Doubling Those Southern Counts!
2 messages in this thread |
Started on 2005-02-28
Doubling Those Southern Counts!
From: wandaandpete (wandaandpete@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2005-02-28 17:53:44 UTC
Recovering at last from a bout of the flu and a twisted ankle that swelled up
like an orange a week or so ago, but is now mostly just a painful patch of
purple, I'm finally getting a chance to write up my long overdue Southern trip
report. Originally Pete and I had planned to just fly down to Florida for a 5-day
cruise to the Bahamas at the end of January, but then I decided I might as well
drive down and stay awhile to visit friends, letterbox, folkdance, attend a
gathering or two, and do hurricane relief work in the Punta Gorda area with a
team from our church in RI. So, that's just what I did, and it turned out to be
quite a good month, with over 300 new letterboxes found along the way, and
with some of my personal state counts getting doubled (VA,MD), quadrupled
(FL), or even sextupled (NC,SC)!!! (The inside joke here being that my GA
count also doubled - from 1 to 2, but -hey- there just aren't that many boxes
along the I-95 corridor in Georgia, so that's all I could do without going too far
out of my way! Don't worry, though - I definitely hope to make another foray
down to the more boxious parts of some of those states sometime soon, so
we'll just have to wait and see what happens then!)
Anyway, I'd have to say that we were pretty pleased overall with the quality
and quantity of boxes we found this trip. There were many more boxes than
when Pete and I last drove down that way a couple of years ago, so we
obviously didn't have time for them all, but we tried to do a fair sampling of
both older and newer planters, Our favorite boxes, naturally, were those like
"Myakka River Critters" and "Bitter Orange Cracker Shack" in the larger
preserves. We even managed to plant a couple of boxes ourselves, with
stamps by Scarab of VA ("Nosey Bee") and RTRW of CT ("Boardwalk
Beebop"), in parks where we saw whole families of wild boar, armadillos, and
baby alligators! I also enjoyed watching the manatees, letterboxing with Irene,
folkdancing with Ralika, Annie, Andy, and the "Gotta Dancers", painting
John's formerly devastated house sea turtle green, and attending DebBee's
Fabulous Florida Flamingo Fiesta, which kept its theme all the way through to
the flamingo-shaped cookies and other things that went so well with those
flamingo lawn ornaments! A big "thank-you" to everyone involved, and
especially also to the Doubtful Guests for their hospitality, for taking me on
"drive-bys" in MD after I'd fallen and twisted my ankle in VA following a long
day of letterboxing in Richmond, and for the impromptu little "Bee Gathering"
that really lifted my spirits! I think everyone would be amazed at how many
boxes I still managed to hobble to on my way home in the rain even with my
leg taped up, but I just kept going until a nasty flu finally did me in just as I was
getting back to RI! I spent several days in bed, then Pete took me to the
Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, NY over the past weekend, and now he's
sick, too! Oh, well... hope we all feel better soon, so we can get in a bit more
skiing and winter 'boxing before the season's over!
At least now after visiting the Southern states, I can feel that I have a little
leeway before all those CT boxes once again try to gobble up almost half of
my total F-count, as they seem to have been trying to do for almost my entire
letterboxing history! When I saw my CT state count creeping up to 3000 found
boxes late last year, all I could think was that I'd have to start 'boxing more
systematically in other states just to keep CT at "half bay", so that is exactly
what I intend to do! (Unless, of course, I decide to leave letterboxing
completely behind for a while as I quietly slip off to hike the "King of Trails"
again - and for those who don't know, that's not the AT or the PCT, but the
grand old Continental Divide!) Meanwhile, thanks again to all those folks who,
instead of just keeping boxes in private circles, have at least in theory, placed
boxes out there to share with everyone - and that even includes the mapsurfer
boxes, 44 of which we got a long while back before "hitting the wall", but at
least they're all supposedly still out there for anyone interested! Cheers to all
the great "equal opportunity planters" everywhere!
We love you!
Wanda from RI
P107 F6500 X781
RE: [LbNA] Doubling Those Southern Counts!
From: Kim Calcagno (hannahkat@cox.net) |
Date: 2005-02-28 18:43:56 UTC-05:00
~Sigh~
I just love hearing about the adventures of Wanda and Pete.
I hope your ankle is feeling better. I can totally relate as I managed to
twist my ankle two weeks ago before I had even gotten in the building on my
first day of work with Audubon Rhode Island (who actually have a formal
no-letterboxing/geocaching policy...don't worry, I will be trying to gently
convince them otherwise).
I really admire all you manage to fit in to all your trips, from community
volunteering, to helping friends to doing trail work etc. (I am also jealous
of all the critters you managed to see). Your generosity is a rare and
wonderful thing.
Hopefully Christopher and I will get out to box soon. We are a bit
embarrassed to say the winter weather leaves us rather reluctant to leave
the warm house. Christopher doesn't like x-country skiing or snowshoeing, so
we are a bit limited there. But I am working on a new mystery box, so that's
keeping me in the loop.
Anyway, stay well and hopefully we'll see you soon.
-Kim and Christopher
(Rustypuff and CSCM)
-----Original Message-----
From: wandaandpete [mailto:wandaandpete@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 12:54 PM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Doubling Those Southern Counts!
Recovering at last from a bout of the flu and a twisted ankle that swelled
up
like an orange a week or so ago, but is now mostly just a painful patch of
purple, I'm finally getting a chance to write up my long overdue Southern
trip
report. Originally Pete and I had planned to just fly down to Florida for a
5-day
cruise to the Bahamas at the end of January, but then I decided I might as
well
drive down and stay awhile to visit friends, letterbox, folkdance, attend a
gathering or two, and do hurricane relief work in the Punta Gorda area with
a
team from our church in RI. So, that's just what I did, and it turned out
to be
quite a good month, with over 300 new letterboxes found along the way, and
with some of my personal state counts getting doubled (VA,MD), quadrupled
(FL), or even sextupled (NC,SC)!!! (The inside joke here being that my GA
count also doubled - from 1 to 2, but -hey- there just aren't that many
boxes
along the I-95 corridor in Georgia, so that's all I could do without going
too far
out of my way! Don't worry, though - I definitely hope to make another foray
down to the more boxious parts of some of those states sometime soon, so
we'll just have to wait and see what happens then!)
Anyway, I'd have to say that we were pretty pleased overall with the quality
and quantity of boxes we found this trip. There were many more boxes than
when Pete and I last drove down that way a couple of years ago, so we
obviously didn't have time for them all, but we tried to do a fair sampling
of
both older and newer planters, Our favorite boxes, naturally, were those
like
"Myakka River Critters" and "Bitter Orange Cracker Shack" in the larger
preserves. We even managed to plant a couple of boxes ourselves, with
stamps by Scarab of VA ("Nosey Bee") and RTRW of CT ("Boardwalk
Beebop"), in parks where we saw whole families of wild boar, armadillos, and
baby alligators! I also enjoyed watching the manatees, letterboxing with
Irene,
folkdancing with Ralika, Annie, Andy, and the "Gotta Dancers", painting
John's formerly devastated house sea turtle green, and attending DebBee's
Fabulous Florida Flamingo Fiesta, which kept its theme all the way through
to
the flamingo-shaped cookies and other things that went so well with those
flamingo lawn ornaments! A big "thank-you" to everyone involved, and
especially also to the Doubtful Guests for their hospitality, for taking me
on
"drive-bys" in MD after I'd fallen and twisted my ankle in VA following a
long
day of letterboxing in Richmond, and for the impromptu little "Bee
Gathering"
that really lifted my spirits! I think everyone would be amazed at how many
boxes I still managed to hobble to on my way home in the rain even with my
leg taped up, but I just kept going until a nasty flu finally did me in just
as I was
getting back to RI! I spent several days in bed, then Pete took me to the
Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, NY over the past weekend, and now he's
sick, too! Oh, well... hope we all feel better soon, so we can get in a bit
more
skiing and winter 'boxing before the season's over!
At least now after visiting the Southern states, I can feel that I have a
little
leeway before all those CT boxes once again try to gobble up almost half of
my total F-count, as they seem to have been trying to do for almost my
entire
letterboxing history! When I saw my CT state count creeping up to 3000 found
boxes late last year, all I could think was that I'd have to start 'boxing
more
systematically in other states just to keep CT at "half bay", so that is
exactly
what I intend to do! (Unless, of course, I decide to leave letterboxing
completely behind for a while as I quietly slip off to hike the "King of
Trails"
again - and for those who don't know, that's not the AT or the PCT, but the
grand old Continental Divide!) Meanwhile, thanks again to all those folks
who,
instead of just keeping boxes in private circles, have at least in theory,
placed
boxes out there to share with everyone - and that even includes the
mapsurfer
boxes, 44 of which we got a long while back before "hitting the wall", but
at
least they're all supposedly still out there for anyone interested! Cheers
to all
the great "equal opportunity planters" everywhere!
We love you!
Wanda from RI
P107 F6500 X781
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
click here
oups/S=1705065786:HM/EXP=1109699648/A=2593423/R=0/SIG=11el9gslf/*http://www.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I just love hearing about the adventures of Wanda and Pete.
I hope your ankle is feeling better. I can totally relate as I managed to
twist my ankle two weeks ago before I had even gotten in the building on my
first day of work with Audubon Rhode Island (who actually have a formal
no-letterboxing/geocaching policy...don't worry, I will be trying to gently
convince them otherwise).
I really admire all you manage to fit in to all your trips, from community
volunteering, to helping friends to doing trail work etc. (I am also jealous
of all the critters you managed to see). Your generosity is a rare and
wonderful thing.
Hopefully Christopher and I will get out to box soon. We are a bit
embarrassed to say the winter weather leaves us rather reluctant to leave
the warm house. Christopher doesn't like x-country skiing or snowshoeing, so
we are a bit limited there. But I am working on a new mystery box, so that's
keeping me in the loop.
Anyway, stay well and hopefully we'll see you soon.
-Kim and Christopher
(Rustypuff and CSCM)
-----Original Message-----
From: wandaandpete [mailto:wandaandpete@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 12:54 PM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Doubling Those Southern Counts!
Recovering at last from a bout of the flu and a twisted ankle that swelled
up
like an orange a week or so ago, but is now mostly just a painful patch of
purple, I'm finally getting a chance to write up my long overdue Southern
trip
report. Originally Pete and I had planned to just fly down to Florida for a
5-day
cruise to the Bahamas at the end of January, but then I decided I might as
well
drive down and stay awhile to visit friends, letterbox, folkdance, attend a
gathering or two, and do hurricane relief work in the Punta Gorda area with
a
team from our church in RI. So, that's just what I did, and it turned out
to be
quite a good month, with over 300 new letterboxes found along the way, and
with some of my personal state counts getting doubled (VA,MD), quadrupled
(FL), or even sextupled (NC,SC)!!! (The inside joke here being that my GA
count also doubled - from 1 to 2, but -hey- there just aren't that many
boxes
along the I-95 corridor in Georgia, so that's all I could do without going
too far
out of my way! Don't worry, though - I definitely hope to make another foray
down to the more boxious parts of some of those states sometime soon, so
we'll just have to wait and see what happens then!)
Anyway, I'd have to say that we were pretty pleased overall with the quality
and quantity of boxes we found this trip. There were many more boxes than
when Pete and I last drove down that way a couple of years ago, so we
obviously didn't have time for them all, but we tried to do a fair sampling
of
both older and newer planters, Our favorite boxes, naturally, were those
like
"Myakka River Critters" and "Bitter Orange Cracker Shack" in the larger
preserves. We even managed to plant a couple of boxes ourselves, with
stamps by Scarab of VA ("Nosey Bee") and RTRW of CT ("Boardwalk
Beebop"), in parks where we saw whole families of wild boar, armadillos, and
baby alligators! I also enjoyed watching the manatees, letterboxing with
Irene,
folkdancing with Ralika, Annie, Andy, and the "Gotta Dancers", painting
John's formerly devastated house sea turtle green, and attending DebBee's
Fabulous Florida Flamingo Fiesta, which kept its theme all the way through
to
the flamingo-shaped cookies and other things that went so well with those
flamingo lawn ornaments! A big "thank-you" to everyone involved, and
especially also to the Doubtful Guests for their hospitality, for taking me
on
"drive-bys" in MD after I'd fallen and twisted my ankle in VA following a
long
day of letterboxing in Richmond, and for the impromptu little "Bee
Gathering"
that really lifted my spirits! I think everyone would be amazed at how many
boxes I still managed to hobble to on my way home in the rain even with my
leg taped up, but I just kept going until a nasty flu finally did me in just
as I was
getting back to RI! I spent several days in bed, then Pete took me to the
Dance Flurry in Saratoga Springs, NY over the past weekend, and now he's
sick, too! Oh, well... hope we all feel better soon, so we can get in a bit
more
skiing and winter 'boxing before the season's over!
At least now after visiting the Southern states, I can feel that I have a
little
leeway before all those CT boxes once again try to gobble up almost half of
my total F-count, as they seem to have been trying to do for almost my
entire
letterboxing history! When I saw my CT state count creeping up to 3000 found
boxes late last year, all I could think was that I'd have to start 'boxing
more
systematically in other states just to keep CT at "half bay", so that is
exactly
what I intend to do! (Unless, of course, I decide to leave letterboxing
completely behind for a while as I quietly slip off to hike the "King of
Trails"
again - and for those who don't know, that's not the AT or the PCT, but the
grand old Continental Divide!) Meanwhile, thanks again to all those folks
who,
instead of just keeping boxes in private circles, have at least in theory,
placed
boxes out there to share with everyone - and that even includes the
mapsurfer
boxes, 44 of which we got a long while back before "hitting the wall", but
at
least they're all supposedly still out there for anyone interested! Cheers
to all
the great "equal opportunity planters" everywhere!
We love you!
Wanda from RI
P107 F6500 X781
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
click here
netflix.com/Default?mqso=60190075>
_____
Yahoo! Groups Links
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letterbox-usa/
* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
* Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]