So this home schooling mother of two is striving with a self-imposed
goal of trying to improve her knowledge of the classics. She's
currently 18 chapters into the 1,000 page novel "Don Quixote".
Hmmm??? Tackling the episodic adventure of the ultimate knight
errant. How does this pertain to letterboxing? Well, quite fitting,
if you ask me. Today is just one more example of how our attempt to
seek out adventures in all things letterboxing bears more
resemblance to Don Quixote's quest to right the wrongs (although he
wrongs more rights than rights he the wrongs) and ensure justice
prevails throughout his self-induced chivalric 'world' than it
appears anything like a quick, effortless letterboxing trek. So,
the tome of the misadventures of this letterboxer-errant now
proceeds...

This being a day that not presents itself all that often anymore--a
day wholly devoted to exploring for letterboxes; we set our sights
upon a handful of Seattle area treasures. We quickly, nimbly locate
and quench our hunger for Zen fruit. All is right with the world;
balanced, centered. Then, we set our sights upon the fun game of
Duck, Duck, Goose. Well, God has bestowed upon us an incredible
knack for turning a 2.5 mile hike into some 5, 6 perhaps even more
miles. Great for my exercise regime--not so inspirational for the
kids, who both attained the ages of 6 and 3 during their most recent
birth anniversaries. How, you may wonder? Well, it all transpired
like this:

We set out for Duck #1. No luck--so we walk ALL the way around a
phantom of a lake. Still no luck; the box eludes us. Then,
somewhere along this 'interlude' of a hike, we realise we have lost
the clue sheets--never to be seen or heard from again. When we
realize the clue sheet has vanished, we backtrack our steps hoping
to find it. No luck--gone as sure as the phantom himself. No
problem, I think to myself--I have my laptop on hand, as a
letterboxer-errant is ever prepared for such circumstances; this
beacon of technological wonder should contain the clues to all
our 'unfound' boxes in this glorious state. Well, we venture off to
a nearby playground--the kids quite pleased with the opportunity to
roam the big toys for however much time they please (i.e. whatever
time it takes me to load up the computer, fail in finding
the 'saved' clues for this particular series and quickly realize the
screen isn't 'bright' enough to use without a power source more
substantial than the internal battery--so any attempt at trying to
find a 'wireless' internet connection fails, as well). Ever the
letterbox-errant, I think to myself: "No problem, I looked at the
clues a couple of times before we set out upon our quest--and
internalized them with that photographic memory I wished I'd
had." ;) Anyways, at this point we have nothing more to lose (beyond
our pride) except a great day for a hike along a gorgeous trail;
boxes or no boxes, we'll welcome whatever fate for us bears in
store. So, we decide we'll continue on with our trek, clueless now,
mind you. We trudge away and eventually find Duck #2 (remember this
is Duck, Duck, Goose--a game sure to be played in a certain sequence
otherwise it just doesn't fare as the rules suggest it should) armed
with a single noun from the clues posted ever-vigilantly in my non-
existant memory. We continue on and eventually find Goose; again
armed with nothing but a single noun from the clue. Now, having
realized our earlier 2-mile long mistake we backtrack to Duck #1 and
find it--as Don Quixote would say, non problemo! So, what should
have been a game of Duck, Duck, Goose turned into a game of No Duck,
Duck, Goose, then Duck. Well, even worse, what should have been
about an hour long trek turned into 3 hours; AND the handful of
other regional letterboxes in our long-awaited queue quickly fades
to none.

So, you think the story ends here, eh? No, my dear friends. We
decide to venture home--sated with the few great impressions of
letterboxes we did manage to find on this letterboxer-errant laden
trek. Along the way we decide to follow up on a 'hunch' for another
mystery box in the state. Unfortunately, this particular box is
absolutely clueless! Completely, utterly, dreadfully clueless.
Anyway, this hunch has been grumbling away in me for quite some time
now, perhaps a year and a half or so???--just never got an
opportunity to test the theory. So, as a consolation we set out to
test a whim of a theory--if we fail, we'll at least have another
neat walk about the region--hoping to perhaps see some migrating
birds along the way. So, we arrive at the 'hunch' of a location and
trudge along our trek. Armed with no clues, a weak hunch and an
uncanny ability to think like a letterbox planter we start testing
our theory. Lo & behold imagine the surprise, amazement, tears of
joy and whoop-whoop-hollerin' of high fives that occur when we
actually find the box--on our second probe during the first 'test'
of our theory!!!! So, we truly found "clueless!" cluelessly!!! We
found Duck, Duck, Goose "semi-cluelessly". What's even more bizarre
is about 2 years ago we found the Hidden Palms Letterbox in Oregon
with no clues. The folks who planted it had even lost the clues
they drafted before they were able to post them so even THEY were
totally, utterly clueless, too. That--for a while had been the
ultimate clueless box out there in our letterboxing-errant
autobiography. Now, we have a few more clueless episodes to add to
our letterboxer-errant lifetime achievement award!!! And still to
this day we continue along our 'letterboxing-errant' life cluelessly-
-enjoying the sights, sounds and adventures we seek out among the
trails along the way.

Now, back to chapter XIX...

dvn2r ckr

letterboxer-errant
ever pursuing trails, quixotically ;)

postscript. would anybody care to join us as we venture out in
quest of Mt Si, Poo Poo Pt and Mt Pilchuk??? ;) We may never find
those letterboxes but we can at least guarantee you an interesting
day and a GREAT workout--letterboxer-errant style!!!


super-postscript. "for they deserve, by privilege and right,
whatever hospitality they receive, in repayment for the intolerable
hardships they undergo in Seeking Adventures by night and day, in
winter and summer, on foot and horse, in thirst and hunger, in heat
and cold, subject to all the inclemencies of the skies and all the
discomforts of the earth." excerpt from the XVII. chapter of Miguel
de Crevantes Saavedra's The Adventures of Don Quixote, translated by
J. M. Cohen