The Moment of Truth

I knew this day was coming. It had to eventually. A few months ago I started dating someone and of course, the topic of letterboxing came up from time to time in conversations. As in:

"I will be out of town this weekend at a letterboxing event in South Carolina"
or

"I can't come over Friday, I will be at a letterboxing beer drinking gathering"
or

"Yes, I really have taken trips this year to/through (in order) South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, South Carolina (again), North Carolina (again), Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee, Tennessee (again), Kentucky, Ohio (again), Virginia (again, though I already had found that box) and South Carolina (#3) to go letterboxing"

I tried to explain the hobby, showed her my logbook and stamp and even printed out clues to a couple boxes just across the road from where she lived but like most people, she just did not completely grasp it. The problem was, I could not easily "show her" since Artemis and I were signed up for events in Georgia, Ohio, Georgia and South Carolina over a five weekend span which just happened to coincide with when I started trying to explain all of this to her. Finally after this travel stretch, Artemis and I had a partial day trip planned with hawkeye and J-dog to go to the north Georgia mountains and get a couple boxes (including one in a corn maze) so I decided to bite the bullet and invited her to come along and see what it was all about. And she thought it sounded like fun so said she would come along.

That is GREAT!!! I thought, but then I realized she had no stamp and I simply could not drag her along "unprepared". We had already talked about the need for her to come up with a trail name and signature stamp so I knew what sort of image she wanted even if she had not decided on the name yet. OK, but I don't carve!!! Actually, I think I can carve but I am useless at getting images onto carving media. I have tried every method I have ever heard of and cannot get any sort of useful, consistent results. ie, I can get consistent BAD ones, but not ones I can use. So I did what usually do; I recruited Oread to help me get an image ready.

I told Oread what I wanted and we spent a few hours looking at pictures to see what to use. Eventually I settled on one that, while not my first choice, was within my skill level to complete before my deadline. What I mean is, there was a REALLY awesome image that I liked a lot better and think I could have done if I had a few weeks of dedicated carving time. But this was Tuesday and I had to be done by Friday night...

So fast forward a couple days. Yes, I got the stamp done in time and it turned out pretty good actually. I think I like it better than mine. Let me introduce you all to Chimega.

But remember, this was also me planning a day trip for four regular boxers and someone new. So of course I decided not to revamp the entire plan with this last minute addition to "be nice" and instead figured I might as well throw her into the deep end and see how she responded. What I mean is no driveby boxes to break her in; we started with Cabin at the Lake, a 4.5 hike in the mountains that had never been found before in the year and a half since it was planted.

I will not bore you with all the details but will say that it was a fabulous fall day to be hiking in the mountains. It was 50-something and sunny. We all were walking and talking as we climbed and climbed (and my favorite comment: at some point she said she needs to start doing inclined running at the gym, not just flat, since this was much harder than it should be for someone who runs a couple times a week). I was carrying my camera and big zoom lens in hopes of spotting black bears (which I always hope to get pictures of while in the mountains but never have yet). When we got close to "the spot", we handed Chimega the clues and waited. With a little help to get her facing the right direction (it required a compass reading since the non-boxer did not see the obvious tree), she got it and was (along with the rest of us) First Finder.



There is also an overlook trail at the box so we walked on up to see since while we were stamping, a few people came down from there and said it was worth the view. I agree, it was not too bad:



On the hike down we found a really thick grapevine on a tree and both J-dog and I climbed up the hill and did flying Tarzan swings out over the side of the hill. At the furthest point out we were probably 50-60 feet off the ground (sorry, no pictures, I was too busy playing). And it was hard to not hit the tree on the way back.

Once at the bottom, literally almost out of the woods and within sight of cars, a lady caught up with us from behind and asked us if we had seen the bears. From her description, it seems they were within sight of the box, near the overlook trail, about 10-15 minutes after we were there. DAMMIT!!! Maybe next time...

Year 3

Finds By State:

Finds By Month and Running Average:

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Lifetime Finds By State:

Lifetime Finds By Month:

Lifetime Finds By Season:

You Can't Script Stuff This Good

Introduction:
The MAIN CAST consists of ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP and her son JOHNNY QUEST (age 9), EIDOLON, HAWKEYE and her daughter JDOG (age 10), ISABEAU and her sons GIMLI (age 12) and LEGOLAS (age 9), all of whom are here to join JDOG on her quest to find her 1000th letterbox. She is three away at the start of this saga and there are five on the 'to do' list. Both ARTEMIS and HAWKEYE have already done this series so are just along for the social aspect of the evening. This is the tale of what happened that night. Some parts may seem far fetched and even downright unbelievable but this really is an extrememly accurate retelling of what befell them that night. Some of the dialog details have been skipped, generalized, reassigned or rearranged as needed (to fit the writer's whim's and memory) but the spirit of the tale is a true one in spite of these minor inconsistencies. Also, even though it is a tale about JDOG, it is told from the perspective of EIDOLON since he is the author and can only tell what he remembers hearing and experiencing.

..........ACT I..........

Scene I
Stone Mountain Park, 9:15pm Friday: It is just after dark on a sticky, muggy, summer night. The scene begins with the MAIN CAST milling about in the parking lot, preparing to do some night letterboxing. They are getting packs out of vehicles and moving out of the lot, across the road and onto a dirt access road.

HAWKEYE: Is everyone ready?

ISABEAU: Sure, let's go.

EIDOLON: Does anyone have the clues?

BUTTERCUP: Yes, I have mine right here.

EIDOLON: OK, just checking since I did not dig mine out from the bag yet.

[MAIN CAST follows HAWKEYE across the road, and onto the access road]

GIMLI: Car.

ISABEAU: What?

GIMLI: There is a car coming. [Moves off the access road]

ARTEMIS: There really is a car coming. [Moves off the access road]

[Others move off the access road and wait for the vehicle to pass]

HAWKEYE: [Whispering] That is a police truck. What do we do?

EIDOLON: We keep going. It is not like she didn't see us yet never told us we had to stop.

HAWKEYE: But the truck headlights are pointing right where we need to go.

BUTTERCUP: Let's at least walk on up.

JDOG: I don't want to go to jail.

JOHNNY QUEST: Me either.

BUTTERCUP: No one is going to jail.

[MAIN CAST continue walking along the access road towards the police truck]

Scene II
9:30pm: The police truck is parked at the end of the access road where it meets the railroad tracks. Its headlights are shining to the right, along the side of the railroad tracks. The scene begins with the MAIN CAST standing next to the truck and the POLICEWOMAN leaning out the window.

POLICEWOMAN: How are you all doing tonight? We don't usually have folks back here after dark.

ARTEMIS: We are taking the kids on a nature walk. We already found a cockroach and some spiders. Are you back here looking for something?

POLICEWOMAN: We had a fire earlier; lightning struck a pine tree today so we just keep checking the area to make sure it doesn't flare back up.

HAWKEYE: Is it OK if we still walk along the tracks?

POLICEWOMAN: Sure. I’ll radio ahead to let the other officer up that direction know you are coming so he doesn't run over you or anything.

[MAIN CAST start walking down the railroad tracks to the right, in the path of the headlights]

Scene III
9:35pm: The MAIN CAST has arrived at the second police car. The scene begins with the MAIN CAST standing on the railroad tracks next to a police car driven by a POLICEMAN. His car window is rolled up.

HAWKEYE: [Whispering] His headlights are shining right where we need to go. Look, you can see the fire tacks on that tree. There is no way we can do this while he is sitting here.

POLICEMAN: [Rolls car window down] You know you shouldn't be back here walking on the tracks after dark don’t you?

EIDOLON: Really? The lady up there said it was OK.

POLICEMAN: [Sighs] No, I did not know she said that. Hold on, let me call my CAPTAIN.

[MAIN CAST waits while POLICEMAN is talking on the phone]

JDOG: Are we going to jail?

JOHNNY QUEST: I hope not.

BUTTERCUP: All they can do is tell us to leave.

GIMLI: He can’t take us to jail, we won’t all fit in his car.

POLICEMAN: OK, who is the Head Honcho?

ARTEMIS: [Looks around] I guess I'll be the Head Honcho.

POLICEMAN: My CAPTAIN wants to talk to you.

[ARTEMIS and the CAPTAIN converse on the phone for a few minutes, during this time...]

JDOG: He is going to take us to jail.

HAWKEYE: No, he is not.

LEGOLAS: I can't believe we are going to jail.

BUTTERCUP: No one is going to jail.

GIMLI: When you are in jail, you have to use the toilet in the middle of the room where everyone can see you.

JOHNNY QUEST: Really? I hope they keep the boys and girls separate then.

ISABEAU: How do you know so much about jail?

GIMLI: I saw it on TV.

[ARTEMIS finishes talking and hands the phone back to POLICEMAN]

ARTEMIS: He said we have to go.

HAWKEYE: What?

ARTEMIS: He said walking on the tracks at night was a liability issue and that we should only be on "real" trails. He offered more than once to drive over and bring us a map of the Cherokee Trail if we needed it.

POLICEMAN: OK, you folks take care then. Watch your toes as I back out of here.

[MAIN CAST waits while POLICEMAN backs his car out along to tracks and heads down the access road in the distance]

HAWKEYE: So what do we do now?

BUTTERCUP: Well, we walk back out. If nothing else, he will be waiting for us right now.

ARTEMIS: Yes, and if we were told we have to leave, we probably should head back out to the main road.

[MAIN CAST starts walking back along the tracks the way they came in]

Scene IV
9:45pm: The MAIN CAST has returned to the sidewalk at the end of the access road. The scene begins with the MAIN CAST standing on the sidewalk next to the access road.

ISABEAU: So, what do we do now?

BUTTERCUP: I think we go back, he just left so we have a little time before he returns if he is coming back.

ARTEMIS: True, but if we have already been officially told we can't be back there, do we want to?

EIDOLON: JDOG still needs 3 boxes and there are none near here that she has not already found.

HAWKEYE: We could park at the other end and walk the clues backwards.

BUTTERCUP: Let's do that then. If we move the cars from here it won't be as obvious hopefully.

[MAIN CAST returns to the parking lot get back into their vehicles]

..........ACT II..........

Scene I
10:30pm: After all vehicles were relocated to the second parking lot, the MAIN CAST was travelling in the wrong direction along the railroad tracks to search for the boxes. They found boxes #4 and #1, not realizing they had missed #2 and #3 until they arrived at #1. The scene begins with the MAIN CAST standing on the railroad tracks back where the POLICEMAN had his car parked earlier.

BUTTERCUP: So from here, since we are parked the other way, should we go ahead and get the bonus box?

ARTEMIS: Yes, we are really close to it so I don't see any point in coming back down here again, especially since this access road seems to be the only way for the police to get back here.

HAWKEYE: You guys go ahead and get it then, I will stay at the corner and watch for anyone coming back down the road.

EIDOLON: OK, sounds good. From now on, everyone keep your fingers on the flashlight switches and when someone says 'turn them off', do it immediately. I suspect with so many of us, we can be seen from the road and we know they are looking over this direction to make sure the fire has not flared back up.

[MAIN CAST continue walking down the tracks, back towards where the POLICEWOMAN was parked earlier]

Scene II
10:40pm: The MAIN CAST has walked back to where the access road meets the railroad tracks and continued on along the tracks. HAWKEYE stayed behind to serve as the lookout. The scene begins with ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, EIDOLON, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS walking along the railroad tracks.

BUTTERCUP: So, what are we looking for? I never read the clues in the logbook.

ISABEAU: I did not either.

BUTTERCUP: Since we have been following HAWKEYE until now, I guess ARTEMIS will have to lead us since she is the only one who has been here before.

ARTEMIS: But when I was here a few weeks ago, I did not pay attention, I just followed the rest of the group.

EIDOLON: There is a reflector on a tree, let's look over there.

[EIDOLON scrambles up a small rock embankment shining his flashlight left and right then takes a few steps to a large rock]

EIDOLON: I found it.

[ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS sit on tracks and start preparing to stamp in while EIDOLON comes back down with the box]

GIMLI: Can I open it?

EIDOLON: This is JDOG's 1000th find, we should let her do it.

BUTTERCUP: Why did we not have HAWKEYE come since this find is the point of being here tonight and it is her daughter?

ISABEAU: Yeah, that is funny that she isn't here.

BUTTERCUP: Well, I have my camera but the picture may not turn out with it being so dark back here.

[ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, EIDOLON, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS sit on the tracks and begin preparing to stamp. JDOG has already stamped into the logbook and is preparing to write a note; ISABEAU has her stamp pad open and is inking GIMLI's stamp; LEGOLAS is unwrapping the box stamp; EIDOLON is the furthest away and has his logbook opened and is waiting his turn]

HAWKEYE: [Barely audible, unseen] Get in the woods!!!

[No reaction from ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, EIDOLON, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS]

HAWKEYE: [Barely audible, again unseen, but closer] Get in the woods!!!

EIDOLON: Lights off, everyone into the woods now!

[ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, EIDOLON, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS quickly scramble, throwing stamps, pads and markers into bags, clutching logbooks and backpacks in their arms and heading towards the woods]

GIMLI: Which way?

JDOG: I don't want to go to jail.

LEGOLAS: I don't either.

BUTTERCUP: Come on, this way.

LEGOLAS: Mom?

ISABEAU: Just follow BUTTERCUP and keep the light off.

JOHNNY QUEST: I hope we don't go to jail.

ARTEMIS: Come on kids, get moving.

[Exit BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, JOHNNY QUEST, and LEGOLAS as BUTTERCUP leads them through the woods and towards a distant street light on the road. Exit ARTEMIS and JDOG who follow BUTTERCUP but pause so JDOG, running bent over at the waist clutching the things in her arms, can regroup for a moment to keep from dropping what she is carrying. EIDOLON and ISABEAU wait in the woods, near the tracks. The vehicle headlights can be seen turning off the road and onto the tracks but facing the opposite direction]

ISABEAU: So what are we going to do? We can't go back to the tracks since the vehicle is still there.

EIDOLON: I assume someone has the box?

ISABEAU: I do, or at least part of it. I threw the bottom half into my bag along with all my stuff but I don't think I have the lid or logbook.

EIDOLON: Well, if you have the stamp, then let's stamp it. JDOG still needs to stamp this one for #1000 so if we have to, we will just bring it back tomorrow. I doubt anyone will be looking for it tonight other than us anyway. I think everyone else already headed down towards that street light where there are some benches so let's get down there and figure out what we have.

ISABEAU: What about HAWKEYE?

EIDOLON: I just heard her on the tracks, she will be here in a second. Go ahead, I will wait for her.

[Exit ISABEAU]

[Enter HAWKEYE]

HAWKEYE: It was the police truck again, I started running as soon as it turned onto the road and while trying to run through the woods, ran into a chain link fence that I could not get around. I was not even sure if you guys had heard me yelling but I couldn't yell any louder since she would have heard me.

EIDOLON: I think I was the only one and I barely heard you but luckily we got the message.

HAWKEYE: So where is everyone else?

EIDOLON: They went on down to the road to see about stamping in since we had the box already. JDOG still needed this one. By the way, you seem to have volunteered to not be here for her 1000th find accidentally.

HAWKEYE: Yeah, I realized that after you all left.

EIDOLON: Well let’s make sure nothing was left behind before heading down since they were in a bit of a hurry.

[EIDOLON and HAWKEYE leave the cover of the woods and return to the tracks, HAWKEYE keeping an eye on the lights that are just around the corner while EIDOLON searches the tracks]

EIDOLON: Let’s see, I found a JDOG signature stamp, JDOG ink pad with no lid, JDOG stamp pouch, a box lid, a pink marker cap and a pink marker.

HAWKEYE: Anything else?

EIDOLON: That is all I see.

[EIDOLON and HAWKEYE follow the trail through the woods towards the street light and rejoin ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS]

Scene III
10:45pm: ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, ISABEAU, JDOG, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS are sitting on the benches under the street lights along the main road unpacking their bags again and taking inventory plus preparing to stamp in the box. The scene begins as EIDOLON and HAWKEYE walk out of the woods.

BUTTERCUP: What took you so long?

EIDOLON: We checked the tracks and found some things that were left behind. We found the box lid, JDOG’s stamp and pad and BUTTERCUP’s pink marker.

HAWKEYE: Is anything else missing?

ISABEAU: I have the box bottom and stamp.

ARTEMIS: I have the logbook.

JDOG: I broke ARTEMIS’ ink pen before writing ‘1000th Find’ into the logbook.

ISABEAU: I can’t find GIMLI’s axe stamp either. It was on my ink pad when I threw everything into the bag so it must have fallen off.

GIMLI: You don’t have my stamp?

EIDOLON: The police truck is sitting up on the tracks again. I figure we can stamp in down here and I will run back up to return the box when we are done. I can try looking for the stamp too I guess.

ISABEAU: It is not that big a deal, it was small and did not take him long to carve.

GIMLI: I can’t believe my stamp is missing.

[MAIN CAST begins stamping into the box. While doing so, they see the police truck drive back down from the access road]

EIDOLON: Since the truck left and we found all the parts, I will go ahead and take the box back up and look for the axe.

HAWKEYE: I’ll go up.

GIMLI: I want to go too and look for my stamp.

ISABEAU: No, you stay here, we are trying not to be seen.

[EIDOLON and HAWKEYE return to the woods to take the box back]

Scene IV
10:50pm: EIDOLON and HAWKEYE have returned to the railroad tracks to put the box back in its hiding spot. The scene opens with them walking out of the woods.

EIDOLON: Finding the axe will be harder since without all the parts on the tracks, it won't be obvious where we were sitting originally.

HAWKEYE: True, and I have no idea since I wasn’t even here.

EIDOLON: Well I know that the trail was at a slight right angle into the woods so maybe we will get lucky.

HAWKEYE: Don’t spend a lot of time looking for it.

EIDOLON: [Looking down at the railroad tracks] Well, I won’t have to since I just found it. I have no idea how I did that.

HAWKEYE: Let’s go ahead and stamp him into the logbook since we have his stamp.

[EIDOLON and HAWKEYE sit back down on the railroad tracks and unpack the box to log GIMLI in a second time; the first was his thumbprint. They then rehide the box and return to the woods, heading back toward the streetlight]

Scene V
11:00pm: MAIN CAST is sitting on the benches under the street lights along the main road. The scene begins just after EIDOLON and HAWKEYE have returned from the woods.

HAWKEYE: We found the stamp.

ISABEAU: You are kidding, right?

EIDOLON: Nope, somehow that little tiny stamp caught my eye as we walked the tracks.

[HAWKEYE hands stamp back to ISABEAU]

EIDOLON: So, now that JDOG has her 1000th, which was the goal, and we had a little excitement are we done or not?

BUTTERCUP: Well, there are still two boxes up there we don’t have...

ARTEMIS: And BUTTERCUP is just as bad as EIDOLON about hating to leave boxes.

HAWKEYE: Plus the police truck just left so I think we can get down the tracks fast enough to get to the second one before they come back. They can’t drive any further than where the first box is hidden since that is where they stopped both times we have seen them.

EIDOLON: So I guess that means we are going back up then?

ISABEAU: Let’s go.

ARTEMIS: I can't believe I'm doing this for boxes I already have.

HAWKEYE: Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. I don't want to go to jail either.

[MAIN CAST gets up from the benches and once again heads towards the access road]

..........ACT III..........

Scene I
11:15pm: The MAIN CAST has returned to the railroad tracks, already found and stamped into box #2 and just finished up with box #3. The scene begins immediately after the box has been replanted and the MAIN CAST has just started walking down the railroad tracks, heading for the cut through trail back to where the cars are parked. ARTEMIS and ISABEAU are at walking a short distance behind the rest of the procession.

JOHNNY QUEST: So is that all? Are we done?

BUTTERCUP: Yes, that was the last one, though it sure took longer than expected to get five boxes.

ISABEAU: RUN!!!

LEGOLAS: What?

ARTEMIS: There is a car coming up behind, and it is driving up the tracks!!!

GIMLI: We really are going to jail this time.

[Headlights appear and the sound of an engine can be heard from behind]

EIDOLON: Get into the woods but stop moving, they will see and hear us if they keep coming on around the corner.

[ARTEMIS, BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, HAWKEYE, ISABEAU, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS run off the railroad tracks to the right. JDOG runs off the railroad tracks to the left. ARTEMIS and ISABEAU stop in the grass beside the tracks. Exit BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, HAWKEYE, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS as BUTTERCUP leads them further into the woods. EIDOLON delays in the middle of the tracks briefly, watching the headlights, then starts towards ARTEMIS and ISABEAU.]

ARTEMIS: JDOG went the wrong way. She is on the other side.

ISABEAU: Where is LEGOLAS?

EIDOLON: Did he go with JDOG?

ARTEMIS: I don’t know, I just know she went that way.

[Headlights are getting brighter and the engine is getting louder]

JDOG: [With panic in voice] EIDOLON, help me.

EIDOLON: [To ARTEMIS and ISABEAU] Get back, I will either get them across or stay with them.

ISABEAU: I am not leaving LEGOLAS.

ARTEMIS: You are not leaving him. EIDOLON will be with him and we will wait right here at the edge of the woods.

[EIDOLON returns to the middle of the tracks, the headlight are almost to the corner, which is about 100 feet away]

EIDOLON: All right JDOG and LEGOLAS, you have to come now, the car will be here any second. Run across the tracks and keep going into the woods.

[JDOG streaks up the hill, crosses the tracks and goes to where ARTEMIS and ISABEAU are still standing. Exit ARTEMIS, ISABEAU and JDOG into the thicker woods]

EIDOLON: [Running on across the tracks, looking and listening for any movement] LEGOLAS, are you here? Tell me now because we have to go.

[Waits a couple of seconds but gets no response]

EIDOLON: If you are here, do not move or make any noise until I come back. I have to get out of sight.

[EIDOLON runs back across the tracks and into the woods]

Scene II
11:20pm: The MAIN CAST is spread out into two small groups behind a slight hill that is 30 feet off the railroad tracks and less than 100 feet from the curve in the railroad tracks that the headlight have been nearing. BUTTERCUP, GIMLI, JOHNNY QUEST and LEGOLAS are sitting down at the base of the hill in a small valley. ARTEMIS, EIDOLON, HAWKEYE, ISABEAU and JDOG are crouched down near the top of the first hill, approximately 30 feet away from the others. No one in the ISABEAU group actually knows where LEGOLAS has gone. The scene begins as the truck is almost visible.

ISABEAU: Where is LEGOLAS? We can’t leave him.

HAWKEYE: JDOG, was LEGOLAS with you on the other side of the railroad tracks?

JDOG: I don’t think so but I really hurt my leg.

EIDOLON: I saw no sign of him up there. He has to be down here.

ARTEMIS: [Whispering loudly down the hill] BUTTERCUP, is LEGOLAS down there?

BUTTERCUP: [Whispering] Yes, all three boys are here.

ARTEMIS: [Whispering] Did you hear that ISABEAU? LEGOLAS is down there with BUTTERCUP.

[Headlights round the corner and the truck is within sight, spotlight shining into the woods in our general direction]

EIDOLON: [Whispering loudly] Get down, be quiet and don't move, the windows are open.

[ARTEMIS, HAWKEYE, ISABEAU and JDOG dive flat onto the ground. EIDOLON stays in a crouch to watch what is happening over the hilltop]

EIDOLON: [Whispering] The truck stopped and is shining the spotlight around. All we can do is wait it out and hope no one gets out and walks.

HAWKEYE: [Whispering] Can they see us?

EIDOLON: [Whispering] I don’t think so. Oh and everyone please find your cell phones and make sure they don’t ring.

ARTEMIS: [Whispering] Good idea.

ISABEAU: [Whispering] Mine is already on vibrate.

[Five minutes pass while the truck keeps shining the light around the woods but for the most part at a target short of where the MAIN CAST is hiding. Eventually the truck turns around, with much effort, in the small area between the railroad tracks and the woods, and heads back the way it came]

EIDOLON: [Whispering] OK, the truck is leaving but stay still a little longer just in case someone got out.

[Another minute passes with no sign of movement]

EIDOLON: I think it is safe. Now we have to bushwhack though these woods back to the road without lights and make sure that truck does not drive on the road and see us coming out.

[MAIN CAST all get back to their feet]

Scene III
11:35pm: The MAIN CAST has gotten up from their hiding spots behind the hill and started to head for the main road. The scene begins standing on top of the hill that was the second half of the ‘valley’ where the BUTTERCUP group was hiding.

BUTTERCUP: Which way should we go?

EIDOLON: I would suggest left, away from that street light since we don’t want to be seen.

[EIDOLON starts down the hill, sliding and grabbing trees]

EIDOLON: Be careful, this is longer and slicker than it looks.

[MAIN CAST all walk or stumble down the hill, except ISABEAU who just sits down and slides to the bottom]

ISABEAU: I think I gave myself a poisonivy wedgie sliding down that hill.

[MAIN CAST continue further into the woods and are about halfway between the railroad tracks and streetlight. There is a big gulley in front of them]

BUTTERCUP: That looks even steeper than that last hill we came down.

EIDOLON: Yeah, I think I would rather risk being seen at the streetlight than to try and go down that hill in the dark.

[MAIN CAST changes course and start walking towards the streetlight, hoping a car will not come down the road]

Scene IV
11:40pm: The MAIN CAST has finally returned to the sidewalk along the main road. The scene begins with them walking back towards where the cars are parked.

EIDOLON: Heck, we actually still have twenty minutes before they will start running us out of here so we should be ok but just in case we meet up with any officers again, everyone remember that we just finished our nice night walk along the Orange Trail around the lake, since that is what the CAPTAIN suggested, and are heading back to our cars now.

ARTEMIS: And we tripped over lots of roots which is why we are all so dirty.

HAWKEYE: So JDOG, was this a memorable 1000th find?

JDOG: I can’t believe we almost went to jail three different times. And look at my knee. [Show very scraped and bloody knee under the streetlight]

HAWKEYE: How did you do that?

JDOG: When I ran off the railroad tracks, I fell in the gravel and slid down the little embankment. It really hurt.

LEGOLAS: I was sure we were going to jail.

GIMLI: Me too.

JOHNNY QUEST: That was fun and I thought we were going to be caught that last time.

BUTTERCUP: JOHNNY QUEST, let's not mention the multiple times hiding in the woods from the police to your father or he won't let us go letterboxing anymore.

EIDOLON: Well that just makes it all more memorable. It is not every outing you run from the cops and someone goes home all bloodied.

ISABEAU: I though it was funny that EIDOLON said “down” and no one even thought twice about it, we just dove into the dirt.

EIDOLON: I seem to be the only somewhat experienced delinquent here, which probably helped. Let’s just say it is not the first time I hid from cops, just the first time in a while.

[MAIN CAST continues walking along the sidewalk and arrives back where the cars are parked]

EIDOLON: We still have four minutes before the park officially closes. That means there is still have time to get exchanges with GIMLI and LEGOLAS since ARTEMIS and I don't have them...

Wilmington Hermits

From: Eidolon
Date: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 2:15 PM
To: Pinky
Subject: Wilmington Part 1

I promised you a little bit of a recap but never got around to it last night since I decided I should probably sleep at some point. The day started by leaving Topsail Island at about 6:30 and heading south towards Wilmington. Along the way I stopped for box planted by a "George Washington Slept Here" tree (ok, that was not really it, but something about GW) but could not find it. It did not strike me as something to go missing so I will probably check it again tomorrow on the way back down there. I then went on nature trail at a plantation back into the woods, circling a pond and I so wish you were there. Granted, I wanted you for your bug spray!!! They were irritating me, which is not normal. Plus it was muggy. There is nothing like walking along a swampish pond in 90+ degrees. From there I actually made a wrong turn (the crazy GPS lady did not know about a new route for the main road so I went the way she said) and had to improvise the order for the rest of the day. I came out ok and still got to almost everything I had planned to do, just in the wrong order. The next few were drive by boxes along the Cape Fear river, a Hot Dog store, a lake next to a power plant and one by the Battleship North Carolina. After that I went into downtown Wilmington. They have pay parking meters so I guess 1.5 hours for my hunting, then took off. Considering I was only trying for four boxes, that is a lot but I also like walking to did not see any point in park, box, move, park, box, move... Well I found 3/4 and probably missed the other one b/c someone else had it; there was another family in town Tuesday apparently who found that one. I may try for it once more on the next trip down tomorrow since I KNOW it is not really missing. I also tried to help some geocachers find a box where I was stamping but had no luck. I assume they really did the right coordinates so looked at the only places that made sense but had no luck. I then high-tailed it back across town and got to the car with 6 minutes left on the counter, so I thought that was a pretty good guess. For the next couple hours, I was at Lake Greenfield park, which has a few boxes and a big lake. However, I had general bad luck there. I don't know if it was just bad clues, bad reading or just me, but I did not find one, struggled to find two others and had to rent a paddlewheel boat to get the last one; it was attached to a cypress tree in the middle of the lake. That is my first true extreme box but I SSSOOO wish I had rented a canoe instead; after having already walked 6-8 miles in the morning, that about did my legs in... I then went to get 'The Scream' and thought it was very well done. I took a class on Austrian Expressionism when in college so Munch (though Norwegian) was one of the people we dealt with. The next place would have been REALLY cool had I been a month sooner; it is a plant trail that is all meat eaters!!! Apparently there are 5-6 types, including venus flytraps, that are all native to the swamps around here and they have a field you can walk through that is full of them. Unfortunately most of them do not do well in the heat so I only saw a couple of really little VFT, so little I almost did not see them. I finished up the day by walking a nice little nature trail in a park (though again missing one that I may try for again since I have to pass the park to get to where I am heading tomorrow) and a box at UNC-Wilmington; for some reason, I like campus boxes. I guess I just enjoy walking around the colleges and looking at stuff. One of my favorite boxes ever was basically a tour of Arizona State in Tempe. Anyway, all in all, I found 17/23 I searched for and three of those should actually be there if I try again. I am heading back out Thursday to look for the rest on my list plus will be squeezing in an exchange with Being Shielded since she learned I was in town when I logged some of her boxes and wanted to try meet up after work.

===============================================================

From: Eidolon
Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2007 3:25 AM
To: Pinky
Subject: Wilmington Part 2

Well, it is 3:30am Saturday morning and I seem to be wide awake and scratching my legs. It is not like I have a burn or anything so it is probably sand fleas or some other nasty critter since I had a swarm of something around my legs for a while when boxing the other day (I know, GREAT!!!) Anyway, since I can't seem to sleep, I figured I would write.

The second day of boxing in Wilmington was less ambitious, mainly because I was starting to feel a bit worn out from a week of lots of sun and little sleep. After stopping by that George Washington tree again quickly (and still finding nothing), I started out by going to a fancy restaurant. Yeah, sounds weird, but it is actually the start of a "nature trail" (their term, not mine) out of the parking lot and down to the intercoastal waterway. It was actually being used pretty heavily that morning so the locals seem to like it. From their I went over to Wrightsville Beach but just had no luck; there are a couple boxes there, one with vague clues and the other with somewhat normal ones but I had no luck with either. I hate days that start like that. From there I went to some pretty gardens and found a nice dragon stamp. I went back to a park from the first day that I forgot to cross the road and get the second box plus went back for another try and box 3 of a series I did not find originally and came up with both ::YAY:: That was followed up with another labeled nature trail (they have a lot of those here it seems) and a trip to the library. The library frustrated me; the clues seemed pretty obvious but I just was not finding it so, plus I was trying not to be conspicuous while looking. It is a tiny library, honestly about the size of your new apartment so not a lot of room to hide. I spent a lot more time there than I thought I would and did eventually find a magnetic box in a place my arm barely fit. We will come back to this box later. From there, I kept working south down the peninsula grabbing a couple in a small park, one fairly urban one, if you can call the beach urban, then did a couple with decent hikes. Well, they really were not long, just longer than I had been doing and in the heat of the day so they seemed long at least... One had clues like "walk down the path 65 paces, then go to the little cemetery and look at a few certain gravestones; then return to step 65 and take another 195 paces on down the road, then 10 paces to the right, then 45 paces to the right." I finally got there, actually counting the steps and my pace was right on with his actually, only to discover why I should read the clues... it said "from this point, take a compass heading that is the combined ages of those three gravestones I told you to look at"!!! I just guessed all were 50+ and got lucky finding the box. This is the box where all those bugs swarmed my legs that may be the cause of my being awake right now. From there I went to do what turned out to be a hot walk through the marsh, beach and salt flats but it was pretty. And again, more bugs, I need to start planning better for that. It was a walk by an old WWII bunker that some hermit had moved into during the 60's and lived there, surviving in the marsh, for something like 17 years. Finally, I drove to the end of the road. Literally. It was a state highway that ended at a parking lot by the water. I looked for a box here and found a geocache at the position instead. It had a crappy stamp inside so I still inked it up and logged it; later I learned the letterbox went "missing" right about the time the cache was placed. And considering that the letterbox was 7 feet of the ground, as was the geocache, it makes you wonder. It is just an interesting coincidence I am sure... By this point, it was getting late, maybe 3:00, and I had to make a decision of whether I was going to take the ferry across the water to get four boxes in the town on the other side or not. Luckily(?) Being Shielded called; we had planned to meet up about 5:30 for an exchange but she said she could do it earlier so that was my decision maker; I started working my way back north, as luck would have it back to Wrightsville Beach where I had such bad luck that morning. She gave me a couple of tips on the boxes there I had missed and I was able to find them both. One I will still take the blame for just screwing up but the other was so vague I felt like I was looking for a Stone Mountain picture box that only a local would know. The totals for the day were 15/19 including one box that is in both the found and attempt list as well as an exchange and a PT. Oh, and that box I told you I would come back to? That was a box of Being Shielded and she told me later when we met up that it was missing... she had planted a replacement OUTSIDE the library which I did not know about; LBNA had one set of clues and AQ the other and I had the "wrong" ones so the fact I found it at all was shocking, but also explains why I had so much trouble finding it.

Now I am preparing for the drive home. But with so little sleep I may end up cutting some boxes. In theory, I am going to do about 10 this morning, then drive home. No sleep, boxing in the morning and a long drive... Sounds similar to last Saturday don't you think? Anyway, I am going to try and doze a little bit since I have not scratched for a little while now, wish me luck.

Bane of My Existence

A Tisket, a Tasket

March 4, 2006:
Artemis and I attempted to find and had no luck.

March 11, 2006:
hawkeye, another very experienced boxer, also could not find it so we compared notes and agreed it must be missing.

June 17, 2006:
Someone with the trailname 'dededolphin' logged it on AQ as THEIR ONLY FIND, EVER!!! I chalked this up to them making a mistake and not selecting 'Attempted'.

August 30, 2006:
Granny and Paw Paw, two other very experienced boxers, also logged it as found. I could not assume they made an error so actually contacted them to make sure and see if I was missing anything obvious. They did find it and it was where the clues led, though they said it was still well hidden.

October 9, 2006:
The Good News Gang also found this box and after a couple of emails, I was sent a PICTURE of the box in the ground. The angle was not great but I at least had some references to look for while in the woods.

November 17, 2006, December 20, 2006, March 16, 2007:
I actually made some stops on the way home from work (I come that way about once a month) to take a look for this box but still struggled. Part of the problem is that the picture I was working with had some green briers in it and they are not green in winter so still had no luck.

February, 2007:
VictoriAnna has retired and put her boxes up for adoption. I went ahead and "officially" picked this one up even though I have sorta been taking (not) care of it for a while. And even though it is mine and I have still struggled to find it, I refuse to retire it since I know it has been found, in spite of my failed attempts.

April 14, 2007:
Scooters Mom was in the park looking for a different box and actually stopped by this one, checked its status (they had found it way back in 2004) and sent me more pictures. The perspective on these was broader than the previous pictures and I think I finally have a chance!!!

April 27, 2007:
I am at it again, armed with my new picture and I FOUND THE STUPID THING!!! It was EXACTLY where the clues said but just about the most natural looking hide I have ever seen. Had I not been holding the picture and trying to match it to trees, I still don't think I would have found it.

May 28, 2007:
I finally returned with my logbook and sig stamp to make it official. I hate this box. ::grin::

Mid Atlantic

Well, it has been a while since I have written one of these up, though have been on a few outing since the last trip report. Since Amyrica asked, I decided to throw something together. As usual, it was a trip of excessive boxing and much hiking, though I won't call it a "spring break" trip since it was more a "I had vacation I had to use before March or lose it" trip.

After a little deliberation, I decided I was going to go to DC. I had not been there for a long time (since middle school age when on that obligatory trip every class seems to make). Plus I like museums and the ones in DC have the right price as well as some interesting exhibits. Once I decided where I was going, I had to pick a driving route, which basically ended up being I-85 to I-95 to DC. Then the fun really started because this was a BOXING trip, meaning I had to look at every box starting in central NC, across the state and up the entire length of VA, as well as close MD boxes and all in DC. I have not had this much fun since the initial planning for Artemis and I's trip to New England last summer where my first round of edits, based strictly on the driving route, was about 2400 potential boxes. This time the list was much lower but a big part of that was because I pre-edited out some areas entirely since this trip would involve a lot more driving than the NE one. What I did instead was figure out where I was sleeping each night, plot it on the mapping program to get time estimates, then backwards plan the boxing days knowing I had only a certain number of hours per day to play with outside actual driving time. It all worked out to roughly be a two week trip (I had something like 4+ vacation days I _HAD_ to use but did not want to rush the trip so took extra). I was going to spend a few days driving/boxing my way north then a friend from England was going to fly into DC and play tourist for a while before driving back down to Atlanta with me and flying home from here.

Well by this time Artemis decided she was going too because she did not want me getting another 100+ boxes without her [she gets mad when I do that for some reason], so she planned to go on the first week of the trip, which was the heavy boxing part, then fly home when things slowed down (ie, once in DC).

I will try to fast forward through all the minute boxing details and just summarize, assuming I can stop being so wordy to do that. A lot of the boxes on the route were older ones or not found for a while with logged attempts so the status was iffy, not that I have ever let that stop me from looking. We also again tried tracking walking with a pedometer but eventually had to retire it after it stopped cooperating; does anyone have one of those that actually WORKS!?! LOL I don't have the day-specific breakdowns anymore, but before it quit (Day 5 or 6 sometime, I don't remember now) we were somewhere around 90 miles walked.

Day 1: [The first night we drove up after work to Winston-Salem, NC so nothing to report other than being tired from working then doing a nearly 5 hour drive.] We spent the day boxing around the north Winston-Salem/Greensboro area then driving all the way across to Petersburg, VA. The highlight of the day was Tammy's 'Lake Daniel' box in Greensboro that was actually planted in 1999 and is still there and still maintained by her!!! That may actually be the oldest box we have ever found. We found 13, missed 4 and drove about 270 miles.

Day 2: This was the day we started the massive 4 park, 24 box 'Clue' series around Richmond. It is one of those leftover series from a gathering they had and also was the best concentration of boxes around the area since most others were 1-2 per park. And no one will believe this, but I actually _PLANNED_ to stop boxing early this day; we were finishing at Hollywood Cemetery (highly recommended for more than just the couple boxes; I wish we had more time there to wander; they have a lot of history there, including a couple of presidents) which locks the gates at 5pm. We actually did a few other boxes in town later that day but still were done pretty early. We found 16, missed 7 and drove about 60 miles.

Day 3: 'Clue', part two was the start of the day and then it was mostly just a drive to DC. We were trying to meet up with Scarab that evening so did not want to get accidently get caught outside of the DC area and not have time to get to him before he went home. If anyone is ever making that trip I recommend making a stop in Fredericksburg to look for Riverby Books and Wallace Library. Even though there are not many boxes in town, it was worth spending an hour walking around and looking for these two. I found both creative and well worth the trip. We also did make it in time to visit with Scarab for 45 minutes or so before he headed home so that was fun. We found 25, missed 1 [that I expected not to find anyway but since we were already in the park, we looked...] and drove about 150 miles.

Day 4: Even though we were in DC, this was the 'Wildlife Refuge' day of the trip. We spent most of the day at the Accotink Bay NWR and while it would have taken MUCH longer than I thought to find the 20+ boxes. We actually gave up after only covering half the Refuge (there was essentially a "south" and a "west" boxing route; we did "west"). We did probably see a wild bald eagle flying in the woods, which was cool. I say "probably" because it was big and had a white tail but we did not get a good enough look to be certain. This was a really great place to walk and if anyone has a day to spend up that way I would take your boots and make a day of it. We found 15, missed 1 and drove about 75 miles.

Day 5: Today, we walked. We walked to Georgetown, we walked to the Mall, we walked around DC. We found a 3.5 year old urban box that according to the planter we were the first to find without help. It is hard to imagine an urban box surviving that long; I think they were as suprised as we were. *grin* We found 9 and missed 8.

Day 6: We went to the zoo. That was a big chunk of the day. We also did some more wandering around town but acted more like tourists than anything. We found 1 and missed 1.

Day 7: This is the day Artemis left and my friend arrived. I had to drop one off at the airport at 6am and pick the other up at 5pm. So initially I had GRAND plans for this day. I was going to box in MD, DE, PA and NJ!!! It was about a 13 hour loop, including boxing time, and would add three new states to my "states boxed" list. But then reality set in since I did not want to be hung up somewhere far from the airport accidently and I decided to do some in DC instead. I spent part of the day in Rock Creek park, looking for the boxes in the southern half of the park. And of course, while I was doing this, my friend called from England and told me her flight had been delayed at _LEAST_ 5 hours... maybe I should have gone up the coast on my grand tour... What I decided to do instead was do some boxes in Maryland that were on my list for later in the week. Since my friend is not a boxer (though will go boxing with me) I decided it might be nicer to do the boxes I really wanted before she was there and had to be dragged along. So after finishing up at Rock Creek Park I got in the car and headed out to Boyds, MD where I found some _AMAZING_ carvings by Scarab and Tempus Fugit (who also met up with me in a parking lot at one of her boxes for a quick exchange). Artemis and I have talked about this before when travelling; we seem to be spoiled with great carvers everywhere here in the Georgia but sometimes it is hit or miss in other places. Well, both Scarab and Tempus Fugit are definately on the "hit" list if there is one. I finished the day power hiking a 3+ mile series, trying to outrun sunset. I made it with about 20 minutes to spare and decided to head back to town since I still did not really know when my friend would arrive but in theory she was on the plane. I found 16 and missed 6.

Days 8-12: This was tourist time. I got one more around DC that Scarab had replanted the day we met up with him. Artemis and I tried but got to the park after some folks had moved into the benches for the night so did not want to risk the box and she was leaving in the morning so... My friend and I spent some time in DC, drove out to the Shenandoah Valley and spent a couple days working our way back to Atlanta. Over the course of that drive I found 21 and missed 16.

So all in all, it was just another of my boxing adventures that keep earning me my reputation. LOL Artemis finished with 79 found and 22 attemted for her part of the journey. As for me, in 12 days, including a 3-4 that were not really boxing days, I found 116, missed 44, drove about 2000 miles and walked well over 100. We even attempted numerous and found some boxes by the legendary Jolly G Man, Legerdemaine and Mapsurfer.