Drill Weekend

Well, hubby had Friday morning off, and he used it to get ready for drill that weekend. I just learned that morning that a new box had been planted in our area. We were too busy with preparations to go look for it. However, I did drag my family out to a box (relatively) nearby after picking hubby up from drill on Sunday afternoon. We had a little trouble finding the location, but once there we found the box quite easily. The logbook was basically full and quite tiny, so no one got to stamp in, but we did use the box's stamp in all our log books. We are going to change "boxin-granny's" trailname to "absentee-boxer." She never goes boxing with us, instead she sends her stamp and book with my son and pays him for each stamp he acquires for her. Ugh!! Anyway, we had our two visiting buddies with us -- JuJuBee and Cody. They were quite excited to see some sites and finally find a box. Maybe tomorrow we can plant one.

First Plant!

It's been pretty hot around here lately, so we got an early start this morning. After dropping hubby off at work, we packed up and headed down the road to the little park where we wanted to plant JuJuBee's first letterbox. Of course, all the nature distracted her a bit, but we were quickly back to the task and found (I think) the perfect spot.

New Arrival

Our Boxing Buddy exchange "student" JuJuBee from Oregon arrived on Saturday. She has been having fun playing and getting to know Doyle's and Sarge's families. We plan on taking her out this week to find a couple letterboxes and hopefully plant one. We have a big boxing vacation planned for July 4th!

First Exchange!

Well, on Thursday I got to meet my first real-live letterboxer (other than my family members I've dragged into this hobby kicking and screaming....) It was Penguin Patrol. She arranged via email to meet us and we opened the Rand History Library so she could hit our very first letterbox plant on her way through our state. It was so neat to meet another letterboxer. She encouraged me to go to an event soon to meet more -- assuring me that they are great people. Hubby and I are kind of the quiet, shy kind of people, so it may take a little bit of work to get us motivated to go to something like that. I do want to, but hubby having grown up in a swamp (literally) on a dead end road, well, crowds make him nervous. I'll keep working on him, though!

Boxing Weekend

Well, I've discovered that boxing with my family can be a drag. They actually want to take breaks during the day and do silly things like eat!!

We left Thursday evening to get to our family cabin. We got up early Friday morning, went out for a big country breakfast (which, I assumed, would hold them all day) and then set out letterboxing. We hit two boxes at Anthony, WV on the Greenbrier River Trail. The first one was a combination letterbox and geocache. In it we found a treasure, and we left and exchange for it. When hubby was retrieving the box he got into some poison ivy. So, we headed down to the river so he could wash off, but he found some jewelweed, so he rubbed down with that. We went after the second box, and it was also near poison ivy. Hubby avoided it when he retrieved the box, but when he put it back he got into it, so more jewelweed was located! I'm writing this on Tuesday, and this was on Friday, and so far he hasn't broke out with a rash, so jewelweed works real well -- and here is a tip, you can almost always find it around poison ivy. While retreiving this box and stamping in, a black labrador puppy discovered us and wanted to get in the middle of what we were doing. I wouldn't have minded so much, but he had been doing what labs do best -- playing in the water. Ehw -- wet doggie!

From there we went up the road a ways to the Blue Bend park. We went on a hike for the box there. Hubby said it was about 2/3 of a mile one way, so I got my exercise in (a way for making up missing my Curves workout that day :) After that the natives started grumbling about food. We just ate 2 hours ago, what's up with this?? So we travelled to the nearest town, the place where we needed to pick up our next route to take us to VA. Hubby said, there is a store, let's go in there because it will be cheaper than eating at Hardee's. So, we went into the grocery store and left $45 later! Twelve dollars of that was fireworks (something that wouldn't have been there to tempt us in Hardee's.) They got things like chicken, fruit, etc. I got trail mix and jerky. Pack light, keep moving!!

From there we hit Route 60 to get to I-64 to pick up the VA Welcome Center box. Boy, that place was Grand Central Station! Fortunately we were able to drive right up to the box and do some normal activities to cover our retrieval of it. From there we headed for the Humpback Bridge box. This one had a note on it saying that the logbook was waterlogged, so I had come prepared to replace it. Well, when we got there, the clues were a little sketchy. We went one direction, and the spot was covered in poison ivy. Hubby had had his fill of PI that day and absolutely refused. I got a stick and poked and dug around in the spot but didn't feel or see anything. We walked in the opposite direction, and this section of fencing was covered in some kind of bush. Hubby did not feel inclined to crawl under the bush and hunt. What's up with this? Soldiers are supposed to be into this thing. I guess it is true -- my Marine is just getting old and cantankerous. We did cross the bridge (not in use for vehicles anymore) to appease our son.

From there we went to Hot Springs to find the 2 Brothers box. It was a drive-by, basically. At this point the natives were about ready to mutiny. My son asked "Is that the last box?" with a pleading tone, not a disappointed one like I would have liked to have heard. I reluctantly said, "Yeah" and headed for the cabin. I knew my Mom and brother had been at the cabin since at least 11am and at 4pm would be starting the pizza, so it was time to wrap up the day anyway. I at least have two left in VA for next time. The last one was a Confederate camp interpretative trail, so I'd probably want to spend most of the day there anyway.

On our way home on Sunday, I had several boxes picked out to hunt for. Out of the 8 sets of clues I had, we only found 4. One was MIA, and the other three were a little out of the way. We spent a lot of time at one location too. But I met my goal -- I wanted to hit 10 finds on Atlas Quest. I'm up to 16, so now I'm chomping at the bit to get it up to 20.

Buddies Checking In

Well, I've heard from both of my hosts -- one for Sarge and one for Doyle, and they have both arrived safely and both seem very pleased. Sarge is staying with "cannonball" in MD and Doyle is with "jacks" in IL. I've already gotten a pic of Sarge meeting cannonball's buddy, Crabby, and will be posting to his blog. I hope to have a pic of Doyle soon.

Success!

I got my two boxing buddies mailed out to their host families this morning, and my family went out letterboxing. We went out to Gauley Bridge, Hawk's Nest and Ansted. We found all the boxes. We left a hitchhiker and found another! That was really exciting. It was especially nice for me, because my family used to travel this route every year when we went on vacation to the family cabin out in Marlinton WV. We used to stop at Hawk's Nest and visit the overlook. We would drive by Cathedral Falls, but this was the first time I had ever stopped. It was a little crowded at Cathedral Falls. There was an Eastern Indian family there -- the lady was wearing a very pretty goldish/purple sari. It wasn't really a "Falls" but more of a trickle -- we haven't had much rain at all this month.

At Hawk's Nest we saw a couple with a big dog -- looked a little like a German Shepherd -- and my son commented for us to look at the dog that looked like a wolf. The guy said it was a wolf -- a Silverback Canadian wolf, five months old. They had rescued him from a trap. The wolf's parents had been poached and they had not been able to save it's sister. He was a very friendly dog, and as teething. He was chewing on hubby, who enjoyed it. The guy showed us its teeth -- it had two sets in the back. Hubby has been wanting a dog so bad for so long. He grew up with an Australian shepherd, but has always wanted a wolf. He fell in love with that dog. We had to say good-bye, but I was glad he had a chance to pet the dog and play with it.

After visiting Stonewall Jackson's mother's grave, we stopped at the local Dairy Queen, then headed home. I had had the itch to letterbox for a couple of days now, so I feel much better. NOW, I want to get a series ready to plant in Coonskin Park. I need to get more boxes planted in Charleston!!

Busy, Busy

Well, I've been playing around with my blog and have learned how to create a blog for each boxing buddy and link them together. I'm quite proud of myself! I now have a set of links to the left of my page under "TeamKNORR Boxing Buddies" with links to each buddy's blog. They all have a picture of themselves, and will be adding some personal pictures soon. Keep checking back to learn of their adventures and learn a little more about them.