Whales Tails - Thread - Letterboxing USA Archive

[LbNA] Whales Tails

From: Tom Cooch (tcooch@mail.sover.net) | Date: 1999-07-06 10:28:48 UTC

What ho, maties!

I just got back from placing a box a few miles down the road in
Randolph. The Whales Tails letterbox can be accessed either through
our system of maps or directly at

http://www.sover.net/~tcooch/randolph.htm#whales

I hope to have a photograph of the sculpture on the page soon. It has
become the symbol for the town over the past decade.

Besides the nautical nature of the clues (which are basically easy),
the interesting feature of the box for me is that it is plugged.
There was some discussion of this method of hiding a box a few months
back on our list, but I am not sure if any NA box has actually been
plugged prior to this one.

The hiding location was in tall unmowed grass. I trimmed the grass
down to about two inches over a circle of about one foot in diameter.
Then I cut out a circle of sod of almost the same size with a trowel,
lifted out the plug (about 3 inches in thickness), and dug a
letterbox-sized hole in the exposed dirt.

Rocks were a minor problem. Those right under the plug were small
enough that I could pry them out. But I had to make the whole a
little shallower (and hence wider) because of a larger rock deeper
down.

I had been focused on making a plug that would support a person
standing on it. This does not seem to be a problem at all. I would
make the plug smaller next time. In any case, the odds of a person's
accidentally walking on this spot are very small. When done, I
brushed some of the surrounding tall grass inward over the spot.

I think the clues are easy enough (only one advance to make from the
starting spot) that most people will end up right on the plug.
However, I also found a means of marking the plug which will make its
location quite clear to anyone within 3 or 4 feet of it.

Hope it gets some visitors.

Tom Cooch
P6F10

aka The Orient Express
Braintree, VT

"The game is afoot!"

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[LbNA] Re: Whales Tails

From: Tom Cooch (tcooch@mail.sover.net) | Date: 1999-07-06 13:32:13 UTC

Wendy wrote ...

> I Love your clues. They really paint a beautiful and adventurous picture in
> my mind. I can almost feel a little salt spray on my face.
>

Thanks, Wendy. I'm only an armchair mariner - years of reading
Patrick O'Brian - and I'm still not certain I've got it right, with
the points off such and such bow. Any reallife mariners who want to
call me a grass-combing sod clearly have license to do so!

Tom Cooch
P6F10

aka The Orient Express
Braintree, VT

"The game is afoot!"

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[LbNA] Re: Whales Tails

From: Tom Cooch (tcooch@mail.sover.net) | Date: 1999-07-06 13:36:28 UTC

Thanks, Erik. And as soon as you get those waterall boxes in, David
and I will be up Bristol way for a search and a splash!

We're all off on the 17th for a week in the Adirondacks - have rented
a cottage on Paradox Lake, just 9 miles west of Ticonderoga. So I'm
hoping to visit all three of the forts nearby, and get at least one
box placed.

Best,

Tom

> Tom:
> Nice work, ditto for the Cadillat Mtn letterbox!
> I'll try to take the family on a search soon!
> Erik
>
>
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Tom Cooch
P6F10

aka The Orient Express
Braintree, VT

"The game is afoot!"

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[LbNA] Re: Whales Tails

From: Wendy Gault (wendygault@earthlink.net) | Date: 1999-07-06 09:22:59 UTC-07:00

I Love your clues. They really paint a beautiful and adventurous picture in
my mind. I can almost feel a little salt spray on my face.

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[LbNA] Re: Whales Tails

From: erik/susan davis (davisarc@wcvt.com) | Date: 1999-07-06 12:14:44 UTC-07:00

Tom:
Nice work, ditto for the Cadillat Mtn letterbox!
I'll try to take the family on a search soon!
Erik

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[LbNA] Re: Whales Tails

From: E. Bourne (edbees@rcn.com) | Date: 1999-07-06 20:17:22 UTC-04:00

That's it Tom, now I HAVE to make it back up to VT!

>What ho, maties!

Very clever idea for hiding a box, let us know how it holds up. Do you need
to keep re-cutting the sod so it doesn't root over the box?

Ed

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[LbNA] Whales Tails

From: Tom Cooch (tcooch@mail.sover.net) | Date: 1999-08-03 18:21:21 UTC

About two weeks ago, the Whales Tails sculpture was sold and moved
from Randolph to South Burlington, Vermont. I took the clues page
down.

Yesterday I was able to transplant the box, modifying the clues
slightly to match the new locale. You may access the page at

http://www.sover.net/~tcooch/whales.htm

or through our letterboxing.org map page.

The box is still plugged. The soil is so dry now, with the east coast
drought, that I am a little afraid for the integrity of the plug.
Probably it will be fine once we get a little rain - unless a _whole
lot_ of people find the box before then :-}

The new site at Technology Park is not so attractive as the previous
site in Randolph, though it has yet to be landscaped. The sculpture
is closer now to the interstate, however, and is being seen by a lot
more people!

Tom Cooch
P9F11

aka The Orient Express
Braintree, VT

"The game is afoot!"

[LbNA] Re: Whales Tails

From: erik/susan davis (davisarc@wcvt.com) | Date: 1999-08-04 12:24:57 UTC-07:00

Tom:
I am impressed that you were able to have the Whales Tails letter follow
the pod so closely! Nice going!

We'll attempt it soon!

Erik