, a story, a request, and a promise
>
> THANKS
> First, I want to thank this community for providing, maintaining
and escalating the scope of a great pastime. This is my first post
here. We started letterboxing December 28, 2003; we’ve had a blast
since then.
>
> STORY
> My wife and I had read an article several months ago that sparked
our interest, and saw another article more recently that reminded us
that we still hadn’t done it yet. Over Christmas break the kids
were at their grandparents, so we decided to finally act. Our first
trip was to Fort Yargo SP in Winder, GA. We were so anxious to begin
that we couldn’t wait until we’d created our own stamp, but I did
come up with a design so we made stickers. After getting our first
four finds there, we were hooked and convinced that the kids would
be, too. In a fit of enthusiasm, the next day I purchased the tools
and material, brought it home and carved our personal family stamp
that night.
>
> For New Year's Eve we decided to take on some strenuous
letterboxing at Stone Mountain, GA. This time our personal stamp was
ready. We knew the kids would never make it on all those trails, so
this would be our only chance for a while.
>
> We printed up the clues for 9 boxes in the park, got a map from the
park's online site, and sat down to form a strategy. We stopped at
Kmart for a compass, spent too long there buying Christmas stuff on
sale, and didn’t get to the park until 2:30. We found only three
boxes out of the five we had time to search for, but they were good
finds and the stamps were good ones. They were (In alphabetical
order, so as not to give anything away), “Duck Duck”, “Gone
With the Wind”, and “Stone Mt Squeeezebox”. We were excited to
be able to put our new personal stamp into the logbooks there. By
dark we were tired, achy and discouraged at our dismal 30% overall
completion rate, but still enjoyed the park's Christmas lights
displays on our drive out.
>
> On New Year's Day, we decided on the spur of the moment to give it
another go. We were saddened to discover that while near the summit
we'd forgotten to seek out "Eagle's Home". None of the other
letterboxes we were still seeking are near it, so we agreed it would
have to wait for another time.
>
> We did manage better this time, due to our earlier start and our
newfound gusto. We collected (again, in ABC order), “Stone Mt
Letterbox”, “Strength”, “Sun Over Stone”, and
“Whiskers”. These great stamps and the beautiful hike were worth
the sore feet.
>
> ("Strength" is out of pages, probably because of a nearby geocache,
and we were forced to use the flip-side of an earlier stamped page.
The clue page for this lb indicated the cache is near “Whiskers”,
but “Whiskers” didn’t have any entries from geocachers. We
decided that on future hikes we'll have spare parts for box repair.
If anyone else is heading there soon, please bring a new logbook.)
>
> We hiked back to the car with night falling quickly, very
satisfied with our trip. We found seven out of nine. Later, we
calculated our 2-day trek at over 10 miles of trails, not including
all the backtracking we did.
>
> But were 11 stamps in one week enough? Please. Of course not. On
our way to pick up the kids Saturday, January 3, we nabbed the two
“OndBay AmpSway” boxes near Macon, GA. We were able to avoid the
bugs mentioned on the clue page " this hike is great for days like
we had where the temperature is cool. With our new box repair kit, we
were able to replace the baggies that had sprung holes and leaked.
The “device” is in poor shape, though, and should probably be
replaced with something more durable.
>
> With the kids back home, we spent Sunday afternoon carving stamps
with them. We drove back to Fort Yargo and watched them search for
and find all four stamps. While there, we replaced the stickers from
our first trip with the family stamp we made and the kids made their
own entries. The letterboxing community now has two more small
enthusiasts.
>
> REQUEST
> We’ll be in Franklin, NC this upcoming weekend for business.
Coincidentally, we received an email about a Word Of Mouth Lb near
Clayton GA, which is on the way. If anyone has another WOM or
otherwise unlisted box in this area that is suitable for children
ages 9-12, please write. The LbNA site has a few, and we may try the
“Highlands Lb”.
>
> PROMISE
> This year we plan to plant several letterboxes in Georgia’s State
Parks in an effort to further open up the hobby in this state. Thanks
so much for the hunts, everyone!
>
>
> "Red's Bunch"
> Loganville, GA 30052
> P0 F13 X0