My Fellow Letterboxers,

I arrived at Kickapoo State Park on a chilly March afternoon. In 1939 this was nothing but ugly, strip-mined land for the past 90 years. Today it is one of the state's most popular, not to mention interesting, state parks. You can hike, fish, ski, and scuba dive here. I highly recommend the Out & Back.

April 7th found me in The Windy City, U.S. Cellular Field to be exact. Home opener day for the Chicago White Sox against their division rival Minnesota Twins. Excitement built during the third inning when the White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, was ejected from the game. Umpires don't like being argued with. To Guillen's credit, this made the 13th time he had been ejected from a game. White Sox won the game, 7-4, thanks to a seventh inning grand slam from Joe Crede. Treating myself to an after game celebration, I dined at the Les Nomades. I could have bought a McDonalds for what I paid for that meal.

Olney is proud town; proud of their white squirrels. So proud that they have city ordinances making it illegal to hunt, shoot, pursue, lure, kill, destroy, capture, spear, trap, harass, attempt to harass, or kidnap any of the squirrels. Well, I went on down to Olney to check out the monument honoring these white squirrels. What I found was the Olney police were proud; proud they had arrested Dragonrider for harassing the squirrels. Now the story, as I heard it, was that Dragonrider was trying to get the squirrels to show him where the letterboxes were hidden. Figured if a squirrel could find them, so could he. I must add that neither the police nor the squirrels were impressed with his manners that day. By the way, Dragonrider, you still owe me that bail money.

You have not danced until you have polkaed. You don't know polka until you know Danny Krausz, Polka King of Southern Illinois. I have danced, and I know Danny. Heard he was playing in Riverton so I put on my dancing shoes and headed in that direction. German beer, German polka, and German women were on the agenda. The night lived up to its expectation, good music, fine dancing, and lovely women. As they say, "Polka people are happy people." But, I did not come here to talk about scuba diving, umpires, squirrels or polka; I came to talk letterboxing.

There are enough Letterboxes in Illinois to keep you going for a while, around 550 - unless you are looking for mysteries, around 45. A fair number, but not nearly enough. Illinois, keep up the good work in the planting. Better find those letterboxes while they are still there; seems the cheap containers are taking over. Use a good sturdy container, such as lock n lock, and you can't go wrong. Camo is another good idea, tape or paint. As always, when hiking, be aware of your environment. Use a stick to poke around in holes before placing your hand. There are four poisonous snakes in Illinois: the Copperhead, the Water Moccasin, the Timber Rattlesnake, and the Swamp Rattler. Although they are rare, it is still wise to play it safe.

Sincerely,

Investigator Francis Bacon